High Road Quilter: October 2024

Monday, October 21, 2024

My Wicked Quilt: Bona Lisa

I am participating in the Something Wicked blog hop and now it's time for my blog hop day.

I've been seeing a lot of beautiful Halloween patterns lately, and since Joan and Carol have been so accommodating and kind in hosting this blog hop, I decided to use one of their patterns. They both have provided so many Halloween patterns that it is difficult to choose, but a lot of them are on another hard drive, so it was pretty easy to choose.

I chose the center panel of the block of the month, Bona Lisa. The pattern is by Joan Kawano and the pattern is called Bona Lisa's Sweater Emporium 2024 BOM. This is the pattern for the center of the quilt, and the remaining blocks are supposed to surround the center panel, but I decided to keep it simple and make this one block.

I had thought about adding a house in the background, to go with my last Halloween quilt, but my fabric wasn't wide enough.

I put together the headstone first, securing the fusible applique with some stitches. I chose a different fabric for the yarn at first, but I kept seeing this scrap of fabric from the Tropical Fish quilt and it looks more like yarn to me, so I switched it out.

The green is the backing fabric and will be trimmed away before I bind it.

Then I put together the skeleton and decided to combine the stitching to secure the applique with the quilting. I didn't use the layout in the pattern and didn't overlap the bones nearly as much as the pattern does. I used the rejected yarn fabric for the mouth, though I realize my Lisa is going to have peach lipstick all over her teeth!

I thought about adding more blocks around this panel, but I decided to stop here. I have so many quilts that I need to finish that I wanted to get this one finished, which means the panel is enough by itself.

The size of it is perfect for a door banner, and if I put it on the coat closet which is right by the front door, I think it makes a nice welcome for the season.

I need to do some more quilting on it, to secure the background with dark thread, to add the teeth, but since it gets dark early, I decided I could finish it tomorrow instead of rushing to get it done. I like to enjoy the process, and I am really enjoying making this quilt.

I also thought about adding extras like a bat or pumpkins or spider, but for some reason, this quilt is really satisfying the way it is, and I don't feel the need to add anything else. See, I can stop when I want. I'm not addicted to quilting.

I'll show you the finished quilt soon.

Be sure to check out the other participants in the blog hop this week. I gave you the list in my last post.

Friday, October 18, 2024

Something Wicked Blog Hop Starts on Monday!

The "Something Wicked" blog hop is starting next week! This time, I will be posting my quilt at a wickedly early hour on Monday.

Be sure to join us for the wicked fun!

Look who will be creating their magic:

OCTOBER 21

Just Let Me Quilt - hostess

Just Sew Quilter

Sew Many Yarns

Patchouli Moon Studio

High Road Quilter - that's me!

OCTOBER 22

OCTOBER 23

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Beaquilter

Homespun Hannah's Blog

OCTOBER 24

MooseStashQuilting

Ms P Designs USA

Quilted Delights

Quilting Between the Rails

Monday, October 14, 2024

Catching Up

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last posted. So much has been going on.

I have been working on making progress on my quilts, but mostly I have been making videos.

I made a video about How I Made the Tropical Fish Quilt With a Pieced Border. I showed this quilt to you in my last post. I wish Blogger would show the whole thumbnail instead of just part of it.

I bought another batch of African fabric, and recorded a video about that. It turned out to be too long and kept crashing my system, so instead of making a three part video, I decided to make three videos. The first one, The Controversy About African Fabrics, reached a lot of viewers, and the comments on this video are worth the read.

The second video Quilting With African Fabrics, FAQs Answered is really helpful as it answers all of the questions I had when I first was introduced to the fabrics, as well as questions I have been asked.

The third one was going to be the one where I show closeups of the fabric. I made videos but I used the the clips to explain things in the other two videos. I might still show that as a separate video, something about drooling over the fabric and coming up with plans for them. I also want to make a video about how I made the people for the Elephant Parade quilt. I could use some of this fabric for that.

Then I made a very short video as a part of my series for beginning quilters. How to Tell if a Fabric is Cotton or Polyester. The shorter videos don't do as well, but maybe it is because I don't have many videos in the beginner series yet.

Finally today, I published the delightful interview I had with Susan Lenz Dingman. She is a textile artist I have been following for many years. She works with found objects and she stretches the meaning of the word "quilt" in so many ways. I love all of the series of works that she has created. She has traveled across the country to have art installations in galleries and museums, she has sold art as commissions, and has gone on artist residencies.

I got an email that I won a Babylock sewing machine, and I will tell you about that soon.

Next week, I will be participating in the "Something Wicked" blog hop.

I get so excited about Halloween and love to see what my creepy friends create.

The wicked fun begins October 21st...I can't wait!