Double, double, toil and trouble

OK, so it's not big this time, and it's not work on the house, but it's still a project.

Last year we went to the State Fair, and of course visited the Creative Arts building. We spotted a display of tiny, tiny quilts - quilt on a stick! That's literally the name of the category. These 8x9" quilts were on paint sticks and all followed the theme of Minnesota State Bird. I was fascinated, and thought "I can do that." I can't begin to make one of the gorgeous quilts exhibited there, but I can make a tiny one. They announced this year's theme right after the Fair - Shakespeare at the Fair. An idea was born. I headed to the fabric store right away, to make sure I could get Halloween fabric. I found witches and cauldrons and was in business. Got frogs and bats, too. Here's the quote used for inspiration:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Courtesy of http://www.shakespeare.mit.edu/

(If you don't recognize it, these are some of the opening lines from the Scottish play, spoken by the three witches as they brew up trouble for old what's his name.)

Let me tell you, cutting out all the tiny bat wings and frog legs took some time and gave me sore fingers! I used something akin to Wonder Under to stabilize the fabric, then ironed it to the background. Then it was on to the fun part. I stitched around all the edges with a blanket stitch - hours of work. Thank goodness for good movies! I did the quilting by machine, so that was easy. If you can't read the sign, it says "Three Witches Brewing."

For better or worse, it's at the Fair now. I'll be happy as long as it's not the worst one there.