Houses... quilted and otherwise

I don't know why, but I love house-related things, including quilts.  I enjoyed making this house quilt in 2020, as part of a swap with my international group.   It was quite easy, and a lot of people made them in various patterns this year.

I made another quilt called Won't You Be My Neighbor? as part of a swap a few years ago.  Those blocks were larger - maybe 16" - and more elaborate, but lots of fun, too.

I am not a big collector of things, although at one time I had a large collection of Beanie Babies which I have whittled down quite a bit over the years to include only one bin full of bears.  But when I saw something online a few years ago about the little Delft blue houses that KLM gives its first class passengers, I had to buy one... and then another... and then another.  I now have an app on my phone to keep track of what I have, and it appears I own 18 of the sweet little things.

This village resides in our downstairs powder room along with other Dutch items that used to be in our "Double Dutch" room at the B&B we owned.  That room had a couple of Dutch-themed quilts on the bed, some embroidery, and other souvenirs.  When we moved I gave some of the latter away, although I still have quite a few Delft blue things here and there in the house.  

The KLM houses originally contain Dutch gin, but the ones I collect are empty.  Some collectors prefer them intact, but I don't see the point,  The houses are mostly all modeled after specific houses, mostly in Amsterdam, with some composites, and range in price.   There are a few palaces that are worth hundreds of dollars, but I tend to buy only those that cost under $10 on Ebay.

I mentioned my collection to Mom who gave me a different set of collectible houses for Christmas this year.  They are finely painted and very sweet.  I have run out of room on the powder room shelf, so these are now populating a built in cabinet in our dining room.

One of these days, it is inevitable that I'll plan another house quilt like the one I used to make Mom a table runner/wallhanging a few years ago.  I'll most likely use the canal house pattern that I got from a Dutch fabric shop.  Guess I'll keep my eyes open for some more Delft blue fabrics in the meantime.