Halloween Quilt Tutorial & Sale

Becky and I have been working on some big fun projects lately. There is just something about cooler weather that makes me want to craft and sew and crochet. I love being inside where it's warm and working on something fun. Since Becky and I are having so much fun crafting we wanted to do a jujuB sale for our Etsy shop! 

Check out our Etsy shop here. This is a great time to get some fun Halloween items from our Halloween inspired collection. Or shop for Christmas presents. Enter the coupon code 

HALLOWEEN2 for 15% off your total purchase!!!! 

Sale ends Sunday night so get your orders in soon. 

If you've seen something on our blog that's not in our shop, or would like a custom order, please send us a convo on Etsy or send us an email at jujubstash@yahoo.com

My latest project is this Halloween quilt!!! It is so warm and comfortable. I know my family is going to love pulling it out each fall when it starts to get cold outside. The front is squares of my favorite Halloween/ Fall fabrics and the back is all black minky!!!

Now before we start, I have to clarify. This Tutorial is for BEGINNERS!!!!! In fact, I have a confession... this is the first quilt I have ever made by myself, start to finish!!!!! It is quick and easy and I was able to make it in about a week. So if I can do it, you can to!!!!! This quilt pattern can easily be duplicated with any cute fabric that you love. And the best part about this quilt is the back is covered with MINKY!!!! Our followers will know I am totally in love with MINKY right now. It is so soft and cozy and makes this blanket so much more comfortable. In my family this blanket is affectionately called the nap blanket. I swear it has special powers and when you cuddle up with it, you're bound to doze off. It's so cozy!!!!

So I had a bunch of fabric left over from my FABRIC PUMPKINS. 

I really loved the fabrics I bought and wanted to use them in another fun project. Becky and I went shopping for fabric and this blanket fell neatly into place.

SUPPLIES

1/ 2 yard of 7 different fabrics

3/4 yard of fabric for the binding

2 yards of minky for the back

batting

yarn 

yarn needle

quilting pins

basic quilting supplies 

Prep Work: To prep for making this quilt, buy and gather all your supplies, wash and iron out your fabrics. Don't iron the minky though!!

Step #1: Cut your fabric. I cut the entire 1/2 yard of each of the 7 different fabrics into 6 x 6 inch squares.  

My 2 year old was "helping."

Step #2: Lay out your pattern. Once everything was cut, I laid out my pattern and played with it until I liked how the fabrics went together. For this quit I had 9 squares across the top and 13 squares down. I decided I really liked this stair-case type pattern the best. After you lay it all out. Stack them up, so you can sew together each line of 9 first. 

Step #3: Start sewing.  Sew strips of the 9 squares together first. After I had a few strips sewn I would then sew the strips together. I was so excited at this point because my quilt was starting to come together. I learned through error, but it would have been a good idea to iron the seams all one way after sewing the strips. So then when I sewed the strips together the seams will all be going one way. This will help the quilt will lay flat and sew together better. 

Step #4: Pin and tie your quilt (or send it out to be quilted together). I was feeling so excited my quilt top was done and I loved it. Now what do you do next? I love blogs like Moda Bake Shop. But it only shows you how to do the top of the quilt. After that I was totally lost on how to put it together. So I called on my quilting friends for help. They helped me lay out my quilt. First the back, then the batting, then the top. Leave yourself a few inches of the back and the binding. 

Next I borrowed Becky's quilting pins to start pinning the quilt together. (You could also use safety pins, but you'll need a lot of them). Start in the middle and make sure to pin through all the layers (and don't pin it your carpet). Try to smooth out any wrinkles or creases as you work. You want the fabric to be tight without any bunches. Once the quilt is all pinned start tying the quilt. Now you could skip this step and have some one quilt it together. I wanted this quilt to be fairly low budget, so I decided to just tie it with yarn. Start tying in the middle and work your way out. By the way, a yarn needle makes a huge difference!!!!!!

Step #5. Bind  you quilt. Now I'm not going to lie. This was the part of making a quilt that I was pee-my-pants-scared to do. I was terrified that I was going to ruin the whole thing!!! Now if like me, you don't even know what binding is, or the very thought of it makes you hyperventilate, take a few deep breaths and follow me. You can do it, I promise!!!! I started by trimming the back and batting so they lined up with the top of my quilt. Next I studied the following tutorial for cutting and sewing the binding very carefully. 

The tutorial does a great job of showing each step. Now, my binding is not perfect, but I DID IT!!!!! I know I'll get better at binding with practice. I love my blanket and I know my family will love it for years to come. It was really fun to do and is a great project for a beginner.

(heart) JuJu