I’ve had Halloween on my mind the past few weeks. As I worked on my Halloween improv quilt, I decided it needed some trick or treat candy, and that’s how this little block was born. I’m presenting it as my latest freebie for you! These instructions are for a 6″ block.
I’ve been steadily working on a new sampler quilt from Fig Tree & Co. called Halloween Figs. I’ve rarely made anything related to Halloween because for decades I went to an ultra-conservative church that forbade us to have anything to do with that holiday.
Now I’m more middle-of-the-road and I think it’s fine if children want to dress in costumes and ask for candy. It’s only evil if you make it evil. Anyway…
This is the original quilt and isn’t it wonderful? I like it a lot but I wanted to sew from my stash so mine is going to be scrappy. I pulled fabrics from the color drawers a few weeks back.
Yule Glow, designed and made by Diane Harris. Appears in McCall’s Quilting Nov/Dec ’19.
I’m within half a breath of being caught up with my deadlines, which means I have a rare opportunity to sew what I want to sew. There are many projects on my personal list but because it’s almost October, the new Halloween Figs has risen to the top.
The fabrics in the original quilt are from a Moda line by Fig Tree called All Hallow’s Eve, but I didn’t wish to buy a kit and it seems that little yardage is still available. I’ve heard rumors that it will be reprinted but in the meantime, I want to make my quilt.
I’m just back from giving the Jingle Bells trunk show for Lincoln (NE) Quilters Guild and teaching Pine Burr at the International Quilt Museum. It was a great trip and we had so much fun in class.
It’s not hard to find Pine Burr inspiration online. The quilt above is listed for sale at lstDibs with a price tag of $7500. It’s described as “exceptional African American pine burr quilt. All hand quilted and pieced. Found in Selma, Alabama. Fantastic color placement and design. These quilts were made with leftover fabric and clothing.”
The date is given as 1920s and the style is designated as folk art. It’s 60″ x 75″ which makes each block around 12″ square.
Pine Burr from the collection of Corrine Riley on exhibit in 2012 at the Bellevue Arts Museum
Two things piqued my interest in Pine Burr. One was the Bellevue Arts Museum’s exhibition “Bold Expressions: African American Quilts” of more than 50 pieces from the Corrine Riley Collection in the fall of 2012. The quilt above was part of the exhibit.
Last year I had this idea: Design a Christmas quilt with giant candy canes. The candy canes would be so big they’d cover the entire quilt. I nestled them together and topped them off with a Starlite™ mint.
Prancer’s Peppermints, designed and made by Diane Harris, appeared in Quilty Nov/Dec. 2018
Quilty magazine published them as Prancer’s Peppermints in the Nov/Dec ’18 issue.
Diane’s giant pineapple “Welcome” quilt, click for free instructions!
Then I thought it might be fun to make a giant pineapple quilt, and that’s how Welcome was born.
At the end of last year I decided I would make a climate quilt to record the high and low temperatures of each day in 2019.
I would use Baby Windmill blocks, which have a way of creeping into everything I do.
I messed around with some ideas.
The Churn Dash Cross block appeared during the recent Churn Dash Remix here on Stash Bandit. It’s an ordinary Churn Dash but it has been recolored to emphasize different parts of the design.
Here are instructions to make the block which finishes at 9″.
The back story: I was away from my machine for four weeks this summer so I played with the traditional Churn Dash in Electric Quilt. I called it the Churn Dash Remix.
See Part 1 of Churn Dash Remix
See Part 2 of Churn Dash Remix
We’ve played with block proportions, now let’s mess around with settings. A setting is just how blocks will be put together. A setting can be blocks arranged in horizontal rows or on point, blocks with sashing or without, blocks arranged vertically or randomly—there are endless variations.
While I was away from my studio for the arrival of new grandbabies, I dreamed up the Churn Dash Remix so that I could play with virtual quilt designs in Electric Quilt design software. I used a basic traditional Churn Dash quilt block as my starting point. If you missed it, check out Part 1.
In the first part, we left the block proportions alone and just played with the lights and darks plus some scrappy variations. Pretty entertaining! But now we’re getting to the really fun stuff: altering the size of the block’s grid.