Newfoundland's colourful houses as a table topper

Hi and welcome! The table topper is finished - some free motion quilting (FMQ) and mostly walking foot quilting. Here is a quick post to celebrate!

Painted fence becomes a table topper

As I mentioned in my last post, I made a table topper based on my friend's Newfoundland (NFLD) colourful houses painted fence. 

Our friend in front of the fence!

We attended his retirement party yesterday. It was a lot of fun and it was obvious that he enjoyed every minute! I asked his daughter to take his picture in front of the fence, so here it is. 

Quilting the table topper

I used the pillowcase technique to finish it. The batting was on the bottom with the front and backing facing each other. I cut the backing very carefully to ensure that it would be stitched at ¼" along with the front. Before flipping it right-side out, I could tell that the backing wasn't taut and this could lead to puckering😲.  Re-stitching one side made everything right!

Above is the pillowcase finish with just the opening to close up. I stitched the ⅛" around the piece with different coloured threads so that it would match the quilting. 

I started quilting the yellow house with the walking foot. Each line is 4 stitches from the other. That meant that I could follow the previous line in one of the openings of my walking foot. At the windows, I would secure the thread before and after the window and pass over them. There were a lot of threads to cut once it was over. 😀

Quilting the house with a walking foot

I quilted the yellow and purple houses before attempting the roof. I marked the lines of the grid (see What I learned!) I didn't take any pictures after that 😞- but next came the orange house and then I FMQ the sky in simple wavy lines.

Using the walking foot to quilt the houses and roof.

I mentioned in my last post that I had issues with my zig-zag stitch. When I finished quilting the houses, I went over the zig-zag stitches around the windows and doors twice with straight lines. It helped to emphasize the outline. 

Our friend in front of his lovely painted fence.

Our friend and NFLD's 
colourful houses

What I learned

• There were a few learning moments in the making of this piece.
• Designing a quilt late in the evening can lead to artistic interpretations (see previous post).
• When using the pillowcase method on larger pieces, it's important to pin the back to ensure that the backing fabric is taut.
• Covering parts of the zig-zag stitches with straight stitches may have helped, when the lines actually covered the zig-zag stitches. 😁
• When marking lines on a quilt, keep the Crayola gel pens away from the FriXion pens!!!!! The pink lines within the gray roof area just added a little hint of colour but weren't so great on the edge of the sky area!😞
• No matter how much I try, my quilts will never be perfect. I should accept this by now...but it is a lovely quilt 😊and my friend loves it!
• The moment I saw the painted fence in our friend's backyard, I knew that I would make him a quilt.

Related links

• Table Topper and Playing with Weaving, November 07, 2024
• Pillowcase Quilt Finish - How To Finish Quilt, YouTube

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties, including Free Motion Mavericks. Put your foot down, Off The Wall Friday, Beauties Pageant, TGIFF, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2024, Oh Scrap!, Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday, Sew & Tell, 

Project details

Finish table topper

NFLD's colourful houses table topper

based on our friend's painted fence

18" x 18"

Materials: hand-dyed and commercial fabrics

Techniques: piecing, appliqué, pillowcase technique, quilting with walking foot and free motion quilting (FMQ)