Quiltsmart Printed Interfacing: Those Crazy Pumpkins!

Inspired by:

Several years ago, I made a crazy quilt pumpkin (pictured at the bottom of the post) and learned of Dawn Schuck's Sew Cherished stick-on embroidery stitches. I fell in love with those. These stick-on, wash-off stitches are great! You can use those stitches with this pumpkin, or machine embroidery stitches, or just the crazy shapes themselves.

This year, my friend, Lynn Woll of Create Whimsy and her friend and editor, Chardel Blaine, created an adorable crazy pumpkin - it is even teal, and beautifully beaded and stitched! Chardel Blaine's Crazy Quilt Pumpkin
I hope you will find inspiration in these beautiful crazy pumpkins!

Materials for Quiltsmart Crazy Quilt Pumpkin:

1 panel Quiltsmart Crazy Quilt Interfacing

1 panel Quiltsmart Petal Power.
   Quiltsmart Crazy Quilt Instructions (if you are not familiar with Quiltsmart methods)
   Scraps of cotton fabrics.
   Embroidery thread for hand-stitches OR machine embroidery thread for machine stitches.

Pumpkin Stem - a wooden spool. A twig would work well, too!

INSTRUCTIONS:

I used the materials above to make crazy shapes, then appliqued them to the Quiltsmart Petal Power Interfacing which formed the pumpkin shape.

1. I used 5 Petal Power Shapes, but you could use 6 for a squattier pumpkin. Fuse Petal Power rough side (the glue dot side) to the WRONG side of the pumpkin fabric.

2. Trim on the dashed lines to form the pumpkin wedges.

3. Machine or hand-stitch the crazy shapes to the RIGHT side of the petals. I cut some in in smaller pieces to spread the color about on different petals. You can put the crazy stitches on at this point, or just sew a narrow zigzag on all edges and do the decorative and "ahhhh" stitching later. I hand-stitched the shapes to the petals, but I almost always stitch by machine with a narrow zigzag (2.0 stitch length or shorter and a 2.0 stitch width or narrower).

4. Machine stitch the petals RIGHT sides together on the solid lines, closing the bottom of the pumpkin, and leaving the top open for turning, and for inserting the pumpkin stem.

5. Stuff the pumpkin with your fav stuffing material...mine was a mix of plastic beads, batting, and rice (keep away from barns, moisture, and pets!). Walnut shells are great, too. Cinch the top area tight by running a stitch with the heavy thread around the petals and pulling tightly. Using an 8" long upholstery needle, and heavy thread, I went through the middle of the pumpkin, then through a button on the bottom and back up to the top. Pull taught to sink in the bottom and top, then tie off.