Houses Times Ten

Today is Tuesday  and I'm linking up at Linky Party Tuesday, hosted by charming Connie at Freemotion by the River.

I put together a housewarming gift in early January for my DD. I hear it has arrived in its new home so now I will share a few pictures.  I decided to make a table runner with a house theme...very appropriate, don't you think? 

I paper pieced the little houses from a pattern called "Block Party" published in Quilt magazine, Dec/Jan 2013 edition and designed by Pamela.  Her profile is here at quiltmag.com. I enlarged the pattern to a size I thought would work for the runner, made ten houses, added sashing and a border and am pretty pleased with the results.

I love the chocolate brown and I think with the chocolate fabric on the back, it could easily be reversible. The fabric arrived from a quilter friend who was looking for a new home for her gorgeous fabrics. Once I saw the bundle, I knew exactly who I wanted to use if for...my DD who has a lovely new modern home with a sprinkling of browns, greys and blacks throughout. I figured a little lime green and aqua would just spice it up a little!

My machine quilting was a basic 'stitch in the ditch'. Once I finished that, I machine quilted the binding. The more I do binding by machine, the better I get, and I do like the fact that it will likely last a little longer.

I decided to add a few extra items to the box going "out West", so made these as well. The oven mitts seemed to take forever, but I like the way they turned out and DD thought they were pretty neat! They actually turned out a little smaller than expected but fit DDs tiny hands to a T!

The pattern was free online at Sew4Home HERE. The instructions called for d-rings, but I made loops instead. I purchased a set of dish towels, prewashed and dried them, and sewed some matching fabric on them to coordinate with the other items.

Have you ordered your Country Charmer pattern yet so you can join us for the CC quiltalong? It's a lazy daisy QAL that you can do at your own speed, slow and slower, or fast and faster! For all the info, click HERE. 

We started a Flickr group specifically for the CC QAL. Just click the button on the sidebar and you'll see some pictures already posted of fabric choices and blocks. Designer Lynn at Sew'n Wild Oaks is the Country Charmer Queen! You will be so inspired by her blocks!  We also have Quilt Sue from Quilt Times from across the pond who is rallying her UK friends to join along. We are ready to party! 

Just a reminder that the deadline for my giveaway is today, Sunday, July 20 at 4:00 EST.  If you are interested, make sure you leave a comment on the previous post. Giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to winner Mommarock who was contacted by email.

Also, don't forget to check out Madame Samm's Sew We Quilt's latest blog hops including Hugs and Kisses, Dare to Dresden, and It's All About Me!  It's a super duper variety of hops that will have you running to your sewing corner!  

It's a great day for quilting!