Yes, it's Halloween and while not my favorite holiday, I did let my 3 daughters go trick or treating just to keep them in their social loop! But they never could have scary costumes - just fun ones like M and Ms or ballerinas. Today's calendar block is the Pumpkin Patch! It was made by Linda D, one of my Calendar Girls. Pumpkin Patch: 12" Here's my Pumpkin Patch block, sitting on the front porch keeping my real pumpkin company, along with some of our garden tomatoes. I used some Benartex fabrics from their Harvest Keepsakes Collection . Because it's Halloween, I'll share one of my own Halloween quilts from 25 years ago: 8 Block Halloween quilt using a stack 'n whack method Here is the pattern page for my previous Block a Day Calendar (2007 with Martingale). Yes, it's a Drunkard's Path. The block is called Ghost Walk. Those are quarter circles which are appliquéd to squares, my cheater's method for Drunkard's Path! Hope your day isn't fil...

Just because a quilt has pumpkins on it doesn't mean it's strictly for Halloween! But it does bring Halloween to mind! Here is my Harvest Pumpkins quilt which was first published in Quilt Magazine in 2004. The pumpkins were made with a collection of bright orange batik fabrics. And, believe it or not, the striped border was also a batik. No funky templates - those pumpkins are rectangles with corner triangles added (squares sewn along diagonal and trimmed). Easy! Harvest Pumpkins : 8" blocks; 25" x 34" My oldest daughter (Audrey) grabbed it several years ago to use on her table. It looks pretty happy to share the space with some gourds and a little pumpkin! Harvest display at Audrey's Here is how it appeared in Quilt Magazine almost 20 years ago: Harvest Pumpkins getting ready for Halloween Here's another pumpkin quilt that teamed up with a kitty. This definitely makes me think of Halloween. I think I still have this quilt (which means that one of my da...

 Owls. And cats. Who gives a hoot? Owl Be There. Two giant 18" blocks I fussy cut these hexagons so I could capture those awesome tree motifs with the hooty-owls perched up in the curly limbs. Isn't this the cutest fabric? It's an older one by Benartex: Owl Be There. One 18" block And here is a REALLY old quilt with some very cute motifs. I was working with fat quarters, so that's how I was able to give it a border. This appeared in my second book, Supersize 'em Quilts (2009, Martingale). Big Block Star And some really cute pillowcases from several years ago. I gave these to my little grandsons (who aren't very little anymore). Fun Halloween pillowcase (front) I had to piece the pillowcase because of the amounts of fabric I had. Not to worry. Kids don't mind! Back of pillowcase And the last pillowcase I'm sharing today. There's one of those owls captured in a smaller hexagon. But - oooooh - where did those spiders come from? I hope you've e...

This is one of my very oldest Halloween quilts that I still own. I distinctly remember buying this kitty fabric at Walmart for $1.00 a yard! I had just learned a new technique from a guild friend which I called Magic Stax. This was before Bethany Reynolds published her similar technique called Stack 'n Whack. I made this in 2002 and it was published in Quilt Magazine. Halloween Pinwheel Quilt Here is a photo of the fabric. Note that sweet kitty (who's about to be chopped into little triangles). Then when you cut seven more squares the EXACT size, cut them and then swap the piles, you get a kaleidoscope result! This is SO much simpler than cutting all those individual triangles. One stack of 8 triangles become one kaleidoscope block And then a second group of 8 triangles: I have made several quilts using this technique. Do a search for Pinwheel blocks and you will find them here. Here are two other quilts with black cats featured. This was made about 20 years ago and these block...

So many cute prints - and since I've been sewing for a few fabric companies for the past 25 years, I've had my share of these fabrics. These are from 2014, the Spooktacular Collection by Benartex. Spooktacular Collection I made some little bloomers for my granddaughter. And can you believe those ribbons of ghosts and pumpkins? I wish I still had some. I think I gave them to my grandsons. Then I wanted to capture some of those "harmless" looking spiders and feature them in - what else - a quilt! I cut out squares and then sewed corner triangles on them. You may remember this picture from 2014. Here's one of those snowballed blocks: a bottle of Hell Fire - can you believe it? And the finished quilt was perfect when I captured those border rows of bottles of witches' concoctions. I sent this to one of my little grandsons in Pennsylvania. Spooktacular Quilt And my grandsons were still little in 2014 (elementary age now), so I made them some pajama pants. Aren'...

This is my Halloween Boo Quilt . It was the result of a quilt guild block swap and I won these 6 blocks! I saw them as houses and I gave them roofs and fences and made a neighborhood of them. I quickly added those bats, a tree, the fencing and, of course, BOO! Halloween Boo Quilt : 52" x 72" Two of the blocks are from commercial patterns, so I couldn't exactly replicate them in my Etsy pattern , but here are a few that are: Ghost and pumpkins Moon and pumpkins The Great Pumpkin And, yes, I have patterned the bats and cat and the BOO! And the tree, fence and star! What about those bats? I have shared them a few times in the past. Here is a table topper I made several years ago. And, oooohhh! Those creepy spiders! Bat Wreath Let's see the appliqué patches before they were attached. They're just chilling on that piece of fabric. Bats And here is the quilting from the wrong side. I used these images many times in my annual quilting calendars. Here's one from 2013 ...

I've made quite a few Halloween quilts over the years. Fun fabrics combine with easy blocks to make great holiday creations. Though, to be honest, it was my LEAST favorite "holiday." When my 3 daughters were growing up, the schools always had dress-up days for Halloween and they went on parades throughout the school. I didn't want my kids to be ostracized, so I played along. Only one rule: they couldn't be anything "wicked" or "evil." And I was NOT going to invest more than one hour's worth of sewing time! And, yes, I did take them out trick or treating in our neighborhood (and left my husband home to hand out all that "yummy" candy to the other kids). Here is Harvest Pumpkins . It was first published in Quilt Magazine in 2004. It appears in my 2012 Wall Calendar of Quilts (which is now a 92 page pdf I sell on Etsy). There are a total of 13 quilt patterns in there! But, you may be interested only in this quilt (and not the other ...

More fun ways with cards and fabric! This spooky spider is also from the Spooktacular collection (2014) and I made a simple card with my 6 year old granddaughter. She chose the motif, we centered it on the cardstock and I helped her sew it (by machine) to the card. We also test drove a window card (meant for photos) and she loved putting those cute Christmas penguins inside! Mixing Halloween and Christmas My Quilter's Block a Day Calendar (Martingale, 2004) has several blocks that have a Halloween theme for October. This is Pumpkin Vine, a variation on Drunkard's Path. Pumpkin Vine This is a set of 4 flying bats that I made for a Blog Hop many years ago. Don't you love those spiders?! Bat Wreath Here is a VERY old quilt I made about 20 years ago: Kitty in the Pumpkin Patch. Not living with me anymore; not sure if one of my 3 daughters has it or if I gifted it to someone. I'm sure it's happy that it can live outside my closet! Kitty in the Pumpkin Patch Sometimes (a...

Oh, maybe not. But he might! To be sure you're ready, how about a pumpkin quilt or two? Kitty in the Pumpkin Patch This is one of my favorite pumpkin quilts. The blocks are paper pieced and all the fabrics are batiks. And spiders? I don't like them, but these pjs for my grandsons are certainly part of the season! Scary spiders ready for pumpkin day Now for the FREE Harvest Pumpkin Quilt pattern. Yes, I said FREE (well, I typed it, but you know what I mean). I wanted to share it now, in September, because you need to be ready when the Great Pumpkin comes by and wants to see how sincere you are. Harvest Pumpkins - 25" x 34"; 8" block This appeared in Quilt Magazine several years ago and was also featured in my 2012 Wall Calendar of Quilts. I've been "paid" for it twice, so that's why it's free. You can get it at my Craftsy Store where it's a FREE download. I find it works better to offload my patterns there than to clo...