Villages

When I found this pattern in Love Patchwork and Quilting I thought about my stack of fabric from the Road 15 line from Sweetwater - motifs like houses and trees and road names, what could be better for a quilt with house blocks? And quite boyish as well - perfect for the young man I had in mind.
Once I started making blocks I felt that the grey, blue, green, black palette was a bit flat, so I added some yellow and red from another Sweetwater line, Noteworthy. I was quite happy with my choices as I was working on the quilt, but once I saw the finished quilt at a distance, I thought the red and white looks too pink to be right for a boy's quilt. I added black binding, to toughen it up a bit, but I still fear it's too girlie for a 14 year old boy.
Nah,  I think I'll  keep this one and make a different one for the boy in mind. Luckily I have another eight months to make a new quilt, since I was planning forward for once - it obviously doesn't pay to have too much time!

Mind you, I love this quilt and I'm happy to keep it. It has what has become a recurring theme in my work: houses. The blocks consist of houses made of house patterned fabric, and would you believe it, it's also got an Ikea house fabric as backing - what's not to like? Since the blocks are made of groups of houses, the name gave itself: "Villages". It's quilted with my go to loose loopy, spirally design which makes for a quite soft and drapey quilt - just right for snuggling up with on the sofa during the winter.

My obsession with houses might make me see things a little differently, though: A friend of mine, upon seeing the quilt exclaimed: "Love those big flowers!"

Looking back

 -or what I did last Christmas...
I thought I'd do a bit of summing up from these months of no blogging. My Christmas sewing was all about panels, it seems. I unearthed this old Santa panel from the depths of my stash and finally got around to doing something about it. I cut it apart and ended up with three items: a quilted cushion:

 A small wallhanging:

 And a larger wallhanging with a bit of a complcated log cabin/star thing going on. I didn't plan this one very well, so I had to wing it and ended up cutting the tips of the star off.

 -But you can always cheat a bit, right? A few strands of embroidery floss later and you wouldn't know if you were galloping past on a big horse...

 The best thing about this was that I got to use that panel that I had been procrastinating about making into something for ever. Yet another example of how you should just get in there and do something - it doesn't take as long as you think!

Proof in point: these fun panels from Laurie Wisbrun got made into cushions as soon as they arrived and it took no more than a Saturday afternoon.

I think I'm in love again...

I've been doing a bit of web surfing lately, and I keep coming across all sorts of loveliness which has me reaching for my credit card, but so far I have managed to quell the urge to spend madly...

But have a look at this book by Anne Kyyrö Quinn and that gorgeous cushion on the cover. I'd love to have a go at making one like that, but I keep telling myself sternly that I'd probably give up halfway across - that's an awful lot of felt to cut and stitch, I imagine. I think it might be made like this awesome wreath found via Whip-up. With at least 286 felt circles to cut and fold, this is a project I'll only admire from afar - I know my limitations!
Now I might just be able to stick with this (unless it sticks to me...) lovely model of a Scottish tenement house from Finch & Fouracre found via India Knight via Jane Brocket - wow, I'm amazed that I actually remember the circuitous route that brought me there...

Or maybe I should rather go for this "Tinyment" (love that word!) which comes ready to fold. At 6 cm tall, all that detail is amazing - it's even got it's own little TV aerial!

Not that I haven't had enough to spend money on lately - I've been dragging home bags full of Xmas-pressies every night this week, but at least I'm almost done! I had to give up on finding my sister a new garlic press, though (found her something much nicer, though!) - you'd have thought that such a humble utensil would be available at a reasonable price, but no. All the shops that sell cookery stuff seem to have gone down (or up?) that same superior designer road and expect me to fork out at least £45. For a garlic press? As if.

Anybody home?

Yes, still here. And thankful that the weekend has arrived. Busy, busy, busy. And there has been very little sewing going on. I'm hoping that tomorrow will improve matters, though. I have started on some new x-blocks, for another red and turquoise quilt and I'm having a friend over for some cutting and stitching lessons tomorrow. The plan is to make a holiday table runner. We'll see how that goes... She has been very interested and made one quilt under my guidance a few years back. Now she feels ready to attempt her next one, but claims to have forgotten everything, so we'll see if I can manage to teach and inspire her to continue down this quilted path I seem to follow. Or maybe we should call it a slippery slope of fabric and notion purchases... - I won't mention that during her first lesson though ;-)

Looking up

What a difference a day makes... At least with the sun out, and my trusty old weatherbeaten ladder back in place, the flowers look much better. Now, for a bit warmer weather so they really can get encouraged to grow and start resembling the hanging plants they are supposed to be, and summer will really be here.While I'm waiting I'm having fun with my sewing machine and my lovely Keiko Goke book that I rediscovered on my shelf this morning. I have made one quilt from it earlier, but there is so much great stuff in there that it really deserves a second workout!

Correction

My little village created a flurry of interest the other day. I have had these sweet little houses for more than a decade, and they were given to me by a friend over a period of several years, so I wouldn't know where to get them today. I thought I might try to find out though, and after a bit of Googling, I realized that I might have mislead you... - they are possibly not Latvian after all, but Lithuanian. At least the only ones I came across were. Mind you, the ones that I found were much more elaborate than my rustic little ones, so who knows? Anyway, if you can't live without them ;-) try a search for "Lithuanian candle houses" and you should get several hits.

To the Lighthouse

No, sorry, this is not a post about Virginia Wolf. I have just finished her novel "Mrs. Dalloway" after Cherry suggested we do a book club sort of thing. To my relief I wasn't the only one who found it heavy going, but I did finish it eventually, stubborn being my middle name. "To the Lighthouse" would have been more in keeping with my latest quilt, although it's much more lighthearted than poor Ms. Wolf ever was. Not fair to drag her into this blog post at all, I suppose, but there you go... This quilt was a BOM (Block of the Month) at my local quilt shop, and I decided to go for it because it was funny and quirky, but remind me not to do that sort of thing again! I find it harder and harder to stick to a pattern, and as this came with fabric too, all the choices were made for me. Much to boring! I was fed up with the thing before I was halfway through, but I'm proud to say that I persevered, and finally it is done!
I made some changes, of course - where would the fun have been otherwise? Some of the pieces were simplified and some fabric replaced. The kit had purple and green fabric for the borders, but that wasn't P's thing at all, so they had to go. I'm much happier with the sand and sea substitutes. P is my three best friends' father and he and his wife have always been there for me when I have needed help - he has painted, laid flooring, moved my stuff more times than I can remember and it was about time he got his own quilt. His wife and daughters and grandchildren all have got theirs, so for his 70th birthday it was time to do something special for him as well.The family have a holiday cottage on a small island and he loves nothing more than pottering about in his boat and with his cronies on the dock there, so the maritime feel of this quilt seem right. The way he beamed when he received it told me that I had made the right choice, and made the whole thing worthwhile.

My next project is not made from a pattern, though.

H is for houses

house (http://www.dictionary.com/)
–noun
a building in which people live; residence for human beings.

–verb (used with object)
to give shelter to; harbor; lodge
to remove from exposure; put in a safe place.

—Idioms
keep house, to maintain a home; manage a household.

"Dreams relating to a house often refer to various aspects of the Self. When trying to analyse the house in your dream, consider also how the house is kept and the condition of it. The rooms in the house relates to facets of your personality". (http://www.dreammoods.com/)

I have always had a thing about houses. I don’t know what it is about them that attract me so. A house is not just a place to live. There’s the general design of the thing; walls, windows, roof, all the different styles and colours houses can be. The idea of having a house of my own where I can do whatever I like has always been attractive to me. Ever since I was in my early teens I have been buying home decorating magazines, and even magazines with blueprints for building houses, and I have spent hours studying the floor plans and mulling over what I would have done differently, how I would have decorated them and so on. I have always had an idea that I could be an interior decorator, and sometimes I have even dared think I might be an architect, but I have never taken it further than sewing houses.

I’m always attracted to quilting and embroidery patterns with houses in them, and I keep collecting houses in different shapes and forms.

These tins for tea and spaghetti, for instance, and

this cookie jar are among my favourite things. I have lots of little house tins for tea and spices and the like. Then there’s a little village from Latvia meant for candles. And once the Christmas decorations come out there will be several more. I seem to get an underwater quality to all my pictures today, so I'll have to wait for a clearer day to take more pictures.

Then there is this recent acquisition of a tin house. I don't know where to put it yet, and what to do with it (put a houseplant in it, a candle, display something...), but I just had to have it! I'll find a nice spot on a wall somwhere and think about it some more.

Recently I bought this picture by Michael Powell of a lovely Welsh village. He seems to have a thing about houses too - and they are such lovely colourful quirky ones! I might have to do a wee bit of shopping at that site soon...

Among my work there’s this cross-stitch,

my little night time village,

my red and white schoolhouses,

this 3D one, and

this more stylised rendition. Two houses for what I have intended to make into an entire town are hanging on my notice board and I have at least three more quilts planned that will contain houses, in some shape or form…