Halloween 2008 has already come and gone, but I thought I’d share this photo with you of the quilt currently on our bed. For many years during the time my boys were small, I collected a variety of fun Halloween print fabrics with the intent to make Halloween quilts for them. Finally, in August, 2007, with Josh already 13 years old, I figured I had better get busy and make those quilts while the boys are still young enough to appreciate and enjoy them!
So I borrowed an idea from Fons and Porter to make “bricks” set together in rows, randomly spaced with no seams to match. Their bricks were 3″ x 6″ — I made mine a whopping 6″ x 12″ to get them sewn in a super-fast amount of time. I not only finished twin-sized quilts for each of my guys with the Halloween bright prints, I was able to piece a king-size version for our bed with muted, soft-toned autumn and spooky print fabrics for Kent and me.
My dear friend and long-arm machine quilt artist, Carolyn Archer, of Ohio Star Quilts, did a beautiful job quilting them for me. She finished Josh and Andrew’s quilts in early October of last year so they could enjoy them on their beds in plenty of time for Halloween. Since the king-size version wasn’t put together until late October, I told her not to rush — it would be great to have it whenever she could work it into her busy schedule. She quilted it with beautiful variegated thread with plump pumpkins and vines, and it is perfect to enjoy throughout the fall season! So this is the first year we’ve had a festive fall quilt on our bed and we’ve enjoyed it every day since early October. In fact, we all love our autumn quilts so much, we’ve decided to keep them on our beds until it is time to decorate for Christmas, sometime after Thanksgiving!
A Halloween quicky made from a Moda 5" square charm pack
Enjoy the mini-quilt show of other Halloween and fall-ish quilts I have hanging throughout our home. They are all “old” for me, but new for you. Enjoy!
Wow, what a great, super fast idea for a bed quilt. It looks like you stuck some half-sized blocks in there as well? This could be whipped up pretty fast for a present too, especially if you didn’t have to worry about matching!
Pat — You are correct — I did use some bricks that were shorter than 12,” and in some cases I used 6″ squares! Since I used up a lot of fat quarters and 1/4 yards to make this quilt, I had lots of “odd sized” bricks leftover, but I think it makes the quilt look even more scrappy! This quilt is VERY fast and easy — which is exactly what I needed at the time. Give it a try — you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can put a quilt together!
Hey — all you other bloggers out there…..check back tomorrow or the next day. I’ve got some photos from Pat’s quilts I can’t wait to share with you!
Looks like stash busting time! It’s nice to be able to do a “no-brainer” quilt, and ya gotta love the easy cutting! There’s a ton of lime greens and hot pinks left over from the purses I made for all of my daughter’s bridesmaids a few summers ago — would make a perfect summer bed topper! I guess that the rule for this quilt is that there are no rules.
Hey, Pat — you got it, this quilt is a GREAT stash-n-scrap bag busting quilt! It really is a no-brainer, and you can sew these bricks together late at night when you’re bleary and can’t quite see straight (ask me how I KNOW!) LOL
I really hope you’ll give it a try, especially using those hot pinks and lime fabrics you have leftover from your daughter’s bridesmaid purses. You’ll have a ball; will feel oh-so-productive, and the quilt top really WILL fly together in just a matter of hours.
And here’s another hint — I pieced the back of our fall quilts, too! I literally used all the large pieces of leftover fabrics (just to use them all up) and pieced them into a hodgepodge backing, with no rhyme or reason to the fabric placement. The backs ended up looking almost as good as the front! I’ll try to get photos of the quilt backs and post them to the blog later on….
You go, girl! 🙂