Over the last three days I have had time to finish making the last four houses.  It was much easier to do them all at one time……

First cutting all of the strips……

….then doing the painting…..

and even having time for them to dry naturally!!!

As I got down to the method for putting them together, I remembered to take some photos.

The first step is to attach a roof to each of the four walls…..

The attachment is done by butting the edges up against one another and sewing with a wide zig-zag stitch.

You also sew a base to one of the walls.

The next step is to attach all of the roofs starting at the base and ending at the point…..

 

Finally, you start sewing the sides together, but this time you don’t butt the fabrics up.   Instead, you place the edges wrong sides together and sew a zig-zag stitch over the edge…..

I sewed the last seam starting at the base and ending at the point again…..

 

I used the walking foot with my stitching to make sure that everything stayed flat.

After stuffing each house with a bit of fiberfill…..

…..I used 2 strands of embroidery floss to attach the last three sides of the base…..

Here are the finished products…..

I am SUPER pleased with them!!!!

After I finished today, I cleaned my studio and said goodbye for a few months.   I am doubtful that I will be spending much time there for a while, but at least my last project was loads of fun!!!

 

Like many of my recent projects, this started out as a desire to have something else on my mantle during the Winter months.    The idea came from this article in the Quilting Arts Holiday magazine…..

I followed the instructions pretty much to the letter, although the very first task was one that I wondered about.   It said to use 1/4 inch strips of neutral fabrics and fuse them to a piece of heavyweight sew-in interfacing.   My first thought was that it was a waste of time and would be better to just use one piece of fabric, but I decided to do it anyway.   The author certainly knew what she was doing because it really added a lot to the look of the house.

 

Anyway, I grabbed the basket that holds my scraps until I have a chance to cut them down and file them away…..

It was so much fun to work my way down thru the strata of fabrics from previous projects, ranging from the Australian fabrics of last winter, the pinwheel quilt, the Blue Mosque windows, the Pineapple quilt top and even Jenny’s quilt from last week…..

I selected a number of pieces and roughly cut them into 1/4 inch strips.  I put wonder under on a piece of interfacing and started adding the strips, ironing every few inches…..

The next step was to stitch over the piece with cotton thread, covering the fabric strips well…..

Next was to pick the color for my houses.   Typically, I decorate with blue in January, February and March, so blue it was……

At this point I did realize how badly I need to update my fabric painting supplies.   Most are fairly dried out, but fortunately can be reconstituted with a little water and a lot of shaking!!!!

For the roof, I did opt for one piece of fabric fused to the stabilizer, but I did quilt lines over it using a slight metallic thread.  The roof peaks were cut out…..

Now at this point, I needed to wait for my blue piece to dry, but I am not very patient with that.   So, I rinsed it out a bit and then ironed it onto stacks of paper towels until it was completely dry…..or close enough.

As per the instructions, I used some stamps that I have (from previous Scrapbooking projects) and added a few more designs to the background fabric.

I cut out the “walls” and added some embellishments of fabric bits, thread and beads…..

I again followed the instructions for sewing the house together, although I was so excited that I forgot to take photos.   I will add those when I make the next house.

Here is the final project…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a 2-12 inch square and about 10 inches in height.

I am looking forward to making several more of these although I will do them one section at a time and spend a bit more time in the embellishment phase.

One thing I will say, with fabric, thread, paint, beads, stamps and embroidery thread, it certainly is a messy activity.   But let’s be honest, aren’t those the best kind!!!