This post has been a long time in the making, but after working on these for the past 3 years, I am so happy to report that I have completed two Candy Corn Quilt Shoppe quilts - one for my mom and one for myself! This has been the most enjoyable project that I’ve ever worked on and a big part of that enjoyment factor was due to this community. I shared my progress in the Snapshot thread and the enthusiasm and encouragement shown by so many members left me feeling excited to share each block as I completed them. Thank you to everyone who liked or commented on my posts (including the ones in the Quiltalong), you all really elevated the joyful fun factor of this project and made me so thankful to be a part of such an uplifting community.
Back in 2020, my husband gifted me the Kimberbell Candy Corn Quilt Shoppe machine embroidery pattern, the fabric kit and quilt backing, and the embellishment kit for my birthday. I decided to make an additional quilt for my mom and embarked on the long journey of making the two wall hangings. While the fabric kit was very generous with the amount of fabric it provided and there was often enough to make two separate blocks, I did need additional fabric to make my mom’s quilt and I decided to choose my own fabrics to make hers. Some of the fabrics I chose were the same as what was included in my kit, but some were different. So, in the end I ended up making two similar, but different quilts. The quilt with the orange binding is my quilt (made from the kit fabrics) and the quilt with the purple binding is my mom’s quilt (made from fabrics of my choice). Without further ado (though, there’s much more ado after the pics), here are the completed quilts!!
All of the quilt blocks were completed in my embroidery machine with a 5x7" hoop. First they were quilted, then the design was embroidered on top of the quilting. Some of the blocks - the pumpkin pincushions and the couch - were made using a foam material to give them extra puffiness and create a 3D effect. Some of the larger blocks - the quilt shop and the fabric cabinet - were a bit of a challenge to do the background quilting since they were bigger than my 5x7" hoop and required multiple hoopings to be completed.
Here are a few progress shots:
Fabric cut down to size for each block:
Quilted background:
Foam base for a pumpkin pincushion:
Starting to sew the blocks together:
Back of a completed quilt top:
One of the things that makes this quilt extra fun are the various embellishments. For my quilt I had an embellishment kit, which included all of the embellishments, (such as the fabric for the quilts the witches are holding, the velveteen fabric for the couch, a variety of buttons like those used for the witch’s hands and the pinheads for the needles in the pincushion blocks, as well as the ‘cardboard’ for the bolts of fabric) but I decided that I would create my own embellishments for my mom’s quilt. There were a few elements in the kit that I was able to use for both quilts (the gold flags, the white leather for the “Bat” quarter sale sign, and the tape measure ribbon) and I did end up using the purple glitter organza from my kit for my mom’s quilt since I was really pressed for time and couldn’t find what I had previously purchased for that block. But, other than those four items, all of the other embellishments were ones that I created.
I made my own buttons using Shrinky Dink plastic and Sharpies (I made copies of the buttons in order to cut them out and trace the outline on the Shrinky plastic and through trial and error, I discovered that I had to increase the copy of the original item by 240% in order to shrink it down to the same size as the original). Rather than make a button ‘pillow’ for the couch like mine has, I created an actual mini pillow (I used the Kimberbell Twilight Boo-levard pillow design) for my mom’s couch. Speaking of the couch, I created her couch using fabric from an Ikea pillowcase. I created the tiny quilts that the witches on the left and right are holding by finding pictures of quilt patterns online and shrinking them down, then I printed them onto printable fabric. For the quilt that the witch on the left is holding, I edited the pattern so that the all the words and phrases would be legible, then I found a coordinating fabric and shrunk it down to the same aspect ratio and used it for the back of the quilt. The quilt that I’m most proud of though, is the table runner in the middle. Last year, my mom made that very table runner for me. I knew it would be the perfect way to personalize her wall hanging, so I searched out each of the fabrics she used, shrunk them down to the appropriate size, then created a digital pattern like the one she used and using all the tiny versions of the fabric, I made an exact tiny replica of the table runner she had made for me. While my mom loved the entire quilt, I think that detail in particular may have been her favorite. All of the mini quilts on both wall hangings were sewn together with a quilt top, batting, and quilt back, then quilted (though I kept the actual ‘quilting’ to a minimum and pretty much just outlined the borders).
The buttons on the left came with the embellishment kit. The buttons on the right are my Shrinky Dink creations:
The quilts before embellishments:
Below, are some close up shots of some of the blocks.
Left = fabric/embellishments from kit (mine)
Right = my choice fabrics/created embellishments (my mom)
Top = fabric/embellishments from kit (mine)
Bottom = my choice fabrics/created embellishments (my mom)
I bought a ‘Hang It, Dang It’ quilt hanger for each quilt and chose to simply make two quilt pockets with a space in the middle. I used a candy corn fabric with glittery swirls for the back of my mom’s quilt, but forgot to get a picture of it. For the back of my quilt, I used the backing fabric that was added to the kit. I know it’s on the back of the quilt, which won’t be seen, but I absolutely love this fabric and just knowing it’s there makes me smile.
My parents recently came out for a visit, which resulted in me rushing around in a frantic hurry to finish my mom’s quilt in order to gift it to her before they left. Thankfully, I was able to finish it and present it to her literally right before they left. She had no inkling that I had been working on this and as I posted in the Quiltalong, “I brought her into the room and she literally did a double take/step back upon seeing it. She was very excited and after verifying that the quilt was indeed her gift, she proceeded to exclaim over all the work and details that had gone into it. She was thrilled to know that it was hers and would be going home with her. I was thrilled to know it was done and also that it would be going home with her 
.”
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