"Home Sweet Home" For Ghoulies and Ghosties

With its Gothic arched windows and a clock tower reaching high into the night sky, it's not a big stretch to associate the building housing Mrs Pugsley's Emporium in Amherst with Hallow e'en. Owner Beth found the perfect fabrics to use in a special limited edition kit of her "Home Sweet Home" for this year's Row By Row experience. 

I had the fun of quilting this piece, and added some funky spiderwebs in the sky.  For the hands on the clock, set to a few minutes after the midnight witching hour, I stitched with a glow-in-the-dark thread from YLI.

The background of the building was quilted first in black 50 weight Aurifil thread, and then over-quilted using a bright red 28 weight Aurifil, to look like blood dripping down the building.  I do confess I was nervous about going over-board on this part in case it looked a little too gruesome, but it was all in fun. Beth added a broderie perse spider to her front door. (He's the busy fellow who spun all those webs in the sky!)

I'm not sure of the fabric line used in this piece, but it is perfect fit.  It contains snippets of Poe's "The Raven" as well as the old Cornish prayer, "From ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us!"

Kits go on sale tomorrow (August 30) at 1 pm at Mrs Pugsley's Emporium. Quantities are limited.

Maritime Beauty Redux

Nancie Wiseman Attwater of CA needed something eye-popping for her new table, and this Maritime Beauty she created certainly fit the bill.  Using Kaffe Fasset brights along with Moda solids, her beauties look like big, beautiful blossoms. Over-the-top gorgeous, Nancie!

You can see she has changed the inside of the centre blocks,adding smaller spikes in the quarter circle. She writes, "I love the way the colors all went together This is a great first time pattern for New York Beauties."  Nancie was so pleased with her results, she made another, smaller piece, which turned out equally gorgeous. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures, Nancie.

You can download the pattern for Maritime Beauty here.

AQS Quilt Week - Grand Rapids

AQS Quilt Week at Grand Rapids, MI, is now a sweet memory for Marilyn Eparvier, who was honoured to see her Florentine hang at the show. (You can see the complete list of semi-finalists here.) I just love how her quilt looks against the black curtains - it almost glows!

And speaking of glowing...here's a shot of Marilyn with her quilt - tired, but happy, after her long week of volunteering.

Sincerest congratulations, Marilyn!