For several years I have relied on a couple of Halloween quilts to decorate my house. My mom has a huge collection of fun Halloween fabrics, and this year I thought it was time to update my décor.
This is the first of my Halloween quilts. My mom had a neat collection of scraps from a project she did years ago. I decided to try strip quilting. I started with paper squares to give me an idea of how big I wanted them to be. I used a solid orange fabric to create the center angle, but I didn't measure so the blocks don't all match up perfectly.
After that, I simply took the strips of scrap fabric and sewed them on one at a time. Similar to paper piecing. Once a block was finished, I trimmed the fabric to make equally sized squares.
The strips were not of equal size, but they were all within a ½” of each other. There was actually two different fabric lines mixed together here, which helped create a more scrappy feel.
Once I had used up all of the small strip scraps to make the blocks, I realized the quilt was still quite small. I also hadn’t incorporated the witches from a matching panel. I decided with the remaining long strips I would incorporate the witches and their pumpkins.
There was some sewing and picking to make sure it was laid out just how I wanted. At first, it ended up super long and awkward for hanging as decoration. I doubled up the witches on the top and bottom and added some of the strips to the side to make it a bit wider. This shortened it as well and gave the quilt more balance.
Next, I got to work on the backing. I took the largest cut in the pile and used that to make the backing. It is a fun pattern and compliments the front on the quilt well. I pinned the quilt together and used black thread for a basic meander. I kept the quilting simple, but used a stitch that does a great job creating great texture.
Finally, the binding finished the project. I used the solid orange that is in the scrappy blocks. I think it did a nice job pulling everything together.
I’m so happy with how this turned out. It was a lot of fun experimenting with strip quilting. I never realized how time consuming the process can be. I look forward to doing another one in the future with the collection of scraps I’ve been saving. Until then, I will enjoy my new Halloween quilt.
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