Not so Scary after all

Football season is here, and while I'm not a huge football fan I do enjoy the ritual of watching the game with my husband, steaks on the grill and the dog curled against me. And because I enjoy the ritual, there are teams I have come to care about. So, I now spend much more of my Saturday and Sunday on the couch, significantly increasing the time I want hand work (and decreasing the time spent at my sewing machine.) While I knit alot, I am not always in the mood to knit.

So, I've decided to try my hand at applique. I don't know why I've always been scared of it or felt it was too big a commitment. (And a quilt isn't? It takes me years to finish one of those suckers. On second thought, that's probably it. If it takes me years to finish a quilt pieced on the machine, what would happen if I added applique to it.) But, inspired by Britt's love of applique, I've decided to add some applique in to my football season repertoire.First up, a simple little pattern of Halloween ghosts. It turns out it's not so scary. I finished five of these guys without noticing, and I could easily have finished more if I didn't decide that was plenty for a simple Halloween quilt. (For next year, this fall I'm still trying to finish the t-shirt quilt. I literally just need to add the border and the top is pieced. I couldn't make myself do it yesterday.) The fabric I used for these ghosts didn't require a turned under edge, so it was particularly easy with just a running stitch along the edge.

Next up - needle turned applique. Or freezer paper applique. Whatever it turns out to take for me to get neat edges.