All In The Family

When I was arranging the house blocks for Devon's House quilt, I had a long rectangular empty space. I didn't want to fill it with a tree, and that meant I had to make another house. Everybody in Devon's family was already in the quilt, and many of our friends are represented by the cats all over the quilt. What to do... what to do...

I was looking through my stash and I found the "Home Sewing" fabric. I saw a lady in front of a sewing machine! ME! I would make a house for me! Since I listen to classical music all the time, and my son plays cello, the red house fabric with the stringed instruments was perfect. I loved the golden fabric for the door, and I used black fabric with Japanese kanji lettering for the roof. My son is a 3rd Black Belt in karate, so this represented him. I added a garden fabric as the ground.

I'm part of the family, and now I'm in the quilt!

Devon Town

This is Devon's quilt, Devon Town. Ten of the house blocks were inspired by drawings by his siblings, the other eight are mine. This picture was taken in bright sunlight, so the colors look a bit bleached out, but in real life they are very vibrant.

Oh My Aching Back!

Crawling around on the floor tying a quilt is rough on my knees, but that's nothing to the back pain I've had after finishing the binding. I've been taking pain killers for the last two days.
I add the binding on the biggest flat table I have - my dining room table. It's the standard height, so I have to half bend over to work. Ouch. Won't be doing that for a long time!

My work table in my sewing studio is higher, and set at an angle so I don't have this type of pain when I work piecing a quilt together. In fact, except for sitting down to sew, I do most of my work standing up.

The quilt, by the way, is about 64" wide by 96" tall.

Wonky House Quilt Finished

Watch this space on March 18, 2010 for the full reveal.

As always, now that I've finished a quilt, I get to clean the sewing studio. And the rest of the house too. (Yech.)

Last Look

Woo hoo! I've got the binding all sewn on, now I'm just folding it over. I've got one side almost finished, and since today is Friday, I probably won't go to bed tonight until it is finished.

As you know, I won't be able to show you the finished quilt until next month, so enjoy this last look.

Millie Moved

Millie sure does know how to get my attention. Last night I had to sit down so she could curl up next to me and get her "scritches". After a good 30 minutes, she was satisfied, and jumped away. The quilt has now moved to the table, where I will add a 6" wide strip of fabric to all four sides for the self-binding of the quilt. I've never done it this way before, but it's a lot easier than trying to make the backing exactly 6" larger all the way around and then lining it up perfectly.And this little cutie pie will be the owner of this quilt.

Amost Tied...

Um... Millie, you gotta move over so I can finish tying this quilt...

Work, work, work

Tying a quilt while watching the Olympics on television requires having a few tools handy. Note the tv remote control. The portable phone is nearby, because getting down on the floor is a lot easier than getting up at my age.

I've got about 2/3 of the quilt tied.

Olympics & Devon Town

I've been working on Devon Town. Really and truly.

Back to Devon Town

Devon's christening is next month, and I have to finish his quilt. Last November when I sewed the top together, one block got more crooked than wonky. The more I looked at it, the less I liked it, so last night I took out the offending block and straightened it out.

Unfortunately I can't show you all the whole quilt until I present it to him and his family next month, so this is just a sneak peek.

My Quality Inspector

Last night I shortened the sleeves of a ladies' undershirt, so they wouldn't stick out past the sleeves of my blouses. Not very quilty, so today I present Millie, my Quality Assurance Inspector. She makes sure all the quilts I make are filled with love and kindness. She also adds that little je ne sais quoi.

Dots

If a three year old child colors a house, you may very likely end up with a drawing that looks like this:
How do you translate it into fabric? Use dots, of course...
This dotted house block is 19-1/2" tall and 24-1/2" wide.

You can click the photo to enlarge.

Primary House

Here is the second house based on one of KidBean's colored drawings.

I love KidBean's intuitive sense that the sky doesn't touch the ground. He's moved the horizon line up. This block is 17-3/4" tall and 12-1/2" wide.

The house really is this bright. True blue, purple, bright grass green, red-orange. I made two slight changes in the colors, mostly because I didn't have enough of a cool red "blender" fabric for the house. I used a slightly warmer red-orange. This necessitated a switch to a yellow-orange fabric for the windows instead of KidBean's selection of a true orange. If I had used a true orange, the windows would have almost disappeared.

KidBean's use of these vivid colors reminds me of Matisse's paintings, seen here and here.


I have sewn 15 house blocks so far, but I will probably only use the ones based on the children's colorings in the quilt for their baby brother. The whole point about the quilt is for the siblings to be involved. I might add one or two of my interpretations, but the quilt isn't about me. I do have other elements I want to include, including wonky letters, hearts and stars. You'll see.

True Blue House

"SweetBean" selected a bright blue to color a house. I had made copies of all the house drawings, so I could figure out which house she had colored.

Now, "SweetBean" is 3, so she doesn't have the coordination of an older child, and I knew her drawing would be mostly scribbles. I knew that I would work with whatever colors she had selected. I hadn't expected a monochromatic colored house.

This is just one example of how a challenge can get you out of your "comfort zone" and push your creativity a bit. I would -never- have created a monochromatic house, but it was a great idea.

I went through my stash and scrap bins choosing fabrics. I didn't want to use the crutch of "blue and..." fabrics. I wanted to use blues of different values and of scale of pattern. I worked out how I would assemble the house (the red lines on the drawing) and started sewing.
I am quite happy with it. The block as shown is 21" tall by 18-1/2" wide. I will trim it down later.

KidBean House #1

Here's the first house based on KidBean's drawing. I am really happy with the way it turned out.

His mom said, "He lit up when he saw the fabric house!"

While I watch the Tennis today at Wimbledon, I shall make another house. I haven't decided which one, so you'll have to check back later.



OK, it's later.

Housing Development Plans

Here are the drawings from my "fairy godkids." They arrived yesterday, and I am very excited.

This first batch was done by "SweetBean" who is 3. Her room is full of pink, and she has a great pink quilt, so I was surprised to see lots of blue here.I think I will have fun doing an all-blue house. I have some wonderful blue fabric with fish, and I think the second blue house will be fish and water themed. The others have enough color ideas to get me going.

These were done by "KidBean" who is six. Lots to work with here. I love his yellow roofs. And what I had drawn as a tree in the house on the lower left, here looks like a birdhouse on a post. What a great idea! I have to figure out what's going on in that house's roof though. (I am wondering if he drew his bed with his quilt on it.) And plaid house... what fun!

Mom did a few too, so lovely and charming.
I love the dog and cat in the one on the lower left, and in the windows on the house on the right are drawings of Mom and Dad, KidBean and SweetBean, and the cat and dog.

(Readers, it looks like I will need small bits of family-themed fabric and some with children and pets. Has anyone got any to spare? For these windows, I wouldn't need more than a 3" square.)

Which one did I decide to do first?


I've put the cat in the window, but I might need a livelier fabric for the door. I can't forget to make a sun for sky. I can just imagine KidBean saying, "Auntie, you forgot to draw the Sun!"

You can click the photos to enlarge.

Time-Out Tuesday

Making wonky anything makes my sewing room a mess. I get fabric strewn all over my work and ironing tables, my bins always end up opened and spread out all over the floor and my work space gets smaller and smaller. It makes me crazy.

So I have to clean it up. I don't want to feel stressed when I walk into my sewing studio.

Wimbledon has started at just the right time. I only get the Tennis Channel on the TV in my living room, so I gathered up all my scraps and piles and dumped them on my coffee table so I could fold and organize while I watched Monday's matches.Tonight I will set up my ironing board and deal with the little tiny bits.

Remember last week I said my sister asked for a stack of my house drawings to take home to color? Here they are.
What inspiration! I love them. I -know- I will make the one in the lower left corner. And I love the one in the lower right corner. And first one in the second row...

The O-Tel Wonky

The "O-Tel Wonky" is a very exclusive Hotel in the Wonky Development. It is so named because, well, you can probably work it out. The clues are in the O-Tel building itself.
The first lesson of building a wonky house is to make sure you have enough fabric for the house.

Ask me how I know this.

This house was supposed to be a lot taller. This block is 23" tall and 21-1/2" wide.

My fairy godkids have been having fun coloring the houses, and I should receive some of their colored drawings later this week.

In the meantime, I have to clean the sewing room.

Seaside Villa

This house was inspired by the roof fabric. The color reminded me of the clay roofs on houses in hot climates.
The roof fabric is kinda ugly, actually, salmon and purple. But any color can look great if the right colors are placed next to it.Here's the finished house. It's 19-1/2" tall by 23" wide.I don't know exactly where this house is located, but I know it's on the coast of the Mediterranean. You can see the bright blue sky, and the flowers growing. I thought this was an appropriate house for the longest day of the year.

Little House in the Country

Here's the little house in the jungle. The block is about 16" tall and 15" wide. I really like this house.

Here's another one in the planning stage:This one doesn't have a name yet. Here, the inspiration was the roof fabric. I am not quite sure about the door, but I want a Very Busy Fabric for it.

I also have a "high-rise" planned. No drawing, I just pulled fabrics. It will be black and white with colors. How's that for a tease?


Thanks to everybody who left comments on yesterday's post. I am happy to oblige. Now for the answers to some questions...

First, to the question nobody asked... These are all my ideas. I haven't received any colored drawings from my "fairy godkids" yet. I am also thinking this might be two quilts. One for the forthcoming baby, and a second one. The reason for this is there are other elements I want to add the the baby's quilt, and I don't want the houses to overpower it. You'll all get to see, I promise.

Mary, a fellow New Hampshire girl! Yay. Terrific idea about making houses using themed fabrics. I love Asian fabrics. I will certainly make an Asian-themed house! Mary, you might enjoy my sister's blog. She has two pugs.

Wanda, I don't know how big the quilt will be. Big enough for a bed, surely. I rarely have a predetermined size in mind when I start. The quilt will end up being however big (or small) as it needs to be. Usually it tells me.

Callie, I already made my own house in a quilt. It's in the Alphabet Sampler Quilt.

Finally, to Susan R, and Kyra, I have been inspired and instructed by Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking book and the March/April 09 issue of Quiltmaker magazine. Also, check my original post about my housing project. It has links to other house quilts.


by the way, all the houses have been made with fabrics from my stash.