My Farm Quilt Revisited Part 6

 I had known all along that like the barn, the farm would need a house. I kept looking for something I thought would do, almost from the very beginning, but nothing was what I wanted. Then a few weeks ago I was doing some family research, and happened upon a real estate add for a house for sale in Noblesville, Indiana. I couldn't believe my eyes, because the moment I saw it, I knew with a bit of alteration I could make it into the very farmhouse I needed.

 

This is the house that inspired me, it was so quaint and fun, and it took no time at all for me to get busy and shape it into the house I wanted.

 

This I know doesn't look much like the original, as I took away the dormers and the funky arched window and porch. But what I had in mind was a much simpler farmhouse design. I just wanted the three windows and the door, and that fun and funky roof slope.

 

I soon had it traced onto my thin white bed-sheet fabric and was ready to put it up on my larger embroidery frame. The lovely thing about this method, is that you can modify and adjust your design as you go along, as long as the ink doesn't show through your fabrics.

My next step was to trace out the house again onto my yellow fabric. This fabric was a scrap of what was left from doing the haystacks, and is a lovely yellow. I cut the window openings in preparation for reverse appliqueing them onto the white fabric.

 

The nice thing about having the tracing on the white, is that it helped me to align the window openings.

With that done and the house pinned in place, I stitched down the window openings with tiny little whip stitches. I did iron the openings before stitching them down and this helped a lot. Everything laid down nice and flat and went together smoothly.

 

Then I went in search of some green ribbon. I will tell you it was no easy task. I had thought I would use some narrow stuff in a more sage green, that I remembered was in my stash, but when I went looking, I couldn't find it for love nor money. It must have gone the way of one of my purges?! I had about given up hope, when I stumbled upon this length of green ribbon. It was left over from years ago, when I was making hair ribbons for my daughter as a child. I must have thought I could use it for Christmas decor or something, and was so glad it hadn't gone with a purge. I didn't like it so shiny, so used the back side of it. It turned out to be the perfect thing. Its width when rolled into a third, worked great for the sides and middle of the windows trim. My only fear was that I wouldn't have enough.

 

As I went along, I soon figured out that this ribbon was just the ticket. It folded in thirds made the side and center trims, it folded in half made the door frame and window tops, and full size it made the window boxes. You can bet I was a happy camper seeing things working out the way they did. Oh the pain of those tiny stitches, and the task of trying to hold those tiny pieces of ribbon in place while I stitched them. But seeing a thing come to life that was just a thought in your head is well worth it and so satisfying.

Next it was time to mark the lines and stitch in the siding on the house. I had debated with myself whether to go with vertical bat and board or horizontal lap siding and decided the latter would be best. This was probably the easiest stitching I did on this piece and it was just one tiny straight stitch after the other. Just a few whip stitches in dark brown embroidery thread, served for the door handle.

 

All this time I was nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof, as to whether I would run out of ribbon. It was a real nail biter I can tell you. Just six inches of it was left, when I finished the roof trim and I was so relieved it was palpable. Six inches was all that stood between me and disaster. It still gives me chills. When all you have is a scrap and you can't get more, it can really stress you out. But no worries, it all came out in the end. I decided to use a bit more of the scrap of grey I had for the porch steps. I had thought of doing them in wood, but lacked any brown fabric that would work. I wasn't worried about cement steps, as they have been around since before the pyramids, so just went for it. That fabric was from an old pair of sweatpants and its stretch gave me fits, wanting to wander all over the place, but I persevered and subdued it into position. lol

Having accomplished that after some struggle, I found the gray just too bright, so toned it down with a darker gray permanent ink pen. Using one of my pale brown pens, I aged the siding and trim to look a bit more worn, by drawing squiggly lines on it, as I thought it looked too brand new. I then proceeded to stitch the flowers into the flower boxes with some bright colored cotton crewel thread from my stash, and was delighted with the result.

 

Here's a closeup of the flowers. I don't think I have stitched such tiny flowers in all my life. Between these and the goats flowers I don't know which was tinier, and my fingers were about worn to the nub. But they looked so pretty. I just kept putting flowers on until I thought it looked right, then I put on little leaves too. Doesn't it look cheerful?!

Here is my farmhouse, complete with couched down gray embroidery thread for its tin roof. It's those little finishing touches that can make all the difference. I just love how it all turned out. I thought the barn was fun, but this just tickled me no end.

 

My farm now has a farmhouse, just like what I wanted. I've always wanted to live back on a farm like in my childhood. A house like this, yellow with green trim, with flower boxes under the windows, a big barn to work and play in, and folks and animals to love, seems like my beau ideal. However, I also know that farm life is a tremendous amount of work, and I can no longer do that. But I can still go there in my minds eye through my memories, and for that I am truly grateful. This quilt has become for me a lovely trip down memory lane.

 

As I finish for today I thank you for coming along on this journey. I hope it brings back happy memories from your own childhood, of places you've been and things you've seen, and maybe even a farm you knew of or grew up on. 

 

This quilt is not finished yet, so I hope you continue along with me as we explore the new adventures of the Finklemeyer Farm Quilt. See you on the next episode, and I pray you all have a God Blessed Day!