Getting Ready for Fall

Every day now, I'm bombarded with status messages on Twitter and Facebook saying stuff like "It's like someone flipped a switch and all of a sudden it's cooling off!" and "Time to put away the summer clothes and get out the cardigans!" and "Hooray! Pumpkin Spice Lattes!" Now, seeing as how it's still around 105 - 110 degrees here and will be for another month, these status updates are super depressing. Sure, I can have Pumpkin Spice too, but I have to get it as a Frappuccino - which, incidentally, I don't mind. It's just the principle of the thing.

This year, I decided, screw it. I'm going to pretend it's fall and celebrate just like the rest of the country. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some pumpkins for my mantel. I picked up a bag of glitter skulls (only $5 for a eight!) at Kirkland's Home. My wreath has been on the door for almost a month now, and I've had Pumpkin Spice TWICE so far.

Take THAT, stupid desert!

One of the things I did was to swing on over to one of the local scrapbook stores. They've converted a big chunk of the store and now carry the CUTEST fabrics for quilting. I'm talking all the fun Moda and Amy Butler stuff I never see at JoAnn or the quilting store by my house. They've got all the supplies, notions, and they even offer classes. Fabric AND scrapbooking stuff under one roof? Yeah. It's a very happy place for me, that's for certain.

I picked out some Halloween fabrics, and made this:

It's the latest in my series of mini table runners. (Here is a photo with another) I don't like table cloths (I just think about all the grime and bacteria they hold, right by my food, yum) and I think full table runners that hang off the table look funny. I wanted something that could visually anchor whatever I chose as a centerpiece though, and a place mat was not the right size. These are my compromise.

That is the most complicated quilt block I've made to date, and I don't think I'll be doing it again. All those little pieces made me crazy! I don't know how people do it for whole blankets. I found the pattern here. It would have been nice if it had told me what the dimensions to cut were because adding the seam allowances was a pain. I'm not the best when it comes to math, and there's a good amount of math in quilting.

I topped it with my black amethyst glass bowl full of the glitter skulls. As soon as they get mini pumpkins in at the grocery store I'm going to add in some of those as well. I like how it says "Halloween!" with out being all cartoony or cheesy and jack-o'-lantern-y. The backing is a burgundy and orange leaf print that will be perfect for Thanksgiving. All I'll have to do is flip it over!

Me being me, which means me being math deficient, when I cut out the pieces for my squares I ended up with extras. Not wanting to waste the fabric, I decided to finish cutting the pieces I needed to make a second runner. This is what it looks like when I'm working:

Ah, the trials of the crafty mama, I tell ya!

The plan was to list the second runner on my Shop page, but I ran into a little problem:

Yeah. If that's not the definition of poor planning, I don't know what is. I can't just go and get more fabric either because it's a holiday and the store is closed. Bummer. Once it's done though, you can look for it in the shop!