Halloween 2023

Well, it's that time of the year again.  Halloween is still viewed as an American tradition in this part of the world, but more and more people are getting in to trick or treating each year.  

My Spooky Darlings quilt won't be finished for this Halloween, but it is progressing well. 

I live on a street that is well known for Halloween because it's wide and straight and a safe place for kids to trick or treat.  It's Spring in the southern hemisphere and it doesn't get dark here until after 8pm at the moment, but the kids can't wait that long so they start about 5pm. 

I need to get my Haunted House out again and enjoy looking at it before it's time to get out the Christmas decorations.  Help!!!

It's been a while since I've shown my Haunted House so if you're after more information you can find all my notes about the Victoria Sampler Gingerbread Village on the Gingerbread Village tab here on my blog.  And more specific information about the Haunted House here.  

Now it's time for the Peacock Party.  Feel free to link up a recent blog post below.

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My Haunted House

Last night was Halloween.  I only have three Halloween decorations at my house, but I got all of them out a few weeks ago.  

First up is my Haunted House that I made from a pattern by Victoria Sampler.  You can read all about it in this blog post, and more about the other buildings in my Gingerbread Village on the tab at the top of the page.  

 I loved stitching this 3D building.  The ornaments that came with the accessory pack are just so cute!

 My second Halloween decoration is this small table mat I made for the Haunted House to sit on.

And the third decoration is a table runner I English Paper Pieced with Cotton + Steel Halloween fabrics.  I used some of the patterns from The New Hexagon book by Katja Marek.

I hope you've enjoyed Halloween if it's something you celebrate.  It's becoming more popular in New Zealand, but my kids are too old for it now. 

Halloween Hexies table runner

I finished my Halloween table runner the day before Halloween.  Talk about cutting it fine.

I had fun fussy cutting the Cotton + Steel Spellbound fabrics, and a few black and white extras I had in my stash.  The patterns are all from The New Hexagon book by Katja Marek as shown here:

I machine quilted in the ditch because I really wanted it finished before Halloween and I didn't have much time. I had to toss up between white and black stripes, and black and white stripes for the binding.  You'll see that white and black won out.

We had a lot of Halloween visitors last night, in a wide range of costumes.  These were the funniest ones:

Unfortunately I'm related to the giant banana in the middle.  That's a Kiwi bird on the left, and a pink unicorn on the right - of course!  Yes, it's Spring in New Zealand, and it doesn't get dark until after 8pm at the moment, so trick or treating is usually done in daylight.

I was so pleased that I finished my Gingerbread Haunted House in August.  You can see more photos of it here..

Halloween Hexagons

It's been a while since I blogged, and I feel a bit guilty because my last post was all about setting goals and staying focused for the last quarter of the year.  Then suddenly I felt the need to make something with the lovely Cotton and Steel Spellbound fabrics in my drawer.  They are Halloween themed, so it really makes sense to use them now. They'll probably bring out a new range next Halloween, and it will be even more tempting, so best I use these ones in 2015.
 

I've had The New Hexagon book by Katja Marek for six months now, but I haven't made anything from it yet because I've been immersed in la passacaglia.  But last Saturday night I decided I could make a small table mat using the Halloween fabrics and the paper pieces I got with the book.  Surely that's OK if it's "sewing my stash"??

The piecing for the New Hexagon is much quicker than for la passacaglia, because the pieces are so much bigger.  I used all my passacaglia tricks though of glue basting and using clover clips to hold the pieces steady.

currently 16" x 36" for a hall table

As a result I've almost pieced the whole table runner already.  I'm not sure if I'll hand quilt or machine quilt this yet.  It might not be ready for Halloween, but at least I've made something with the fabrics and dabbled in the New Hexagon book too.

I've also started my pink Tula Pink dress

and I'm working on my sewing machine cover with my mum who is staying for Labour Weekend. Busy times!!

I must dash and write my posts for the Online Bloggers' Quilt Festival.  It totally crept up on me this year - I forgot that it's on at the same time as the Quilt Markets in USA.  Voting doesn't open for another week yet, but this week is the time to link up the entries.