I would like to take the time to thank CAROL for being the host of this BOOtacular hop. I am not a Halloween person and this made for a challenge. I had some help from a guild member (HI, Emily) who is a Chiroptologist - a person who studies bats. She makes wonderful quilts with either bat print fabric or bats pieced. One of her pieces led me to an 'aha' moment.
All year I have been playing with block 'units' that are quick to make and can be flipped around to create designs by themselves. This 'wing' unit can be found in many large quilt blocks - like the Swoon and Carpenter's Wheel. I just thought it looked like an easy Bat.
Background: one 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle and four 2.5" squares
'bat': two 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles and one 2.5" square
Sew one background and one 'bat' 2.5" square together - press to dark. Using the corner flip method, attach a 2.5" background to each of the 'bat' rectangles - press to dark. Make sure your 'flips' are the opposite. Save your cut offs for tiny HSTs or toss. SURPRISE - I tossed them.
Sew the twosie to the background rectangle - press to rectangle. Stitch the 'lefty' bat rectangle to the left side - press toward the twosie unit. Add the 2.5" sq. background to the 'right' bat rectangle (press to background) and attach to the bottom - press toward the twosie unit.
Being a scrap quilter, my bats are scrappy from grey to various blacks. Set 8 x 8 blocks (6" finished blocks) for a 48" center. I added two borders -yes, two (I hate borders). The first is a dark green vine print, cornerstones are a black with green vine print, and outer border of the background. Binding is the dark green vine. 56" square finish.
Emily is making one in another setting and when she has a flimsy, I will share.
I wanted the quilting to represent the Sonic Echo System that bats use for navigation. A different 'wave' radiating out from each corner with overlapping.
It took a bit of time to quilt, but it added to the character of the quilt. My challenge was met. There can be such fun and delight when working outside your comfort box.
AND I scoured high and low thru my fabrics for a backing with nothing that suited this quilt. Then I did some laundy - not that it helps to think better. BUT, I had this green plaid sheet! So it became the back of the batty quilt.
Did I mention a give away? I have another Storage Station for one lucky person. I love how the bobbin donut can be used with the magnetic pinkeep or removed. There is a hidden pull drawer in the pinkeep. I love to use the fine glass head pins, so a package of those. Just be sure I can contact you - winner pulled on the 10th.
Be sure to visit all of today's participants:
58 comments:
I am "batty" over that!! On my Halloween list to do ... Thank you for sharing.
Love your batty quilt. Great idea on the quilting
Cool Quilt!
Thanks for the chance to win your give-away! Nice to store your pins and bobbins in one place. What secret thing do you store in the hidden drawer?
That design is fantastic, and the borders and changing colours as the bats fly higher, a true winner all over.
What a wonderful quilt. The background fabric really makes it pop.
Very very cool will have to book mark this...love it... happyness04431@yahoo.com
My grandson says he wants that quilt. Thanks for the giveaway.
Love the bats!
Your bat quilt is fantastic!
I love this!! Great job!
How easy is that block! Give you a challenge and you find the perfect unit. I really like how you quilted it, it really works well.
What a wonderful way to start my day. Love it, love it, love it. Thanks for the mini tutorial too. Your quilting gives such a great sense of movement and aren't sheets just the best source of fabric.
On the first picture I thought...wow, that looks like bats! Then low and hehold it was SUPPOSED to look like bats. Great project and post. Thanks for continuing to blog and for joining this hop!
xx, Carol
I love the bat quilt and the quilting is perfect! Those pins are so thin and sharp- my favorite kind!
Sharon, I LOVE THIS! There's a bat cave on the lake we visit regularly, and at dusk, boats line up at the mouth of the cave, waiting for the bats to exodus on mass, for their nightly feeding. It's the COOLEST thing! Your quilt reminds me of that! It's really cool -- great job!!!!! :)
So fun and so timely! Would love to win - can definitely use tools!
I love this quilt. Scrappy is good but I think it would be great in rainbow colors too.
Great block idea and a wonderful quilt using it!
This is a fascinating quilt to look at. I love it! To think the arrangement of those blocks (thanks for showing how) turns into an amazing bat quilt...wow! Bats are fun to watch, as long as they stay a bit away. I really want to make this! Thank you, Sharon, for sharing this Witchy Stitchy batty quilt and hopping with us!
Very neat looking bat quilt! You were very creative there.
Love your bats!! Great job quilting too.
What a great quilt. I especially like the varying shades of gray and black bats.
Simple colors...making an awesome quilt, so much movement!
Good Morning! Well, isn't that just the cleverest thing?!! Yes, it sure does look like a whole line of bats flying. AND, I never knew that a person who studies bats is called a Chiroptologist either. I love learning new things and words. I'm going to PIN your post for the 'bat block'. I foresee a batman-type quilt in my future and can incorporate your block easily. Thanks for the inspiration!! ~smile~ Roseanne
So cute! And again, learning something new...a Chiroptologist. Who knew?
What a great idea to use the wing units for bats! You are always sew creative and inspiring. Thank you for sharing ... :) Pat
Love the bats and my daughter will too. Thanks for sharing and thanks for a chance at winning.
Love the bat quilt- great work, thanks for sharing!
What a fun and easy quilt. Thank you.
Love your bat quilt! Might use your tutorial to make a mini version.
A great quilt and a really useful giveaway. Thank you
Great quilt! Love the sonar quilting pattern, too. Thank you for the tutorial. I just may have to make me a batty quilt.
What fun! Thanks for sharing the great giveaway and your tutorial as well.
I love your batty quilt and it is so modern looking too! The quilting idea is genius, I love when I have those kind of moments. Thank you for the chance at your giveaway.
Cute quilt! I am not much of a Halloween person either but it has been fun checking out all the sites. Thanks for sharing!
Love your bat quilt--and I do like Halloween!!
barbkaup(at)(yahoo)(dot)(com)
Your batty quilt is wonderful and as a longarm quilter, I really appreciate the echo-location quilting!!! I appreciate you showing me how to replicate your quilt...I just may need to do that!!
What a great batty quilt.
Cute bat quilt! Thanks for sharing your creative ideas.
This is a different quilt and I am batty for it. Thanks for sharing and the great tut.
Love your quilt. Thanks for sharing
I love the quilt, would be a great one for college bound boys. Jmikebalou (at) aol (dot) com
Oh that turned out awesome. The quilting is great too. I thought I was the only one who hated borders. LOL
Your quilt is just great! And it is is such an easy block to make. Thank you for sharing. (patchworkbreeze at gmail dot com)
Oh that's so neat! Great quilt for this blog hop. (shades000 at gmail dot com)
Fantastic!! Your quilt is so different and cool. Perfection and look at all we have learned about bats with your quilt.
What a cute quilt! Batty, but then not so obviously.
Wonderfully batty quilt and I love the quilting echoes the sonic echo system that bats use. Perfect.
Love the scrappy bats! Will be nice to have in your house this time of year. peterstankovich@comcast.net
Fabulous that you can use something you already had for your backing of the quilt! anita at quiltlovefordomesticfelicity@gmail.com
Your little bats are so cute.
I too am not a big fan of Halloween. I do like your quilt though. I like the fact that not all the bats are black. I recently had one get in my house and it was brown.
I like your bat quilt! Very cute!
Very clever, always love to see your projects.
Very cool! It does look like bats... and also it looks like barbed wire!
These are some really cool bats Sharon, just love this project, you really do see the bats in the quilt. :)
Oooh, I like that! It reminds me of Escher prints, but it isn't exactly. A great project!
Now that is a very cool quilt!!! xx
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