When my lovely Insta friend Naomi chose the House Block for the Focus Cutting Sewalong 2020 block back in 2019 how little she knew that The Year of the House would be so apt for so many. 2020 a year when so many people have been at home, the house symbol to me has resonated through my year during this sewalong.
I’ve spent many months playing catch up with my House blocks because life has just enveloped me and my little peoples worlds. Being able to take part in the weekly sewalong with Naomi has been a little bit of a way of life and in previous years I’ve kept up but not this year!
Back at the beginning of the year I was adament that I wasn’t going to join in the sewalong. I’d taken part the previous 2 years and decided to take a break. When all the little houses appeared in my feed from my fellow sewists though I wanted to join in! The tiny houses began!
I made my own templates this year because they were 1/2″ houses and oh so tiny. It meant the challenge was doable compared to sewing up a bigger counterpart. I was making them with no real plan for their future.
From the start I grouped them in months and because I tended to make them all at the same time I kept the same theme/colour as you can see from above.
It wasn’t until later on in the sewalong that I started to join them together. I had the view that I would turn it into a wall hanging and add extra embroidery details to it.
In October 3/4 way through the challenge I totally fell behind and had about 3 months to catch up on at the start of December. Not to be outdone though I played catch up and my thought went to what I was to make!
I’d always thought I’d make a portrait piece but landscape called to me. I bought a piece of charcoal Essex linen because I love it’s texture and started to appliqué my house blocks on.
All the gorgeous slow sewing gives you time to think and I started to settle on the idea of making a cushion out of my piece even though I’m not a cushion fan! I decided that something so special would be an added smile to my sewing space!
Having not finished any of my previous focus cutting sewalong quilts yet I’ve been quite keen on completing this as one final 2020 finish and to even write it up to show and tell! So here it is…
As if by accident I chose colours that matched my bedding so this is now living in my bedroom which just so happens to be my sewing space too! The back is yellow/grey/white simple square patchwork with a couple of whales for good measure.
As always it is a pleasure to sew along with Naomi in the Focus Cutting Sewalong and this year has been no different. The range of talented sewers amongst our ranks from all over the world always outstands me. If you ever fancied joining in then do because you won’t be disappointed in the welcoming community that I love so much.
Next years block is the half hexagon and I am not even going to kid myself that I won’t be joining in! I have been having a practice and I can’t wait to get back into the land of the hexie!
I’ll take the chance to wish you a Happy New Year and let’s all look forward to what can only hopefully be a more positive 2021. The Year of the House is complete!!
This is lovely, Karen! Lockdown got the better of me and I haven’t completed my 1-block-a-month goal from the sewalong, I have only made 5 so far. I am definitely going to join in properly with half-hexies though!
THank you Genevieve! I’ll look forward to sewing blocks with you next year!
Great project, love how you made them all join up.
thank you! It kinda just evolved and I went with it!
[…] The House Pillow is another year long project that uses tiny houses. 1/4” houses to be exact and beacause I only did one a week I collected enough blocks to make a pillow… more info here […]