I was looking through pictures last night and realized that I never posted photos of her first Halloween costume. There really was no Halloween this year, but we did get dressed up to go visit my mom the weekend before the storm. I spent months agonizing over Hannah’s first costume, planning a coordinating theme for the family, and I was so proud of this. I really wanted to show her off, but in the end we had just had a brief photo op in front of my mom’s and a quick tour around a very bizarre Halloween party at the Parks and Rec building in my hometown. It consisted of a hayride around the Little League field and a strange dance-type thing happening inside the building. The hayride line was down the block, and loud dances are not really Hannah’s cup of tea yet.

But, I still think her Halloween experience deserves to be recorded for posterity Especially since it’s November 30th and holiday posts are about to take over my life. Last chance.

So here is Hannah the sushi:

She loved eating that fish.

And we are…packets of soy sauce!

I painstakingly made shirts for Adam and me using my Cricut, t-shirt transfer paper, an online Japanese translator, and a really sharp X-Acto knife. I loved them!

And, of course, Nana loves sushi, too.

Other posts on this project: Hannah’s Halloween Quilt Pt. 1, Hannah’s Halloween Quilt Pt. 2.

It’s finished, washed, and being put to good use! Julie’s pattern was great, I do love this one.

I just realized 2 things: the sizing on these photos is hilarious, and the back of this quilt is kind of wonky.

Well, the 7 month old thinks I’m the best quilter ever at least!

I have not even had a chance to finish my Halloween decorating at work, but I did get this bulletin board done last Friday. I’m in love with it. I love doing bulletin boards, but the past couple of years I hadn’t really had time to organize myself beyond my beloved library tree. This year is different. I love my Blast Off With Books board (a program that’s turning into a big hit, by the way). I still love my library tree. And now this back of the room board I’ll change up frequently.

I kept up the white background paper I’d used for my gold medal-themed September board. I used my roll of brown kraft paper to cut out some cave-like ridges and lay it over the white background. Then I cut out the bats using a template I found online, used 2 pieces of red construction paper for the vampire’s cape, 1 piece of black paper to give him a turtleneck (I didn’t bother with arms or anything). I drew his face on a circle of pale white paper, and I cut out a black hairdo to match. The school die cut machine and some red construction paper gave me the letters, and voila!

Love. It.

Other posts on this project: Hannah’s Halloween Quilt Pt. 1.

I got this quilt sandwiched and quilted last weekend. It’s been an insane week, with Hannah suddenly deciding to wake up every couple of hours. So we’re all a little sleep deprived, and I have not taken many pictures of this quilt in progress. But I love it, I think I’ll be able to finish it this weekend. The binding is already made.

I did a meandering quilt stitch with white thread. It worked for this, I kept it pretty loose and easy. I went to the first meeting of the Jersey Shore Modern Quilt Guild this week (more on that in another post!), and I did get some tips for straight-line quilting that I’ll try on my next project. Maybe even some tight stippling, but I’d have to get a lot more patient.

So in between having fits at the sore state of my Nightshade quilt, which just isn’t coming together in a way I’m happy with, I’ve been quietly piecing together a quilt for Hannah’s first Halloween with Sherry Berry’s Costume Clubhouse fabric and Julie’s Radio Way pattern. And making this quilt top I had an epiphany that’s so obvious I can’t believe I didn’t put it into words years ago: I’m an emotional quilter, not a precision quilter. I quilt the exact same way I paint, with lots of enthusiasm and outside the lines. I will never win awards for my neat and tidy piecing and quilting, but I love my janky sewing skills nonetheless. I’m not someone who can spend a year on one quilt. I’m someone who hears about a friend or colleague in the hospital and immediately makes them a quilt–with lots of love and lots of mistakes.

And this quilt was no exception. I realized how wonky it was as I was squaring up each row, and I decided that’s part of why I loved it. Besides, it’s Halloween. Everything is supposed to be a little off center.

So I used 1 rolie polie of the print fabric and some of a Moda Bella Solids jelly roll in Snow (I keep a bunch lying around, love those precut strips). I didn’t have enough to make the lap size quilt, but I wanted something bigger than the 4×4 baby quilt…so I just made mine 5×5 and added a center square out of the backing fabric. I sewed the strips together in sets; some were 5 strips of the patterned fabric, and then others were 3 patterned 2 solid.

Then I cut them down into blocks based on the pattern instructions and either added white borders to the remaining sides or left them as is. I laid them out, arranged my rows, and sewed them up.

And that’s when I realized how wackadoodle my sewing was. Look at the alignment on that bottom row! I don’t even know how I managed to do that, honestly. But I still love it.

I’m hoping to get it quilted in time to show off at the NYC Metro Mod quilt guild meeting on Saturday, but that’s pretty ambitious. We’ll see.