I Love a Good Pumpkin . . . .

After seeing dozens of pumpkin quilts on social media, I just couldn't help myself, I decided I needed a pumpkin quilt too.

There are several great pumpkin patterns available, but I chose Pumpkin Seeds by The Pattern Basket for my pumpkin quilt.

Have you noticed the assortment of real pumpkins these days?  White and blue pumpkins were very popular at my farmers market, and the inspiration for my version of Pumpkin Seeds.  It also helped that I had depleted my orange stash making my Halloween Blooms, no orange pumpkins for me, this year.

I did "Thelmaize" it just a tad.  

First off, I decided not to put stars in the pumpkins, I thought it would be fun to come up with a different design for each one.  Here's a block that is exactly like the pattern, other than the star.

I also rotated some blocks to make them tall instead of short.  

And I added a row to a few of the pumpkins, to make them bigger.

And end in the end came up with this.

This is Lifetime Quilt #188

The pattern is Pumpkin Seeds by The Pattern Basket

It finished at 49" x 69"

The background fabric is by Janet Claire for Moda, the line is called Nocturne.  

The sparkle fabric is Luster by Zen Chic for Moda.

It has approximately 485 pieces.

And here are my Village scrap houses!

Those pumpkin blocks are easy to piece, and fast.  Now I need a new fall project to tide me over until I start a Christmas one.

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Autumn Woods - a finish, finally

I'm so happy I didn't give up on this fabric.  It took several tries, and a lot of contemplation,  but I finally came up with a good pattern for my Autumn Woods fabric.

This is Lifetime Quilt Number 186

The focus fabric is Autumn Woods by Kate and Birdie for Moda

The background fabric is Reflect by Carolyn Friedlander for Robert Kaufman.

The pattern was inspired by High Surf in the Blue book by Vanessa Christenson.

It finished at 68" x 68"

It has approximately 1,232 pieces

The background fabric is printed on Essex Linen.  I love the look of the two different textures, the linen alongside the quilting cotton, and it was very easy to work with.  I prewashed the fabric and it didn't shrink or wrinkle.

It is heavier than the quilting cotton, and hard to press open.  I couldn't get the sharp creases that I'm used to when working only with quilting cotton, I lost quite a few points because the fabric wouldn't press as flat, due to the bulk.  It may be better suited for bags, pillows, and seat cushions.

Here is the pattern that I started with.  The pattern has large, medium and small half square triangle units.

I added more medium sized hsts and played around with their placement to get a different look.  It's hard to go wrong when you're playing with hsts.  I use the Easy Angle when piecing my units, cut them a tad bit large, and square them up.

I continue to use my project scraps to make Village houses, here's 3 more, a nice addition for Fall.

It's almost the end of the year and I almost have enough houses for my 2016 Village project.  I love it when a plan comes together.

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