howl shriek gurgle

I know ya'all haven't been seeing a lot from me lately. Having my husband here has put me into vacation mode. It's been so good just to spend time with him, watching him play (or, far more often, attempt to play) fetch with Pokey and follow her around the house with a glass of water to convince her to drink more.

More fun blocks are here for Slither Eek Boo. First off an amazing Howl from Dionne of Sew Many Quilts. Look at those lovely curves in the bottom of the w and l. And those little pointy bits - marvelous. Erin of A Prairie Home Quilts did an amazing job with Shriek - I love seeing how she drew it out first and then worked to get it just right. Look at the curl at the end of the r and the "dot" of the i.

 

Master of Patience Lynda made such a fun font for gurgle.  Look at the g - it looks an awful lot like the one in this typeface. All these rounded edges really took work, which is easier when you're working on a larger scale. This g is 5.75" finished. 

Plus, woohoo, more blocks for Hope is a 4-Letter Word quilt. Erin sent me home and kiss. I love reading her thoughts on the process, I encourage you to follow the links. Plus check out her practice quilt which came out wonderfully and really antique looking - I think the freehand fans really help out with that.

Rondi L. sent me the hugs and some fun fabric. I feel like I got hugs in the mail, thank you. Thank yous to every one of these fun quilters - I really appreciate you all.

Erin wrote about wanting to play wonky and yet not being able to do it. I'll give you the same advice I gave her. There's the always reliable "practice, practice, practice." The more you make these letters, the more comfortable you get doing it and the easier it will be to experiment. Also, cut some - or all - of your strips with slants; you can hardly help but be wonky that way. Not quite happy with your word, do it again. Practice.

I think I may just start putting Slither Eek Boo together - or at least the first quilt in the series. All the fun image quilting I want to do is going to take time, so I need to get with it. Clare wants to quilt along with me, working on her halloween houses quilt. 

Want to play along with us? You'll need a top. Doesn't have to be anything elaborate - you could do something small and fun like my Boo with Skeletons quilt. Baste it - thread basting would work best, but I use pins because it's faster to baste. Get some thread. And some needles. I finally have a packet I can highly recommend: John James has a set of size 3 to 9 quilting needles. They are wonderful - you can find the right size to use with both perle cotton #8 and all 6 strands of embroidery floss. Marking tool, esp one that's easy to erase and do-over. I've used chalk, disappearing ink, soap, and am currently enamored of Sewline ceramic pencils.

Okay, I've got work to do now. Chores, chores, chores. Take care.