Homemade Halloween

Welcome to my Handmade Halloween post!

Here's your warning!

This post is very picture-heavy.

Bernie, over at Needle and Foot is hosting a linky party to celebrate Halloween this year. Participants are linking new and old posts about all things spooky and Halloween-related. That means we'll see great ideas for quilts, decorations, costumes, etc.

I'm super excited about this, as I love Fall and all the hoopla associated with it - even raking leaves!

Of course, if you'd rather make a leaf quilt instead of raking leaves, you can always make one of my favorite quilts -

The Maple Leaf Log Cabin Quilt.

One of the things I like most about Halloween is seeing how creative people can get with their costumes and decorations.  I have to admit that I am not super-creative anymore when it comes to this, but when my children were young, we really got into it and had a wonderful time.

When times were lean, I created costumes with items that were just around the house. For example, one year Nikki was a basket of dirty laundry. I had a broken laundry basket that I cut out leg holes and added suspenders. Nikki wore a white leggings and a long sleeve white t-shirt. I threw some clothing in the basket (many were hanging over the sides because that's what our laundry baskets look like), and I attached clothing to the suspenders. It was pretty cute and she actually took first place for creativity at the Halloween party that year. 

That same year, Lynn was a bag of jelly beans and she won second place! I took a clear trash bag, cut holes in the bottom for her legs and tossed in a bunch of different colored small blown up balloons. With her big round cheeks, I must admit that she looked adorable.  :-)

Oh how I wish I had pictures of them! A bunch of my photos were destroyed when I moved from my old house. It makes me sad, but I still have a vivid memory of those costumes. (Maybe I'll ask the girls to recreate that for me so I can take pictures.)

The Halloween torch has been passed.

Nikki and Lynn know how to do it right. :-)

I don't usually go for the creepy, or scary decorations. Instead, I like lots of pumpkins, mums (especially when they are orange or burgundy), cornstalks, etc. Nikki created this fun display for her front porch last year.

I love the big eyes!

Of course, she had to add something yucky!

And there MUST be pumpkins!

This pumpkin wall hanging was made using an Eleanor Burns pattern and is a family favorite. 

The pattern includes instructions for making some placemats, which I made, but I changed it up to better fit our needs. 

I made the basic pumpkin the same, but made the face parts separately and backed them with timtex.

The placemats are now an interactive game and the face changes constantly, depending on who's here, how they feel, and how silly they want to be.

With the changes I made, the placemats have become one of our family's favorite Halloween decorations and traditions!. :-)

 

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time!

Sadie, Lynn, and Mom had such a good time playing while I was fixing dinner that night. 

I look at this picture often because it makes me smile. It warms my heart to know that Sadie still recognized Mom, who passed away 12/1/12.

Here's a pumpkin quilt I made a few years back. I still love it and now that it's October, I can hang it up!

Look at these fun fussy-cut block centers

And then we have the costumes! My girls really know how to make some awesome costumes. It is very rare that with of the girls buy costumes. Instead they "shop" their closet or Goodwill and find things that can be "adjusted" to fit their needs. Other than Lynn's outfit in 2014, all of the following costumes were handmade. Many times there is a theme involved for the costumes, but not always. It doesn't matter one way or the other, they always look great!

The weather was pretty crappy in 2014 and Avery was fighting a cold. She was not going to be trick or treating so Lynn decided to have her cousin paint Avery's face instead of getting all dressed up. Now this is the kind of pumpkin that I really like!  :-)  

 

That same year, Lynn dressed up too. Even before she was born, Peyton was participating in Halloween.  :-)

Nikki is definitely a creative gal! Check out her costume from 2014. And that face painting is amazing.

2014 was a year that didn't have a theme for Nikki's family, but they looked great anyway. (The paint is off the kids faces here; but trust me, it was awesome.)

Quinn made a pretty darn cute vampire!

Sadie was an amazing wind-up doll!

Ronan is just so darn cute as a piñata!

I'm not sure what caused Sadie to make that expression, but I love this picture of her and Quinn.

Last year, Avery and Peyton were Little Bo Peep and her Sheep. Avery did NOT lose her sheep!  :-)

I don't have individual pictures of Nikki and kids, but here's a picture with all of her in-law cousins. Can you tell from the picture that the Marshalls all like Halloween too? Quinn is in the top row, second from the left. Ronan is the mummy in the middle row on the right, and Sadie is sitting on the ground at the bottom right. Nikki and Bailey are on the left, and in case you can't tell because they are sitting down, Nikki is a rainbow and Bailey is the pot of gold. I love that!!

Of course I am sure you can all relate to the picture below! There were more like this than the one above. :-)

2013 was a theme year for Nikki's family. They were all characters from the Wizard of Oz.

Quinn makes a great Cowardly Lion.

Oops! She's got her medal so she isn't cowardly any more.

Sadie is a beautiful Glenda - the Good Witch (although she is a bit preoccupied with the play cell phone here). 

Ronan was the most adorable Flying Monkey ever!

I don't have pictures of my son-in-laws Zach and Ty. Although they support Nikki and Lynn in their Halloween excitement, they don't usually dress up in costumes. They are usually found helping with the kids or passing out the candy. (Also, Zach has had to work more Halloween nights than not over the past few years, so he's had to miss out on all the fun.)

However, I did find this picture from 2010. Ty was a really good sport here and went trick or treating with Nikki's kids.

  

As you can tell, we like our Halloween here.

Check out the other participants in the Handmade Halloween Linky Party. 

I just know that you'll get inspired.