School Days

This time of year, the school bells ring again for so many of us and our children.  A house on a quilt is a symbol of our community and our lives together in society. It's no wonder that house quilts remind us of comfort and the togetherness of family, friends, and neighbors. They really appeal to us, maybe because "home is where the heart is." 

Little Old One Room Schoolhouse,  23 x 27", by Ruth Powers, at Ruth Powers Art Quilts

The traditional schoolhouse of the frontier, complete with a bell tower, beckons us back to learning, as leaves swirl in the early autumn breeze.  Quilt designer Ruth Powers offers this charming scene as a pattern, along with so many other beautiful designs.

Little Houses, 48 x 60", by Ruth Powers, at Ruth Powers Art Quilts

Ruth writes, "Much of my work is inspired by nature;  my daily walks fill my senses with color and design possibilities." In creating Little Houses, Ruth has done an excellent job of selecting different blues and greens for the sky and earth, while selecting the complementary colors of bright orange and orange-red for the homes. Ruth notes that this is a great pattern for using up fat quarters and scraps.

Welcome Home, 64 x 64", by Alex Anderson,at Alex Anderson Quilts

Here's a delightful neighborhood of cheerful houses done in russet and gold. Internationally-famous designer Alex Anderson has brightened the traditional fall quilt by adding contemporary colors of aqua blue and rose pink which make the maple leaves and houses sparkle against the dark background. Easily pieced using half square triangles, "Welcome Home" has become a classic best-seller from JWD Publishing. You can view all of Alex Anderson's books and patterns at Alex Anderson Quilts.

Schoolhouse Block, 19 x 22", from "There's No Place Like Home" by Sonya Chinn, at Sonya's Snippets

Long-arm quilter Sonya, creator of the Sonya's Snippets blog, sewed this charming applique scene as one of the blocks for a block-of-the-month quilt which she calls 'There's No Place Like Home'. This quilt was based on "Home Is Where the Heart Is", a block-of-the-month from The Stitch Connection.

Image credits:  Images are shown with the generous permission of the artists.  These quilts appeared in a series of articles on house quilts, including Our Town and Our Town Part 2.

Free Pattern Day: Halloween

Here are dozens of free patterns for Halloween quilts, table runners and pillows ! To go to a pattern: Scroll down the page until you see the quilt you like, then click on the words "CLICK for PDF download" (or the hyperlinked website name) in the title above the quilt.

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns and collectibles ! For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !

Jack's Ghostly Visitors, free Coats & Clark pattern at Yarnspirations (CLICK for PDF download)

Midnight in the Pumpkin Patch Quilt Along, free patterns at American Quilter (CLICK for free pattern page)

Pumpkin Cats quilt, 62" square, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Spooky Squad quilt, 86 x 87", free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Spooky Hallow quilt, 60 x 72", free pattern at Maywood Studio (CLICK for PDF download)

Spooktacular quilt, 61" square, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Halloween Ball quilt, 61" square, free pattern at Henry Glass Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Meowy Halloween quilt, 36 x 42", free pattern at Riley Blake Designs (CLICK for PDF download) + (CLICK for PATTERN UPDATE)

Tricks & Treats table runner, ~15 x 79", free pattern at Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Spellbound throw quilt, 75" square, free pattern at Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Fall Y'all mini quilt, 26" square, free pattern by Sandy Gervais at Pieces From My Heart (CLICK for PDF pattern) + (CLICK for pieced bird pattern)

Candy Corn Wall hanging, free pattern by Pat Sloan (CLICK for tutorial) + (CLICK for PDF download)

Pumpkin Patch quilt, 50 x 62", free pattern by Rachel Hauer for Free Spirit Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Celebrate with Hershey quilt, 48 x 56", free pattern at Riley Blake Designs (CLICK for PDF download)

Spooky table runner, 48" x 14", free pattern at Riley Blake Designs (CLICK for PDF download)

Full Moon Rising quilt, 68" square, free pattern by Renee Nanneman for Andover Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Broomy Wall Art, 11 x 28", free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Halloween quilt, made from fat quarters, 48 x 56", free pattern at Fabric Editions (CLICK for PDF download)

 Charmed quilt, 63 x 70", free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Colorful strip pumpkin quilt, 61 x 68", free tutorial at Flamingo Toes (CLICK for PDF template)

Scary Moon banner, 30 x 64", free pattern by Janet Houts for Andover Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)  

Tarrytown quilt, 58 x 70", free pattern by Janet Houts for Andover Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Halloween mini quilt, ~18" square, free pattern at Fabric Editions (CLICK for PDF download)

Bats and Black Cats table runner or wall hanging, 22 x 44", free pattern at Michael Miller Fabrics
(CLICK for PDF download)

Me and My Ghoul Friends, 61 x 61", free pattern at Studio E Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Haunting quilt, 51 x 69", free pattern by Renee Nanneman for Andover Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Jack o' Lantern mini quilt, free pattern by Rose Johnston at Threadbare Creations (CLICK for tutorial)

Spider Web quilt along at Scrapatches (CLICK for tutorial)

Spooky wall hanging, 24 x 52", free pattern by Heidi Pridemore for Windham Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Eat, Drink and Be Scary Quilt, 41 x 51", free pattern by Heidi Pridemore for Windham Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Four Pumpkins wall quilt, 29"square, free pattern by Cheryl Haynes for Benartex (CLICK for PDF download)

The Great Pumpkin quilt, ~47 x 57", free pattern by Renee Nanneman for Andover Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Pumpkin wall quilt, free pattern by Dodi Lee Paulson for Landauer (CLICK for PDF download)

Look Into My Eye, 43 x 43", free quilt pattern by Stacey Day for Windham Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Spooky Spider mini quilt, free applique pattern at Seasoned Homemaker (CLICK for tutorial)

All Hallow's Eve wall quilt, 42" square, free pattern by Jedi Craft Girl (CLICK for PDF download)

Spooky mini quilt tutorial by Jedi Craft Girl (CLICK for tutorial)

Witches Celebrate quilt, 60 x 60”, free pattern at Riley Blake Designs (CLICK for pattern) + (CLICK for TEMPLATES) (check out the finished quilt at Fabric Seeds)

Witches Celebrate quilt: witch block detail at Fabric Seeds

Witches Celebrate quilt: pumpkin block detail at Fabric Seeds

Coffee Time Halloween quilt, ~18 x 18”, by Carried Away Quilting, based on the free Coffee Time mini quilt tutorial (CLICK for tutorial)

Endless Creaking Stairs quilt, 36 x 44", free pattern by Grace Wilson for Maywood Studios (CLICK for PDF download)

Wicked Eve quilt, 70 x 89”, free pattern by Osie Lebowitz for Timeless Treasures (CLICK for PDF download)

Barn Bats mini quilt block, 18 x 18", tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman at Oh Fransson (CLICK for tutorial)

That Cat quilt,  Halloween version, 29 x 32", free pattern by Pamela Lincoln for McCall's Quilting
(CLICK for PDF download)

Which Witch is Which wall hanging, 30 x 17", free pattern by Sue Marsh for RJR Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

By the Light of the Moon Quilt with candy corn border, free pattern by Elizabeth Cecchettini for Babylock (CLICK for PDF download)

Haunted House quilt,32 x 36", including house, bat and moon template, at Clothworks (CLICK for PDF download)

Haunted House quilt, ~37 x 40", by Liz Aneloski; free pattern for RJR Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Simply Spooky quilt, free pattern by Pearl P. Pereira (CLICK for PDF download)

Jack Patchwork wall hanging, 36 x 36", free pattern by Sue Thornton-Gray for Janome (CLICK for PDF download)

Scrappy Pumpkin Table Runner, ~15 x 36", free pattern by Angela Tackett (CLICK for PDF download)

Fall Pumpkin table runner tutorial by The Cloth Parcel (CLICK for tutorial)

Pumpkin Patch block table topper tutorial by Lindsey Weight at Fort Worth Fabric Studio
(CLICK for tutorial)

Endless Creaking Stairs table runner, 12 x 25", free pattern by Grace Wilson for Maywood Studios (CLICK for PDF download)

Oh Pumpkin table runner, free pattern by Jennifer Morgan and Linda Ambrosini for Hoffman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Pumpkin Crazy Quilt mug rug tutorial at Pellon Projects (CLICK for PDF download)

  Pumpkin Placemat, free pattern by Phyllis Dobbs (CLICK for PDF download)

Jack-o-Lantern, free applique pattern by Kimara and Michelle at Wee Folk Art (CLICK for PDF template)

Black Cat applique, free block pattern by Kimara at Wee Folk Art (CLICK for PDF template)

Spooky, 10” square, free black cat applique pattern by Wendi Gratz at Shiny Happy World (CLICK for PDF templates) 

Coffin block by Jeni Baker, free pattern at In Color Order (CLICK for tutorial) 

Jack-o-Lantern block, 8 x 10", free paper pieced pattern by Sonja Callaghan at Artisania (CLICK for PDF template)

  Witch, free paper piecing pattern by Sonja Callaghan at Artisania (CLICK for PDF template)

Haunted House, free 10" paper piecing pattern by Cyrille Zellweger at Bubblestitch Quilts (CLICK for tutorial)
 

Double Sided Jack-o-Lantern pillows, 21" square, free pattern at Robert Kaufman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

 

 

Luna's Web pillow, free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Black Cat pillow, free pattern and tutorial by Jedi Craft Girl (CLICK for tutorial)
 

Halloween Cat pillow, free pattern by Oh Oh blog as seen at U Create Crafts (CLICK for tutorial)

Fall Pumpkin quilted pillow tutorial at The Cloth Parcel (CLICK for tutorial)

Scrappy Pumpkin Pillows, free pattern by Jean Etheridge and Shannon Miller at Sew Beautiful Magazine (CLICK for PDF download)

Pumpkins and Patches quilt, 49 x 49”, free pattern by Denise Russell for Hoffman Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)
 

Pumpkin Patches quilt, 70 x 92”, free pattern by Renee Nanneman for Andover Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)

Spooky Windows quilt, 37 x 49", free pattern by Osie Lebowitz for Timeless Treasures (CLICK for PDF download)

Cats, Bats and Vats quilt, 58 x 66", free pattern by Gayle Noyes and Jean Anne Sharrai for Clothworks (CLICK for PDF download)

Block Party Halloween Quilt, free pattern by Kathy Mack  (CLICK for PDF download)

Jazzy Jacks quilt, 48 x 51”, free appliqued and pieced pattern by AE Nathan (PDF download)

Stuffed Pumpkins, free pattern at JoAnn Fabrics (PDF download)

 

Image credits:  This post was updated on July 26, 2024. All images are copyrighted by their owners.  Please respect their generosity in sharing their free patterns, and the restrictions they have placed on the use of these designs. Complete information can be found at the designers' websites provided in the links.  If any links are broken, we'd love to know; email us at quiltinspiration {at} gmail {dot} com.