Funny story: I was reminded about this post, seeing all the hoopla on Instagram about a Halloween Swap, and I couldn’t find it. As it turns out, I never hit publish! So here it is.  #TBT

Originally, one of my first “start to finish” quilts was a Halloween banner for my friend Amy – Hi! I hadn’t learned how to bind yet and Summercrafter hadn’t been born. The fabric collection I used for hers was Spooktacular by Sanae for Moda. I used a whole charm pack (42 pieces) and some FQs for cat and Frank and backing of course.

Here I am, sewing on vacation in 2010, making it for her while practicing everything I had learned about quilting up until that point.

Last year, I was tickled when Miriam called me and asked me to make her one “just like that” referring to the one I had made for Amy. Here is the newer version I made with much more confidence and quilting experience. For this one, I used 2 Charm packs (each had 21 pieces) of Halloween Parade by Doodle Bug Design Inc for Riley Blake Designs (It seems I like everything they put out!)

Here are close ups of the appliques. First the kitty. I blanket stitched around each figure. Whiskers are free motioned as well as background which is stippled. (Did you see the spider on his nose?)

I made template letters with the Cricut and used fusible to trace the letters BACKWARDS, and did a tiny blanket stitch around each letter. Did the smallest blanket stitch around these too. Everything was done with the sewing machine except the buttons.

Frank is always fun. I used Rick Rack for the top of his hair and a machine embroidery stitch for his scar, that’s my favorite part.

With the leftover squares, I made her this little mat for her candy dish.

It was so much fun to make it for her for ten minutes a day. She got it just in time for October!