Row Houses Quilt - Completed

I finished my Row Houses Quilt today. I used a variety of modern fabric scraps to make the houses for this quilt.

I used shades of gray and beige to make the "skies" for the backgrounds. This quilt is entirely appliqued. The houses are stitched together in rows then the rows are appliqued to the background.

It was great fun to choose the different backgrounds as well as the scraps for the houses.

For the quilting, I chose to try something new. I bought a stencil at the last quilt show I attended and used that as a guide for free-motion quilting. The stencil I bought has swirls on it and I wanted to use it to represent wind blowing over the houses. It was great fun to try this new technique. It felt a little more artsy than what I am used to doing.

I definitely need more practice, but I figure that I have to start somewhere. I can't get better at this unless I get practice so I will call this my first practice quilt using stencils.

I used some of the leftover fabrics to piece the back together. I like the continuity of using some of the same fabrics to make the back, but the truth is that I didn't have enough of the fabric I chose to make the back and it was a good way to not have to buy more fabric.

I took photos of the quilt on a blustery day. It was an unusual 70 degrees out but a little windy so my granddaughter enjoyed helping me keep the edges of the quilt down while I took pictures. She's just 4 years old and absolutely loves helping out. It was such a delight spending time with her outside while we took photographs.

The pattern for this quilt came from the book, Quilts for Scrap Lovers by Judy Gauthier. The neat thing about this book is that I know Judy. She is a wonderful woman who owns a quilt shop in Wisconsin. I got to know her when she started a modern quilt club near my neighborhood. It's a fun group of ladies and I enjoy our meetings together. Judy has moved on from the club due to her many other commitments, but I still get to see her at quilt shows and of course at her shop. I think I should get her to autograph my copy of her book!