Won't You Be My Neighbor?

NOTE: If you saw this last week when it was accidentally posted early--those numbers are not correct. This post has the correct measurements for the 6" block below


Recently, I've shown these adorable little house blocks on Facebook and Instagram and there has been a lot of interest. I call them Quilters' Scrap Houses:

Three of us are close quilting buddies and often make blocks to swap, or do round-robin quilts. While at a three-person retreat a few weeks ago we decided to make house blocks to swap. I took on the design job and set the "guidelines"--that would be "rules".  I wrote all the details of this project here.

In Electric Quilt 8 there are lots of house blocks. I found one that just needed a bit of tweaking, size, one chimney, not two, no ground, etc.  Here is our pattern:

This one is perfect for foundation paper piecing. There are four units to make, then you assemble a lower half, the building, and the upper half, the roof and the sky/chimney. Ours is 5" finished but could easily be larger or smaller.

What if you don't have software and want to make a pattern? Simply draw a square and make your own. Trace paper patterns for the block you drew--be sure you add seam allowances where needed.

Here is what my pattern looks like for the 5" block. Notice I printed it in reverse so the door will be on the left and window on the right when sewn:

What if you are not a fan of paper piecing and want to piece your block in the regular way? No problem, these shapes are basic and simple to piece.

How about a 6" block, pieced regularly? Here are the numbers:

Top Half: 
Top Row:  2 Sky rectangles cut 2" x 3", 1 Sky cut 1.25" x 1.5"
                  1 Chimney cut 1.25" x 1.5"
                   Join chimney/sky, add sky to both sides, unit should now be 2" x 6.5"

Second Row: 2 Sky triangles cut from 1 square 2 3/8"--note I'd cut the square 2.5" for insurance
                       Front Roof triangle can be cut from one square cut 4.25"--cut in quarters making the                             long side on the straight of grain--each square gives you 4 of these triangles.
                        Long Roof Triangle--cut rectangle 2" x 5.75". Create parallelogram by removing both                            ends with a 45 degree cut--be sure you are cutting in the proper direction
                         Join the front roof to the long roof, add sky triangles to both sides
                       Unit should now be 2" x 6.5"

Bottom Half:
Left House: cut 2 House rectangles 1.5" x 3.5", cut 1 house square 1.5"
                     cut Door 1.5" x 2.5"
                      Join door/house, add house rectangles to each side of door
                      Unit should now be 3.5" square

Right House:  cut 3 house rectangles 1.5" x 3.5", cut one of these in half for above/below window,                               trim them to 1.5" squares.
                        cut 1 Window 1.5" square
                        Join house parts to window, above/below, add house rectangles to either side
                        Unit should now be 3.5" square

Join the Top and Second Rows for the upper half of the block
Join the Left and Right House units for the lower half of the block
Join the upper and lower halves and you now have a Quilters' Scrap House that is 6"finished size.

5" on the left, 6" on the right

You can also Google "Quilt House Blocks" and you will find many blocks, in lots of sizes and lots of designs--find one you like if this doesn't suit you.

 I really prefer paper piecing and the smaller the better--I plan to make this baby in a 3" size too. But not everyone likes that method, so choose whichever you prefer.

This has been added to my Workshops offerings as a 3 hour class--just enough time to make a few and see the paper piecing process.

Let's Quilt.

Barbara