Harvest Pumpkin Wallhanging

It’s that time again…

The final project on my countdown to Halloween is my Harvest Pumpkin Wallhanging! If you were here for the previous two projects on my countdown (my Halloween Mantel Scarf and my Spooky Owl Applique Throw Pillow) you’d know I’ve been working on a wallhanging as my final project for Halloween. It’s evolved so much over the last couple weeks that it’s only partially what I envisioned originally. — Let’s just say “small” and “haunted” aren’t exactly the same adjectives I’d use to describe the finished project. — But it’s all good because it turned out really cute and it was such a fun process putting it together.

The process started with an idea…and some sketches…

Next came picking out the fabrics — which was double the fun because not only did I use up more of my own stash, a goal I’d set for myself earlier this year….

…but I got my sister and her friend Heidi to help clean out my awfully messy scrap bins as well. Look at all that fabric!! Yikes!

If it was smaller than a 5″ square, pieced to something else from a previous project, or a really old piece of material, it went into a bag. I’m not sure exactly what the next step is now that I have THREE BAGS FULL of small scraps, but it’s nice to have *somewhat* tidy scrap bins again. Makes it MUCH easier to search for small amounts of fabric for a project just like this one. Look at my tidy scrap bin!! All 4 others pretty much look like this one now. No more digging through the mess. :)

To be completely honest, the whole next part of the process I just sort of winged. I had no idea what dimensions were going to be like by the end of the project (even though I’d tried to write them down on my sketches) and there were certain techniques I’d need to revisit that I’d maybe only done once before but wanted to try out again for this piece.

And so the process of creation happened. With a few decisions made mid-way through — like adding the checkerboard border (taking it from a “small” wallhanging to maybe just a “wallhanging”) as well as scrapping the “haunted” theme for a more harvest inspired look — it finally came together.

So here it is! After a long and thoughtful process…my Harvest Pumpkin Wallhanging.

Again, it fit with my mom’s decor perfectly! This shelf is specifically for her pumpkin themed pieces and it just so happened that my wallhanging fit PERFECTLY in the nook above it. (I didn’t even plan for that! Honest!)

Close-up of some of my “quilting” — if you even want to call it that. Haha! It’s all *relatively* straight lines…and just fun accents I thought would add to the piece.

Don’t examine my quilting toooo closely though. Like I’ve mentioned before, I like to call myself a “topper”. You know? Someone who specializes in making tops of quilts. I usually leave it to the pros for the quilting but this one was small enough for me to do on my own. I also wanted to experiment on what I was capable of doing with quilting on a small piece like this as well. So I just went section by section and chose what I’d want to quilt on it. Like for the checkered borders I knew I wanted to try crosshatching. I also knew that I wanted to do something fun on top of the pumpkins and cat to give them more character.

Overall, the process was a fun one. It was nice to sort of build off an idea and watch it grow over time. I’m going to be sad now that my countdown is done but I’m also so happy with all three of these projects. I’ve never been in the Halloween/Fall spirit as much as I am this year! Hope you all enjoyed my Halloween countdown!

If you missed the last couple week’s projects make sure to check them out!
Week 1 – Week of October 1: Halloween Mantel Scarf
Week 2 – Week of October 8: Spooky Owl Applique Throw Pillow