If you want your Halloween decorations to include quilts or other sewn items, better start sewing soon!

Hang this little quilt in your entryway and greet your guests with “Boo”!   It’s a simple pattern with a jack-o-lantern and a cat (black of course) in front of the word ‘Boo’.  You can do the applique by hand or machine.

The bats are flying, the candy is waiting, and someone is Carving the Pumpkin.  This easy to construct pattern shows the progess of the pumkin carving from top to bottom.  The pattern includes the eerie looking eyes (green buttons) for the bats.

It’s their busy season and every hard worker needs to kick it up and let out some tension occassionally.  They are having a well deserved Witches’ Night Out!  Have fun choosing fabric for their clothes, stockings, boots, and even their fingernails.

If you are planning a Halloween party, these table runners will surely set the mood for Halloween Haunts!

BFF – Trick or Treat is a quilt – and a toy!  Swap-lique is the new technique.  The appliques can be changed over and over.  The pattern includes 6 costumes, 5 hairdos and fun accessories. 

Pumpkins All Around has instructions for a 26″ wall hanging/candle mat and a 23″ x 27″ table runner.  These will look great displayed all fall, not just at Halloween.

There are many more Halloween patterns.  Go ahead, pick one out and get sewing!

How’s your pile of scraps?  My little odd pieces of fabric have filled a twenty gallon storage tote to overflowing, and two large shopping bags.   It’s time to use some of those scraps!   I wonder how many “free” quilts I can make from them?

Tracey Brookshier has several patterns that will take those scraps and create beautiful quilts.

Use 30′s fabrics, or any colorful bits, to paper piece Grandma’s Aprons.  This 35″ x 42″ quilt will look great on a kitchen wall and will surely bring back happy kitchen memories.

I love the transition from light to dark back to light again in the Bento Box quilt.  It reminds me of the circle of life.  This quilt looks great with oriental fabric scraps or batik scraps.

Grab all the shades of red you can find… from the palest pink to the deepest maroon and set these Hearts Afire! Instructions are included for a lap size and a bed size quilt.  And you can choose whether you want to do rotary cutting or use templates.

If you’ve never made a crazy quilt, Pretty Crazy is a great introduction.  You’ll not only use your fabric scraps, but also those odd bits of ribbon, lace, ricrac and what-not!  Pattern includes instructions for a 37″ x 48″ quilt and 16″ square pillows.

Check out the rest of Brookshier Design Studio’s quilt patterns and pull out those scraps you’ve been saving.  You’ll be glad you did.

 Recently, while preparing to start an arty quilt with goldfish, I searched my stash for just the right orange.  It was a quick search - I have so little orange!  Lots of blues, brown, greens, creams, whites, and reds, but just a few oranges.  And I don’t know why.  It’s a lovely color, with good manners.  It will never give you the cold shoulder, but always a warm welcome.  So I’m off on a search for more orange.

Sunny Daisies on an orange background in American Jane Snippets clearly says ”Summer”.

Splish Splash Spots Orange is a double dose of happy… polka dots and orange all in the same fabric.

 Surf ‘N Safari is a bright, bold, must-be-noticed orange!  The background undulates from the lightest shade to a deep orange with an overlay of splatters in even darker orange.

 Happy yellow swirls are paired with small blue dots on an orange background in Play Date.  It’s  a litte heavy on the yellow, but  this one . . . .

 
 . . . . with yellow in the form of smallish stars on the same background (also in the Play Date line) gives a hint of yellow, and lets the orange take center stage.

Garden Party orange is very soft and underplayed.  It could be used in a project and wouldn’t shout orange, but a warm feeling would still result.

Getting back to my goldfish, I think Splash Papaya might be just right. It will really pop against the background of many different blues. 

Do you have any orange quilt fabric in your stash?

Four Corners Designs began in 1985 and has designed hundreds of books and
patterns for the quilting community since then. Their publications have become well-known for their innovative ideas, easy techniques, and clear instructions whether the projects are quilts, garments, or accessories.

Recently, publishing and distribution of the Four Corners Designs is being
provided by QuiltersWarehouse.  

“QuiltersWarehouse.com is a recognized leader in the quilting industry. Their prompt delivery and exceptional customer service makes for a good fit with the us,” says Four Corners Designs.

“Already on the presses and now ready for shipping is the very popular Raggy Jacket, which has not been available since November of 2010.   It is the first in a series of Four Corners Designs’ retired patterns that are being considered for re-release,” says John Bruns, CEO of QuiltersWarehouse.

Raggy Jacket is constructed with the “raggy piecing technique” so it’s fast and easy to put together.  With only two layers of fabric it’s the perfect year round jacket…. cool summer nights, fall days, winter time inside when you just can’t warm up and early spring when a day in the 50′s seems almost like summer!  It’s a cute, comfy jacket and the more you wear it and wash it, the more loved and comfy it will look. 

Since I can’t decide on a color scheme, I’m thinking I might need to make one in fall and winter colors, and another one in bright, happy colors for spring and summer.

Go ahead and check out the rest of the Four Corners Designs… me, I’m off to select fabric for my jackets!

 It’s Time For Tea!  This paper foundation pieced pattern by MH Designs is the perfect gift for a tea loving friend. 

Tea For Who Teapot Cozy is big enough for most teapots and will keep a few teabags and measuring spoons at the ready. Who wants tea?

Tea-lightful is another paper piecing pattern.   You can use your scraps for this or try one of the fabric packs available: 1930′s or Dainty Floral.  I made this with the Floral pack and those teacups looked like delicate, fine china…. it’s a beautiful quilt.

Totally Teapots is a fun collection of teapots.   Save pieces of your favorite fabrics for these different shaped teapots.  This 46″ x 42″ applique quilt is great for hanging in your kitchen.

Afternoon Tea is a collection of 18 beautiful teapots all hand embroidered.  This is the kind of quilt that will be well loved and passed down through the generations.  The is also a machine embroidered version available.

Periwinkle Lane is full of whimsical houses…. Block 3 is this lovely teapot.

Block 8 of a series of 12 blocks is Me and Grandma Having a Tea Party.   Tea parties with Grandma are always special… and if you are the Grandma you appreciate how special even as you’re having it.

Hope you enjoyed our spot of tea!

Are you a bit timid about color?  Do you want to explore brighter quilts?  Do you want to stretch yourself?  A quilt from  Kitambaa Designs is the perfect answer.  Pippa Moore’s designs are bold, bright, and beautiful.

Pippa began quilting in the 1980′s.  Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.  Many of Pippa’s quilts are in private collections throughout North America.   In the last ten years her focus has been on quilts with color and energy, celebrating life.    Kitambaa Designs specializes in quilt patterns for African and other vibrant fabrics.

Under the African Sun is an adaptation of the traditional Drunkard’s Path block.  African fabrics, batiks, or bright prints will make this a stunning wall quilt. Pippa’s clearly illustrated instructions make this pattern suitable for all skill levels.

Choose hand applique, machine applique or fusible applique as your method to bring to life Zebras Crossing the plains.  Lush green grass is in the foreground and a blazing sun is in the sky. 

Kitambaa Designs has a series of Art Deco inspired quilts that each vividly portray the feeling of a single word.  Fusible applique is use for the quilt Felicity.  You could also use pastels if that expresses bliss to you. 

Hope, another in the Art Deco inspired series, is colorful if a bit more monochromatic.  To me it looks like, if something other than a floral was used for the border, it would make a nice untraditional Christmas quilt. 

Go ahead, check out the rest of Pippa’s designs and add some color to your life!