Happy Halloween Village!

Last weekend, you will remember, my friend Noell Phipps and I went up to Sugar Pine Quilt Shop in Grass Valley. While I was in a fabric frenzie, I notice that Anne was cutting several fabrics and she had a book open on her counter. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was getting fabric ready for a class. I looked at the book and had to have it!  Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier.

The outside of the book didn't peak my interest, it was what was inside that caught my eye. I never would have picked this up if Anne hadn't had it open to a very cool project. Thumbing through I noticed the Halloween Village and the Christmas Village...CUTE!

This weekend, my friend Brenda Allen came over, she needed some help finishing up the mitered borders on her quilt, so we worked on that and just sewed the day away.  Sometimes it's just great to have that creative synergy of another person to sew with. Anyway, at the end of the day I showed her the book and said...what do you think? Well we were off and running! I was pulling halloween colors last night and so was Brenda, we made our templates and got to cutting...I jumped the gun a little but she caught right up!

Last night I was playing with the bits and getting the basics laid down...this morning I scrapped it and started over...haha!  Fickle.

Brenda came over after church and we really got busy. Scissors flying!

My kitchen is thrashed!  But we are having a ball. The beauty of this project...no sewing, you glue the bits down. There is a process and I would suggest that you get the book and read thoroughly the basic instructions. You are using basic shapes and if you ever played with Colorforms as a kid you will be right at home! Don't be afraid to move things around!  

As you get the basic shapes down and start to embellish them, that is when the fun begins. Here is Brenda's quilt:

The beauty of this project...it's only 16 inches square. You probably have everything you need to make it in your scrap bins or your stash. It goes quickly and you will have immediate gratification. Putting the roofs on is when the fun begins because you start seeing it coming together.

This was the Happy Halloween Village from Karen Eckmeier's book, you can see how much fun you can have embellishing, the sky is the limit.

Finished for today, I'll be adding to this after work each evening I'm sure, as the inspiration hits.  Check back to see the finish!

Don't forget to visit our Facebook page to enter our giveaway this month!  www.Facebook.com/SisterOfTheDivide

Candy Corn Table Topper Tutorial

This is a tutorial for making the Candy Corn Table Topper.  If you want a fast and easy project, this is a good one.  It took me about an hour, start to finish, with taking photos along the way.  Mind you, this has not been quilted yet, but I think probably another hour of time and I could have it quilted and the binding on.

Okay, here we go, start with 5 strips cut 2.5" x WOF 

(Width of Fabric 40-44")  

mix up lights, darks and mediums for visual interest.  

Stitch your strips together in a strip set and press all the seams in one direction. Doesn't matter which way, they just all need to go in the same direction.  TIP:  make sure your seams are all the way open.

Now take a look at your quilt ruler, look for the 60 degree marks. Don't get them mixed up with the 45 degree marks or you'll have a mess.  You might want to put a colorful sticker at one end to remind you.

Lay your ruler on your fabric and line up the 60 degree line with the first seam on your set. Make sure the bottom of the ruler is on the fabric before you make a cut.   Trim away the fabric to the left of the ruler as shown below.  Make sure your ruler doesn't move when you are cutting.  The first cut is very important.

Okay, now move your ruler and line up that 60 degree line with the cut side of your fabric as shown below.  See how we are creating that 60 degree triangle?  Okay, now cut your fabric along the right side of the ruler, as shown below.

Now, without turning your fabric, turn your ruler and line up that 60 degree mark along the cut edge of your fabric as shown below.  Again, you will make your cut on the right side of the ruler as shown below.  You will continue to do this, alternating your ruler back and forth until you reach the end of the strip set.  You should have 6 triangular pieces.

If you have done as instructed, you should have 6 triangles.  You will notice by cutting 3 right side up and 3 upside down that we have two different looking sets of triangles.  Alternate these for your layout as shown below.

We will sew this together in two sets as shown below.  All seams will be pressed OPEN.  

Take one triangle and place it right sides together on the other.  Now this is the cool part.  Since we ironed all the fabric seams in one direction to start, they will nestle together.  Nest your seams and place a pin next to the seam to keep things lining up properly. This seam is on the diagonal so be careful when you are stitching and don't over stretch the seam, you can give a little tug to get things lined up if necessary.

Nest your seams as shown below, you will feel them nest together, then tuck a pin next to the seam.

When you have stitched your seam, press it open as shown below.

You are now ready to attach the third triangle.  Make sure you alternate colorways.  Note the tip or rabbit ear that is sticking out. Don't cut it off.  Leave it, we will use it to match up the tip of our next triangle as shown below.

Now stitch 1/4 inch starting at the intersection of that tip and the other side as shown below.  Press your seam open. and it should look like the one below.  Leave that little tip, it will help us line things up, you can trim it after.

Do the same for the other 3 triangles.  You should have two halves sewn together now.   Take a pin and put it through the intersection of the point on one half and through the same point on the other to line them up right sides together.  Keep this pin perpendicular to your fabric and place a couple pins on either side before you remove it as shown below.

As before, nest all of your seams, placing a pin next to each one to keep your fabric from moving and stitch your final seam.  Trim off any remaining bunny ears and press your seam OPEN.  You are ready to quilt and bind your Candy Corn Table Topper!  It will take two strips of fabric 2.5" x WOF (width of fabric 40-44") stitched together to bind your little table topper.  Finished size is about 23 inches in diameter.   You can increase or decrease the size of your table topper simply by using wider or narrower strips in your strip set.  The table topper will finish at about twice the width of your strip set.