COLOR MY WORLD--Month 3

This Block of the Month quilt is available FREE to Star Members of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. It was designed by Wendy Williams exclusively for The Quilt Show for 2021. It is not too late to start--you will learn a lot.

Month 3 brings us the remaining 16 Small Houses--#3 and #4, eight of each:

RESOURCES:

1. WATCH the MONTH 3 VIDEO--find it with the Patterns under Instructional Videos

2. You might want to review the Video "The Basics of Sewing", shown in Month 1.

3. Watch the LIVE Broadcast I will do Thursday March 4, 2021,  10 am PST, on Facebook and YouTube. I will answer your questions and review this month's process.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW:

1. Small Houses 3 and 4 are the same size as Small Houses 1 and 2 that were made in Month 1. 
Double check the 1" box on the pattern before beginning--both the file copy you make for your binder AND the paper foundation you print, whether you are using freezer paper or newsprint or some other lightweight paper for your paper patterns. 

2. Small House 3 has 3 sections, instead of 2. Make all 3 sections and join them together.

3. Cutting instructions for each fabric are in the pattern and they will work. I prefer to increase the size of very small pieces. Any piece that was to be cut 1.25" I cut 1.5". You can always cut the fabric larger to provide a bit more ease in placement--it will, of course, mean you waste a tiny bit more. In the photo ABOVE, the top fabrics were cut as the directions say, the bottom fabrics were increased--from 1.25" square for the light green to 1.5" square. The blue window was increased from 2" x 1.25" to 2" x 1.5". 

4. When all 32 Small Houses are complete, join them into 16 pairs. Then STOP! Do not join the pairs to each other until Month 4, after all the trees have been added to each pair.

5. Plan your colors however you like them. Wendy suggests sewing the houses into pairs 1/2 and 3/4, and then placing them as 1/2/3/4, all the way around the circle--remember, they are all joined AFTER the trees are added, in Month 4. It is more important you like how the colors play with each other than it is to have the houses in 1/2/3/4 order--only you will know if you move some to other positions. Here, in  my quilt, the light green treetop is on Small House 2/1, the dark green treetop is on Small House 3/4:

5. Try to sew a very accurate 1/4" seam allowance when joining the pairs of houses. How round your final circle is and how flat your quilt lays depends on this accuracy. I cannot stress this enough.  Press the seam OPEN after sewing two houses into a PAIR. 

6. When joining two houses into a pair, be sure the lower edge is accurately aligned--the top edge will be covered by the tree so if some of your houses are not exactly the same height, that will work out. The lower edge will be pieced to the Inner Road in Month 5--that edge needs to be as accurate as you can make it. 

7. To cut the Backgrounds, you have a choice--follow the pattern cutting directions, they work. OR use my Speed Cutting Instructions that we talked about in Month 1. Find the VIDEO about that HERE.

The Speed Cutting Instructions are the same two pages that were introduced January 1, 2021. The Month 3 instructions are in the lower box--Small House 3 and Small House 4. Find the PDF HERE.

 If you find it too confusing to cut rectangles different sizes for this method, simply cut them ALL from 5.5" x 7.5" rectangles, half face up ad half face down. That generates more waste but less confusion. 

The Month 3 Video, in Instructional Videos on the Pattern page, goes into this method in detail. 

The Large piece Small House 3=o, Small House 4=k

The Smaller piece Small House 3=n, Small House 4=j

Some must be cut Face UP

Some must be cut Face DOWN

Next month we will add the Tree Trunks and Treetops and you will be sewing all 32 Small Houses into a complete circle. Then the fun begins!

Let's quilt.

Barbara