Friday, October 10, 2014

Dance of the Candy Corn Fairies

Dance of the Candy Corn Fairies  58" X 75"
Dance of the Candy Corn Fairies. Remember, I make a Valentine and a Halloween quilt each year.
         Just because.
They are all different sizes and show what I was interested in that year. You can see them all (about 40) by inviting me to your guild for my lecture on Holiday Quilts and working in series. I'd love to meet you! I do travel to other states.

Kick up your heels and enjoy the pictures.

I know you can click on the images to see details but thought I might show you a few.

It all started with the cute center panel. I am attracted to panels but what do you do with them??

I love paper piecing, so I thought, candy corn. 
 If you are making candy corn, no reason they shouldn't be dancing...
I free-form cut out legs and arms and went to town appliqueing them on after the piecing was done.

I must tell you now, when I approach a bed sized quilt I plan ahead to the quilting. I piece the sections small enough to comfortably quilt before constructing the whole quilt after. Not difficult, saves my back, and looks terrific.
The stars, bats, witches, pumpkins etc were paper piecing patterns from Sew Precise software or magazines. What fun to piece them, then arrange them around the center.

I pieced the fairies around the panel, quilted that section, pieced the next border and quilted that.
The curved orange border was quilted, the edge finished and added last. All joining done by machine, and when it was added, the whole quilt was finished! No hand work basically.

This is too much for a tutorial, but I  teach the technique as a full day class.

I love to use my stash, and the Halloween stash is lots of fun to pick through. I like to piece in various fabrics and am partial to these cranky witches.

My applique is often without fusible, and I don't like to satin stitch around them, but lay down line after line of free motion to hold them on. I like the look.
The little candies are appliqued, held down by stitching done in the quilting process.

The inner border was a black and white that I hand dyed, and kept for years til this quilt came along and it was perfect for it. Don't rush to use your fabrics, but allow yourself to use them in the perfect situation. That's a note to myself, the fabric collector. 

15 comments:

Val's Quilting Studio said...

FUN! FUN! FUN! and ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!!! Found myself looking at each and every picture....smiling!!

~Diana said...

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Norma Schlager said...

I knew that it was your quilt when I saw the thumbnail on Off the Wall Friday. This is seriously cute and fun!

Regina B Dunn said...

That's a great Halloween quilt.

Margarita Korioth said...

How fun it is! Love it.

Unknown said...

So creative and funny. Love the colors and fabrics. All the dancers look so cute! Awesome. Thanks for sharing. Love from Amsterdam

M-R Charbonneau said...

This quilt is so much FUN! I love it! Especially those candy corn guys -- they just make me smile. :)

Maria said...

I was lucky enough to see this one in the making.... I just LOVE it!

Soma @ inkTorrents.com said...

Fabulous quilt! The candy corn guys are super fun! Love it :)

-Soma

Daryl @ Patchouli Moon Studio said...

What a great Halloween quilt! It's so fun too!

AlidaP said...

Great quilt! And I wish I read the comment "I piece the sections small enough to comfortably quilt before constructing the whole quilt" before I pieced my last quilt top! My shoulders and back hates me now :) but I learned my lesson for next time!
Thanks for linking up at MOP Monday!!

Val's Quilting Studio said...

Thanks so much for sharing this under our Halloween Tuesday Archives theme!!

Val's Quilting Studio said...

I swear....I've always been so interested in all your creativity put into this quilt...I never really saw the panel!! LOL!!!!

Claire said...

Very clever! Visiting from Tuesday Archives.

Krista said...

Cute quilt! Thanks for linking up at Throwback Thursday today.