Thursday, August 27, 2009

The House that Helen Built.

I have joined in the fun of a 12 month block swap over at Around The Block. My month is September which is only days away, time to get organized! I have choosen wonky houses as my block. This is only one way to sew a wonky house. There are millions of ways to do it! One great links on how to do it is here. Amazing work. This is how I made mine.

Here is the fabric I pulled from the stash to get started. I didn’t end up using that blue after all! Something else grabbed me by the time I got to that stage.

First up, the door. Two wonky rectangles sewn together.

Sewed another wonky rectangle down the other side of the door. Then a window. I thought some contrasting cyan window panes would look funky. To do the window, a square, slashed in half, a scrap 1 inch wide strip sewn inbetween the square halves to make it a whole square again. Pivot, cut in half again and sew another scrap one inch strip in again to make the square complete.

So then you want to build the house. Rectangles above the window pane, one down the side to make a wall, one above the door. Sew them together and you have the body of a house.

Here is where the fun starts though. You could put the room on now or make an extra level. I wanted a larger house, always wanted an upstairs sewing room, think of the light! So I made two more windows.

Rectangles on either side...

And a rectangle to join the levels together.

And wolah, the house is build. Well this one is, you could go another level if you wanted! Now two strips to the side of the house for the sky.

And I called in the carpenter to put the roof on. Looks a bit like a mushroom. Two scraps on each side of the roof.

Then the roof is sewn on and at last minute I think oh a little chimney would be cute! A perfect way of hiding that I didn’t have enough blue fabric to go across the width of the block!.

Then trim the bottom and sew on the grass. Ready to move in?:)

And here is all my fabric bundled up to post out. Happy sewing ladies!

11 comments:

One Flew Over said...

Looking forward to starting on your house!!

Becky said...

This is going to be such fun to play with. Thanks for providing a tutorial, off to start my practice block now!!

Unknown said...

So cute!

Kylie said...

What great colours and a cute block Helen - looking forward to seeing how they all come back!

Hedgehog said...

I love the way you made this house. The colors are so cheerful!!

becca said...

this is great! ! would you mind if linked to your tutorial as it is wonderful and I have just asked my bee members to make houses for me this month. The step by step visuals are fantastic

thx!
becca

Valerie said...

Delurking to ask a question about your header. I loved watching your geese for the doll quilt come to life (!!) and wanted to know if your header was created using the same technique, paper-piecing. Is it a particular pattern? Would you happen to have the name handy? I've searched about for something similar, but no luck yet.

You can reach me at VALERIE {dot} HULBERT {at} GMAIL {dot} COM. Much thanks in advance!

becca said...

I have linked to you - we''re Bee Addicted 3 and I just sent out my fabric. Thank you so much for sharing!!

wishes, true and kind said...

Found you on flickr (Fresh Modern Quilts Pool). Love your work, and this block is a particular favorite!

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Nancy Page said...

Love you perfect crooked little house. Looks like great fun. Thank you for sharing with your tutorial.

Have a great day.