Halloween Eve musings

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday of the year.  I love Christmas ... for what it represents and for the joy that everyone feels, but halloween is special because of the colors, the fun, and it doesn't carry any of the pressure that Christmas does.  Especially now that I don't have costumes to create for my kids.  I must admit that that was loads of fun, but I was always behind the eight ball when it came to the costumes.

I quickly threw up some decorations today ... since we were gone most of October, and since I've been trying to get my act in gear since we got back a week ago, I finally got some stuff up today ... some of my favorites.  This is as good as it's going to get ... no halloween quilts, but we'll save those for next year!  Oh heck, I might pull them all out tomorrow and throw them on my bench in the hallway!

This is a needle punch that a friend made me ... isn't it cute?  And a pin cushion that a friend made last year ... adorable!

No halloween is complete without a scary skeleton ... he will be flipped over onto the front of the door tomorrow evening.

 

The creepy picture frame that talks!!!



Maybe my all time favorite decoration ... you can't have halloween without a ghost.

Love my mantel ... can you tell I spend most of my time in the living room?  Now I just have to find some super cute stuff for Thanksgiving ... always harder to do.  Any suggestions?  Where do people find those beautiful wreaths that I see hanging on everyone's door for fall?

I decided to get on the ball today and get a quilt quilted.  My VISA bill came in from my vacation, and I need to get busy to help pay for all the fun I had ... ha, ha!  Really, I haven't done a quilt since I got back, and since I want to be done with my quilting by Thanksgiving, it's time to get back on track!

This is a baby quilt that a friend did and I just love the fabric.

Can you believe my friend doesn't like it very much ... well this is before it's quilted. 

Now look at it ... beautiful texture and wait until it is washed!

I love the colors in it and decided to use a turquoise thread ... did a tight swirl pattern.

I always love this part of the process ... pulling the quilt off the frame and unpinning it.  I used Glide thread in top and bobbin.

Look at the back ...

Isn't this a cute fabric?  Oh, so much cute fabric, so little time!  Doesn't the turquoise thread look good on the back?

While I was on my trip, I stopped at my dealer in Utah and I was asking her about thread and tension.  We had a conversation about Glide and while she was talking, it occurred to me that occasionally I do have a bit of an issue with the bobbin thread slipping and catching.  Instead of using the little dealy thing that goes in the bobbin case (can't remember the name of it), I bought these bobbin washers that Teryl recommended.

Turn your head upside down to read ... sorry, I don't know how that happened!  They're really nice and thick and just sit in the bottom of your bobbin case.  They changed the tension and I will say seemed to work really well.  They're a little pricey, but hey, any amount is worth not having to rip out your stitching!

Now one more thing ... my friend that I did the above quilt for does something different when she's binding ....

I trimmed her quilt for her and left 1/2" extra all around; when she binds her quilt, she sews the binding on as normal, then trims it 1/4" beyond the edge of the binding.  She likes the extra bulk that folding the binding over the extra 1/4" gives her.  I don't know why she doesn't just trim it 1/4" extra, but I'm sure there's a reason.  I'll have to ask her when I see her again.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!