Today is my day to participate in the Pick A Pumpkin blog hop sponsored by Creatin’ by the Sticks.   Thank you Carla for organizing another great blog event.  We were asked to make anything big or small provided it has a pumpkin.  While I often fret over what to sew, it always seems to work out in the end.  This time I got the spark of an idea from a little birthday gift. 

My hubby’s birthday was this past week.  The night before, after he had already gone to sleep, I decorated his bathroom mirror with a garland of paper elephants. He has a real love of elephants and has started a little collection of sculptures.  When I found this garland, made by a women’s collective in Nepal, I knew just what to do with it.  As you can see below, he woke up to a garland-festooned mirror and a sign wishing him a happy birthday. 

The mirror is fogged up but you can see these little elephants twisting and turning all around.

Aren’t these little guys so cute? They are simply sewn with little dots for eyes.

I cut the pumpkins freehand and this one is my favorite.  The leaves and stem actually look decent.

I thought it might be fun to make a garland with fabric pumpkins.  I used scraps of orange and green and dipped into my bag of interfacing scraps.  I ironed interfacing onto the backs of the fabric, then cut out pumpkin shapes and stems with leaves. Using a muted green colored thread, I sewed the stems and leaves onto the pumpkin bases.  Then I chain pieced the top sections of the pumpkins to string them together.  I could have left more room between the pumpkins for the garland to be sparse.  Given that I put mine up on an oval mirror, it worked just fine.  If you make a one for a mantle, to keep them from crowding, I recommend that you sew more thread between the actual images. 

Fabric pumpkin garland. 

This simple garland could work with different shapes for any holiday or birthday.  I could easily picture hearts on Valentine’s Day or for an anniversary, snow men for winter etc… Another idea is to embroider a slogan or greeting onto the garland.  You could keep them long at the ends and add bells, pom-pom or tassels to jazz them up.  Such a simple project and it has many possibilities.  Give it a try when you want to use up some scraps.   Have fun…but keep reading for info on a giveaway.

The fabric garland taped up on my guest bathroom mirror. This could also be great on a window or mantle.  

So, about that giveaway.  I sometimes enjoy reading quilting magazines for information and inspiration.  The only problem is that I can’t seem to throw them out when I’m done with them.  They gather and stare at me on my coffee table.   I realized others may be happy to read them, therefore I have two giveaways planned!!  Post a comment here on my blog and tell me your favorite quilt style or pattern.  Two winners will get 3 fat quarters of fabric along with a stack of “gently used” magazines.  It gets even better because sometimes the magazines come with a gift like a template or little pattern book.  I’m going to send you one of those too, but it may or may not match the accompanying magazine.  It’s a win-win for us all.  I get to recycle some great publications and you get them to read them as if they’re brand new.  

Giveaway:  sample of possible magazines, gifts and fat quarters that two of you can win.

GIVEAWAY FOR TWO WINNERS:  Win a stack of 4 or so past issues each of quilting magazines plus 3 fat quarters & a “gift”.  The quilting magazines are in great condition and, to the best of my knowledge, have all pages intact.  On or before Monday, November 19, 2018, post a comment on my blog telling me your favorite quilt style or pattern.  This will help inform what sort of magazines I should pull for you from the stack.   Two of you can win some goodies.  

UPDATE: 11/22/18 HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all and congrats to Susan and Carol who won the giveaways.  The goodies are shipped and on the way to you both.  Stay tuned for further blog hops and more giveaways in the future.  

Check out more talented designers and pumpkin projects on the schedule below.