It’s Friday and Day 5 of the Merry and Bright Quilt-along!
And today we’re making Christmas houses!
We’re paper piecing one last time, and the house block foundation pattern we’re using today is made of three units—one for the main part of the house, one for the roof, and one for the chimney. It looks like this:
You’ll need to print off 4 sets of the foundation pattern—sorry, this time I could only fit one per page.
Click here for the pdf of the foundation pattern. Before you begin, make sure the main house unit foundation
pattern measures 2⅞” x 4⅞” from darker innermost line to darker innermost line (3⅜” x 5⅜” from outside line to outside line. If the main house pattern is correct, the roof and chimney will be as well.For your house blocks, you’ll need to gather and cut (note: if you didn’t pre-cut your FQs, no worries, I’ll tell you below the patch sizes you’ll need for each unit of the house block):
Gather your stacks of:
- assorted print 1½” x 1½” squares
- assorted print 1½” x 2½” rectangles
- assorted print 1½” x 3″ rectangles
- assorted print 1½” x 4½” rectangles
- assorted print 2¼” x 3½” rectangles
- assorted print 3″ x 5″ rectangles
From your background print, cut:
4—1¾” x 1¾” squares
4—1¾” x 4½” rectangles
8—2″ x 3½” x rectangles
Because these house blocks are a bit more complicated than our previous blocks, it may help you to roughly lay out your various patches before you being sewing to help you decide which prints you’d like to use for your windows, doors, houses, roofs and chimneys. If you pre-cut your FQs, you have more patches than you need, so have fun playing around with some different combinations.
Let’s take one block and each unit one at a time.
Here’s the foundation pattern for the main house unit.
Area A1 is the window and should be covered with 1—print 1½” x 2½” rectangle.
Areas A2, A3, A4, A6, A7, and A8 should be covered with patches of a matching print in the following sizes (I’ll refer to this print as the “second print” and it should be different than the print that you used for the window(unit A1)):
- A2/A3—second print 1½” x 2½” rectangle
- A4/A6—second print 1½” x 3″ rectangle
- A7—second print 1½” x 4½” rectangle
- A8—second print 2¼” x 3½” rectangle
Area A5 should be covered with 1—third print 1½” x 3″ rectangle
Got it? Ok, now on to the roof unit.
Area B1 should be covered with a fourth print—3″ x 5″ rectangle
Area B2 should be covered with a second print (the same as the print used for most of the house on the main house unit)—2¼” x 3½” rectangle
Areas B3 and B4 should be covered with 2—background fabric 2″ x 3½” rectangles
Finally, the easiest, the chimney unit.
Area C1 should be covered with a fifth print 1½” x 1½” squares
Area C2 should be covered with a background fabric 1¾” x 1¾” square
Area C3 should be covered with a background fabric 1¾” x 4½” rectangle
Assemble house blocks:
Once you’ve finished your main house, roof and chimney units, stitch them together as shown.
Carefully remove the paper from behind your work and press the seams allowances upwards (i.e. press the seam allowance between the main house and roof towards the roof, and the seam allowance between the roof and the chimney towards the chimney).
Repeat steps to make 4 house blocks measuring 5⅜” x 6¼” unfinished.
Phew! I know these house blocks have a lot of moving parts, but aren’t they worth it!! Once you finish building your little houses, make sure you celebrate! Pour yourself an egg nog or a glass of wine—unless, of course, it’s still morning!
But before you go, I’d like to share a photo of Katherine’s version of last year’s “Peace on Earth” Mystery Quilt. She turned her little quilt into a pillow by adding an extra border to either side of her project! What a great idea, Katherine! It’s beautiful!!
Have a great weekend and I’ll see you back here Sunday for Day 6!
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Ooooh, lovely! I love houses! Can't wait to have a time spot today to make them!
Wonderful inspiration too!
Be blessed and thanks so much, hugs martina
Have fun building your houses, Martina!!
So gorgeous.!
I love these little house! Your fabric choices make me smile.
Thank you, Rosa!!
Thanks, Jackie! Me too! 🙂