Kaaren from the The Painted Quilt teaches us how to make these gorgeous fabric pumpkins in her Pumpkin Tutorial – Crazy Quilt Style!.

You’ll start with 6.5″ blocks, stack them, whack them, stitch them, then trim blocks to 4.5″. You’ll stitch the 4.5″ blocks together, make a tube, gather and stuff.

A great tutorial with lots of detailed photos.

Here’s a very quick and easy tutorial to make a spooky trick or treat bag for your little ones to use this Halloween. You’ll need 18 charms, 1/2 yard of fabric for the lining and 2 1/2 yards of black nylon webbing for the handles (or make your own).

I wish I had time to make new trick or treat bags for my nieces this year, but unfortunately I don’t. I’ll see about picking up some Halloween fabric on sale after though to make them for next year. Hopefully we can convince Lucy into letting Baby Alice use her little bag. It will also be Alice’s first birthday, born last Halloween.

I’m actually going to be spending Halloween with the girls… my first Halloween with little ones since my sister was a kid. Very excited. Lucy is going to be a Princess in her “pretty blue cinderella dress”. Do you have little ones? What are they dressing up as?

Phyllis Dobbs has designed this super cute tutorial just in time for Halloween. It uses felt and can be made into a trick or treat bag or a wall hanging.

Get the full-sized pattern and instructions here: Halloween pumpkin and cat felt treat bag or wall hanging

This was the scene the other night around midnight. Both of my boys sleeping soundly in the often fought over chair. I guess they were too tired to fight anymore and decided sleeping together wasn’t so bad after all.

The black and white one is Slade and the brown tabby is Daniel. Daniel is 10 and has been with me for 8 years. He was rescued from the streets by some kind folks in the small town where my parents live and then given to me.

Slade has been with me for 2.5 years and came from a local family up here after being rescued from the cold weather. He’s around 7, but a little harder to say for sure as his health isn’t the best. He was obviously abused and it took a good year before he’d even come out of hiding when friends came over to visit.

Daniel is a momma’s boy. He’s almost always near me, and if I sit to watch TV he’s on my lap even when I don’t want him to be. He’ll often come sit beside me as I work or stitch and demand to be picked up. He’s still very playful, loves toys and the laser pen.

Slade would be happiest if I went to bed by 9:30 and got up at 6:00 each morning. Late at night, he’s often in the bedroom meowing for me to come to bed. He’s still skittish and scares easily. He adores Daniel and always wants to cuddle with him or be close by. Daniel could care less. He loves his Aunties Julia and Linda best.

I’m not sure that alpha male is as important to cats as it is to dogs, but Daniel still has the upper hand even tho Slade far outweighs him. I’ve been expecting the power to shift, but I’m not sure it’ll happen as Daniel is too easy going to really care.

Vicki Welsh reporting from the International Quilt Festival in Houston.

I thought I’d wrap up my Houston report with some of the art quilts that I liked. Here they are in no particular order:

Iguana is hand painted and machine quilted.

Corrugated Iron is fused, burned, beaded and machine quilted.

Redwood is made with cut strips attached with free motion quilting.

Stepping Out in Saint John, New Brunswick is machine appliqued, embroidered and quilted.

Edge of the Woods is stitched and painted.

The Awesome Mind is layered fusible web, layered on cotton and then stenciled and stitched.

Check out my blog for even more photos from Houston and to see what I selected as my favorite exhibit.

Vicki Welsh
My Blog: Field Trips in Fiber
My Etsy Shop