Rainbow Neighbourhood Houses - Blocks 2 to 4

I was falling behind on my Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL so I'm now all caught up. 

A Mauve House

The second house was finished in the middle of last week. It was easier to make the second time around. Of course the star blocks are all different, so there is a learning curve there.

The mauve house with a blue Friendship star!

For the window details, I added a hanging planter and a bird who is visiting out of his cage. Will he go back in? I found a beautiful mosaic type fabric that looks like stained glass, so that's what I used for the window in the door. I also used my fancy machine stitches to hang the planter and make a door knob.

Details of the mauve house

Here are the first two houses.

The blue house has a mauve Evening star
while the mauve house has a blue Friendship star

I placed a sky fabric between the two houses, with some green for a yard and a little tree. I'm trying out a few things to see how I'll be able to place the houses on a quilt. I would like the sashing to act as a yard between the houses. These houses have tiny yards, just like mine! 😊

An Orange House

I finished up the third, orange house. In keeping with the funky lawn, I used some fun fabric to decorate the windows, door and the yard. 

The orange house with the yellow Woven star

Details of the orange house

A Yellow House

The fourth house is yellow. I haven't added anything to the windows yet. I may wait until I get them into the final layout and find more possibilities in my stash (or... add to it with a fat quarter or two 😁).

Yellow house with an Ohio Star 

Yellow and orange houses 😍

What I learned

• Practice definitely helped me make these houses faster. Making them two at a time helped even more!
• So far all of the star blocks have worked out well. I also learned that I don't really like making the Ohio star 😒 I made all of the little stars the exact same way and two are smaller than the others! It was also difficult stitching them in a row with all of those seams. There will probably be some repetition of the star blocks, but it won't be that one!!!
• I made myself a little pattern out of tracing paper for the lawn and walkway. That has been more helpful than just writing the measurements. 
• As I mentioned, I didn't add anything to the windows of the yellow house yet. I have more fabric that I have to look at to see if I can make something different. I also don't want to over do it because I may have some other fun ideas when I put all the blocks all together. 
• I'm glad that I didn't have many traditional lawn and garden fabrics. I've had to think outside the box by using more fun and funky green fabrics. I love them!
• I have run out of the roof and the sky fabric. I'll be finding some alternative fabrics for these. I know that traditionally it's better to plan all of this out, but this is much more fun 😊. That's when happy accidents happen!
• I'm making this quilt as a large throw for some friends. I think that one of the houses should look a little bit like theirs. Since they live in the country, that could make for a wonderful centre house with a little forest and lake. 
• It's never to late to start planning the quilt, even in the middle of the project!

Related links

• Block 1 of the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL, April 08, 2023
• Latest Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL post (Block 4) with Sandra of mmm quilts
• Details about the Rainbow Neighbourhood QAL
• Link to the Rainbow Neighbourhood pattern

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Why not check them out? Sew & Tell, Midweek Maker, Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Patchwork & Quilts,