Go! Halloween

Or, the Charm Pack Challenge

With a Giveaway

I’m still thinking about those little trees I mentioned a couple blog entries back, but meanwhile, I got distracted. I saw this cute little charm pack of Deb Strain’s Trick or Treat fabric line.

I thought, I could have some fun with those. I decided I would cut all the charms with one die on the Go! and that I’d use my good friend –Pellon Fusible Stabilizer 1" Quilters Grid – to sew things up.

Now, there really wasn’t any reason to this challenge. Just a little sewing room “Well, why not?” moment. Here’s what followed.

First, I decided to use the 2 inch square die. Which, of course, I have marked for convenience.

I laid the charm squares so that the edges of the charms were right up against the marked cutting lines.

After running the die through the Go!, I wound up with 4 two inch squares, 1 one inch by five inch rectangle, and 2 one inch by two inch rectangles. (Of course, that’s per charm – since I’m running four to six charms through at a time, the total number is much higher).

When I set up for the second stack of charms, I added the long strip to the die. Like this:

That means that strip will be cut into 2 one inch by two inch rectangles and 1 one inch square.

As a side note: when I run my dies through the Go!, I place a piece of scrap paper on top.

That way, when I remove the cutting mat after the die has been run through the Go!, the only thing that sticks to the mat is paper.

I set a few of the charms aside since I though they’d be better off fussy cut, but the rest I ran through the AccuQuilt Go! – and in just a few minutes, I had this.

So, now it was time to pull out the Pellon. I like to lay it on top of white paper and mark the corner dimensions of the size I want with washable ink. Then it is easy for me to see and cut.

After I cut the interfacing, I place it (fusible side up!) on my Cut n’ Press. I like that I can line up the grid lines of the fusible with the Cut n’ Press. That makes adding patches in line super easy and it’s ready to press as is once I’m happy with the design.

Time to start playing with patches. For this one, I started with the larger squares set in place. Then I added the surrounding rectangles and put in the little one inch squares last.

When I iron, I like to put a cloth over the patches to hold everything down until they are securely in place.

I thought about different options as I went. The above block became a mini quilt and one based on a similar grid became a mug rug. I also did some basic mug rugs.

And baskets. If you haven’t come across Pink Penguin’s fabric basket tutorial, then you’ve been missing out on one of the best sewing tutorials on the web. Check it out here!

I like to use Pellon’s fusible grid to make the patchwork. For one – fast, easy, and super accurate (what’s not to like?). For two – the interfacing gives the basket a little more body. Even though I will need to separate sections, I think it’s fastest to work with a single piece of the Quilter’s Grid. Like this:

I sew the short seams first.

Then cut it in half.

And finally sew the long seams to finish the sections off.

You may wonder just how I’m sewing these together! If you haven’t worked with the Pellon grid before, I have directions given in earlier tutorials. You can find the tutorial for using the straight grid like I’m using with these projects here. And you can find a tutorial for using Pellon’s on-point fusible grid here.

ANYHOO – this went on for a while. Till I had this leftover.

Truth be told, I wasn’t really in love with the whites in this collection. They are seriously cute, don’t get me wrong, but generally speaking, I don’t prefer white with high contrast fabrics. Given another charm pack with more muted options, I probably would have kept on going. I’d have been down to coasters and pin cushions but those pieces would have found a home. But that’s hypothetical. With this charm pack, I decided to call it good.

And here’s what I got for my labors.

Two fabric baskets:

Four mug rugs:

And a mini quilt:

Whew!

But aren’t they just fun?

And, hey, are you still with me? Because here’s the Giveaway! These two mug rugs are looking for a home. Would you like them in yours? If so, just leave a comment. I’ll leave the drawing open until the end of our AccuQuilt Go! Fall Blog Hop – I’ll visit our old friend the random number generator on Saturday morning.

And for more AccuQuilt blog hop fun, check out these blogs this week:

Monday, September 26th
Darlene (SewCalGal) - www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Tuesday, September 27th
Terrie (Bits & Pieces) www.terriesandelin.blogspot.com (you are here!)
Sharon (Craizee Corners) www.craizeecorner.blogspot.com

Wednesday, September 28th
Katrina (Sunshower Quilts) www.sunshowerquilts.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 29th
Connie (Quilting by the River) http://www.conniekresin.blogspot.com
Mary (the Tulip Patch) http://www.tulip-patch.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 30th
Polly (Polly's Porch) http://www.auntpollysporch.blogspot.com

Thank you, Darlene, for putting this together!! I’m so looking forward to seeing what everyone has come up with!