Wednesday, October 9, 2019

It's Day Three Of The Halloween Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop

The last few days of the Halloween Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop has been kind of like the
 Addam's Family theme song. It's been a little creepy and a bit kooky. Mysterious and spooky.
There's not been any ooky, but lots to scream about with excitement!
I'm loving it, aren't you?


Lucky me...I'm hosting Kathleen today! She doesn't have a blog, but that can't stop
anyone from hopping along with us. Look what she wrote and created!

Is It Halloween Yet? by Kathleen

First and foremost, a big thank you to Carol for hosting my post.
I will introduce myself with a statement – My name is Kathleen and I am a Halloween freak.
One would think that having to give up most of my trick or treating candy as a kid because of 
allergies would mean that I developed a dislike of the holiday, but that could not be further from
 the truth. Every day is Halloween at our place with an entire dining room wall unit displaying 
assorted Halloween items like a witch feet cookie jar and assorted salt and pepper shakers and 
several Halloween quilts on display all year. Yes, I have a wonderful, understanding husband.

Our large yard is the go to place on Halloween. I start decorating October 1, if I can hold out 
that long.  People come by throughout the month to see what is new and how I am progressing. 
I give out full sized nut-free chocolate bars and it makes me smile and laugh to hear the squeals
 of delight from the trick or treaters, and the parents when they get rewarded for having a great 
costume of their own. We even have treats for the dogs. Typically, it takes kids a while to make
 their way to our front door as they are busy looking at the fun, but not overly scary, decorations. 

A lot of time the parents don’t wait at the end of the driveway as they want to see, too. The 
neighbourhood won’t know what hit it next year as we are moving to a condo in a few 
months. I hope I do not get into trouble with the strata for my display in the solarium next year. 

I usually make 3 or 4 Halloween projects per year, from placemats, aprons, and table runners 
to wall quilts. The hardest part of the process for me is choosing which of my over 500 
different Halloween fabrics to incorporate into a project.

A friend and I have been discussing me making a Halloween advent calendar for a while and I 
decided this was the year. I designed the calendar and pulled my Eerie Alley line of fabrics. 
I have quite a bit of all three colourways of the original hearse fabric and I cleaned out the store
 of the new hearse version.


Making the 31st pocket larger was a no-brainer. It is on a row of its own, and is THE day. 
I appliqued 31 on the pocket and then used my machine to stitch the dates on each of the 
other pockets, all in bright green, which I decided was going to be my main accent colour. 
That being done, it was time to try to square up my background again and add the pockets. 
I appliqued the header and footer and pockets to the background in the bright green. 

Typically, when sewing rectangles to a quilt like a label or a rod pocket, I will put fusible on 
the back of the piece and press it to the quilt to stabilize it. I was so eager to see this advent 
calendar closer to completion that I did not do that with the header. That was a mistake as the 
green Stonehenge frayed. I stopped and tried to rectify it with a bit of success. Then I used 
fusible on the orange footer. The orange rectangle was much more successful. Lesson learned.

My header and footer: After stitching the numbers I looked at the project on the design wall and 
felt it needed something. So, a bright green Stonehenge rectangle with the letters appliqued in 
what I call my Stonehenge Halloween collection of fabrics and a bright orange footer. 
The backing is the pink hearse version of the Eerie Alley fabric.



 Since there are coffins bouncing out of some of the hearses, I decided to do coffin quilting, 
some of them bouncing. I did a simple outline stitch around the pocket rows, header and footer. 
All the quilting is done in glow-in-the-dark thread and, if the lines are a little wonky it just adds 
to the spooky factor of the quilt. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.


Now that I am finished the calendar I have decided to shop this year, wrap the treats, store 
everything, and wait to fill my advent until next year so that I will forget what I bought and
 most of the items will be a surprise. I think waiting is the way to go since we are also in full
 pack to move mode. There are all sorts of fun little treats I can use to fill my calendar – erasers, 
pencils, stickers, glow-in-the-dark thread, sample sizes of fall shower gels, tea lights, ornaments
 for my 7’ black tree and, of course, fat quarters. I already have a salt and pepper set for the 
October 31 pocket wrapped and ready. Any large items will be wrapped, and numbered with 
cardboard Halloween cut-outs and placed under the calendar.  Yes, that is Halloween 
wrapping paper in the photo. I haven’t thought this through at all. lol

Project info:
Eerie Alley fabric by Caleb Gray for Robert Kaufman
Finished size  33”x24”
1-30 pocket rows are each 3” x 18” finished. Each individual pocket is 3”x3” finished.
31 pocket is 4” x 6” finished.
Glow-in-the-dark thread for all the quilting
Label has a photo of a tiny portion of my 2016 yard display
Photos of some of my Halloween items and displays Flicker HERE.



Get Me Outta Here!

After I finished Is It Halloween Yet? I decided I needed to make a Halloween table topper. 
All of my indoor Halloween decorations, including the quilts, are in storage as, for some 
reason, people don’t want to see a dining room full of Halloween décor when looking at a 
house for sale, especially in August.

I went through my patterns and settled on Toad-ly Spellbound by Patchabilities. I made one 
important change – the frog is not jumping into the cauldron, he is jumping out of it. I think 
this may be the true back story for Michigan J. Frog, the singing and dancing frog from 
Warner Brothers cartoons. Perhaps the frog actually is a little spellbound after all.

I used Northcott Stonehenge fabrics for the front, and Benartex Spell Bound for the backing, 
with simple glow-in-the –dark outline quilting. This is now on our dining room table with a
 lantern I etched with a spooky tree pattern sitting on it.

Finished size 12´x 14”




Thanks, Kathleen! You can leave her comments on this post...I'm sure she'd love them!

Wondering how to do this blog hop thing?
Start with the first name on the current day and click on it.
Once you're at that blog, see all the Halloween goodness and then click on
the next name on the list (they will have the list on their blog, too.)
Keep going to each blog (comments are very much welcomed) until you're done.

Come back the next day and start the process all over. It will last five days and be 
full of incredible sewing and quilting inspiration. Not all of it will be scary, so don't
be afraid to check them out. You will be in awe of everything, I'm sure!

Ready to go to the next stop? 

I have a giveaway!

Quilt Taffy is one of my favorite online stores so I got a gift certificate
to share with one of you. Corrie has lots of things to choose from!


There's a Pinterest page for all this Witchy Stitchy madness HERE.


38 comments:

  1. Thanks Kathleen for your great project. I am loving what everyone has made.

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  2. Kathleen, what an awesome idea and projects. Good luck with the move.

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  3. Kathleen, I'm so glad you hopped with us and shared your photos and story! I loved it all!

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  4. Oh, my gosh! How clever, a Hallowe’en advent calendar. My grandson would love it! Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Great calendar and great post Kathleen. Good luck on your move.

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  6. I love that calendar idea and the table topper. Thanks for sharing Kathleen's beautiful work!

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  7. Great idea Kathleen, good luck with your move.

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  8. Love these wonderful quilts. Also, love the handmade broom!

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  9. Great projects Kathleen. I hope your move goes smoothly.

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  10. Oh, I LOVE the cars!!! what great fabrics!!

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  11. Cute projects, and cute fabrics Kathleen! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  12. wonderful projects. thanks for inspiring.

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  13. Very creative! What a fun idea for a Halloween count down calendar. And you're right, your neighborhood will miss you! Thanks for sharing.

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  14. Oh my, Kathleen! What adorable projects! My grands would love your Halloween advent calendar! Thanks so much for sharing. I loved your planning story and I know your neighborhood will miss you next year, but oh what a treat for your new neighborhood!

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  15. Loving the hearse fabric and the calendar. I need to make one! And who can blame the frog, I'd jump too! Thanks for sharing. Good luck with the move.

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  16. What a cute countdown quilt! Great job...and terrific prints you've used!! :)

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  17. Kathleen's projects are really cute. 'Did not know bout glow-in-the-dark thread, that's cool. The Advent calendar looks very Halloween-ish and is a unique idea.

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  18. Hi, Carol and Kathleen (mostly Kathleen)! Oh, the trick or treaters will be disappointed that you are moving and won't have your fun displays any longer. I hope the condo is a good choice for you both, and that the residents appreciate your Halloween decorations! Love the hearse fabrics in all three colors! And the Stonehenge fabrics complement the hearse colors so well. What a cute idea to treat it as an advent calendar - I hope you do forget all the little treats for next October. OH - and the glow-in-the-dark thread is just the perfect touch. HAHA! I can just hear the witch cackling as she stills the cauldron. I'll be back again tomorrow, Carol. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  19. Kathleen - I love this Halloween Calendar - it is such a fun idea! Thanks for joining the hop and your gracious host is so wonderful to have you as a guest blogger. I love the little pattern, too, that you shared.

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  20. Thank you for hosting me Carol. I don't have a blog so it is a real treat for me to share my love of Halloween on yours.

    Thank you to everyone for your kind words. We held a huge all Halloween sale last year and sold most of my decorations. Right after the sale my husband asked why I sold so much as I could decorate the solarium of the new condo. That had never occurred to me. Silly woman. I am proud to say I have only replaced one item that I sold, the 7' black tree. But, I DID buy a second spookier tree, too. Good thing we have multiple storage lockers in the new place as one will be all mine for Halloween decor. :) It's a sickness. lol

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  21. Great advent calendar! Your fabric choice is perfect, and your cauldron block is spooktacular!!

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  22. Very cute projects! Thank you for sharing!

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  23. I love the frog and the cauldron! Thanks for all the Halloween projects. Since my children grew up I haven't celebrated the holiday. This blog hop is inspiring me to have some spooky fun!

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  24. Carol,
    Please keep me in mind for next years Blog Hop. This is so much fun, I would love to be part of it! madebymarney.com

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  25. This has been so much fun.Love seeing it all.

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  26. Both of your projects are fabulous!! Love the count-down to Halloween...with every pocket filled with candy, right? The frog jumping out of the cauldron is perfect!!

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  27. Well I like Kathleen even more knowing she’s a Halloween freak too😂. Fun post, and I love your fabric choices.

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  28. Haha I love it....and the table topper is cute tooo..... happyness04431@yahoo.com

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  29. I think a countdown calendar for Halloween is a marvelous idea! My 30-something daughter has enjoyed Halloween all her life and would love to have a countdown calendar for herself. Thank you for the marvelous idea. And the toad table mat is adorable.

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  30. Great work Kathleen I enjoyed your creativity

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  31. Thank you everyone. I seem to already have 31 items for advent 2020, mostly ornaments for the tree, but that won't stop me from buying a few more items. Especially since I don't have any Halloween fabric for it yet. :)
    Kathleen

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  32. I love the count down calendar idea for Halloween. That's a fantastic idea and love how you did it.

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  33. Such oh so cute projects. Really happy you joined the hop.

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  34. WoW, I loved reading your story and seeing your awesome projects.. Maybe a neighbor will let you set up your Halloween decor in your yard so the shock won't be so bad for next year... LOL !!! Thanks for participating in the blog hop, it's always fun to see people who don't have blogs also participating. I hope we see you again. Good Luck on the move, it is never easy to move.

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  35. Thank you. This was a lot of fun and I hope you see me again next year. :)
    It appears a couple of current neighbours might be taking up a bit of the slack in decorating. One has had about 10 pumpkins out since late September, which is 9 more than other years. We still have a display this year, albeit smaller than in the past. But, I will still have full-sized chocolate bars to give away. And doggy treats.

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  36. Great projects and great Hop--Thank you for participating and sharing !
    barbkaup(at)(yahoo)(dot)(com)

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  37. What a great idea to do a Halloween countdown calendar like that! I'm sure kids (young and old!) would love it! Thanks for sharing! xx

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Comments are always appreciated!

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