Quilt Reveal: October Holiday House

It's not October yet, but here October Holiday House is way ahead of the pack, ready for the new year.

I told you the story of when I bought the kit a couple of weeks ago.

 I started making the kit at the end of October 2021. I have been trying to make one small quilt a month. Using the kit which has marinated long enough was a good option.

I put this quilt away to get ready for the October birthday gathering, and kept it away for the week we met with the customers.

I brought it out to work on, but it had to be set aside again for the Portrait Representation Quilt. I did work on it a little bit that week, but this week I was able to give it full time attention to finish it.

The kit included everything you needed to make the top and the binding. I had a couple of fat quarters that had accidentally been sent to me in the mail instead of what I had ordered. I was allowed to keep them and they both came in handy for this quilt.

 

I cut out the October from one of them and did not have to make individual letters. I also used that fabric for the label. I really liked using tulle as a design element.

The pumpkins and the spider came from the other fat quarter. The kit came with buttons, but they have shanks on the back and I didn't want to use them that way. That fabric is also used for the backing.

It was a fun mini to make and helped warm up my free motion confidence to work on the Representation Portrait Quilt.

Quilt Shuffle

 As you know, I have been working on this October Halloween House. I was saving the story of this quilt until the reveal, but I will share it now as a reward to you for following my WIP posts.  

 

Once upon a time, I lived within walking distance of a quilt shop. I knew what a treasure that was. I took several classes there, and sent my daughter for a week of Quilt Camp. I bought some black and red fabric for a quilt when the box store wasn't selling black and red fabrics. Some miscellaneous tools and supplies now and then when I didn't feel like driving all the way to the box store. All of these purchases meant that I was able to become a member of their rewards club.

It meant that every time I went to that store, I could get a free fat quarter. Did I tell you I lived within walking distance? About 15-20 minutes each way. I got the bright idea that since I needed to exercise anyway, I could walk to the store every weekend and see all their wonderful displays. This was before I knew walking every day was a thing real people could do. It was like going to an art museum. I could also get my free fat quarter. I managed to get some exercise and get a lot of polka dotted fabric for  The Earth Laughs in Flowers. That quilt isn't nicknamed Daisy's Chickenpox for nothing. I did buy some things once in a while, but mostly I came back home with the fat quarter.

Then they moved even closer to me. They instituted a policy that you had to buy something to get the free fat quarter.

One day, for some reason, they decided that they needed to move away from cheapskates like me. They had a big moving sale, and I snagged the October quilt kit for $5. It comes with pre-printed windows, tulle for the fog and the ghost, and buttons for the pumpkins and spider. I decided not to use the buttons since I found a great backing fabric that includes pumpkins and spiders I can also use on the front.

I have started the quilting, but still have more to do. I had to put this quilt aside for an emergency holiday gift I am making.

I will tell you its story tomorrow.

2021: Week 50 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

When last we met in my last post, I told you that we had our family birthday gathering. It went well, and with a clean house, I rolled right into a meeting with the customers at work.  My desk faces the wall, so my zoom screen behind me shows the dining room table in the living room. It kept me from making any quilting messes, but I didn't have any time to make a mess either, so it all worked out.

 Lots of long hours. Although I didn't have a time zone change to deal with like others did, I did have to wake up earlier, and since we didn't travel, Zeus had to make a time change too. He is a stickler for the schedule so he does not like the schedule upended like that.

2021:  Week 49 and 50 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

I see I didn't post for Dec 5. Probably because I didn't do any quilting and was too busy getting ready to meet he customers. For the week ending Dec 12, we ended on Thursday, and instead of working on Friday, I decided to take a long weekend to recover. This gave me time to turn my living room into a sewing area again and to make more progress on my Halloween mini quilt. I didn't take a photo of it in the daylight, so it will be a nice reveal for you to see it all finished.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 14

15 minute days this year -- 281 out of 346 days

Success rate  = 81%

 

 

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

2021: Week 48 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

2021:  Week 48 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

I spent my week getting ready for the gathering and having the gathering. We had a good time, even though some members of our family was not able to come.

I spent a couple of sessions to put the remainder of the pieces on the Halloween block. I plan to have one or more quilt finishes before the end of the year to offset the many quilts I have started.

15 minute days this week --2 out of 7

15 minute days this year -- 274 out of 332 days

Success rate  = 83%

 

 

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch

2021: Weeks 45 and 46 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

 

We had a nice extended colorful leaf season. It has been wonderful to see all the different hues of autumn and see the colors fall in the breeze.

The cold season has begun.  First we had frosted tips on the leaves.

It's getting colder now and we had snow showers yesterday and big puffy snowflakes this morning.

Let the animals eat the Halloween decorations.

2021:  Week 45 and 46 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

I didn't get around to posting my status last week, but I did a lot of quilting. Besides making the red postage stamp block, I also added more to my dots and dashes quilt and started a Halloween mini and a scrap mini quilt. I will take photos of all those soon to show you.

This week, I only did some quilting today, so my progress last week helps cushion the blow from this week.

15 minute days this week --8 out of 14

15 minute days this year -- 270 out of 318 days

Success rate  = 85%

 

 

This week dropped the success rate but I can take heart in the fact that I was at 83% last year.

Linked with:

15 Minutes to Stitch