Happy Howloween

I've previously blogged about this quilt Happy Howloween, but I thought I'd post it again since it's that time of year. I have been having a blast looking at all the spooky merchandise at the stores, but so far have managed not to spend any money (you should be impressed by my restraint.)

This is a lousy photo and unfortunately the quilt is in storage so I can't take any more. [We're getting into the storage on the 16th so I may just have a chance to get a peek and see how it's doing!] This is a large wall quilt. It takes the place of my Masterpiece Quilt during October and all the way up to Thanksgiving.

The idea for this quilt was to put all the monsters etc associated with Halloween into a quilt and to have either a quote or description attached to each. Everything was improvisationally pieced out of my very own brain - no patterns. I had no idea how it was all going to go together, I just started making blocks.

At the top of the quilt is a row of spiders that I made by making modified asterisks and then adding the body into the middle.

In the next row is a jack-o-lantern with the words "great pumpkin" -an homage to Linus of Peanuts fame. In the middle are the words "Happy Howloween" and a cat, surrounded by spikey border bits. And on the right, a witch and cat with the words "I'll get you my pretty" ala Wizard of Oz.

The third row starts with a quartet of ghosts and the word "boo." Next is "Trick or treat, smell my feet, I want something good to eat." Which, for my non-american friends, is a little song that kids sing at Halloween. Or at least they did where I grew up. The background is one purple fabric, but all the letters are made with different colors of orange.

Next is an improv Frankenstein's Monster. I originally intended to have something like "ugh" with him, but I had a small piece of purple and green batik that I LOVED and it worked perfectly in that spot. On the right is a hand coming up out of a grave. There is a tombstone with the acronym R.I.P. (Rest in Peace) and the word "zombie" up above.

Fourth row starts with a dancing skeleton. Originally the block "Bad to the Bone" was meant to go there, but I loved it so much that it became a quilt on its own. The next block is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" with a girl holding a stake and the phrase "here to save the day." This is where the row structure goes wonky. Below the skeleton and Buffy are a house block and a pair of mummies with the phrase "I want my mummy" - you'll notice the mummy on the right is carrying a handbag and wearing a hat - she's a mummy mummy.

Moving back up to the top of the row, there's a pair of eyes looking out at you. Below that is Dracula and the phrase "I vant to drink your blood." To the right, a large tombstone that I put my first name and the year in. That freaks some people out, but I liked it.

Bottom row is another house block followed by the words "Don't go in the house" which doesn't refer to anything in particular but certainly applies in several of my favorite horror movies ("Halloween" and "Scream" off the top of my head).

It's a goofy quilt, but because it wasn't serious I had total freedom to play and experiment and it didn't matter if everything worked.