Fall is flying by

I can't believe it's even Fall - let alone this close to Halloween!  It's been busy.  Just last week 4 intrepid Brookings quilters headed to Santa Clara for the Pacific International Quilt Festival.  And what a show it was!  Fabulous!

We traveled through Santa Rosa and saw the fire damage where it jumped across 101 several times.  Brookings was threatened by a fire this summer, but we definitely got lucky when the wind changed for our little town.  Our hearts go out to the whole community - we know first hand that everyone is affected.

I've been playing with my large collection of selvedges lately!  It all started with an UFO I needed to finish because almost everyone else was finished and I was a heartbeat away from being Queen of the UFOs!!  Gasp!  That's never good.

A small group banded together and decided to try a group fabrication - because, seriously, aren't they amazing!  We decided to start with a 'barn slice' as explained in an old copy of Quilting Today Magazine.


I helped a friend who couldn't finish hers (on the left) and made my section out of 'text' fabrics I've been playing around with. It reminded me of the deserted barns that have weathered to all grey.  Those narrow little strips led to more selvedge postcards.  And then selvedge Mummies on post cards!

Don't try to follow how my brain skips merrily from project to project!  Just go with the flow!




 I love this layout of selvedges.  Reminds me of old string quilts!










Riel Nason has a great Halloween book published showing her awesome selvedge Halloween quilts.  I fell in love with  "Mummy needs Fabric" and reduced it to a postcard size.

You would not believe how big of a mess results from these innocent little postcards!!  Selvedges everywhere!



I have a small group meeting here tomorrow and this afternoon I TORE our small condo apart looking for 2 Halloween hangings.  Nada!

 "Hello, Police!  I'd like to report a robbery.  No, they did not take our big screen or the 3 tablets/computers we own.  They took a Halloween four-patch and a wool hanging with 3 jack o'lanterns on it!!!  Oh, never mind, you're right - I'll probably find them when I get out the Easter decorations!!!! "  But don't you just hate it when you CANNOT find something when you 'know' just where you must have put it!!!

But while looking for them, I found some others I can substitute!!

"Witch and Famous" is a quilt I usually hang on the door.  The wind is roaring and pouring rain today and tomorrow ... it will be safer inside!

The original pattern had a complicated border ... but after listening to friends complain about it, I found this 'spooky' stripe in my stash and it was perfect ... and easy!!








  Small, Fall, Wall is an old fall quilt.  A reduction and less complicated version of an pattern put out by Red Wagon back in the day.  Linda Brannock actually came to a retreat and taught us!!  So lucky!

She told us, "Just because we make it that size, doesn't mean you have to!"  You could have heard a pin drop in that room.  Our minds were all grasping that fact and figuring out which pattern we were going to reduce first!!!

I ended up making 4(?) of these.  Everyone loved it and 'needed' one immediately!

 The pumpkins table runner was from a Cathy Ware class a few years ago.  Again I adapted the pattern, the tops of the pumpkins hung off the body of the runner and that was just too fussy for me!  My table is wider than usual and making the whole piece wider made it look better too!  Win-win!

Look at those cute pumpkins on top of it!  I got the fabric one at PIQF - itty-bitty yo-yos and buttons.  Who doesn't love those!

It's late and I must start heading for bed! Big day tomorrow:  I have to get up early and assemble Vampire doughnuts!!  [insert evil laugh here!] But I'll leave you with some eye candy from Portland Expo!  Enjoy!