Sunday, April 4, 2010

Autumn Quilts

Book:
Easy Does It For Autumn/ Art To Heart by Nancy Halvorsen

Time to reveal my next project... I choose: "Halloween Candy Quilt" on page 5.

I know that for me.. Halloween isn’t until October 31st, but I have not done a quilt project from this book yet, and wanted to make a smaller fun project with these delightful autumn colors.

Fabrics, Book

For those of you enjoying the autumn season now, this book would fit in real well. Although, I don’t know when you celebrate Halloween, there are other great autumn projects to make. I look forward to revisiting this book, to make several more of these autumn projects.

I remember thinking last month, that April would be a time to do some fun seasonal quilts and so I’ve done just that! For me… if the quilt is small and it has an applique design on it, then I am very motivated to make it!!

To begin, I need fabric...
I find it rewarding to have my fabrics neat and tidy in this cabinet. I can easily pull out the fabrics and choose those that will be suitable candidates for my next project. Then, it is just as easy to put them back when I am done with them.

Fabric Cabinet

The assembly...
This project has two background pieces and one border that are all sewn together before the appliques are added. It makes it possible to have the design extend onto the border edges.

Quilt Top

The pattern uses the method of adding tabs to the top for hanging and no binding as the layers are put together and then turned. This was a method I would have chosen in the past because hand-stitching was not something I wanted to do.

However.. this time, I decided to add a binding and a hanging sleeve, instead. This is one technique that I have come to enjoy and adding the binding and hand-stitching it to the back is my preferred method, now.

Quilt Layers, Binding

For all bed quilts, I still would machine sew the binding to the reverse side and bring it to the front and then machine stitch it in place. This causes less stress on me and allows time for other things.

Embroidered phrase on the Moon

 Stitching around applique pieces

Finishing...
This is always a rewarding part. The binding is so easy to attach and creates such a lovely edge. And, the final steps are to attach a label to the back and take photos of the completed quilt.

Finished Quilt Showing the Binding


Finished Quilt
(Size: 9 3/4" x 24 3/4")

Need motivation:
After getting all the tax returns I needed to file, done early, I thought.. why not do a quilt theme out of season! If doing taxes is something you keep putting off, then why not challenge yourself to get them done and reward yourself with a fun quilt project.

Next week...
My next book choice and then a reveal the following week. If you wish to see what books are being featured you can also check out my website for more details.

Happy stitching!!

3 comments:

Heather said...

wonderful choice. love it.

Kathy said...

that is adorable! And I love your fabric cabinet.

Darlee said...

Thanks for your comments. And, for once I'll have a quilt to decorate the entry when those cute trick or treaters come calling next time!!