There’s nothing like a deadline to get those creative juices flowing! Things We Make was having a recycled, repurposed DIY ornament contest, and I have a huge amounts of scraps of prefused hand dyed fabrics and Peltex. Although as an art quilter I can always use the fabric scraps SOMEWHERE, a big basket of small, oddly shaped scraps of peltex has been sitting in my closet for just such a recycling project as this! I’ve also been yearning to get back to making 3-d art houses, so this was my chance. Now, I don’t care about winning the contest, as I’m sure there are some clever people repurposing in a much more creative way than I, but my boys understand a contest deadline, and were much more forgiving of me ignoring them last night than normal, which let me get them photographed. In fact, between the pix I took last night (and processed and sent in to Amy 1 minute before the deadline!) and the ones I took this morning, I do believe I’ve spent more time photographing them and processing the photos than it took to actually make them!
Here’s my helper, holding a branch STILL, precariously close to the pool (this is my favorite spot for hanging things outside, it gets very little direct sunlight any time of the day).
In the future (like next November) I may formalize a couple of these into a tutorial with a pattern, but to make them I cut each house shape out of the peltex pretty much by eye. Then fused the fabric to the peltex, inside in out. I then created small, abstract art quilts on each side by collaging more of the fused fabric and then free motion quilting for emphasis. I then fused the sides together using strips of the fabric, glued the roof on with hot glue and stitched a loop through the top!
I’ve learned that I need to place the design elements further down when there’s a roof overhang (which I love). Duh – the difference between 2 and 3 dimensions! I’ve also learned that i need A new glue for the roofs – I don’t like the big globs of hot glue peeking out.
I took a TON of pictures, here are a few of my favorites! I’m loving the many levels of composition you can achieve with many objects and 3 dimensions. I also appreciate that HANGING things MOVE! A LOT!
(RSS readers, you’ll either have to click through to see the gallery posted here, or I’ve got a Flickr gallery of these as well!)
I’m so happy I had time to do them…ART in the middle of all this pre-Christmas making! Phew!
19 Responses
OH, MY, those are darling! I love, love, love them!!! Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
I LOVE this. Definitely keep this idea in the book for future development.
I think it would be a huge holiday hit.
I just love those and I’m looking forward to a tutorial!
They are adorable. Those on the white background make me think of fish houses out in the middle of the frozen lakes here in MN. Some of the others look like little cabins in the woods. So cute!
Those are awesome!
Ooooo, those are cute. A tutorial would be nifty! My favorite is the low-slung, slant-roofed, chartreuse house with the raspberry (at least on my monitor 😎 roof!
Those are so so cute! You are such a talent!!
Those mod houses are just adorable!
Gorgeous! I love the bright colors you use.
Been following this blog for a while, keep it going
These are so adorable Candy! I love having the chance to push outside my box 🙂 Always something fun comes out!!
These are adorable. Love the bright colored fabrics.
looks like you had some fun “posing” them for all the pictures! They’re very cute.
Hi,
I like it! Nice + Cute + Adorable!
Great idea for hanging not only on tree limbs but as a mobile. Lots of energy in this design.