Tag Archives: halloween

31 Days of Halloween – Jack Leaves The Lights On

31 Days of Halloween on sewhooked.com

Welcome back!

It’s October 9 and we’re well into our 31 Days of Halloween!

Each Friday in October, I’ll be featuring some of my Halloween-inspired patterns that are available for sale in my Craftsy shop.

Not to worry, free goodies return tomorrow!

Jack Leaves The Light On by Jennifer Ofenstein, sewhooked.com

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack’s hanging out with the candle sticks!

Today we’re visiting Jack Leaves The Light On, a versatile pattern set that includes two block patterns plus piecing instructions for this 12″ x 28″ table runner, all for just $6 on Craftsy!

Want a longer runner? Add more blocks!

Jack Leaves the Light On - Quilt Variation by Jennifer Ofenstein

Jack Leaves The Light On would also make a great quilt!

Jack Leaves The Light On - Vertical Option with added sashing

Need a wall hanging? Just piece the blocks vertically!

Craftsy Logo

As a special bonus for my readers, get 50% off Machine Quilting: Free Motion & More until October 15, 12015! Original price is $39.99, get it now for $19.99! Offer good until 10/15/15 @11:59pm MT.

Are you making projects from 31 Days of Halloween? Share your photos with my flickr group! There will be a fun surprise after Halloween for one lucky winner!

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31 Days of Halloween – Give Me Candy!

Welcome back for another 31 Days of Halloween post!

Today I’m excited to share a brand new and absolutely free Halloween stencil! This the first stencil I’ve shared in an age and I do hope you enjoy it!

Designed by me entirely in Inkscape, Give Me Candy represents a lifelong love, nay, adoration, of candy corn! Yum!

New to stenciling? Here’s a video tutorial I created waaay back in May of 2008. It’s hard to believe, but it pre-dates even Talk to Me Tuesday!

For this project you’ll need: (affiliate links are marked *)

  • The stencil, printed on the matte side of freezer paper (for easy printing, I cut a sheet to letter size then tape the top side to a piece of regular printer paper)
  • You can print or download the Give Me Candy Stencil.
  • X-acto Knife or other stencil cutting tool
  • cutting board or other safe cutting surface
  • Fabric paint. For this project, I used Tulip Soft Mandarin Orange, Sunshine Yellow and Velveteen White.
  • 1″ sponge brush
  • iron
  • cardboard or paper for inside the shirt/back of fabric
  • You’ll need fabric or a t-shirt. Most instructions say to pre-wash, but I won’t lie, I rarely do and I’ve never had any issues with the paint sticking or not lasting.

I used Tulip Soft Fabric Paint for this project.

 

 

Here’s the stencil all cut out and ironed on to my fabric. I like to use a pressing cloth after I iron the pointy bits are in place to ensure everything is nice and stuck.

Freezer paper creates a temporary bond, and it will peel off, so check your edges before painting.

I wanted a candy corn effect on the letters, so I blended my colors, starting with white and working my way down. When all the colors were in place, I went back and blended a little between the edges.

The stencil is designed so that the candy corn pieces can be entirely separate if you wish. If you’d prefer to blend yours, simply cut away the dividing bits before ironing the stencil on to your fabric (I didn’t do that, and had to go back with a tiny paint brush, no fun!).

It looks complicated, but it’s so, so simple! Just take your time and don’t be too fussed if the edges aren’t perfect.

 

And, done!

I stenciled this on a piece of Moda Marbles and now I’m thinking my Jack cushion might need a companion…

If you’re feeling ambitious, try it with embroidery or even applique!

What do you think? Any ideas for how you might use this fun (and free!) stencil?

One more time…

Download the Give Me Candy Stencil 

Are you making projects from 31 Days of Halloween? I’d love to see! 

See you tomorrow for a look back on Halloweens past !

♥ Jennifer O

 

31 Days of Halloween – Wizard Trading Cards

31 Days of Halloween on sewhooked.com

Here we are again and we’re one day closer to my favorite holiday as we continue on with  31 Days of Halloween!

Harry Potter Birthday Party, 2003

As I mentioned when I shared the Cauldron Cakes on Thursday, in the Way Back of 2003, my daughter, now 20 years old, had a magical, Harry Potter-themed birthday party.

Time flies, eh?

I thought today would be the perfect time to share another craft from that fun day: Wizard Trading Cards!

 

Wizard Trading Cards

Chocolate Frogs complete with Wizard Trading Cards

Print Single-Sided Card

Print Double-Sided Card

While not strictly Halloween, no young witch or wizard can resist the lure of a chocolate frog and Wizard Trading Cards!

These are simple and inexpensive to make. There’s no fancy cutting or expensive supplies required. Just grab a sheet of ready-to-print business cards and you’re good to go! Business cards are  U.S. Letter Size (8 1/2″ x 11″). If you don’t have access to that, simply print on card stock and cut to size.

These make great party favors, especially if you know your Halloween crowd are Harry Potter fans!

I used candy molds and milk chocolate chips to make the Chocolate Frogs. Yum!

The cards are those wizards that Harry and Ron come across on their frog cards on the Hogwarts Express during their first trip to Hogwarts! I paraphrased historical information found online, except for Dumbledore, his listing comes directly from Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone.

These were made WAY back in 2003 and I have unfortunately lost the source list for the information and artists as well as the original editable document, which I would have very much like to have shared. My greatest apologies for this, if there is any way I can recreate the source list, it will be attached to the file at a future date.

Even so, I hope you will enjoy and perhaps make your own set of Wizard Trading Cards!

Are you making projects from 31 Days of Halloween? Share your photos with my flickr group! There will be a fun surprise after Halloween for one lucky winner!

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TTMT #338 – Super Secret Sewing & 31 Days of Halloween!

31 Days of Halloween on sewhooked.comToday’s video includes a very special story about a very special quilt and a brand new pattern set that is part of 31 Days of Halloween. I hope you enjoy!

Don’t forget to check out my EQ7 Seasons Row Along Show & Tell Post from earlier today! I’d also like to encourage anyone that made my own Spring row to post photos in my flickr group. I would love to see what you made!

Looking for the Talk to Me Tuesday community? Here it is!

Visit Fandom in Stitches tomorrow for week 9 in the Smart Phone Quilt Along with new patterns by Jennifer Rowles!

Jack's Lanterns, 9 Patterns to Paper Piece by Jennifer Ofenstein

Get Jack’s Lanterns on Craftsy for just $6!

See you tomorrow for another fun day of Halloween-inspired happiness!

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31 Days of Halloween – Vampires & Werewolves

31 Days of Halloween on sewhooked.com

It’s Monday, October 5, and that means another fun post for the 31 Days of Halloween right here on Sewhooked!

Today, I thought I’d share two free paper pieced patterns that I designed for fandominstitches.com, but that work beautifully well for Halloween, too!

Vampire Fangs Paper Pieced pattern by Jennifer Ofenstein, sewhooked.com

The first up is my Vampire Fangs pattern, designed with my vampire-loving friends in mind. I still love those chompers!

Vampire Fangs is 5 1/2″ (5″ finished) paper pieced and absolutely free!

Get the pattern here.

Prefer Craftsy? You can download it there, too! Team Jacob howling wolf pillow made for archerprenNext, how about a spooky Howling Wolf? While I imagine him as a werewolf, use your own imagination as to where he might fit in your Halloween plans. He’s shown here as part of a cushion I made for a friend ages quite some time ago. I still love that circle fabric in the border!

2004 - Frodo and Werewolf

Here is my own Howling Wolf, along with her little brother, Frodo, from way back in 2004!

The Howling Wolf pattern is 5 1/2″ (5″ finished) and absolutely free.

Get the pattern here.

If you prefer, download the pattern from Craftsy!

I'm a Craftsy Designer
Are you making projects from 31 Days of Halloween? Share your photos with my flickr group! There will be a fun surprise after Halloween for one lucky winner!

See you tomorrow with Talk To Me Tuesday and more Halloween fun!

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smartphone quilt along

Visit Fandom in Stitches for the Smartphone Quilt Along happening now!

31 Days of Halloween – Easy Crochet Jack-O-Lantern Finger Puppet

31 Days of Halloween on sewhooked.com

Welcome to October 4, Day 4 of 31 Days of Halloween right here on Sewhooked!

Today, we’re dialing the craft clock WAY back!

As you all know by now, I spend a good deal of my time designing quilt patterns, sewing and making quilts.

In another life, when I had small kids to attend to, I designed and shared many crochet projects. You can find many of those for free right here.

Jack-O-Lantern finger puppets

One of my fast favorites is this Jack-0-Lantern finger puppet/pencil topper, originally created for my daughter’s kindergarten class. I’ve made many of them since then, usually for gifts or swaps. Sometimes, just for fun!

That daughter, by the way, is 20 years old.  😉
Jack-O-Lantern Finger Puppets, October 2000

You can make a whole pile of these assembly-line style in an afternoon in no time flat!

In addition to pencil toppers, you can pop one on a lollipop, add a French hook for earrings or crochet a chain to create a necklace for a small person in your life…or for yourself!

Crochet Pumpkin Finger Puppets

  • Small amount worsted weight yarn: Orange, black, green
  • H hook
  • tapestry/yarn needle

Pumpkin Body:

With orange, make 2 (for fridgie magnet, make 1):

Ch 4, dc in 4th ch from hook 11 times. Join with sl st in top of ch 3. Leave a tail about 8″ long for stitching later.

Jack-o-lantern face (black shows up best)

Using black yarn with yarn needle, make Jack-O-Lantern face on one circle. Finish off.

Joining the the halves:

Using tail, and a yarn needle, join two circles by whip-stitching through both sc. Leave an opening at the bottom large enough to put your finger or a pencil inside the pumpkin. Finish off.

Stem (green or brown):

With pumpkin facing you, sl st in sc one st to the right of center. using face as a reference. Sc in next st, sl st in next. Turn. (Do not ch 1) Sl st in next two st. Ch 5, sl st in 2nd ch from hook. Sl st in next 3 ch, sl st again in base sc. Finish off.

If making a fridgie magnet, only make one circle before adding the stem and then glue a magnet to the back.

For earrings, add a French hook with a jump ring through the stem.

For an easy child-friendly necklace, instead of a stem, with green or brown, sl st in sc one st to the right of center of your circle (use face as a reference), sc in next st, ch until you have a chain the proper length for the necklace you want, sl st in st, Finish off.

Are you making projects from 31 Days of Halloween? Share your photos with my flickr group! There will be a fun surprise after Halloween for one lucky winner!

See you tomorrow for more Halloween goodness!

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Craftsy | Etsy

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smartphone quilt along

Visit Fandom in Stitches for the Smartphone Quilt Along happening now!

31 Days of Halloween – Welcome & Easy Cauldron Cakes

31 Days of Halloween on sewhooked.com

Welcome, welcome to 31 Days of Halloween right here on Sewhooked!

Happy Halloween from Velma and Scooby!

Scooby & Velma, Halloween 2014

Halloween, as you may have guessed, is my ALL TIME FAVORITE HOLIDAY.

There are costumes!

There’s candy!

There’s The Great Pumpkin!

Also scary movies. Which I <3.

For 31 Days of Halloween, I will be sharing something fun for each day of October.

Since I am a quilt pattern designer and a huge Harry Potter fan, you can expect that some of my days will be a little more, well, themed, than others. There will be some new content mixed in with fun revisits to some of my favorite free projects.

Fridays will be dedicated to sharing fun Halloween-themed patterns for sale in my Craftsy store (because a girl does have to make a living) and Tuesdays will remain, as always, for my video show & tell Talk to Me Tuesday.

Every other day of the month will include something FREE AND FUN!

Without further ado, let’s get started! Easy Cauldron Cakes Originally created for my daughter’s Harry Potter birthday party way back in 2003, Easy Cauldron Cakes go together in no time and would be perfect for a fast Halloween party treat!

  • Bake the cupcakes of your choice in silver (or black!) cupcake wrappers.
  • Add a dollop of your favorite frosting for potion (I used a cookie dough scoop!) in the color of your choice.
  • Top with Halloween or other decorations (optional).
  • Black licorice whips or Twizzlers make a great handle.
  • Optional: sprinkle Pop Rocks on top before serving!
  • Enjoy!

See you tomorrow with more Halloween goodness!

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smartphone quilt along

Visit Fandom in Stitches for the Smartphone Quilt Along happening now!

Happy Halloween!

#TTMT sneak peek!

A very happy Halloween to you from me!

Ready for tomorrow! #Halloween #candy

My hubby and I are celebrating our favorite holiday by watching The Goonies together while we pass out Halloween candy!

Halloween Bats

Don’t forget to check to Crafts of Halloweens Past!

If you haven’t already and have a few minutes today, whip up one of my fast and easy Halloween crafts to post to the Sewhooked flickr group! There’s a prize up for grabs for one lucky winner!

New to Sewhooked? Here’s what you missed!

TARDIS treat bag tutorial Easy Felt Bats

Pin Cushion CauldronJack-O-Lantern finger puppets

Pumpkin Earring Tutorial Candy Corn Crochet Hat

Trick or Treat Sue

There’s always something going on around Sewhooked!

Mustachio 2.0

Don’t miss your chance to Name That Mustache! Final winners announced Monday!

Are you dressing up for Halloween? I’d love to see photos!

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Featured Pattern: Zombie, $2 on Craftsy

…part of the Monster Madness pattern set!

TTMT #234 – Herbology & Bad Accents

In this video!

Mustachio 2.0
Halloween Bats

I’m giving away LOTS of prizes this month, so make sure you check out the posts above for details!

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Featured Pattern: Two Little Hooters

Crafts of Halloweens Past: Quilty Goodness!

Trick or Treat Sue

Let’s be honest, most of you are here because of the quilts.

I’m totally okay with that.

While I do have many for sale patterns, I have many, many free ones.

Whimsical, fun, happy patterns are my favorite to create. To be frank (or Jennifer, as the case may be!), I make what I like. It’s as plain and simple as that. Making what I like makes me happy, and hopefully, you will feel that when you’re working on a pattern that I designed. If not, then I’m clearly doing it wrong!

Trick-or-Treat Sue, up at the top of this post, was created for a blog hop hosted by Soma over on Whims & Fancies last October.

She’s 10″ paper pieced and can be downloaded right here or over on Craftsy. This sweet Sue is just one of the over 50 magical Sunbonnet Sues that I’ve designed over the years. You can find all of her Magical Friends right here!

If you’re looking for even more quilty goodness for Halloween, try one of these blasts from the past, designed by me and available on the Harry Potter page over on my other site, Fandom In Stitches (click the image for the free pattern!):

Pumpkin cauldron

There are many, MANY more where these came from!

To make reliving the Crafts of Halloween Past even more fun for you, I’m offering a challenge with a prize!

Quilts from 100 Blocks, Fall 2013

Make any of my Halloween projects or patterns posted during the course of the month and post a photo to the Sewhooked flickr group tagged “halloween.”

At the end of the month, I’ll draw a winner to receive a free copy of Quiltmaker’s Quilts from 100 Blocks, which includes my pattern Corn Maze!

Heck, I’ll even sign it, if you like! ;)

Mustachio 2.0

Don’t Miss Week 3 of Name That Mustache, posted this Monday!

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Featured Pattern: Two Little Hooters