Fall and Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween! Well, a day after the fact, but I hope you all had a great one. It has been a whirlwind of a couple days returning on Tuesday from International Quilt Market in Houston, TX and then all of the Halloween festivities we had yesterday. Luckily my flight was only delayed an hour and a half due to high winds in Chicago from the big storm back east. I would have been beyond sad if I missed my babies all dressed up on Halloween.

The Quilt Market Recap post will be coming soon, but I thought I would share some pictures of my little cuties. Boy did I miss these kiddos when I was away for five days. I had a great time spending some one-on-one time with my mom, but it always feels good to be home.

I decided I could not miss this opportunity to dress Mr. Caspian Finn up as Charlie Brown this year. I love that bald head of his. Even though he is 14 months now, it still makes him look like such a little baby.

I thought I could get away with buying a store-bought yellow t-shirt and adding a zig-zag, but I could not find one in his size anywhere. There were lots of yellow shirts, but they all had prints and writing on them. I ended up finding one in the big boys section, so I just re-constructed the shirt and cut it down to size. The zig-zag is made from felt which was nice because there was no need to finish the edges.

This little guy is always on the move and climbing on everything! I'm starting to see a real difference between my boy and the two girls. He is going to keep me very busy.

Next up is our very own 'Dora the Explorer'. Matilda had her mind set on this costume for about six months. Last year she knew exactly what she wanted to be (a Ballerina Princess), so I should have guessed that this year would be no different.  I made her some orange fleece capris and we layered tons of things under her pink t-shirt. It was in the 30's on Halloween.....brrrrrrrr. She also wore tights under the capris.

I had every good intention of making Matilda's Dora backpack, but that did not happen. Every fabric I showed Matilda, she said was wrong (and you all know I have a lot of fabric) and she was telling me all sorts of things the backpack must have on it. I was running out of time before I left for quilt market, so when I found the one in the picture online for $11.00, I thought we would just go with that and make my life a little easier. Plus, that way I knew it would be just right.

This little lady had a ball trick-or-treating. Last year, when she was two, she got the concept, but this year she is three and she loved every minute of it!

And finally, we have Miss Savannah, our black cat. Again, this was another costume that she had settled on months ago. She loves to be something scary for Halloween with a little bit of a twist......you might remember her 'Princess Witch' costume from last year.  I had a lot of fun making this scary cat a little more on the girly side. It's hard to tell from all the pictures, but she had a black petti-skirt and I made a sash out of a sequined black fabric. The sash went around the waist and tied in a bow in the back right above the cat tail that I added to the skirt.

I made a collar from the same sequined black fabric (that I found at a thrift store for 50 cents) by making a gathered ruffle and binding it with black bias tape. The hooded sweatshirt has a ruffle that runs up both sides and around the hood. I knew it would be chilly on Halloween so I always try to think ahead to how we can layer underneath so we don't end up covering the kids costumes with big coats.

She wore a black knit hat and a headband with sparkly black cat ears finished with a satin bow on top.

Another event that has become an annual tradition is something out this way called the 'Autumn Drive'. It takes place mid-October and is out in the country about 40 minutes from our house. Local farms open their doors and there are fall activities, crafts, food, pottery and lots and lots of pumpkins. This year my husband wanted to buy the largest pumpkin around and I think he might have succeeded...........

Matilda wearing the coat I made from felted wool (post found HERE).

Fall is definitely my favorite time here in the midwest! We have had so much fun and we still have another month to go. I have two large butternut squashes that are just begging to be roasted and turned into soup.......I think that sounds like a good project for today since it's another chilly autumn day.

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This and That........and Giveaway Winners

This has been a good week. Lots of things going on around here, but all good. Gorgeous fall weather has swept through Chicago and I'm loving every minute of it. Fall is definitely my favorite time of year, how about you?

This past weekend it was the perfect weather for us to go on our annual apple picking excursion. Our regular orchard wasn't open this season due to the unpredictable, crazy weather we had this last spring. But we decided to try a new one that turned out to be lots of fun.....

Gigi (Brett's mom) came along on our fun apple picking adventure.

Earlier this week, we made a giant apple pie from the apples we picked. I went back and forth about whether or not I wanted to do a crumble or crust on top, but I ended up doing a crust since our apples were almost falling off the top of the pie. This was only four of the apples we picked....they were huge! And the pie was delish!

Instagram Photo 

(follow me @thecottagemama)

We also brought out all the fall decorations so our house looks nice and cozy. The girls had so much fun sipping hot chocolate and helping me decorate. We made this vintage yo-yo garland together and I think it turned out really cute.

These pretties arrived in the mail this week from Riley Blake Designs for my next Design Team Project. This is from the line "The Sweetest Thing" and the small little flower print is the new knit fabric they are carrying. I've already washed it and it came out beautifully. I can't wait to start creating my next project!

There has been A LOT of sewing going on this week as I prepare for our first styled book shoot this weekend! I'm so excited to meet all of the little models and work with my book photographer. Fun, fun!

We have had quite a few giveaways in the last couple weeks, so it's probably about time that announce the winners. Sorry to keep you hanging. Here they are.........

Jo Totes Camera Bag:

Simply Color Charm Packs and Jelly Roll:

Modes4U Japanese Fat Quarter Bundle and Washi Tape:

Congratulations to our winners! Please email me at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com with your contact information and we will get you your prizes as soon as possible! Don't worry if you didn't win, just keep trying. We have more giveaways coming up and you just never know when the random number generator might pick you!

So that's what has been going on around here. Some of those pictures are from Instagram and if you want to check out our daily life around here, you can follow me @thecottagemama. I hope you all had a great week and are finally getting a little taste of this beautiful fall weather.

Happy Weekend!

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Fall Fabric Pumpkin Tutorial

Since I am taking some time off to enjoy our new baby boy, I thought I would re-post one of my favorite fall tutorials from last year.  I know a bunch of you are new to the blog (thanks so much for joining us), so you might have missed this one.  This is a really easy and inexpensive fall project, but I just love the end result!

It's really starting to feel like fall here in the Midwest.  We still have our occasional warm day, but for the most part fall is upon us.  Fall is my favorite time of year with all the fun festivals, pumpkin patches, apple orchards.......I truly value the beautiful seasons each year.

Since it finally feels like fall, I think it's time to get out some decorations for around the house.  I wanted to make something for our home that tied in with the season as well as our decor.  Though I tend to use bright colors in my clothing design, my home is decorated in more rich tones....think deep red, green, mahogany and cherry wood.  I came up with these chubby fabric pumpkins and can't wait to put them around the house.  I thought you might like to make some too.........so here's the "how to":

Fabric Pumpkin Tutorial

Supplies:

Fabric pieces - variety of sizes

2 pieces of brown felt

1 piece tan felt

Fiberfill or other stuffing material

Brown embroidery floss

Thick twine

Hand-sewing needle

Sewing Machine

Decorative wire berries (optional)

Directions:

Gather your fabric.  I found these upholstery fabric samples at Joann's for $2.00 a piece.  They were discontinued special order fabrics.  I decided to use decorator fabric because I love the variation in textures and designs, but you could definitely used quilting cotton for this project if you would prefer.

Cut your fabric.  I wanted my pumpkins to be all different sizes since no two pumpkins are ever the same.  Here are some of the measurements I used:

17.5" x 10"

17.5" x 12"

12" x 6"

12.5" x 7.5"

17" x 13"

Basically you are looking to cut out a rectangle shape.

Fold your rectangle, right-sides together.  Stitch down the long-side (side to the right) with a regular straight-stitch.  Then run a gathering stitch around the top and the bottom (leaving the top and bottom OPEN).  Turn right-side out.

Pull the bobbin thread to start gathering one of the ends.  Work the gather until you have pulled it as closed as possible.  If you are using regular cotton this will be much easier.  If you are using decorator fabrics, this can take some time.  You may also consider hand-sewing a large straight stitch with embroidery floss and using that to gather instead of your machine (my thread broke on one of my pumpkins).  Either way will work. 

This is as tight as I could pull my bobbin thread with the upholstery fabric.  Tie your thread ends together and turn it in-side out again.

Place the gathered end in your sewing machine and stitch to close.  You will have to kind of jam the fabric under the foot as it is very thick, but don't worry, your machine can handle it.  You may also choose to hand-sew the opening closed with embroidery floss.

Next fill your pumpkin with fiberfill or whatever type of stuffing you have on hand.

Once you have stuffed your pumpkin, pull the bobbin thread from your other gathering stitch to begin to close the opening.

Close the opening entirely by hand-sewing.

Take your twine and wrap it around the pumpkin (very tightly).  Do this as if you were wrapping a present.  Loop it around, then cross-over, around and cross-over.  You will cross-over at the top and bottom of the pumpkin.  Go back and forth until you have 6-8 sections on each pumpkin.  Finish by simply tying in a knot.

You may need to slide the twine around until you have even look sections - just work it until you like the look.

Next you will need to make your stems and leaves.  I made each stem a different size, so just cut out whatever shape you like from your brown felt.  I also machine stitched on top of the felt to add some texture.  Place both stem pieces together (right-sides together) and stitch around the curve (leave the straight-side open).  Turn right-side out.

Suff your stem with fiberfill.

Cut out two to three leaves per pumpkin.  I did mostly brown leaves and a couple tan ones.  Again, I machine stitched veins onto the brown felt with brown thread.  This is your opportunity to be creative......cut your leaves out in any shape or size that you like.  Mine were all different.

Next hand-sew your stem and leaves to the top of each pumpkin.  There is no special technique here.  Just place the leaves where you like and stitch away.

You can certainly skip the stitching on the stem and the leaves, but I think it adds a more realistic feel to the pumpkins.

For a final finishing touch, I took a bunch of deep red and green berries and added them to the top of each pumpkin.  This was just one bunch that I purchased at Joann's.  I cut the bunch apart and wrapped two wire pieces around each stem.  To make the curls, wrap the wire around a pen or pencil.

On a couple of the tan leaves, I hand embroidered some detail.  I like the contrast between the tan leaves and the brown ones.  You could hand-embroider all of the leaves or machine-stitch all of them......again, it's up to you.

And there you have it - a family of festive fall fabric pumpkins!

They are just so cute, don't you think?  I could just squeeze them!  Well, I won't, but my daughter Savannah already did......she gave each one a hug and said, "I love you pumpkins!".

Happy Fall!

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