Currently Stitching: Halloween in July

Gracious me, how did July get here so fast. Does anyone else feel like it just turned 2025 and now we're half way through summer?! I've been getting bombarded with posts about how many days we are away from Halloween, and I think we're under 100 now, which is insane! There's also been an abundance of Summerween vibes filling my screen, and I am not made about it. 

**Don't mind me showing off my carving skills.

For those of you who don't know, Summerween is like Christmas in July, but for Halloween. I think technically the official date is sometime in May or the beginning of June, and it's meant to mark the halfway point to Halloween. I am not sure who came up with this concept but it has become wildly more popular since it was featured on Gravity Falls (an amazing show by the way). 

**I saw this display at the store. It's a bit early in my opinion.

I think some folks celebrate it by pulling out their decorations and watching scary movies and wearing pumpkin slippers. Others have embraced the paraphernalia showcasing skeletons by the pool, ghosts eating ice cream, carved watermelons, and black cats in a summer garden. I welcome both forms of celebration and am happy to join in. My boyfriend and I have been doing a summer of slashers series. We're keeping this master list of scary movies we have and haven't seen, separated further into categories of what kind of villains/ monsters are featured in them. But we like to watch scary movies all year round. 

**This lone orange leaf did bring me a bit of longing for the Fall season.

While I am not hauling out my spooky decor, or buying the monsters at a beach party towels and mugs, I am feeling motivated to make some Halloween themed projects. Which is probably smart, considering I'm in the mood for Halloween quilts and runners and hangings during the month of October and then they're not done by the time the big day comes around. This way, maybe they'll actually get finished before the season arrives!

In honor of "the season," or pre-season I suppose, I'm knocking out a couple wall hangings. I ordered this Halloween wall hanging from an online shop. The front came together really easily, which is always hugely motivating for me.

I used this graveyard fabric in the Halloween Hooligans and I loved it so much I bought more to use for other spooky projects (like this one). I'm practicing my straight line quilting on this wall hanging. I used variegated orange and gold thread, and crossed it with maroon. I did the back in black thread.

Another wall hanging kit that's been in my closet is these black cats in front of a creepy mansion. 

I like using these simpler and small projects to practice quilting techniques. That way there's less pressure and more freedom when I'm learning. Plus less material to maneuver through my machine. For this one I'm doing some fussy free motion stitching and "tracing" some of the images in the panel.

I would like to some line work within the windows to make it look like the light is shining in them. I haven't decided if I'm going to do anything with the moon. 

I'm using variegated black and grey thread to give the house and the cats more texture. I'll use some basic black thread as well. I don't do fussy quilting like this a lot because it takes a lot of time. But then I do it and I love how it turns out! For the borders I want to do subtle framing so it doesn't take away from the central image.

The next project on my docket is another kit I got a local shop. Which means, here we are again, having the conversation about how I said I would go to a shop and not spend money. I'm not sure why I lie to myself. I'm sure none of you ever tell yourself similar mistruths. 

But look at all these fabrics and tell me you could resist!! And they got me with the kit displays!

What's a girl to do... Needless to see I bought some of everything.

 

Anyway, back to the work at hand - this fabulous sawtooth halloween kit! 

Sawtooth stars are still something I have to work pretty hard at getting perfect. I don't think a single one of these turned out exactly right. But part of the reason we pick such cute fabric is so when we make mistakes, we don't care! Or we're at least a little less bothered. 

And it's one of those situations where I am the only one who sees "all the flaws." I listen to so many people in the quilting community nitpick their amazing work. Let me remind you - you're doing great!

These blocks took a really long time to put the pieces together. Mostly because there is so much trimming with all these triangles. I am taking my time so hopefully I don't lose my points! After all the piecing and trimming, I found myself left with all these little extra triangles from the double flying geese.

I'm going to save them and see if I can make another quilt from the leftovers! Stay tuned for what happens with them! It'll be sometime in October, so keep an eye out!

Now that I've got the smaller blocks put together, I am going to leave it up on the wall for a little while. There's always a point after working with so many small parts where I'm not sure I like the project anymore. So I stop and enjoy the progress before the labors of sewing the rows together. The fabric is still beautiful and I'm going to love it when it's ready in October. 

I hope this post leaves you inspired to get some spooky sewing done. Or to knock out some of your old kits. Or try your hand at some quilting with your standard machine. If I can do it, you can do it! 

Check in with me later this month to see what other out of season items I'm working on. Share your projects with me on instagram! I can't wait to see what spooky things you're creating.