Look what’s finished, including backing, and heading to the quilter in the morning? I loooove these ghosties and long-arm quilting is going to make them even better.
One of my fav local quilt shops had an Instagram contest and I won! Yay!!
It was for 8 Halloween-themed fat quarters and… wait for it…
With UV light
Residual glow
Not sure what I’ll make with them (maybe this? ⬇️) but I’m excited to start looking and planning.
The two AHHnnas are done
which means all the blocks are made
and I can start sewing it all together tomorrow!
Only 6 fit on my design wall at a time
When I started this project, I planned to make all the eyes plain black, because that’s what was in the pattern, so why not?
Dancing skeletons
But I’ve had more fun fussy cutting and doing different eyeball shapes.
The owl shows up much better IRL
I think the two BOOnes have the same eyes
Kitty hearts and nose
but everything else is different.
jACKK is the only ghost with a pieced mouth
Love the sparkly web balls so much
One of Mickey’s FPP* blocks somehow got stretched out of shape. Not sure if it was made on the bias and I pulled too hard taking the paper out or if I trimmed it incorrectly (or not at all…)
Of course, it couldn’t be in a place where it would be an easy fix. What’s the fun in that?? (And yes, I did think about leaving it…)
(Notes for next time.) Rather than rip out the bottom two rows and remake them, I removed row #8 (and used the opportunity to rearrange some colors), then carefully frogged** the first few blocks in row #7, leaving the next block with the seam partially open.
Remade the offending block and sewed the first three blocks back together. Sewed the vertical seam to join both parts of Row 7
then pinned
and sewed the horizontal seams to reattach Rows 7 and 8. Easy peasy. Ish.
The last 2 AHHna blocks are almost finished, hoping to have them done tomorrow.
Then all the ghosties get attached to each other and we’re off to the races long-arm quilter. So excited.
* FPP - foundation paper pieced. ** Frogged - ‘rip it’ sounds like a frog’s ‘ribbit’.
The Ghost Party pattern calls for three each of BOOne, jACCK and AHHnna. I subbed a Mickey for one BOOne and a Kitty for an AHHnna but I still need three jACCKs.
I’d rather they didn’t all look the same so the first one ⬆️ is according to the pattern,
jACCK #2 has spiderweb eyes like Mickey,
and jACCK #3 sports square eyeballs.
Potential layout #1The last two blocks are on the design wall, ready for their FPP extras before getting sewn together.
Potential layout #2 - adding more lime squares
I might make the end of the week get-this-to-the-quilter deadline after all. (Crosses fingers)
Jelly roll day started off with a bang seam ripper because someone misread the pattern and did twice as much sewing as necessary.
Only half of these needed ripping ☹️
Things settled down after that. I sewed the individual pieces needed for each block, one after another, then pressed all 10 block sets and (finally) sewed each block together.
It worked!
By nighttime I had 10 blocks complete,
The marbled fabric is much prettier and more textured in real life
Reyna’s jelly log cabins
and the remaining 19 blocks cut and ready to go.
Part of Debbie’s jelly roll project
I want to finish up Ghost Party (only 2 blocks to go!) before I do more on Tangled but I think it’s going to be a fast finish. (Did I just jinx it???)
Pick a pattern ✔️
and background fabric ✔️
Love, love, love my Stripology ruler!
Cut and prep for the big day ✔️✔️
Get some sleep, for tomorrow we sew!
There’s enough fabric left over to almost double the size of this quilt… Hope I did this part right…. 😳* A jelly roll is (usually) 40 pieces of 2.5” by width-of-fabric strips (usually 40-42” long) of all the fabrics in a specific fabric collection. It’s an easy, cost effective way to get an entire collection without having to buy yardage (at $14+ per yard).
Finished Ghost Party critter #4 (how cute is that nose!)
and #5.
jACKK
I admit I thought jACKK was going to be more like a spot-filler but I love him - so much personality with that cute little mouth.
Playing with the layout
The last of the bind-a-rama finishes is Ocean Arrows, a nice, big, comfy quilt at 58 x 76”.
Rachel picked these ocean-themed fabrics and surprised me with them on our visit in February. She has an excellent sense of color - it’s a beautiful collection that ranged in size from a quarter-yard to 2-yard cuts. (Here)
Batik backing
In April, I picked a pattern - ok, I found a picture and figured out the pattern (here). I wanted something with big pieces that would show off the colors and designs. Nailed it!
Finished in June (here)… and then it waited patiently through two of our trips and my long-arm buddy’s stint running the Home Arts section of the local Fair before finally getting quilted last week and bound this week.
I got two quilts back from my long-arm buddy early last week, which got me in the mood for a binding marathon, aka bind-a-rama.
I don’t hate binding, but it’s a boring slog that sometimes (often?) gets put aside for more exciting quilty projects.
Sandy’s Brick quilt (here) was the first one done, since it had a deadline. Next up was Shibori Jewelbox, one of my must-makes, a fun pattern and an all time favorite finish.
So why did it sit for 6? 9? months, waiting, with just the binding left to do?? (Checking back, looks like I took this to my long-arm pal a year-ago August. So it’s been sitting for at least 12 months. That’s just embarrassing.)
Since this one is for ME! I picked one of my favorite brown prints as the backing fabric. I’m going to love using this.
Bought the fabric prior to 2019, over several years, usually on our annual Quilt Run (quilt shop tour at the end of May. Here.) Started sewing it together in July 2024. (here, here, here) Finished the top August 11, 2024. (here)
Pattern is from Ye Olde Sweatbox blog here. 5” squares.
It’s almost time! Sew a Jelly Roll Day is Saturday, September 20 and my pals and I plan to participate for the third time. Unfortunately, this is also my anniversary weekend, so the ladies agreed we’d change our sewing day to Friday.
I thought I used up my last jelly roll last year, but I found a few more during this year’s fabric purge.
I’m saving the ombre metallic confetti for something “special”
(no idea what yet, but I **love** that fabric line),
so my choices are “Warm” - love the colors but it’s so civil war era-ish -
and “Boundless”, which I took out of a kit I’m never going to make.
The decision may come down to which one I have enough background fabric to go with. I tend to buy 1 yard pieces of neutrals and the pattern I’m using (I think I’m using… could still change my mind) requires 2.5 yards.
Bought for last year’s Jelly Roll Day but didn’t use it
