month one of five: Vintage Trick or Treat

OK, girlies and guy friends...

month one is a goner

in the five month

"Vintage Trick or Treat" plan...

We started with the center stitched block

in our first class at the lqs.

So by the third Tuesday of each month 

we would have a section completed...

And, I am proud to say,

as the "leader" of the chain-stitching gang,

I had mine done for the first month (May),

just as a good leader should...

but I told the participants not to hold me to a finish every month :) !
Here's my first month's stitched piece:

It still has the basting stitches in it

& needs to be pressed,

but stitched is stitched!
(yes, there are just a couple of places that need some black outline stitching!-thanks for noticing)

Here's the cute pattern...

called Vintage Trick or Treat by Crabapple Hill.

If you are stitching along at home,

 the block for next month is

the "banner" across the top

that spells out Halloween. 

 And, to finish up the piecing of the nine-patches. 

(the pattern calls for a couple of hundred individual 1 1/2 in  squares for the nine-patches, but I did mine with strip-piecing and sub-cutting.  Maybe not as scrappy, but they're looking good.)

Remember, don't cut the center stitching piece down to finishing size until you have sewn your nine patches!  as there can be issues between your quarter-inch seam allowance and the pattern makers'.  Most of the time it's a minor difference, but QUADRUPLE check before cutting that piece of fabric with all of your hours of stitching!!!  (Meg, from Crabapple, has a great freezer-paper method to do the trimming that I really think works, even for non-beginners. Thanks, Meg.)  And, no, I am not speaking from experience on the wrong cutting thing, but now that I've mentioned it, I'll be paranoid!

Happy Stitching!

p.s. send me pics of your project if you're stitching along with us & I'll share with the gals in the class!