festive pumpkin patch

In keeping with the festive fall nature of my projects, I have some more pumpkins to share. This is a wall hanging (about 2' x 3') pattern I acquired on our recent trip down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It took me no time to get it all put together and was incredibly fun to make. 

After Dave, his mom, and I finished a jaunt through the aquarium I mentioned that there was a quilt shop in nearby Pacific Grove. It was literally a 5 minute drive from where we'd parked in Monterey and we found a spot to park just outside the front door. It was obviously meant to be. The place was the best quilt shop I've been in yet. I wanted to take all the fabrics home with me, it was brightly lit, well organized, and there was even a section where they keep a rotating exhibit of quilts going. I was so excited about such a great find. I'd been looking around in the shops closer by for Halloween fabric bundles to make myself some scrappy pumpkins but having no luck. Lo and behold the perfect quilt shop was made even more perfect by having said bundles. Add in a table of fat quarters to choose from and I left the shop with all the materials to make a pumpkin patch of my own with a pattern I also found there. So good. 

I cut the fabrics on the kitchen island one afternoon and got to sewing shortly after. It was really fun to play with all the fabrics and see how the different combinations worked. I especially like the patchwork square pumpkins, but the combination with stripes and uncut blocks of fabric really make the overall pattern interesting. Dave picked out the background, which is a linen-like woven black and gray that I really like. It was finicky to work with but worth the effort. 

I quilted it with gray thread on top and green in the bobbin using random straight lines that mimicked the backing fabric. After auditioning both the green and the backing fabric for binding I chose the black backing fabric and made my own binding. I stitched to the back and then tacked down to the front using a straight line near the edge. It turned out very well and is even kitten approved. Now we just need to find a wall for it to hang on for the rest of the fall season. And I also need to go back to that shop....