Global Village

Recently I was commissioned to make a table runner similiar 

to the one above, which I made as a class sample.

I didn't want to sell the sample,

so I started making houses with fabrics that would be special to the buyers.

Here is the finished table runner. It measures about 18 by 40 inches

I used a variety of greens for the trees, and text and novelty fabrics for the houses.

Above are a rainbow house, a love house, and a prayer house.

And a music house, an African hut, a peace and writing house, and a rose house.

Here are the two of them side by side.

The bottom one is my class sample, and I regretted that it was wider than width of fabric,

which necessitated piecing the back.

So I made the new one a bit narrower, since 40 inches is plenty long for a table runner.

I love making wonky houses and trees,

and I plan to teach another class on this in fall.

Let me know if you are local and would be interested in signing up.

Revisiting a UFO and teaching improv

Sometimes quilts weigh on my mind,

like this unfinished log cabin I started in Jan. 2017.

I had a vision of blue starbursts in my head,

but I'm not happy with the contrast.

I used two jelly rolls with some additional fabrics,

and now I'm rethinking the whole project.

I have 36 14 inch blocks, so I may go with the furrow layout on the top.

The biggest obstacle for me is quilting it, since I don't usually machine quilt such large quilts.

And I'm quite hesitant to pay someone else to quilt it when I don't really like the quilt at all.

Recently I taught improv quilting at a local quilt shop.

This was my first real teaching gig, 

but I've been making quilts with improv techniques for more than a decade.

I was inspired early on by books by the late great Gwen Marston,

and by online sewalongs with Tonya Ricicci, who doesn't hang out in blogland anymore.

The piece with the green border is an improv village on a table runner.

I used lots of scraps and the same background fabric.

I showed my students how to make trees and a variety of houses

and they all did great.

I showed them some of my improv house quilts too.

The one at the left is from 2009, and uses log cabins and wonky houses in a variety of sizes.

The made the one at the right last year for a new baby.

Cute baby on quilt, part 1

The best part of making baby quilts is seeing the new owner enjoying them.

Here baby Nico is napping on his new quilt.

and posing with Dad and Mom.

His mother, daughter of missionary parents,

 lived in Africa and South America as a child,

so her life was the inspiration for the global village on the quilt.

Here you can see the variety of houses and skies and trees.

And another shot.

This was made entirely from stash, and used up every bit

of a yard of hand-dyed blue I purchased at an AQS show,

as well as some of my Dutch wax stash and lots of novelties as well.

Although it is quite densely quilted,

it drapes nicely and is very soft to the touch.

Welcome to the global village, Nico!

Global Village in process

Global Village, 42 by 44 inches

Today is the day this quilt meets its new owner.

I started this house and tree quilt at a retreat in January

and I finished it a month ago.

I love building house quilts, but I find it a challenge to quilt them.

It's tempting to put in many little details to add to the neighbourhood,

but I decided to outline the houses

and add some writing in the sky.

I went with an I-Spy theme for the trees

and added fun details to the windows and doors and roofs.

The mother of the baby lived has lived Zaire, Congo, Brazil, USA, Canada, France and Colombia

so I built houses to reflect the diversity of those places.

I plan to post photos with the baby soon.

Stilll here!

I grew a forest of elm trees last weekend from some fun green fabrics

for the neighbourhood of houses I'm building

for a baby quilt.

I've made a similar quilt previously,

but I like building houses and growing trees.

Stay tuned.

The owner of this quilt made her appearance during the first week of January.

She's a sleepy one, but so cute!

The quilt looks huge here, but it is only 45 inches square.

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network.

Building barns part 2

I've been building houses a long time,

so I didn't hesitate when Julie asked me to join

the Secret Society of Barn Builders

to test out the instructions in her new book, Build-A-Barn.

I'm starting with scraps in this quick tutorial,

using up a collection of pink bits.

Here I've sewn house fabric around the windows

and installed the front door.

I added background fabric to the sides of the house

and cut two triangles ( a square cut in half)

for the sky around the roof.

You can see I decided to flatten the roof to keep it 

from overwhelming the house.

But it doesn't have to be complicated.

Here's a 2.5 inch square and a coordinating triangle from the scrap bin.

I put a larger piece of blue sky fabric on the cutting mat

placed the roof triangle centred on the bottom,

and cut around it.

That leaves a sky fabric triangle for the scrap bin

and ensures the edges of the block are not on the bias.

I sewed chunks of sky fabric beside the orange square,

joined the roof section to the house base,

and found a bit of green scrap

to ground the house.

These are basic steps and you can get as fancy as you like 

in putting in architectural details.

My giveaway of Julie's barn book is still open for another day here.

First a house builder, now a barn builder

Over the years, I've build many houses from fabric.

Some have instructions

Others have messages

Some are wonkier than others

Some have special functions, like this coffee house

And others have flown across the country for other people's quilts.

I've even made several quilts entirely from houses,

like this one for my son,

Advice from Home

and this one for a recent addition to the family.

Welcome to the Neighbourhood

All of these houses were free-pieced and improvised,

according to the size needed or the fabrics on hand.

None are made from patterns,

but instead from instructions or methods

which can be credited to the great Gwen Marston.

I met Julie Sefton from Me and My Quilts - Exploring the Possibilities

through some of these house-building adventures

and in December 2014, she asked me to join a barn raising movement.

Fifteen barn builders from three countries, some experienced, some rookies

formed the Secret Society of Barn Builders

to test the process notes Julie had outlined in her upcoming book.

Build-a-Barn 

No Pattern Construction

is coming out in April

I'll be sharing my barn soon.

Welcome to the Neighbourhood!

I've been waiting to show you this finished quilt for several weeks.

I've teased you with the back, and showed you bits of the front,

as well as the flimsy sometime in summer.

Today is the day

I can unveil this neighbourhood of houses,

inhabited by the Sesame Street gang,

the Cat in the Hat,

various other animals,

as well as some hip vehicles, like an old VW van.

 It's quilted and bound and best of all, gifted!

I used a variety of greens for the binding

and a combination of straight stitch outlining and free-motion quilting,

which is easier to see from the back.

And the new owner likes it too!

Welcome to the neighbourhood, Audrey!

I'm linking up with other Friday finishers over  here:

Sarah and Amanda and M-R

Friday flimsy finish

Finally I have this top together!

I was wondering why it was taking me so long,

until a wise quilty friend pointed out the obvious:

I'm making decisions on every element, every window, door, and roof.

I've tried not to repeat fabrics except as backgrounds.

 

This I Spy house flimsy measures 42 inches square.

The baby is gestating nicely, and is due in August.

 

I have the backing ready, and yesterday I sewed and pressed the binding strips.

So I only have to quilt it.

Now I'm faced with another decision:

Do I outline the houses and trees and add little surprises in the quilting lines

or do I just do an all over meandering kind of grid on it?

 

I'm linking up here and here with other Friday finishers.

Monday design wall

 

 

The I Spy house quilt is coming along.

I've sewn the houses together in rows,

and now I'm auditioning narrow borders and/or binding colours.

I'm trying to make this square, so I added the top strip with the sun and the clouds.

 

This will finish at 42 by 42 inches.

 

 

 

I'm linking up with Judy's Design Wall Mondays.

On the wall and ready to post

We're well into winter here in Manitoba with cold temperatures and lots of snow.

So I decided to send Beth some houses showing the snow falling

 during the day and night for her neighbourhood party.

There's still time to make some houses and join the party.

Over the weekend I took out an old WIP and machine quilted it in sections.

My quilting is fairly simple, but I really wanted the piecing to shine here.

These blocks are from the first challenge my guild held back in 2008-2009.

I couldn't decide how to proceed, so I left it in a drawer in four sections.

Here's two parts of two sections. You can see the seam in the backing in the one at the right

I'm going to cover that with matching fabric, and then sew the two long sections together.

All it needs then is a binding, and then this quilt is ready for a new home.

It measure about 48 by 60, so it will be a perfect couch blanket, possibly for a gift.

This project did several great things:

It got an UFO out of the drawer.

It used up several metres of stash fabric for the backing.

It used up a long skinny piece of batting (with only one piecing seam).

It helped me overcome my fears of quilt as you go.

And the best thing of all:

I have a quilt nearly ready for a gift!

I'm linking up with Judy's Design Wall Mondays.