A Halloween Cross Stitch!

Did you have a fun Halloween? We had a great night! Friends over for chili dinner before trick or treating and the rain held out! All week they were saying it was going to rain tonight, but it didn’t! Yippie!

And then the evening ends and the lights go off so those older kids don’t keep coming to the door while I’m in my pj’s and my son is running around in his oldies like a crazy kid from too much sugar!  That’s when you need a sign on the door that says Keep Away! or maybe, Sorry, We’re Closed…. Or even, Sorry, We’re Dead! Ha!

Originally, that’s exactly why I bought this cross stitch pattern from Satsuma Street. I wanted to hang it on the door to tell people we’re done handing out candy. Only, there were a couple of flaws in my idea! I live on a hill, so it’s not like anyone would see it without climbing the stairs to my front porch anyway! And secondly, you can see that my from doors are glass doors, so once you get to my porch, you’ll see me and I’ll end up giving you candy anyway….

Like the monster wreaths? We made those 6 years ago and still put them on the front porch every year!

So instead, I hung it on our art wall in the dining room!

I may not be quite as old as my assistant, but my eyes aren’t what they used to be! so a little hint about working with black Aida fabric… I always put a white piece of fabric in my lap while I worked on it. It does really help see the holes in the fabric!

There are many tutorials out there about how to finish the back. First, I layered a piece of black quilting cotton with the black Aida fabric. I then happened to have a piece of back foam core. S oI cut that the size of the inside of the inside hoop. I was planning o nincluding hot glue in this, but I didn’t end up needing hot glue. I put the design and the black quilting cotton in the embroidery hoop just as you would anytime. then I folded it over and put the black foam core inside the hoop, from the back. The foam core fit so nice and snugly, that it didn’t need hot glue!

So, my husband took my white backdrop and used it in the decorations. I wasn’t sure how I would actually take pictures of all my Halloween projects. Then I saw my assistant in a whole new light! He can actually hold things! He’s more than just a pretty skeleton sitting on the porch!

I hope everyone had a super fun Halloween! Now it’s on to Thanksgiving projects, a QuiltCon quilt and Christmas projects! What are you up to now that Halloween has passed?

 

A Halloween Pillow

Well, I had started a Halloween quilt back in January, I think… Despite the 10 months, I didn’t get it done….

No quilt, but I did get a pillow done! And I love it! I keep looking at it admiringly as I walk by the couch!

I also like seeing it with the other pillows I’ve made over the years. I love seeing the different styles and fabrics I’m into over the years!

For the pillow, I’m using a lot of the fabrics that I’m using my quilt. Or a different color way… Most of the fabrics are from the Cotton and Steel collections. I LOVE their holiday lines! LOVE them! Was this the best fabric to use for tiny piecing? I don’t know, really!

Last month I took a paper piecing class with Giuseppe Ribaudo, aka Guicy Guice. I’m not sure why I did, since I’m pretty well versed in paper piecing. Honestly, when I signed up, I thought it was a small piecing class, not paper piecing. It never dawned on me that his small piecing was paper piecing! Ha! Anyway, I’m glad I did! He shared his Mini patterns with us and I picked Courthouse Step block. I almost didn’t go because I had so much birthday party stuff going on and the whole paper piecing thing. But I’m glad I did! he was super nice and a lot of fun. And I loved seeing what everyone else made from the patterns! And I love my block!

Guicy Guice centers a lot of his minis in a neutral background so I thought this neon bat fabric would be great. And I did some matchstick quilting. I love doing matchstick quilting on small projects. One day I’ll do it on a larger project. maybe… ha!

I loved this fabric so much that I bought it in two color ways!

And if you know my pillows, I always do envelope backs because I’m kinda lazy that way… But this time I decided to put a zipper in it. I used to always put zippers in pillows. Especially when I was selling pillows. If I can do it when I’m selling them to other people,, why can’t I do it for myself? I did use Sew Katie Did’s tutorial to remind myself how to do it. Its’ not hard at all, but I used to be better at hiding the zipper than I did on this one. Luckily the fabric matches it!

Have a Happy Halloween from my photo assistants!

Happy Halloween from my little Demon!

This year the kiddo didn’t go with a handmade costume. And it totally makes me sad! I hear other parents cheering when they don’t have to make a costume, but not me. It makes me sad!

Last year he wasn’t going to have a handmade costume either and it made me sad then, too! Last year he was going to be Harry Potter. We had the whole costume! But he got so sick we had to call off all the Halloween festivities that we typically do. And no trick or treating. So sad…

He did get to wear his costume when we went to see Harry Potter at the Seattle Symphony. So this year he was going to be Harry Potter for sure for Halloween! No getting sick!

That is until we went to Value Village….

He picked out a costume, a mask and this scary pitchfork thing… Being the mom that I am, I kept saying ‘No…. I don’t know….’ The kiddo kept trying! Then he said, It is creative. I didn’t just pick out an already made costume. I’m picking different pieces and putting them together to be my own costume!’ And then Dad reminded me that it’s his costume not mine and he can pick his own. Ok, fine. Y’all, got me! How can I say no to those two arguments???

What about a cute bear costume? um, no, mom….

What about this used costume? By Dad’s expression, you can probably tell that that didn’t work! To get the exact thing he wanted and that fit, we had to go new. We could have gone used and altered it, but when they had the exact ‘cape’ he wanted in the exactly right size for only a couple more dollars…. We went new. And he’s super excited!

We went to our neighborhood cemetery for the photo shoot. It’s an odd cemetery with not a lot of people resting there. I should find out the story behind it. Either way, it made for some kinda creepy photos!

What do you prefer? Handmade, store bought completely put together or store bought mix and match?

 

Happy Halloween!

 

I have been compensated with either payment or product for this post. All opinions are my own, honest opinions!

 

 

A Quickie Halloween Decorating Upgrade

I looked at my blog and noticed that I’ve posted about 8 times since last Halloween! And I have about 4 Halloween posts for this year… That goes to show you how much I love Halloween! And how much I miss blogging more often! Anyway, here we go with more Halloween fun!

My sister in law also likes to do it up for Halloween and she posted a a picture of her mantle with these fanastic mirrored skulls! They were beautiful. They totally inspired this project!

 

When I went to Value Village I found these pumpkins that I thought would be fantastic nice and shiny silver! They are a little too ‘country chic’ for my décor, but a little paint can change that in about ten minutes. So I grabbed them! Not only does Value Village have a ton of costumes, but there’s also a lot of fun décor to be found there.

And I just happened to have this mirror spray paint at home. So I decided to use it for this project. Notice the bottle says ‘Looking Glass’…  Well, it’s meant for painting on glass…  But whatever, right? Why not give it a try. These aren’t fine heirlooms that I’m dealing with. Just some nice secondhand decorations that need a new life, so let’s give it a try!

The first coat had the look of old glass that the spray paint is supposed to give, so I was having some high hopes that it would work. The second coat covered it and gave it a just a nice flat silver color. Not exactly the look I was going for, but I love them none the less!

The experiment did not get me the fabulous mirror look that my sister in law’s décor has, but I do love my new pumpkins! And the more matte finish may even be just the right finish for my décor!

I love them! What do you think? How many projects have you updated with a quick bit of spray paint? You check out others I’ve done, like Christmas reindeer and more reindeer, sea shells and Easter bunnies!

 

I have been compensated with either payment or product for this post. All opinions are my own, honest opinions!

 

Halloween Decorating with Value Village

My husband always decorates the front porch for Halloween. For years we had this paper mache alien head that he would use for our ‘scary front porch friend.’ The last couple of years the head was getting damaged, and then it got so beat up that he went away…

So this year we needed new pieces to make our ‘scary front porch friend.’ Then I was contacted by Value Village to post about using the resources at their store for Halloween costumes or decorations. So I said, ‘yes,’ of course!

So the whole family headed to Value Village to see what we could find! It’s always fun to try on masks! We love it! The store had a huge selection of new masks, but some of our favorites were the used ones!

Tons of costumes! They have so many new costumes, but I wanted used. It took me a little while to figure out the difference between the new and used. Tons of everything else you need to make a scarecrow from just the normal everyday selection. And tons of heads! Mannequin heads. Why I wonder! Are they for Halloween? Or do they always have such a huge bin of Styrofoam heads?

We came home with more than we needed, actually!

We got the skeleton costume for $4. I thought it was going to great on the ‘scary front porch guy.’ I thought it would be cool to see the inside of our friend. Then we thought he’s wear the flannel. When we actually started stuffing him, we ended up going a little bit different route. But we did use the knife, the mannequin head and the creepy mask! Everything here is used except the knife. I almost didn’t get the knife because I thought I could find it cheaper somewhere else. I got it anyway and I’m glad I did. I haven’t seen another one at all and especially not one cheaper!

We were going to use the flannel shirt for our friend, but thought the kiddos might get a kick out of seeing him in their school sweatshirt!

Another new purchase we made was this skeleton guy! We love him! He’s fully articulated and posable! He and ‘scary front porch friend’ are going to be great friends for years to come!!

Do you love to decorate for Halloween? Halloween and Christmas are my favorites for decorating!  What’s your favorite holiday to decorate for?

 

I have been compensated with either payment or product for this post. All opinions are my own, honest opinions!