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Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Welcome to Our House

Welcome to My House blog hop

Do you remember the song, Our House, by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young?  This art quilt is inspired by that song.

Our House
"Our house is a very, very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard, life used to be so hard
Now everything is easy, 'cause of you"
Lyrics of Our House by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

"Our House" - the journey

Come with me on my journey to make "Our House".

It started with this blog hop button. I always wanted to participate in those cool blog hops, so I submitted my name to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. I was thrilled when I learned that I could participate.

The decision: what to make?

Given all of my other commitments, it had to be relatively small, easy and fun. I had some great ideas, but most would have been months in the making. That wasn't going to happen.

I looked at some pictures of quilted houses on Pinterest for inspiration. Finally I just sat down and doodled. It didn't take long to get something that I thought might be simple and cool.
The doodle
Auditioning fabrics
I took out many, many fabrics that might fit. Finally I chose and cut some and just placed them over a white cotton fabric.

I really wanted to use the fabric with the multi-coloured boxes for the house, but it was just too much. I had the option of using less colourful printed fabrics around it, or using a plainer fabric for the house. I'm glad that I was able to incorporate a little bit of that multi-coloured boxes fabric around the windows and for the attic hexie window.

is a very, very fine house...
You can see that I changed the landscape fabric quite a bit, although it's still mostly the same fabrics. I just played with the proportions until I got something that looked good.

With 2 cats in the yard....
I decided on two trees and some tulips on the right side. as well as creatures hiding in the lawn.
 
As well as a yard, trees and birds
Many fun things hiding in the lawn!




















I thought I had finished but realised that I needed to add a door handle - so I raided my button jar and added a door handle as well as more flower buttons in the lawn.

I had a great time free motion quilting (FMQ) the piece. Sometimes I followed the fabric design while in the very busy flower fabric I quilted some flower meander.

What I learned
  • I played a lot with the different possible fabrics for this piece. Again, taking photos of the possibilities really helped me figure out what didn't work and what might work.
  • While making my mountain landscape quilt, I had a hard time figuring out what to thread sketch and what to FMQ. This time I only sewed the house and the yard fabrics onto the stabilizer. The rest of the stitching was done through FMQ. I must say that I liked this best since it gives the piece a little more dimension. 
  • I'm really pleased with the FMQ in the sky. I looked at the FMQ samples that I made during the FMQ Challenge with Angela Walters. I did a variation of the swirls from week 7. I'm very happy to report that the swirls in this piece were much better than my original challenge practice piece.
  • This quilt was also inspired by the song Our House because as soon as I made the doodle above, I started humming it. That's why I added the 2 cats in the yard. It's a great song from a great album. You can check out the link below to listen to it again on YouTube.
  • Our House was inspired by the quilt, Wonky Houses by Martha Baltram. I saw the quilt on Quilt Inspiration. The quilt won third prize for Best Scrap Quilt at the 2018 Quilt Arizona Show. Martha said that her houses were inspired by hairdos. You'll want to check out her quilt in the Related links below - her houses are even wilder than mine 😊.
Related links
Project details

Our House
17" x 20"
Materials: cotton fabric, buttons
Techniques: appliqué, English paper piecing (EPP), free motion quilting,







Thank you so much Carol for hosting this blog hop!

Linking parties
This post will be linked to some great linking parties around quilt land. Why not check them out! Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall, Moving it Forward, What I Made Monday, Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Silly Mama Quilts WIPS, Needle & Thread Thursday, Friday Foto Fun, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Free Motion Mavericks, Happy Friday Finishes, TGIFF, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?,

Great news! Our House was featured on Muv's Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks Muv :-)

Welcome to Our House Blog Hop Schedule

Monday, September 10

Tuesday, September 11

Wednesday, September 12

Thursday, September 13

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39 comments:

  1. Charlene McCain13 September 2018 at 02:27

    Great little quilt! Love the colors! Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are a favorite of mine.

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  2. Creativeblonde6613 September 2018 at 02:54

    Such a fun and vibrant quilt 😍

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  3. Mary Pat Callihan13 September 2018 at 06:08

    Hi Andree! Such an adorable, creative piece of art! All your tiny bits and your stitching....wow! I really enjoyed reading what you learned, such a nice reflection. Thank you for being a part of this hop.

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  4. Elizabeth Coughlin13 September 2018 at 06:42

    I remember that song very well and you captured it beautifully with your very artistic and original piece!

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  5. Marjorie's Busy Corner13 September 2018 at 07:01

    Lot of work here....but it is so worth it!

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  6. Brooke13 September 2018 at 08:00

    wow, wow!
    what a fabulous quilt!!

    thanks so much for linking up!
    I would love to have you link up on Friday too as a finish...

    brooke@sillymamaquilts.com

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  7. piecefulwendy13 September 2018 at 08:51

    Cute house based on the song (which I love)! You put so much work into it, I love all of the detail! Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Carol Swift13 September 2018 at 08:55

    This is a "very, very, very fine house" that makes me smile with how creative it is...love it! Your quilting really brings out all the details in this piece. It is so artistic! Thank you for sharing your process and for hopping with us. :O)

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  9. Daryl @ Patchouli Moon Studio13 September 2018 at 10:10

    Cute whimsical house!

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  10. The Quilted Dog13 September 2018 at 10:26

    Very very cute, and I love the song and the “two cats in the yard”!

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  11. Scrapatches13 September 2018 at 10:28

    Cute house quilt. My hubby used to sing this song to me all the time. Still does although we have three cats now. Thanks for sharing in the hop ... :-) Pat

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  12. Danette 13 September 2018 at 10:51

    This is just a wonderful quilt! I love Crosby, Stills and Nash and I believe I have "Our House" saved onto my Ipod. I sometimes have '2 cats in my yard". We have 1 cat who goes in and out of the house and we sometimes have a stray cat that we feed. Lovely!

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  13. tink's mom13 September 2018 at 10:54

    absolutely, positively a very very very fine house. Love the detail work and the various quilting/stitching detail.

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  14. Rosemary13 September 2018 at 11:08

    This is possibly my favorite house!! Thank you for making me smile. Perfect!!

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  15. Calicojoan13 September 2018 at 11:10

    Adorable!!! And that song is going to run thru my head all day now! LOL!! You did a fabulous job of adding in all the special elements. Loved the idea of photos to help with that challenge.

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  16. works4me13 September 2018 at 11:10

    Fabulous quilt. Love all your special touches.

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  17. JANET13 September 2018 at 11:18

    Very creative. Thanks for sharing.

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  18. LJ13 September 2018 at 12:01

    Playing is such fun when it comes to creating. Lovely house and you made it sing - as well as singing yourself.

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  19. Run 'n Stitch13 September 2018 at 12:03

    What a great house quilt! It's so vibrant.

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  20. Laura13 September 2018 at 12:08

    What a delight. So whimsical.

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  21. barbara woods13 September 2018 at 13:04

    it looks to me like a fairy house, cute

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  22. Mary Ann13 September 2018 at 13:35

    Really cute. Looks like you had a fun time creating this. Thanks for sharing.

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  23. Bente-I like to QuiltBlog13 September 2018 at 17:34

    Such a wonderful house, beautiful work!
    I really like what is see, congrats!

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  24. Suze14 September 2018 at 00:00

    Congrats on a great house! When I first saw the house, I thought the roof looked like a hairdo. I wasn't going to say anything, in case I was incorrect, until I got to the end of the post. It goes to show that maybe the commenter should say things anyhow. That's what the poster is seeking - true comments. I love the look of the whimsical house. Of course, I remember the song - Our House. Thanks for participating in the hop.

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  25. allthingzsewn14 September 2018 at 08:51

    This is the cutest house, love it's originality. Four of these would make an adorable toddler quilt. Gonna try it someday.

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  26. Benita Skinner14 September 2018 at 09:34

    Andree - Yours is a very, very, very fine house - indeed! :) <3

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  27. Kay Holm14 September 2018 at 11:46

    I have loved that song for years and years. And what a cute house with two cats in the yard!

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  28. Susan14 September 2018 at 16:24

    This reminds me of the Flintstone house that's a neighboring city - too cute!

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  29. Cynthia's Creating Ark14 September 2018 at 17:52

    What a great projects. I love how it turned out.

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  30. Kim14 September 2018 at 18:50

    Oh how fun your quilt is. It is filled with so many delightful whimsies that cannot help but make one smile.

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  31. The Joyful Quilter14 September 2018 at 20:43

    You must have had SEW much fun creating this whimsical new home!!

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  32. Sharon15 September 2018 at 13:05

    First thing I did was look for the two cats in the yard! What a fun quilt project, thanks for sharing.

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  33. Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué16 September 2018 at 04:23

    So cute! J'adore ta petite maison, adorable et avec plein de détails ! Superbe !

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  34. Dione Gardner-Stephen17 September 2018 at 00:46

    Your house is a very, very, very fine house, and very fun too. What a great hop this was! ")

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  35. Leanne Parsons17 September 2018 at 12:17

    Cute little quilt! I always find that taking pictures helps when I'm trying to decide what works best, too. Thanks for linking with TGIFF :)

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  36. Sherry @PoweredbyQuilting17 September 2018 at 22:39

    Oh wow your house is so colorful and fun! I love it!

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  37. Angie18 September 2018 at 01:25

    I love the song and your quilt goes so well with the theme. Super job! And thanks for your recent visit to my blog!

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  38. Michelle18 September 2018 at 23:26

    I remember that song. Your wall quilt captures the song for sure. Love it!

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  39. Muv20 September 2018 at 14:53

    Hello Andrée,

    Yet another fun-packed little quilt! How do you manage to finish so many so quickly? You have captured the mood of the song perfectly, it is so whimisical. There again, when I read the title of the song, my immediate thought was the song by Madness.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXuvdeEC5y8

    Now that would be a hilarious quilt.

    Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks. Your quilt is this week's featured project!

    Love, Muv

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Hi! I would love to hear from you and I will try to answer you. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a message. :-)