Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Halloween in July


I know that everyone has heard of Christmas in July, how about Halloween in July? I love holidays, all of them. Christmas and Halloween are my two favorites. I have several Christmas quilts and one small Halloween quilt, when I saw this pattern last year while on retreat with Sharon and Shannon. I just had to have it! Lisa and Pat bought it also, and we challenged each other to complete it by this year's retreat. Well as you can see all I have left is to pick on a backing and get it quilted. I think that I won!!! In honor of my completing this quilt I am doing a Halloween give away. I have four yards of an Alexander Henry Halloween print, two books (0ne with just Halloween patterns, the other with all holidays), and four fat quarters that coordinate with the yardage. Just leave me a comment telling me about your favorite holiday memory, (if you become a follower you will get your name put in an extra time. ) . Since this is a Halloween post I will tell you my favorite Halloween memory. When I was a kid, there was no such thing as going to the store and buying a costume, my mom always made mine. My favorite one was a witch costume that she made, complete with hat and cape. The actual costume had a broom appliqued on the front of it. The cape was long and flowing, and the hat was really tall and pointy. I loved that costume. I remember waiting all day to put it on and go out and get candy. Back then my mom would just drop me and my brother off and we would go to several houses then walk back to the car. Boy have times changed. I seem to remember getting more candy that year and I just knew that it was the costume. I insisted that we save it because I wanted to wear it again the next year. We did save it, but by the time the next Halloween had rolled around, I had gotten a lot taller and there was no way that I could wear it. I still like to get dressed up and hand out candy at my house. I usually try to do something special to the front of our house to scare all of the trick or treaters. What is your favorite memory? I am heading out of town again tomorrow and will determine a winner when I come back on Saturday. (Close up of the yardage)

18 comments:

Silverthimble said...

I love that Halloween print! I just worked on a Halloween quilt last weekend - a wonky log cabin made from leftover Halloween prints. I am at the point where I need to add a border and I am not sure what to add. Your print would be perfect! LOL

I love the holidays and I like to decorate for various holidays/seasons. I remember one Halloween that my son dressed up like a scarecrow and put a mask over his face so you couldn't see his features. He then slumped into a lawn chair next to the front door. He looked like a stuffed scarecrow decoration. When some girls would come to the door to trick or treat, he would yell, "Boo" as they got close. Of course being girls they would scream and jump back. He would laugh and laugh. I was inside watching the whole show...pretty entertaining. It is hard to set up the Halloween decorations now without thinking about that year!

Lisa said...

My favorite Halloween memory is of my son when he was about 5, many years ago, and he wanted to go dressed as a Domino's Pizza Delivery guy....complete with a pizza box to collect his candy in!

grendelskin said...

When I was a kid, the best stop was Mrs. O'Brien's house: she made the best sugar cookies in the whole world. My kids look forward to trick or treating at the one house they actually enter: the elderly woman who lives there decorates her living room with a ton of stuff, and the kids are given a "tour" each year. They love going there to see her obvious enjoyment.

Amy said...

Brenda,
My children always knew the one house in the neighborhood that gave out full size candy bars on Halloween. They were so disappointed when that family moved away! My husband decided that we would become that house, and now we are known in the neighborhood for full size candy bars and water bottles!

Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts said...

Oh I love that jack-o-lantern fabric! When our children were in grade school we always carved the pumpkins to match their toothless smiles and took photo's. One year DD was determined to lose her loose tooth before Halloween! LOL It was fun and the kids always looked forward to loosing their teeth instead of dreading it. ;-)

Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts said...

Oh I forgot to say~ I love your quilt!!! I'm a follower now. ;-)

Wendy said...

Nice Halloween fabric! I don't know if I have a favorite Halloween memory. Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love all the spookiness about it. I remember one Halloween season, we found a pumpkin that was tall and skinny, just like one of my children! It's a great memory for me. I also have great memories of going to pumpkin patches with my grown sons and us picking out a whole bunch of ornate pumpkins. I'd spend $50 on pumpkins! I also love to make Halloween quilts. I've made five so far!

julieQ said...

I too have that pattern! Just a dream yet...someday! My favorite memory is that of my mom, getting us ready for Halloween. She always made us wonderful homemade costumes...and prayed it would not freeze! (we lived in Colorado)...anyway, one night I was dressed up in my big parka, mittens...and then my Halloween witch costume over it! I was a little..err...bumpy!

BitnByAQuiltingBug said...

Oh my! What a giveaway! My favorite halloween memory was the first time I saw the witch stuck to the telephone pole. I thought that was the greatest idea since sliced bread!

Katydid said...

Super cute quilt!

In my family Halloween hardly exists... we live on a small dead end street, and no one comes :( --- Though Halloween is my cousin's favorite holiday.

My favorite holiday memory is when it snowed too hard for my grandma to make it for Christmas, I in my innocence declared that "It's not Christmas until Grandma is here!" and that Christmas would wait until grandma arrived. My family was opening Christmas presents on the 29th of December that year. Now 20 years later either my mom or my aunt call out when grandma arrives at the door for Christmas.... "Christmas has just arrived."

Betsy said...

Brenda, thank you for the chance to win. My favorite holiday memory is July 4th. On military installations the fireworks truly reflect what our veterans have done for our country.

Lisa at Sun Naturals said...

There was no buying of costumes when I was a kid either. Most years I was a "hobo"...it was easy to just put on some of Dad's old clothes and if it was cold my coat would fit under. There was one house, Mrs. Pepper's, where she would dress as a witch and you had to "earn" your treat by showing her a trick or telling her a joke. Always kind of freaked me out at the time I was so shy, but I wanted that candy!

Halloween and Christmas-themed quilts are my favorite. Thanks for the chance :-)

Lisa at Sun Naturals said...

Oops I forgot to add, I am your newest follower too :-)

Wish we had Stich-ins around here!

Renee G said...

When I was in grade school, our local mall used to have a window painting contest for all the kids. Each year we would bundle up and head down there to paint a window with a Halloween picture. I remember painting dogs trick or treating, pumpkins on a fence, etc. It was always lots of fun.

Pat said...

Well Brenda, you are absolutely correct - you are the winner of the Halloween quilt challenge. I am having a devil of a time just tracing the pattern onto the spider web fabric. I know that Leisa is way ahead of me also. I feel like a big fat loser!

Now I want to enter your drawing for the Halloween fabric from Alexander Henry and the patterns. If I win these items I will feel like a Halloween winner!

One of my favorite Halloween memories is when my daughter was 18 months old. I made her a mouse custome from grey and pink flannel. She squirmed, screamed, cried, and peed in her custome! The photos are too funny. The best part is I washed and dried the custome and it would fit a Barbie doll.

Okay, I am just a sorry little devil and I hope that I will win the drawing since I could not/did not win the Halloween quilt challenge.

Enjoy your out of town days!

Anonymous said...

I'm delighted you visited my blog and left I comment so I could find you! The follower section of your blog was empty and wouldn't load so I couldn't follow just yet.

Your quilt is adorable! So much work for the holiday!! Love it! I think the most favorite time of Halloween I ever had was way back as a kid when it was safe to cruise the streets for candy. I can remember sidewalks being packed and we would try and hit the best candy houses twice and hope they didn't notice. Hee!

Anonymous said...

LOVE the give-away goodies

my husband says that I was born in the wrong country, Australia doesn't really "do" Halloween

but.......

each year I decorate our house entry, my studio (a LOT!!) and dress up

make sure that the candy bowl is stocked and wait for any trick-or-treat callers

last year we had 3

*sigh*

dq said...

I just wanted to mention that I'm envious of your quilt. I purchased the pattern a few months ago. It is not even on my "buy the fabric list" yet.

It's beautiful.

My favorite Halloween memory was the year my husband and I dressed up with the kids for trick or treating. It made the kids love to dress up and love Halloween thereafter.