Black Cat Crossing Winner

#105 - Diane S.
(an email has been sent to her)

In case you were wondering, my ringtone is
from the Munsters, Herman and Lily's family.

I had such fun with this hop!

I hope you did, too!

Have A Happy And Creepy Halloween

I hope you have a very Happy Halloween, 

and get lots of candy and goodies, 

and hopefully no tricks arrive at your doorstep!

My daughter likes creepy, too...this skull is her decoration.

Awwww, Rats...

...this is the last day for the Black Cat Crossing Blog Hop!
A Monkey Boy put this rat by his front door...I used PicMonkey to dress it up just a little.
I love the heart shaped eye! (I know, I know...the blood and webs are creepy!)

Friday, October 31

From My Carolina Home

Mammy Stitches

Bumbleberry Cottage

Just Because Quilts
Seams To Be Sew

Sew We Quilt

Thank You, Dr. Salk

Today's Doodle on Google honors Dr. Jonas Salk, the creator of the polio vaccine...

I owe him a big THANK YOU!

From 10/28/14 Google Doodles

My father contracted polio in September 1951 and suffered the aftereffects from it for the rest of his life. Because of the complications that came with contracting polio (paralysis, difficulty breathing, etc.), my dad spent time in an iron lung at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in California. The iron lung was a cylinder shaped machine that helped him to breathe. Without the aid of the iron lung, few people with severe forms of polio would have survived.

This photograph was used in National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis

 and March of Dimes publicity.

Once my father came home, my mom had to lift and carry him during his recovery time. My mom did all of this while caring for two toddlers. My dad had to learn to walk again and spent years relearning to walk without the aid of crutches, but eventually lost both legs below the knees and spent his later years confined to a wheelchair. My aunt and one of my sisters contracted a lesser case of polio and recovered without some of the severe complications my father and others dealt with. Because of Dr. Salk's vaccine, my children and their children don't have to suffer the way my dad did.

Polio can easily spread from person to person because it is highly contagious. The virus resides in the intestinal tract and mucus in the nose and throat. The virus can be spread by eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with the polio virus and is commonly found in sewage water. This is probably why my sisters and I were told to never play in the gutter water on our street out of fear we'd catch it from contaminated water. It is also spread by touching surfaces or objects that have been contaminated and then placing the hand in the mouth. Less commonly, but possible, polio can be transmitted through respiratory droplets, like when an infected person sneezes or coughs.

Minor symptoms of polio are fever, muscle pain, stomach pain, but in some cases severe paralysis occurs (which happened to my father.) Approximately 95 percent of the people who get the virus will have no symptoms, but can still transmit the virus and cause polio in those around them.

It must have been so scary for my family and everyone else during that time!

Once again, Thank You Dr. Salk for finding a vaccine that stopped this!

If my dad hadn't survived polio, I wouldn't be here. 

Creepy Bunny vs Black Cats

Creepy Bunny was feeling a little jealous because of all the attention the black cats have been

getting, so he dressed himself up in a silly costume in an attempt to get people to look at him 

instead of all the amazing creations being shown during the Black Cat Crossing blog hop. 

Not happening Creepy Bunny!

Every single creation in this hop has been so wickedly SPOOKTACULAR!

Here's the whole schedule of Black Cat Crossing blogs...don't miss a single one!

LAST WEEK:

Monday, October 20

Why Knot Kwilt?

Lixie Makes It

The Slow Quilter

Patchwork Sampler

Tuesday, October 21

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Coeur d'Alene Gifts

It Seams To Be Sew…

A Geeky Crafty Place

Wednesday, October 22

Creatin' in the Sticks

Living With Purpose

Moose Stash Quilting

The Quilted Cat

Lines, Color, and Art

Thursday, October 23

VroomansQuilts

Lovelli Quilts

Pampered Pettit

TeaTimeCreations

Whims and Fancies  

Friday, October 24

Just Let Me Quilt

Buzzing and Bumbling

Thimblemouse & Spouse

krislovesfabric

Quilt Doodle Doodles

THIS WEEK:

Monday, October 27  

Ridge Top Quilts

Dancing Moon

Kwilt Krazy

Lydsfire Sewing

Grandmama's Stories

Tuesday, October 28

Selina Quilts

Jane's Quilting

Quilted Delights

Words & Stitches

Wednesday, October 29

That’s So Julie

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilting Queen Online

Sew Peace To Peace

A Stitch in Time     

Thursday, October 30

On the Banks of Frog Creek

How Art You?

Cucki Stitching Cove

Dancing Moon Farmstead

Life in the Scrapatch 

Friday, October 31

From My Carolina Home

Mammy Stitches

Bumbleberry Cottage

Just Because Quilts
Seams To Be Sew

Sew We Quilt

My giveaway can be found

HERE

My Black Cat's Crossing Today

Spooktacular Madame Samm is frighteningly good at coming up with amazing blog hops

and Wicked Wendy is swooping around on her broom to cheer us on for this one.

Thank you!

Maywood Studio is sponsoring this hop with their gorgeous Black Cat Crossing fabrics.

A huge THANKS to Maywood Studio for creating and sharing this beautiful line of fabrics!

I have three sisters and when the four of us girls were all together under one roof

we could get a little..uh...witchy at times. Of course, I was the least witchiest of 

all the sisters and usually ended up being a victim of one of their spells. 

The Witchiest Witches

Denise, Linda, Susan, and that's poor little ole' me as a cat under one of their nasty spells!

This wall hanging (33" x 40 1/2 ") was created using Maywood Studios Black Cat Crossing fabric.
The top stitching thread around those wicked witches was King Tut thread by Superior Threads.

The Bonnet Girls Apple Butter design was the inspiration for my witches. I love the Bonnet Girls!

With several triangles leftover after getting a little over zealous with my AccuQuilt Cutter,

I put them to use with this table runner. Adding a ruffle just seemed like the right thing to do!

Whooooo loves a purple ruffle? Me!

Years ago I started gathering together the Garden Patch Cats patterns by Helene Knott and decided

they'd make a fun quilt if I dressed them all up in costumes. I had fun creating costumes by adding a

mask or two, drippy purple heart-shaped blood, and Glitter threads from Superior Threads,

but then I had an "uh-oh" moment when I realized...

Oh, my gosh! I have to sew around ALL those applique pieces!

The "uh-oh" moments didn't end there...

I got even more wickedly caught up in the fun when I decided to hand quilt around all those freshly

sewn applique pieces using crochet thread and big stitches. Yikes...I don't know what came over me! 

I hadn't hand quilted anything in over 20 years so don't look close!

It was probably my sister's casting a spell on me to make me temporarily crazy...

I hope it isn't permanent, but then how will I know! I'm always a little crazy!

Creepy Cats

The blocks were 15" x 15" and I made use of that amazing Maywood fabric.
It's got a lot of sparkly Glitter thread, but it's tough to catch it in a photo.

Then there was the Ghastlie fabric sitting there in the corner waiting for me to use it.

What's Halloween without a Ghastlie!

It's Just A Ghastlie Snap Bag

Since you made it this far in a photo heavy blog post, I think I'll have

A Trick-or-Treat Giveaway!

You never know what you'll get when you knock on my blog on Halloween.

If your name is picked, I'll send you the Ghastlie Snap Bag with a trick or treat inside 

(don't worry, the lizard is not included.)

I've had the same ringtone on my phone for over 10 years...can you guess what it is?

(Hint: It's a little creepy, of course!)

1. Guess the name of my ringtone and/or just leave a short, but creepy/sweet comment (you don't have to guess the ringtone to win.)
2. One comment per person.
3. The giveaway can be mailed anywhere...yes, even to the other side of the world.
4. You don't have to be a follower to play along, but of course that makes me smile if you do.
5. Giveaway ends at 5 p.m. PST on October 31st. Entries after 5 p.m. PST on October 31st will not be included in the giveaway.
6. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: If you aren't sure whether or not you are a no reply blogger, LEAVE ME AN EMAIL ADDRESS...pretty please! You can't win if I can't contact you! If you don't get a reply from me to your comment, you are a no reply blogger.

Here's who's flying hopping today:

Friday, October 24

Just Let Me Quilt

Buzzing and Bumbling

Thimblemouse & Spouse

krislovesfabric

Quilt Doodle Doodles

You can find the whole schedule HERE.

Gift Card Holder In A Snap

We took a short trip up the mountain to see some leaves changing colors,

and we weren't disappointed by the brilliant oranges (just in time for Halloween!)

There were lots of yellow leaves, too.

 Those spooky looking trees tried to scare me with their creepy limbs.

After we got home, I stared at my cute snap bags and decided I needed to make more.

FYI--I think the guys with the strait jackets should be arriving soon for my fitting.

Why, oh why, would I start anything new!

There is a stack of should-be-sewing-it on my left, 

almost finished projects to my right, 

and over in the corner is the just-put-it-away-already stuff.

And don't even talk about the thing hanging on the design wall!

But, who cares! It's Halloween

and these snap bags are so fun to make!

I needed some gift card/money holders for my Monkey Boys,

so I checked out the internet for ideas (there were tons and tons of ideas for snap bags!)

I took a little from here, there, and everywhere and made some small snap bags

that are perfect for gift cards or money...even some treats.

I started with two different pieces of fabric.

Cut one for the front piece - 3 1/2" x 8 1/2"

Cut one for the lining piece - 3 1/2" x 12 1/2"

Cut one fusible fleece interfacing - 3" x 8 1/2" and iron it to the wrong side of front piece.

Yes, it's smaller so the seams aren't so bulky.

Fold over the end of each lining piece 1" to the inside.

Center the front piece on the lining piece, wrong sides together, between the two 1" folded ends.

Fold the lining ends over the front on both ends and stitch close to the edges to create a casing.

To make the "snap" part of a Snap Bag you'll need a metal tape measure.

I dug out my old 1/2" wide metal tape measure and snipped off a couple pieces.

Note: 

I used an inexpensive tape measure because my husband would get a little upset

 if he saw a couple missing pieces from his favorite tape measure. 

I would get upset if those pieces were missing from my favorite tape measure, too!

For this little bag I used two pieces that were 1/2" x 2 3/4" long.

To avoid slicing off a finger tip, the ends need to be rounded and covered with duct tape.

You can use painter's tape if that's all you have sitting around.

FYI--make sure those little metal pieces you clip off end up in the garbage not the floor.

Fold right sides together and stitch one side a 1/4" from the edge.

Slide the ruler pieces into the open side of the casing.

This is important! Face the number side of the ruler towards the lining.

This will create the "snap."

Sew up the other side of the bag. Be careful not to hit the metal ruler 

while sewing....not that I would know about that! Zig-zag or serge edges.

Turn inside out and stuff with money, cards, candy or toys.

Several websites have tutorials for small, medium, and large snap bags. Here's a couple to check out:

MooseStash Quilting has a cute snap bag tutorial with a pocket HERE.

If you want to add a ruffle to a snap bag, Just Another Hang Up shows you how HERE.

I need to go now, I have LOTS more snap bags to make for Halloween,

and then there's Christmas, and birthdays, and Easter, and, and, and....oh my!

I'm not sure if she's offering a trick or a treat!

It's A Snap Hag...I Mean Bag

Yesterday was my quilt group day and Barbara had us making snap hags...I mean bags.

Hags, bags...whatever!

I spent a few minutes of my time with this model and she was quite the diva.

I heard her cackle this after the photo shoot...

That Comanche Lady, Vampira Vickie, sent me some Day of the Dead fabric a while ago.

It made the cutest snap bag! The fabric was purple...what's not to love about it!

The witch found it a bit distasteful and almost refused to be photographed with it.

She was mumbling something about skulls only being good for potions and spells.

It was a fun time with the ladies and snap bags!

I think I need to make more...yep, I'm sure I do!