Snowy Saturday Houses

I woke this morning to a dusting of snow. It is quite lovely. Being from the islands I am thrilled by the snow. Boysie, not so much. He is thin coated and I think his toes get cold, but you know, everything is bearable when you have a red ball.

I have been avoiding new projects and plan to actually finish some of the things I started since getting here.

First step to accomplishing this was to find them all, there are rather a lot!

I cleared off the design wall, made a list and noted what needed to be done to each one. Then I sorted and bagged the pieces, the fabric and the pattern with my "to do" note.

Number One was the project which required the least effort. The blue and green batik kit quilt. Finishing it only involved one corner, trimming to square, piecing a backing and making bias binding. "Done" is a virtuous feel good moment. Onward

Next on the piecing list is the Domiciles red houses quilt. When I started it I thought the pattern size of 48" x 60" was pretty wimpy and useless for anything other than a wall hanging or baby quilt. Mine was going to be bigger! Much BIGGER! Then I got tired of it, the butterfly brain went "Oh look" and found another project. The house quilt languished and sulked in a pile of fabric. So sad.

My method for small block scrappy quilts is to start making blocks and stop when I run out of fabric or enthusiasm. I had made 66 blocks plus one four house block. The pattern supplies a paper piecing template for the teeny houses but I do not enjoy paper piecing so I winged it on mine, the houses are a little wonky (but charmingly so) and I prefer wonky to picking bits of paper off the block any day of the week.

My get it done plan is to make a total of 99 blocks, set 9 x 11 and add a 3" border to yield a 60" x 72" top. Not a lot bigger than the pattern but a good size for a snuggle up to read quilt or a bed topper.

Goal for the week:

• make at least 16 house blocks
• start laying them out in rows on the design wall
• paw through my stash and probably Lori's stash too for the backing, binding and border fabric

Y'all come back!