Thursday, October 29, 2020

Old Mill Path Quilt - Halloween Style

A bright and happy quilt made just in time for Halloween and best of all, it uses just one layer cake for the main design.  
The fabric:  Ghouls & Goodies by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda.  One layer cake with some scrap black fabric for the border.  
The Pattern:  Old Mill Path by Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Their video shows in detail how to sew and assemble this pattern using their Drunkards Path ruler (small size).  Link to the video is HERE. 
This pattern is perfect for novelty designs, and I have made it before using another of Stacy's fabric lines called Safari Life.  
The blog post HERE explains how I made this block with lots of pictures if you are interested in more step by step details.  There is one difference between these two quilts.  The original pattern calls for the blocks to be made with two colors ...  the center 'star' and similar colored circles surrounding it (picture on the right).  In this Halloween quilt I mixed up all the circle pieces to balance all the colors (picture on the left).  
I try my best with circles and often end up seams not lining up as shown in the picture above. The reason why this can happen is two-fold.  Sewing curves is challenging and it's easy to stretch the fabric since everything is on the bias.  
But, it can also be because after you FOLD one 10" fabric square and cut through four layers of fabric to get your shapes ... the rotary cutter can shift a little on the curve.   This picture shows how uneven some of my cuts were.   I am merely mentioning this because it helps explain why, even if you think your sewing is pretty accurate on the curved parts - things can be a little off.  But bottom line, this is not something to stress or worry about.  NO ONE WILL NOTICE. 
I always trim my blocks and the previous post HERE shows how I line up the ruler to get this 8.5" x 8.5" square.  
Some soft minky from Hawthorne Supply Co.  in Aubergine ( purple eggplant) and some of their in-house printed Candy Stripe for the binding,  also in Aubergine, completes the picture. 
 Royal purple thread from Connecting Threads in straight lines on either side of the seams, and then on the diagonal in a 3.5 stitch length is simple and easy.  
That's it for this Halloween ... may your day be filled with Ghouls & Goodies! 

Materials:
Ghouls & Goodies by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda
Missouri Star Quilt Co. Old Mill Path video / Drunkards Path ruler (small)
Hawthorne Supply Co. Minky & Candy Strip in Aubergine 
Warm & White batting
Royal Purple thread 50wt. Connecting Threads
Border: Chillingsworth Deadly Damask in Shadow from Echo Park

Size: 52" x 61"
Date: October 2020