Note: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you click a link and make a purchase.
It's time to share the third and final Halloween quilt that I made this year! It's a Stay Square quilt using the Spooky 'n Witchy collection by Art Gallery Fabrics (just like the Ophelia quilt I blogged about a couple days ago).
But wait, I'm actually sharing two quilts in this post, so four in total? Sort of. Let me explain...
Two years ago, I bought a fat quarter bundle of Art Gallery Fabrics' Spooky 'n Sweeter collection. I decided to make a Stay Square quilt. I shared a couple of photos on social media at the time, but I never blogged about it and I haven't shared it since I put the binding on. The picture below was taken in November 2021 when the quilt was quilted but not bound. I don't think I ever shared it.
Fast forward to this year, and I had decided to make an Ophelia quilt in this year's Halloween collection, Spooky 'n Witchy. I decided to buy several half yards and make two quilts (both quilts use fat quarters). I wanted to see how Stay Square looked in the Witchy collection compared to the Sweeter collection.
If you're not familiar with these fabric collections, Art Gallery Fabrics has had a Halloween collection each of the past four years (I think). I get the names mixed up, but I think the first one was Spooky 'n Sweet. Then the next year was Spooky 'n Sweeter, which is what I used for the first Stay Square quilt.
The following year (last year) was Sweet 'n Spookier and then this year was Spooky 'n Witchy. All the collections are very similar and play very well together. There are even some prints that show up in multiple collections. In some cases, the prints may not be exactly the same, but are very similar. As you can see in the photo above, depending on which fabrics I make visible in the newer quilt on the ladder, you can hardly even tell that they are not the same collection. It's more obvious when the neon green is showing, but in this case they almost seem like two identical quilts.
Take a look at the photo below. In the lower right corner you can see the same orange stripe in both quilts. The upper right corner of both quilts has the same light purple print. It's a little harder to see, but the black print right underneath the purple on the bottom quilt is the same as two of the blocks that you can see in the top quilt (actually you can see three of that print in the top quilt but the third is a little less obvious).
Below you can see two ghost prints that are the same except the background is much darker, almost like a berry color, on the newer quilt while the older quilt is a lighter pink.
Below are two more prints that are the same, but different colors. You can see the boy in the cape and the girl with the witch hat and broom in the bottom section of both blocks. Near the top of each, you can see a boy in a skeleton costume and a ghost on either side of a tree. You can even see part of a cabin in both, plus the trees to the right of it.
Sometimes, even when the prints are different, you can see the similarities in style, like the two white prints below. On the bottom is the older print with a variety of boots and hats lined up, with some light pink coloring. In the newer quilt on top, there are a variety of potion bottles somewhat lined up with a lot of that darker berry pink.
One of the prints that is exactly the same in both collections is the black print that was in that earlier picture. You can really see it here in the older quilt and then as the backing on the newer quilt. I kind of regretted not using that print on the back of the older quilt, so I was very happy that Art Gallery brought this print back!
Overall, the older quilt in Spooky 'n Sweeter feels much more muted compared to the newer quilt in Spooky 'n Witchy. That neon green and the darker, brighter berry purples definitely up the brightness factor. I honestly don't know which I like better. It might depend on my mood!
Now let's just focus on the older Spooky 'n Sweeter quilt for a bit. I quilted this on my regular domestic sewing machine using diagonal straight lines about 1.5" apart. The quilting shows up well on the photo below. I originally was going to do another round of lines in the other direction to create a cross-hatch look but by the time I finished the first direction, I was out of steam. I decided it looked great as is!
I used a light, large scale print on the back and a small scale black print for the binding. The accent squares on the front are a black solid that I had in my stash.
The Stay Square pattern only requires 12 fat quarters and the Spooky 'n Sweeter collection had more than that so I cut less blocks from some of the fat quarters so that I could use more of the fabrics in the quilt.
Okay, now on to the newer quilt in this year's Spooky 'n Witchy collection. As I mentioned earlier, I went with a black backing fabric because I loved that print with the leaves and spiderwebs. You can also see the quilting pretty well in the photo below. I used a design called Bubble Wrap Double Take. I don't have a computerized longarm and it's really hard to get nice even smooth lines with a design like that when using a hand-guided pantograph with a laser so I had bought design boards from Urban Elementz. These boards have the design cut into them as grooves and I follow along the grooves with a stylus that is attached to my machine and fits into the grooves.
I'm not sure that makes sense if you've never seen them in action. Maybe someday I'll do a post or video about how design boards work!
Anyway, back to the quilt! I used a small scale black print for the binding on this quilt too. In this case, I also used that print for the accent on the front of the quilt instead of a solid black. It's the same print that I had used as the background in the Ophelia quilt I already blogged about.
I'll admit that when I first saw this fabric collection, I was not a fan of the neon green and I was sure I would be leaving it out if I made something with the fabric. In the end, I decided to leave it in. I had mocked up several of my patterns in this fabric for a Fabric Refresh post a few months ago and when I saw it in those, I decided I didn't mind it like I thought I would. Even though it feels out like it's out of place compared to the others, it still somehow works. That's why you often have to trust the fabric designers who put these collections together. They usually know what they're doing!
I hope you enjoyed seeing both of these Stay Square quilts and comparing the similarities and differences. Do you have a favorite between the two? If so, let me know in the comments below!
If you want to make your own Spooky 'n Witchy quilt, you can check Fat Quarter Shop and Etsy. Fat Quarter Shop has some of the prints still in stock. Etsy might still have a few fat quarter bundles in addition to yardage. You might get a mix of multiple collections in some of the bundles that come up at the link, but as you've seen, they all coordinate!
If you missed the posts about the other two Halloween quilts that I made this year, you can read about those HERE and HERE.
Until next time,
Amanda
No comments:
Post a Comment