Off-Season Crafting

I am quite the fan of off-season crafting. Not familiar with the term? That's ok, I just made it up. You know how you start a craft, and it takes forever to finish, and before you know it, you sort of start to loathe your project and can't quite make yourself work on it anymore and finish it? This problem can be compounded if your project happens to be seasonal and the season floats on by with your craft sitting there all lonely and unfinished. I know you know what I'm talking about, you all have unfinished projects. It's ok.

Back to off-season crafting. A few Januarys ago I started a small decorative wall hanging quilt with gingerbread men on it that required hand quilting. Gingerbread in January? Yes, I know I was out of season, I'm daring that way. I worked all of January on it and probably into Febuary, but I hand-quilted the heck out of that thing and boy was I tired of it. It was so nice to stuff the thing away in the closet and forget about it until the next Christmas season. Nicer still, to pull it out FINISHED and finished in time for the season.

This past summer I started a wool applique wall hanging for Halloween called Gourdy's Gang.


Halloween in summer? It hardly seems right, though it felt so good (sorry that was lame). But seriously, consider it folks. Go out there and check out the Halloween crafts that are on clearance right now. If it's too soon for you, wait until January to work on it. Why don't you try this:


If you can cut and glue, you can make this. It was really fun and simple and I had all the necessary items in my stash to make it (if you scrapbook, you probably will too). I had this idea last year, but never got around to making it. This year I stumbled on these directions and knew I had to do it. The directions from the Polka Dot Chair are great though I would suggest you make a triangle template for each triangle size and then trace them onto the black cardstock and patterned paper. This way, you will get more triangles out of your paper (3 per 12x12 paper with the larger triangle, and 4 per 12x12 with the smaller triangle). If this sounds confusing at all, read The Polka Dot Chair's directions and you'll get what I'm saying.

If you're doing this for a fireplace mantle, the saying "got candy?" would be better since it is shorter and a better fit for a mantle. I have no fireplace so length was not an issue and I went for the full "happy halloween." Sorry the pictures are bad. Daytime light behind the banner made it hard to photograph during the day, so I was left with artificial light at night (not my favorite lighting for taking pictures).


Or, if you're looking for a craft for the coming seasons you can always just change the wording to "Give Thanks" or even "Merry & Bright." Either way, it is a fun (and easy) craft that can be finished in a day.

Coming up next? Advent Calender!