..... make myself a Halloween Table Runner....simple...not so. Stay here a while and I'll share with you my HALLOWEEN HORRORS ..... a tale of tears, trials, and errors...and believe it or not, a happy ending.
It all started when my friends Rose, Anna and I decided to present a night of sharing in November at our local quilting group of other friends. Anna stepped right up to the bar and she made her table runner. Rose will act as our main spokeswoman. So how was I going to participate? (picture a light bulb shining brightly here!).....I know, another friend, Bonita, had just shared a pattern with us. Yes! This will be my portion. I will make and demonstrate this new idea in easy patterns, which are quick, simple, and very striking when finished.
So you get the picture already don't you. Now to share with you why I am calling this special, but yet oh so pretty table runner HALLOWEEN HORRORS
Enjoy the tale.
HALLOWEEN HORRORS
Yes,using that lesson from Bonita. I have renamed that table runner from Hugs and Kisses to Halloween Horrors. Here has and is my experience so far.
1/ sewed the front wrongly by adding that reverse block pattern.hence I was going to call it HALLOWEEN HUGS AND KISSES ...you know XOX idea..Wrong, wrong, wrong! None of the seams joined properly and it was a more jagged look. .OK ripped out, resewed it together again, and now it looks great
2/ worked on the back using that reverse block that is no longer showing the X in the middle, sewed strips of same material used on front and left over to each end to complete the look.
3/ pinned both front and back together...back was on strip short on each end. Fixed that to make the back longer than the front
4/ got it all pinned an quilted looking good and learned how to work with invisible thread on back...looking good All quilted, now to move forward to the binding..
5/ trimmed up all 4 sides to make it all nice and ready for sewing on the black binding
6/ turned it over HORRORS......one side at one end goes from 1" short to zip short...the length of one of the blocks on front........I think I died...now what do I do.
7/ I went to Walmart and bought myself a light weight BROTHER sewing machine as I have been telling myself to do since early spring. You know how it is.....when things get stressed, the stressed go shopping.
8/ I came home and figured out how to fix that horror so it will at least get finished. I joined the short section to some left over strips that I had just cut off while straightening the sides (see #5). Hand stitched everything into place, trimmed again and did a final 1/8" stitch around all 4 sides to be sure I had it right this time. I DID....whew!
9/ From this point on it was easy, peasy. Cut out my binding, sewed it to the back, turned around and pinned the front binding in place and sat down at my new sewing machine and stitched a beautiful line all around it. I used thread auditioning the colours of fall. Hunter green, running into gold and then into orange, light cream and black.....boy that made everything pop.
I named it Halloween Horrors, an cant wait for you to see the finished photos below.
Oh no wait!!!!!!!
3A/......I took a pen that you can iron off the lines (friction pen) and proceeded to draw wiggly lines all over the lightest area on the front for quilting ideas. I didn't like the scribbles so tried to iRON them out. Oh Grasp....I used the wrong pen and ended up with bright green highlighter and it won't iron off......sheesh!
This has been such a disaster that I think for fun and hilarity. it has been a really educational step in my quilting and thank goodness I learned that pride goes before a fall, or Karma Can and Does Kick Butt.....I was so pleased with the progress I was making after step 1 above, that I thought then nothing would stop me now....well it didn't I stop me, but certainly slowed me down and opened my eyes as to what can happen in my quilting life.
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So now I will share some photos with you so you can see the "horrors" in full view. Before I do so, I just wanted to say that this really turned out to be a pretty neat table runner and when the green lines disappear I'm going to love it even more. BTW I was able to purchase a lightweight sewing machine a week or so ago. It is a Brother 9130. It comes loaded with lots of neat things, including fancy stitches....so when you see the photo of the border, yes, that is my crowning glory, and it turned out to be problem free.....well except for a tiny, little section that if I didn't point it out, you might not see that the binding was a bit off. So please enjoy and remember me on October 31 as I will certainly be enjoying my self.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!!!!! :) :) :)Smiles and giggles
Sept 01, 2014 :)
*started Aug 18th and finished Aug 31, 2014.....this has to have been my fastest project ever.
