Thursday, May 23, 2013

My House Quilt - Tree House


This is a block from my House Block Bee Quilt - a cheery quilt that hangs in my classroom.

I participated in the on-line House Block Bee with eleven other quilters. We were each assigned a month by our queen bee. Before the first of my assigned month, I mailed out fabrics to the others to be used to make a house block for me. I purchased the blue fabric for the sky and the green fabric for the grass. I sent each person a couple of owls and a couple of children to be included in their block. Then I looked through my stash and included scraps to be used for houses, trees, etc. Each quilter could also add their own fabric, if they wished.

Now, there are risks to being in an on-line bee.  I should have received eleven blocks and only received nine.  (Another block arrived very late, after I had already finished the quilt.)  Despite the fact that I had to make three of the blocks, I'm still very happy that I participated in this bee.  It's very interesting to note that my students could easily pick out the blocks that I had made!

Tree House
 
A tree house, a free house,
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house.
 
A street house, a neat house,
Be sure and wipe your feet house
Is not my kind of house at all -
Let's go live in a tree house.
 
     Shel Silverstein
 
Foreign Lands
 
Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad on foreign lands.
 
I saw the next-door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,
And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.
 
I saw the dimpling river pass
And be the sky's blue looking-glass;
The dusty roads go up and down
With people tramping into town.
 
If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships,
 
To where the roads on either hand
Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive.
 
      Robert Louis Stevenson
 
 
 You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post here. 

7 comments:

  1. I do like the tree house block. I also like the quilt. Very nice.

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  2. And, is the tree house one that you made? (Can't have too many owls to watch all over those activities).

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  3. This is wonderful! I think I might ask for house blocks for a bee that I'm in right now.

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  4. The entire quilt is charming! I have a stack of wonky house blocks from a swap earlier this year that I ought to do something with..... Yes, there is a downside to swaps: a fear (usually unfounded) that your contribution won't be up to the standard of others + not getting back what you'd really like to have had + some people unable to follow directions. ("I asked for batiks and you send the block in prints?" or getting a 12" block when the request was for 9".) It's only fabric....it's only fabric....it's only fabric.

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  5. I like the tree house. Great quilt for your classroom.

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  6. Love this! You have inspired me to look up a birdhouse quilt pattern I have somewhere!

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