Brick House, etc.

For this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I'll continue making scrappy 6" pineapple blocks each month with the hope that I can have enough blocks by the end of the year to make a decently sized quilt.  I took a month off in December, but I'm looking forward to getting back to these blocks in the new year.

I'm also determined to make a quilt featuring a variety of house blocks.  I have several patterns and books to choose from and a whole lot of scraps.  The first block of the year is called Brick House and I found it on the Fat Quarter Shop's website.  I don't know what the RSC color for January will be yet, but I thought I'd make one in green to see if I like the pattern.  And I do!  It measures 12" x 13".

I'll use a variety of backgrounds and try to make this a stash buster.  I will probably vary the orientation of the houses now and then to keep it interesting.

I also started working on Bonnie Hunter's Unity medallion quilt yesterday.  It's going to be a section a month sew along with some members of my local guild.  I have changed the colors a little, removing red and adding a bright yellow to navy blue and light blue.  Hoping to bust a little more stash with this one.   Feeling energized!

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.