Hello all, Mary Ellen here.

Most quilters have made a piece or two to bring out during the Christmas season, but I wonder if you’ve made anything for the Halloween or harvest time of year. I’ve read that more money is spent in the US on decorating for the Halloween season than for any other time of the year. Perhaps that includes all of the costumes, outdoor “freaky” fun and pumpkin villages as well as the typical indoor stuff. How about you? Do you have any quilty things for this time of year?

As I sit here at the kitchen counter and look around the house, I can see that I have quite a collection amassed over several years. I’ll share a few of my things and I hope you’ll tell us about yours in a comment. Here’s a list in no particular order:

Stuffed cotton apples and pears in a fabric bowl which is atop a Halloween place mat,

Stuffed cotton, flannel and wool pumpkins atop a table topper made from a swap of 5″ squares of fall and harvest fabrics. My quilty friends have done several projects with fabrics we swapped in the group. Last evening at the guild meeting we were reminiscing about all the projects we’ve done that way. Maybe we’ll come up with another one.

a Halloween quilt on the back of the couch made in a seminar class with Gretchen Duhling (sp?) using her 2 x 4 rectangle techniques. I cut my pieces from a Halloween jelly roll which I still remember was titled “Pumpkins Gone Wild”,

a wall hanging with an assortment of Halloween prints in the background, and a big witch’s hat appliqued over top. That one was made to show that if you change-up the fabrics you can give a quilt a very different look. I was giving a demo on a baby quilt pattern for a local shop, and used my Halloween version to illustrate my point.

a table runner from a super easy pattern called “The Big Easy” using fabric I purchased at the “gone but not forgotten” oasis for quilters: Pine Grove Workshop out near Lockport. Fond memories for so many of us of that shop and its lovely staff.

a fabric haunted house which I made as a variation on Christmas houses from a Terri Atkinson pattern,

on the wall in the stairway hangs a pumpkin stack panel which I bordered with 4 patches. Purchased the panel at one of Material Rewards’ holiday open houses.

I’ll stop there, I guess. This brought to mind a comment that Bonnie Hunter made during her lecture on using scraps. Your fabric carries your memories. Micki’s commentary about her quilts last evening illustrated that same point. I bet you can tell stories about your quilts too.

Share a story with us!