Monday, December 26, 2011

The Amazing and Astonishing Tiny Tiny Tiny Scrappy Houses

Yes, as Charlene said, they are tiny!  LOL.  I didn't realize just how tiny until I sat down to put on together.  Don't let their size fool you either, it took me nearly an hour to finish one tiny little house.

Let me tell you, the learning curve was very steep.

But I worked out a lot of kinks.  I am not allowed to show you any of the houses until the first of the year.  So I will show you bits of what I did and tell you how I fixed it.

First, I had a problem getting the pattern right.  I printed out, well, attempted to print out, a 3 inch block.  I got a 2 1/2 inc block, a 2 3/4 inch  block, a 3 1/4 inch block, a 5 1/3 inch block and a 4 7/8 inch block.  Even a 10 inch one.  But I could not hit the 3 inch block.  So I decided there should be one in EQ that would work. 

No such animal.  So I tried redoing some of the houses in EQ to look like this one, no dice.  The measurements just weren't working.  I even tried to draft one on my own.  And decided to work to maybe anther size like a 4 or 5 inch block. 


Too many of not the right size

I found some blocks in two of my miniature quilt books that would work, one even looked like it was where Jeanneke's block came from.  But after inadequately tracing a couple I gave that idea up.

So I went back to working on the block she provided.  And finally I got that printed out at a perfect 3 inches.  Problem solved......whoa!  Wait......NOOOOOOO! I printed 10 copies of the entire post.........Augh!

So now I have my 3 inch block.  I decided to paperpiece it.  I modified one part to make it easier to piece.  And I began to cut some fabrics for the sizes.  Only cut one wrong and had to rip only two pieces out.  I always mess up the very first piece for some reason.


Pre-sorting the scraps

I was really proud of my little tiny tiny tiny house.  I showed it to Frank.  He looked at it and said, it doesn't look like hers on the computer here.  How are you going to fix it?  Aughhh!


The second one was easier, and the third was much better.  It will be a lot easier to chain piece the sections.  So I spent a couple of hours going through my Bonnie Hunter Scrap System and cutting up some scrap pieces to make about 100 of these tiny babies. 


Pieces cut for about 100

It will be an impressive quilt.  Maybe one that will make everyone at the quilt go, "Ahhhhhhhhh!"  during show and tell.  I can see it now, when I unfold the quilt, they all collectively gasp in amazement at the beauty of my tiny tiny houses.  And they are all astonished at my ability to sew such tiny tiny houses.  It will be a wonderful feeling, standing up there, basking in the glory of the collective amazement.......oh, but I digress.

I cannot just do one a day, I will do more.  I can see how people are hand piecing these, they are so tiny!  I love them though.

This is my last design wall of 2011.  Next week I will gladly enter 2012 and cross my fingers for a much better year!

glen






3 comments:

  1. Good morning. I looked at these tiny tiny houses and I love them! I don't know if I have the patience or small enough fingers to make them so tiny. I may try five inch houses. First, however, I have to get my fabric act more organized. I can't wait to see your houses.

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  2. i am certainly going to enjoy watching the development of this little housing estate! Love them - not sure I have the patience to make them but love to see the finished pieces! happy stitching!

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  3. I imagine them to be like the houses you see from an airplane. Waaay faaar dooown there!

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