Friday 25 October 2013

"Pumpkin Pillow" - and how to make one

Welcome to my blog, Mrs Moen! My name is Nina Lise Moen, and I am a Norwegian quilter, quilt book author, designer and teacher. I enjoy a few other creative outlets as well, but today is all about quilting. Check out my profile and the About tab if you like to know more about me. You will also find tabs for my How To-s, Patterns (English or Norwegian), Free patterns, and Class information (in Norwegian) on the top of the page.

I enjoy making many different kinds of quilts, and most of all I love playing with fabrics, and my scrap bins are often put to use although you could not tell by looking at them. Like many other quilt teachers, I am in the middle of class season right now, for which prep work takes up quite a lot of time. This weekend I’ll be teaching two classes in Kongsberg – the always enjoyable Funky Fowl class and the equally fun Layer upon layer Movement class for which I just finished up the last two samples this week.


Now, life cannot be all about work and no play, can it, so I set aside a few hours to try out an idea. Celebrating Halloween is not a Norwegian tradition although we have quite a few kids that go trick and treating, however, I have always wanted to make a Halloween quilt (what can I say, it’s orange) so here is my brand new Pumpkin Pillow.

He did not turn out as planned; the orange fabric wasn’t big enough and the eyes and nose are crammed together, but he seems to not care at all. Just look at that grin. Who wouldn't like to go out in the world with such a confidence!

The colour orange is a hard one to capture, isn’t it, and although I dread flashlight pictures, they are the ones that show off the colours most correctly on a dark and rainy fall day.

Also, adding white helped a little. For more tips on photographing colours, see this post.

The spooky house-and-tree-teeth turned out fun.

And I am very happy with the appliqué stitching – orange zigzag stitches with straight black stitches inside. Makes the edges pop.

Flames in the eyes and nose.

You’ll find a tutorial posted here at my tutorial blog, Mrs Moen How to’s, in case you would like to make a Pumpkin Pillow on your own. Unfortunately I did not take too many pictures during the process, but I have filled in the gaps with illustrations.

You have no idea how many times I typed pumpkin wrong writing these two posts. PumPkin, pumPkin, pumPkin; seriously, how hard can it be!

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Stats:
Finished quilt measures : 16"*16"
Special techniques used : Make it work appliqué
Quilted by : Myself
Best Category : Appliqué quilt

Thanks for stopping by; you can see the rest of the Blogger’s Quilt Festival here.
AmysCreativeSide

Have fun, and as I'll be away for a short week and might not catch you before then - Happy Halloween.)

17 comments:

  1. Så gøy! Denne var skikkelig flott. Spesielt likte jeg tennene. Og så elsker jeg jo oransje, da. Har tenkt å melde meg på denne festivalen for første gang i år. Håper jeg får det til.

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  2. Only you could make such a creative pumpkin pillow! So very cute. The teeth are what totally makes it work!

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  3. I love your wicked pillow. :-)
    Did not participate in any wicked hop this year. Making Tula Pink City blocks and paper piecing takes all the extra time, almost.....
    Black and orange are beautiful colors during this time of the year.

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  4. Your pumpkin pillow is genious! LOVE the spooky teeth!!

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  5. Hi Nina Lise! Audrey said it well - you have fantastic, creative your own style! I love your pillow! x Teje

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  6. What a neat idea....and I think I can get one made before the big day. Thank you for the tutorial. As always, your creativity is inspiring.

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  7. So adorable. LOve the crooked house smile. xox

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  8. HH to you MM. I think you captured the spirit of Halloween wonderfully! Your PP is scary, but not too scary. Love the teeth bearing down on the houses. Excellent! and there are wicked looking trees, too.
    Have a wonderful teaching tour.
    Hugs

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  9. love your Halloween cushion!
    have a great weekend
    Brigitte

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  10. Artig og flott Halloween-pute! Stilig med svart og oransj.

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  11. This is so cute Nina Lise! I especially love the pumpkin's grin!

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  12. This is a fabulous interpretation of a jack-o-lantern! I just love his off-centredness. Great design and applique!

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  13. Da har jeg stemt på deg hos Quilting Gallery. Lykke til!

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