I think I’m finally over my mental block with the FMQ on my Halloween quilt. I’ve got the quilt about 3/4 quilted, and while I will finish it for the
New Year’s UFO challenge, it will not be done before Halloween is over.
I’m getting a little more comfortable with the quilting. When I stipple quilt, I don’t use a pattern. Seeing that this is going to be a pumpkin wall hanging, I wanted to quilt some leaves on the quilt. I found a pattern, and traced that pattern onto freezer paper, and ironed it to a test piece of fabric and quilted away. My quilting was a bit jerky and the pattern was a little more complicated than I wanted. I didn’t think I would like picking out the paper once I was done. So, I went to plan B.
I used a chalk marker to mark the leaves and stipple loops so I would have a very loose pattern to follow. I had just finished marking part of the quilt when Red showed up. He thought it would be a good idea to roll around on the quilt and erase the marks I just made!!
Still, while chalk doesn’t stick around very long, I like being able to erase it with my fingers as I mark the pattern. So, the quilting is a combination of following the pattern, and trying to quilt without it in areas where I didn’t mark it or it was erased.
Here is the whole quilt. I plan to applique a pumpkin top and stem to it, and cut it in the shape of a pumpkin.
I’m trying to decide on which binding to use. Do you like the stripe fabric I bought a few weeks ago, or the plaid fabric that you see around the cat blocks?
If you want to see close up pictures of the cat blocks, or get the free pattern, you can click to my previous blog
here.
Have a safe and
Happy Halloween, and keep an eye out for the kids on the streets.
Karen
