Halloween (cheater) Quilt

Hello Ghoulies!

Are we ready for Halloween this year? I am! This is in stark opposition to the last several years where I've yanked my decorations down from the rafters in a mad dash, hurrying to get the pumpkins (electric - cuz I don't have kids and I'm lazy) plugged in and the candy in the bowl by the door, before the bell starts ringing. I'm actually ready ahead of time this year, I've got my house decorated, my candy ready and I've been working a little Halloween magic!

I have a few Halloweenie things to share with you guys this week, and I thought I'd start with this little quilt I whipped up last week. I feel a little guilty claiming this is a quilt, because there's no piecing in it whatsoever, but it is quilted, technically, so I'm calling it a "cheater" quilt.

Welcome to Trick or Treat Street! This is a once piece panel from Beverly's, which brings me to something that I've been meaning to tell you guys for a while. Do you guys know about Beverly's Deal of the Day? Every morning at 9am (Pacific Time) Beverly's puts up three coordinating fabrics for $2.97 per yard. Seriously. These are nice fabrics too, quilters quality. Sometimes it's flannel, sometimes there are panels, like the one above, and other times it's chickens. Yes, chickens. I might not like every fabric on the deal of the day, but I still check in daily because you just never know. For this project I bought 1 panel (1 yard) and 2 yards of the backing fabric, for a total of three yards. The cost of the this wee little lap quilt $10.00. I should actually add that the distribution center for Beverly's is in the town I work in, so I get a double score on that end. I call the store, order my fabric, then pick it up after I get off work, so no shipping charges for me, yay! Even still, $2.97 for a yard of fabric?? It's a good deal, you should check it out.

I didn't want to be too perfect with this project, I just wanted to make something quick and fun and useful, and I didn't want to get too wrapped up in the details. I quilted this piece around the borders, and then in just a few places within the center, like this spooky tree.

I do have one little concern, I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture above and I don't know if it's something normal or just something that happens with black fabric (I haven't made anything with black fabric before). But after I finished the quilting, I washed it and the black parts of the panel seemed to fade quite a bit more than I thought they would. The black looks like it's been washed several times, not just the one time... heh. Any clue, friends?

The backing fabric is full of cute little devils. Since I have extra of this fabric, I think I'll make a few place mats for the table.

Here's how the two fabrics look together.

I love little blankets, it's so nice when the weather starts to change and I can snuggle up with one after a long, hot summer. This one is pretty small, literally just big enough to cover my lap (with a little extra for Lola to bury her cold dog-nose under), but it's nice for these coolish October evenings when I'm not ready for my poofier winter blankies just yet. Plus, it looks pretty cute hanging over the back of my couch. It's actually on my lap right now, as I'm writing to you guys. :)

So come back soon, I have lots to show you, and only a few days left til Halloween. Shoot, I might be blogging every night between now and then, woohoo! Have you guys done any Halloween crafty/sewey/stitchy stuff this year? Tell me all about it & point me to it if you've blogged it, I wanna see!

Have a creeeepy evening,

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Lord of the Rings in Concert the other night was amazing!! I didn't get any pictures because I was too enthralled with the performance, but if this comes to your city, do make sure to get yourself a ticket! It's worth every penny.