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A Quilt for Halloween

I'm trying to pretend that I'm not currently in a house filled to the brim with Halloween candy and cookies (must show restraint!), getting prepared for a hectic evening of taking Brynne trick-or-treating and hosting our own neighborhood trick-or-treaters. I finished my Halloween quilt in class last Thursday, just in time to display it for Halloween this year.

The basic pattern is taken from the Spooky Sampler from Tea Thyme Quilts. I was pretty faithful to the pattern design, but I made quite a few changes in the methodology. For example, the pattern suggested painting the mouths for all the blocks, whereas I used rough edge applique. Here are some close-ups:

I hand embroidered "Boo"... yes, I still need to work on my embroidery!

I used a blanket stitch in contrasting thread to applique the larger shapes. The light background fabric is one of my favorite reproduction prints from Judie Rothermel. The mismatched button eyes all came from my stash. The quilting for the main panel is in the ditch, and then I added a freehand, spiderweb pattern in silver metallic thread in the outer border.

The narrow strip of black and white fabric (I thought it looked a bit like bones!) is a 3-dimensional flange. This is the first time I've used this technique, and I really like the effect. It adds an extra dimensional detail to this quilt, and I really like the contrast between it and the outer and inner borders. This was a really fun quilt to make - I like the folk art references and the quirkiness of the characters!

Last Minute Halloween Craft

If you're looking for a quick and easy craft to do before Halloween night, this idea, from Martha, is a great one. I picked up a grapevine wreath at Michael's for $3.99 - I couldn't find one as "twiggy" as the one shown on Martha, but this one worked out fine.

Place your wreath in a well-ventilated area (preferably outside!) on top of some newspaper and spray paint one side with matte black spray paint. Once the first side is dry, flip the wreath over and spray paint the second side. You may need to use garden shears or heavy duty utility scissors to cut some of the twigs and pull them out a bit.

Once the wreath is painted and dry, push squishy eyeballs onto the ends of the twigs, completely puncturing the eyeball through both sides so that they will stay on. (I found the small eyeballs at a local shop for $0.25 each and the larger ones were 2 for $1.00 at the dollar shop at Target.) We hung ours on some spiderweb ribbon on our front door. It looks really gross and spooky - perfect! Thanks again Martha!

A Little Eye Candy

As I catch up and recover from back-tack, here is some eye candy to inspire and titillate! But, just before I make you drool, I just want to say how much I love bloglines. I know other folks have sung the praises, but it has really helped me manage my blogging in a huge way - if you haven't checked it out yet, go do it! The only down side is that I keep forgetting to check on some of my favorites that don't have feeds... any chance that port2port and Camilla will be getting feeds soon?

Thanks to Domino magazine, I've now been exposed to funktion. Since I know many of us are obsessed with aprons, how about this fantastic design (that comes with coordinating tea towels!!!):

Am I the only one who almost loses consiousness when I see these vases by Diana Fayt? Of course, I'm brought quickly back to my senses when I see the prices... sadly these aren't quite in my budget!

I know that others have been posting some of the incredible goodness from the latest Anthropologie catalog, but I thought I'd share some of my favorites. Let's all make our own pom pom garland from felted beads!

These figure eight ornaments make me smile... looks like something one of you talented crafters might make!

I really need to place an order for these mugs before they're all gone!

And, of course, the perfect accessory to support my bird obsession - the bird & branch centerpiece!

Back Tack Complete!

I wasn't sure what the appropriate time to reveal would be - because my back-tack situation was a bit outside the norm - but I guess now is as good a time as any. You see, my partner is the famously talented Alison, co-coordinator of back-tack itself. So, she already knew who she would be receiving from, and she had a few ideas up her sleeve! With no secrets between us from the outset, she suggested that I put together a kit of materials so that she could create an art bag of some kind for her son, Max. Alison was hoping to incorporate some of Max's artwork into the bag, perhaps as embroidery or applique. She also said that I should send some of Brynne's artwork and that she would also make a bag for Brynne! As you can imagine, I was thrilled with all of this. But, it sounded to me as if Alison was going to end up with all the work, and I was going to get all the good stuff!

So, I decided that I should make some items to go with Alison's concept. Using Brynne as my muse (getting into the mind of a 2 year old isn't necessarily *that* difficult!), I thought about what her creative process is like - experimentation, building, construction, embracing randomness, layering, multi-media, involving the whole self, using unconventional tools and found materials, etc. etc. All of this led to a theme in my head - one which I hope I haven't taken to the extreme in my projects - but we'll let Alison be the judge of that! The challenge for me was to create something to be used and enjoyed by a toddler, but something that could also be appreciated by an incredibly creative and sophisticated mom. I probably ended up with something leaning a bit more toward Max! I'm going to keep the final projects top secret until Alison receives them, but here are some sneak peeks that may reveal my not-so-subtle theme:

 

Crafty Halloween Round-Up

Just in the past couple of days I've discovered some incredible Halloween stuff being made by all the talented crafters out there. I thought I'd share these discoveries in case you're looking for something fun... I know I've missed other amazing things - please let me know!

Sugar Lily has added fun autumn themed cards to her shop:

I just bought this fun necklace from the incredible Amy of aplcreations:

 

and she also has cute adult and kid tees at her Cafe Press shop with an adorable witch graphic!

I can hardly bear the cuteness of this stuffed mummy from cuddly rigor mortis (also see the Frankenstein, pumpkin, and skeleton softies!):

Teresa's new stuff *always* seems to sell out before I can get it, but she had these adorable Mr. Bunny Halloween cards and kitty softies in great Halloween colors:

and, of course, I was also not one of the lucky Sampler subscribers to get one of these:

These pendants at joeyjojo666's Etsy shop are too cute:

So much great crafty inspiration out there! Talk to you later... I've got to go make something!

P.S. Finished projects are on the horizon - promise!

Calaveras!

Since living in Mexico for several years, my love of Halloween is also influenced with the traditions of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). When celebrating and decorating, we use traditions from Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. For example, we create a "graveyard" in our front yard, but we also create a trail of marigold petals leading from the "tombstones" to the front porch. (Traditionally, marigolds are used to help guide the souls of the departed to their loved ones - the luminous petals of the marigolds virtually "glow" in the dark!) I love the traditions of papel picado, the elaborate ofrendas, and the traditional folk art surrounding Dia de los Muertos. Here's a link to a pdf document that is a teacher packet full of fun crafts for kids - a calavera mask, a skeleton puppet, coloring pages, etc.

If you'd like to do something crafty for Dia de los Muertos, here's an easy craft to make calaveras (skulls). Get together some white air drying clay, some colored pens, and jewelry findings (optional). Mold the clay into skull shapes with your fingers. Use something with a point (I used a pencil) to create eye and nose sockets and a mouth. If you'd like to make your skulls into beads for jewelry or into ornaments, insert the appropriate jewelry findings. We placed jewelry loops into the top of the skulls to make these into necklaces. Your calaveras might look something like this:

Follow the manufacturer's directions and allow the clay to dry. Once the clay is dry, pull out your colored pens and get creative! Jerry, Brynne and I each decorated 2 in the batch below:

Google Dia de los Muertos if you'd like inspiration for the designs. Here's a great place to look for inspiration and learn more about the festivities. These are lightweight and great to use for halloween ornaments, or combined with other beads for necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. If you decide to try this out, I'd love to see what you end up with!

SPT - Parade!

Here is a quick shot taken while we were watching the crazy parade at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival on Saturday. Jerry and I took turns holding Brynne on our shoulders for the parade, and she loved it!

Check out more SPT participants!

A little of everything...

Phew! Catching up from a hectic, but fun weekend up north... I thought I'd share a major discovery for those of you who are in San Francisco, the East or South Bays, and Silicon Valley. Just a few miles outside of Half Moon Bay on Highway 92 are two *fantastic* pumpkin farms, right across the highway from each other, that are not to be missed! Pastorino's Farm (no web site) and the Lemos Farm are outstanding, especially if you have kids. They have the expected wide selection of pumpkins, but they also have train rides, jolly jumpers, haunted houses, pony rides, petting zoos, hay rides, food and baked goodies, corn mazes, etc. Pastorino's Farm also has a beatifully set up Halloween "Boo-tique" full of fun, good quality vintage and new decorations. What really struck me about both farms is how well laid out everything is - not just a big field of pumpkins, but manicured paths leading from one picturesque spot to the next. If you'd like to visit but aren't going to the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival (which is now over for this year), I'd recommend avoiding that weekend - you'll be dealing with a lot fewer people at the pumpkin patches. Here are some representative pics:

and here's Brynne having a heart-to-heart with Dracula:

and, of course, the pumpkins!

It looks as if both farms also get decked out for Christmas... we may just have to make the trip up north again in December to see what that looks like!

Breathe a sigh of relief

After an extremely hectic past few weeks, we're escaping today for a long weekend north in Half Moon Bay. The occasion is the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, an annual event I've been wanting to go to for quite some time. We've finally managed to schedule it in, and we'll be staying with my aunt and uncle for some obligatory family time as well. Since we'll be gone for the weekend, I thought I'd leave you with some seasonal inspiration, although it sounds as if no one is quite as Halloween obsessed as we Americans...

I love Nicol Sayre's vintage inspired Halloween paper pulp figures - something's not quite right...

I found these great, handcrafted Halloween softies made by Woof & Poof:

I've also become a huge fan of the Glitterville creations - they also appeal to my love of vintage Halloween goodies.

Have a great weekend!

Brynne's SPT

We picked up an old Kodak EZ 200 digital camera at the flea market the other day for 25 cents, figuring that this would be a great toy camera for Brynne to play with. The resolution is pretty bad (and it has scratches on the lens that appears in every photo), but it stores about 90 photos - great for a little one who snaps non-stop! We shot the first one and the rest is a series she shot while getting ready for bed the other night - we're getting her diaper changed and into pajamas while she shoots away.

Check out SPT for more self-portraits!