Barn Bats {Quilted Throw Pillows}

 When I made my Checkmate quilts, I wanted to cover the long rectangular pillows that belong on each chair.  Since they are a teal blue, they don't really match much?

I really wanted to use up every bit of the leftover Lost and Found fabric.  I remembered that the Barn Bat pillow I made before, didn't really use up much fabric.  Instead of a bunch of rows, I knew I wanted to make a single row with black background.

My original intention was to use the variegated thread, 

that I still have leftover from my Spiders and Web Quilt in 2011.

But then I realized that I didn't want it to be read as much purple/pink as I originally thought and spread out the color over the pink.

I started to add black to add some depth to it.

And then a dark (not shown) and light gray like above.

When I felt like I had enough of the lighter color, I filled the rest in with black again.  Excuse the lint!  I tried everything to remove it and finally figured out my handheld vacuum with the roller brush did the trick!!!

You can see above that funky dot I used for the backing of the quilted front, and the googly eyes for the hidden zipper backs.  Both are scraps from leftover backing and binding from a commissioned Trick or Treat Quilt.  Black zippers I had on hand and then I had some more of that lovely black and white stripe from the Lost and Found collection.

I love that I used a bunch of scrap and stash to make these two coordinating pillows happen!

  I'm loving this years plan of using all the bits and pieces of a precut until the last drop!!!

Barn Bat Pillow {Quilted Pillow}

"When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers 'tis near Halloween"

I think I've mentioned it before, but my love for Halloween decorations can probably be correlated to the fact that I grew up in a No Halloween/ No Trick-or-Treat house. Every year I end up making a pillow or a quilt for the holiday.

I thought doing my nails would be enough. But it just didn't satisfy my need for a quilted thing. 

Thankfully I had this special stack of scraps that my friend Lindsey had sent me. I really was trying to stay strong and not buy this amazing Witch Hazel line from Riley Blake. I'm still sad I didn't buy any. 

I knew it would have to result in a pillow or some abstract quilt. Luckily, I stumbled onto Elizabeth Hartman's Barn Bat Tutorial. I had the right dimensions and only needed to add four solid black blocks and one Essex linen block.

I adored the bats with the very first strip.   

Before I knew it, I had made a pillow top, hidden zipper back, and binding. 

I decided to just outline the bats in black thread on my domestic machine.  Stitched the front and back together and attached the binding. I love using the binding like a piping. 

I'm already thinking about next year's Halloween project.