My mini houses quilt is finished!  I know you’ve heard that line before, but let me go back in time to a galaxy far far away, to this:

Mini House Fail.  Yep.  That center certainly is puckery, demonstrating clear signs of the Training Bra Effect. Evidently, something, somehow was just not right.

It feels like I’ve been sewing on this for ages. . .

But, armed with new templates, I persevered.  I cut six different combos for the center before I was finally happy.  If the center fabric was too busy. . . fail.  If the center was too washed out. . . fail.  The yellow and the pink below are really strong colors, but the visual texture is “flat.”

Everything seamed and pressed.

To quilt a small  quilt, I use straight pins to baste, sinking the point into the batting.  First stabilize the quilt by sewing the strong verticals and horizontals (think: nine-patch), then sew around the rest of the straight line pieces, using a walking foot and fine thread.  (I use Bottom Line by Superior Threads for this work as the thread is nice and fine and disappears.)

I stitched in clapboard on the houses, horizontal on the flatter houses and vertical on the squares, but broke out into curvilinear on the dotty houses.  I swirled in a bush, did a curvilinear on the front porches and the yellow points of the Lemoyne Star, then outlined and stitched in the sky in a random fluffy cloud effect.  A strong binding finished it off. 

To help with hanging, I cut giant 6″ squares, folded them in half diagonally, then attached them in to the corners; I’ll insert a dowel cut to size, insert in the corners, and suspend the quilt from a push pin.

This is quilt # 147 on my 200 Quilts List and is 18″ square.

I still feel this way about my home!
NOTE: I’ve recently updated this pattern, adding another view, with a different contruction.  I’ve also revised the original construction techniques, making it easier to put together:

You can find it for purchase on PayHip.

Download a copy of the pattern front for reference here: