Spooky and Sweet

Yes, I know I have sworn off kits, at least until I have sewn down the backlog in my stash, but this Spooky and Sweet Quilt Along project from the Fat Quarter Shop called to me. Halloween themes that are cute, rather than macabre, are mu preference. These trick-or-treating baby ghosts in a witch or a vampire costume, especially made up in soft colors and grays could indeed be fittingly dubbed "sweet". The kit came with Moda Bella Solids, enough for a 30.5" x 34.5" Wallhanging or a 17.5" x 65.5" Door Banner, and included fabric for the backing and binding. I have very few solids in my stash so I reasoned that this purchase would be a "growth opportunity". The pattern was a free pdf download per week with releases timed for four week completion. I did not sew Spooky & Sweet as a quilt along but, after the patterns for all four weeks had been released, I started in on it.

Week 1 was the Witchy Ghost Block. It looked straightforward but I knew I would need to pay attention to the instructions and proceed carefully. Pieces were labeled A to Z plus AA to EE. Some letters had more than one piece that size; I counted 45 total pieces for this block.

The first step was cutting out all the fabric pieces. Groan. I set out thinking this would be really tedious. Once I got started, though, I abandoned the classic approach of cutting a strip and then sub-cutting shapes from that strip. Instead, I used a rectangular ruler and cut each piece in order. Deploying my Pink Alphabitties letter tabs kept everything organized. When the letters moved to AA, BB, etc I switched to Blue Alphabitties. On the far left is a wool pad. The two red square meshes are rubberized mats intended for use in a refrigerator drawer under produce. One of these drawers is generally called a crisper, but I once heard a comedian refer to it as the rotter. I agree. These pads work much, much better in the sewing room to lay out and layer fabric pieces.

Heaven forbid the breeze from an open window or an overhead fan should destroy all my detailed organization. I protected these pieces by laying clear acrylic rulers over them.

Here are the hat, face, and lower body of the Witchy Ghost Block all assembled. The rectangle was lots of fun, took me less than two hours total once all the pieces were cut out, and measures 13½" x 24½". Whoops I just noticed I put her mouth in upside down. Dang! And it is smack dab in the middle! Should I reverse it? This orientation is perfectly acceptable, but I think I would like that she look happy rather than startled.

Week 2 was the Spirit Star and Spooky Stars Blocks. I believe it was these soft colors that first attracted my attention to this kit. The soft gray of the background played so nicely with the Coral, Clementine, Pesto and Violet hues, toned down from the typical garish orange, green, and purple for Halloween.

Again calling upon my Alphabitties to help organize, these star blocks required 62 pieces A to O. As might be expected with stars, there were a lot of multiples, so the letters only went up to O. It took me slightly over an hour to do the cutting.

Here are the finished star blocks, The Spirit Star is on the top and the two Spooky Stars are underneath. The star blocks were not as quite as much fun as the Witchy Ghost block since they are not as novel, but the cheery colors kept me engaged. The HSTs of the Spooky Stars finish at 2½" inches but start out with instruction to cut 3" squares, not the usual 2⅞" squares; trimming was absolutely essential. Spirit Star measures 11½" x 13½". The pair of Spooky Stars measure 6½" x 13½".

Week 3 was the Vampire Ghost Block. Not only was this block novel like the Witchy Ghost Block but it had those lovely coral and violet colors to lure me on. I had loads of fun with this one. I paid special attention to assure his mouth was facing upward and smiling.

Alphabitties to the rescue again. This vampire ghost block needed 49 pieces, A to Z, and AA to BB.

Here is the finished Vampire Ghost Block. Because this has the Coral, Clementine, and Violet colors, I think he was my favorite to sew up. He measures 13½" x 19½".

Week 4 was Finishing. I opted for the squarish 30½" x 34½" wall hanging rather than the tall 17½" x 65½" door banner. Although I might have had more luck in finding wall space in my home to display the door banner, I preferred how the stars were more integrated in the wall hanging. I can always just display the wall hanging by draping it over the back of a couch or a chair.

The additional cutting for the wall hanging was minimal at 4 - 2½ x 30½ strips for the outer sashing. Here is the assembled wall hanging. Notice I did invert the mouth on the Witchy Ghost so it matched the mouth orientation on the Vampire Ghost.

The quilting, labeling, and binding I will address at a later time in a future blog post. But for now, here is the assembled wall hanging. It may be only somewhat Spooky but it is indeed Sweet!