This wall hanging is definitely a squirrel project – an unplanned, spontaneous creation! Inspired by the bolts of Halloween fabrics housed next to the cutting table at Purple Stitches and a cat quilt pattern I found on line.

Here are the details:

• Finished wall hanging measures 19″ x 42″
• Fabrics from Purple Stitches – from ranges: ‘Trick or Treat’; ‘Tainted Love’; and ‘Mystery Manor’.
• Cat pattern and tutorial by Arleen Hillyer at the Birch Fabrics website.

I didn’t keep a careful record of fabric quantities but can confirm a fat quarter of each of the main fabrics is plenty to piece the patchwork cats. I made the Flying Geese for the asymmetrical border from left over fabric and still have some to spare – maybe I’ll finish up the fabrics by making a bag or zipper pouch…

I used a walking foot with Aurifil threads in blending colours to straight-line quilt in different directions over the three cat silhouettes.

The cobweb is stitched using Mettler metallic thread.

This was my first time machine sewing with a ‘speciality’ thread. I switched the machine needle to a 90/14 Metallic before attempting to free motion quilt with Aurifil 50wt cotton in the bobbin. This combo didn’t give great results. The metallic thread didn’t pick up the bobbin thread very well so there were lots of skipped stitches. These became even more pronounced if I tried moving the the fabric side to side or backwards. Hmmm! I had a look on line to find some tips. I changed out my usual cotton bobbin thread for a shiny polyester thread. This bobbin thread was picked up much more consistently by the top thread but still skipped if I tried stitching in any direction other than forwards. Maybe the needle was too big? But as the pack I’d bought were all size 90/14 I couldn’t make a change. I decided to give up FMQ in favour of straight stitching with the feed dogs up – sticking with the 90/14 Metallic needle and the polyester thread in the bobbin. This worked well and I’m pleased with the completed cobweb 😊

Once I’d finished the cobweb it was time to change the machine set-up yet again! Back to cotton threads top and bobbin, a quilting needle and free motion quilting foot to quilt the purple background fabric. I chose a quilting pattern I first saw in ‘Machine Quilting with Style’ by Christa Watson – the ‘Boxes’ design is featured in a guest blog Christa wrote for Amy Smart.

The ‘Boxes’ quilting pattern shows up more clearly on the back of the wall hanging.

So concludes the story of my out of character spooky design. I’ll see if this project can be hung in the shop which inspired this squirrel of a project 😉

Linking this finished project with Wendy’s Peacock Party and Michelle’s Beauties Pageant.

Allison