A Patch of Winter

Small, quirky houses is a theme I love to return to. They make great repeating patterns, while differing slightly in shape, colour and design, and have the added fun of wondering who might live inside them. A little village of autumn houses has been hanging on my kitchen wall for a couple of years, sewn in appliqued felt onto a bit of abandoned patchwork, with buttons and beads to make the gardens. If you look closely enough, there are some tiny cat buttons frisking among the flowers.

The autumn patchwork with added cats.

Recently, I found yet another bit of abandoned patchwork and decided it was time for a seasonal update. Winter was on its way.

Part of the appeal of houses is that they are such simple shapes to cut out, - just rectangles and triangles which are easy to vary in size. I used cotton in pale blues and greys so they would stand out against the dark blue patchwork and sewed them on with running stitch close to the edge. A very fine embroidery needle prevented too much fraying.

Basic houses, ready to sew.

The fun part is customising all the houses. I raided my box of fancy scraps - lace, ribbon, net, velvet, satin, sparkles and silk-  and lovingly cut out tiny doors, windows and trimmings for the roof. Once again, the invisible thread earned its keep to hold them all in place. I couched silver thread around some of the doorways to add a bit of definition, and sewed bead knockers onto the doors. 

Adding trimmings to the houses

It was at this point that I wished I had put a snowy landscape behind the houses. Undoing all the sewing to add one in didn't seem like any fun at all, so I painstakingly sewed bits of sheer fabric between each house, trimming to fit as I went. After that, I added the triangle trees, which were made from felt or fleece. I embroidered the plain white felt with tree-ish patterns before cutting out the triangles, which made it much easier to embroider right up to the edge. To finish off, I couched on strands of loosely-spun white wool for the snowy ground, and sprinkled on iridescent snowflakes. The outer squares of the patchwork were turned over to make a border. 

So autumn has passed and winter now reigns on the kitchen wall. I was pleased with the mixture of different textures and patterns, and sticking strictly to the blue and white colour scheme has given a good wintry effect. Sadly, I didn't have any white cat buttons to play in the snow. I imagine they are inside their houses, curled up in front of the fire. 

The finished winter picture