a new quilt
I finished this little quilted table piece for Halloween. It’s inspired by the Halloween table runner I found a few weeks ago. I just used some fabric I had saved from last year, and it turned out to be sort of an odd small size, so I added the border. I really enjoyed sewing the chevron stitching and feel like it pulled the whole thing together.
This isn’t the the first quilted thing I’ve made without a pattern but it’s one of the more complex things I’ve put together in terms of all the pieces. It it slightly more polished than some of the other things I’ve made in a way. I feel like I’ve turned a corner in quilting from when I had no idea what I was doing to feeling more confident and comfortable with the process. Quilting is one of the few hobbies I’ve picked up as an adult and it’s nice to finally get over being intimidated by various steps. It’s now something I can do somewhat mindlessly while watching old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
In other news, Shawn had been out of town working for the past month and is finally home. Hooray! We’re starting to get in the fall spirit in earnest now and there will be many more Halloween projects and adventures. So excited!
fall!
It’s the first week of September, hot as hell, and I’m already starting to plan for Halloween time. I can’t help it, I’m excited. It’s also possible my brain might be melting. Perhaps if I think about cooler times they will arrive.
First, I love this Halloween Party print from Julia Pott. She also made one of my favorite short films, BELLY, which I highly recommend you watch.
I can’t stop thinking about this Halloween Table Runner from Saltwater Quilts. I made this Halloween table cloth last year with some of the same fabrics but I really like the quilted version. Looking forward to going to the fabric store to see what new prints are available this year.
Also I’ve been fiending for an apple donut. What? I don’t even know that I’ve ever had an apple donut but thanks to instagram I’ve seen tons of them and want one for myself. I guess it’s time to get in the kitchen and start testing out some recipes (because it’s obviously a great idea to mess with frying oil when it is a billion degrees out).
halloweens
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Hope everyone has a spooky All Hallows Eve filled with candy, black cats, pumpkins and ghosts. And possibly a little bit of pumpkin spice ice cream.
Halloween Movie Massacre 5
It’s that time of year again, time for our annual Halloween Movie Marathon. In fact, this was our 5th year (be sure to check out some of the past years), and we clocked in at a full 24 hours straight of horror movies.
While I usually go nuts with food, I tried to keep things simple, preparing desserts the night before, and designing the rest to be easy to make by popping in the oven. For sweets I made my favorite pumpkin spice cake and some bone shaped sugar cookies (and a sad version of the classic ghosts). Our friend Scott made a vegan King Cake which was super exciting for me.
On the savory side, I made buffalo cauliflower and giant pot of macaroni and cashew cheese. Shawn set up a hot dog station with all the trimmings. We also had French bread pizzas at some point and lots of chips and queso and popcorn and even caramel popcorn. Alas, I have no photos as photography is difficult during dark screenings.
In the morning, I made a bunch of breakfast sandwiches modeled after the Badass Breakfast Sandwich from Locali: maple dipped English muffins, vegan sausage, cheddar Daiya and spicy mayo. They were a hit, and will certainly be a staple in our home for weekends to come.
For decor we opted for lots of creepy lighting and a few key horror elements. I filled terrariums with vegetable specimens and jars of candy were labeled as disturbing fare. We had a handful of skulls and a bunch of pumpkins. One of the most exciting pieces was a drink dispenser held up by boney hands, a Halloween gift given especially for this event. We of course filled it with cold brewed coffee to keep the movie watchers awake. I also painted a few Halloween themed masks just for fun.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but watching endless horror films without sleep does very strange things to your mind. It’s no surprise we found ourselves walking down dark hallways with axes, doing zombie crawls across the floor or drilling holes in someone’s skull. No surprise at all.
Ready for what we watched? Here’s the list:
1. Carrie
2. Near Dark
3. The Descent
4. Triangle
5. Ginger Snaps
6. Poltergeist
7. The Woman in Black
8. Phenomena
9. The Loved Ones
10. Final Destination
11. The Omen
12. We Are the Night
falling fast
Weeks ago I had grand plans for Halloween decorations. I thought it was high time we put some of our strange medical props to use and make our place into a creepy mad science lab. But of course, I got too distracted chasing Endeavour around town this weekend to really get things together. We’ll see what kind of magic I can pull of, but for now I’ve just tackled a couple little projects.
I found the pumpkin and candy corn fabric weeks ago and sewed it into a festive table cloth. It works well since we have a lot of pumpkins around. Since my zombie dishcloth has seen better days, I stitched up a brand new werewolf towel. Had I remembered my science lab theme, I would have made a heart or some organs, but in the end I like the werewolf quite a bit.
For the authentic touch, I have this little squirrel skull that we found on a trail. It’s my first time cleaning a skull and it is wonderful how much nature can do on it’s own (thank you ants and bacteria). I have a few larger bird bones but they’re still a little too fleshy and gross to bring inside and I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate me cleaning them in our common areas.
It feels like October is nearly gone already and we’ve only had a single cool day. I wish time would slow down a bit more. Everything feels like it is flying by at lightning speed and I don’t want to miss it.
