The Spicy Neighborhood

I had a little fun with the Spice challenge. It took me awhile to come up with an idea, but once it came to me, it went together quickly. It was a delightful week or two of quilting this whimsical little piece. 

What in the world does a neighborhood have to do with spices? Well, each little house "body" is dyed using a spice from my spice cabinet. So I introduce to you "the Spicy Neighborhood".. From left to right, the spices used were: Curry, Chili, Tumeric, Clove, and . . . Beets. Yeah, yeah, I know beets aren't a spice, but I had left over beet juice and I wanted to see what would happen if I used it for a dye. 

Here is each house, a little closer so you can see the details. 

The Curry House

The Chili House

The Tumeric House

The Clove House

And lastly, the Beet House. 

To construct the quilt, I made the background using a blue and green fabric from my stash. A quick improv wave gave me the "rolling hills" for the neighborhood. Then I basted the landscape, batting and backing and did the wavy line quilting. 

To dye the fabrics, I used five white scraps of fabric. I will confess that my dyeing was pretty short and sweet. Heat water, stir in the spice, drop the fabric in, shake, and let it sit for about 24 hours. The beet dye is lighter because it didn't brew as long. I didn't set the dyes or anything like that. Once taken out of the dye, I just rinsed them with water. This is a wall hanging, and I don't ever expect to fully wash it, so I cut corners a bit. 

The houses are all done raw-edge applique using my machine. I didn't use any templates for the windows, doors, trees, etc. I just cut them either freehand or with a rotary and ruler. Once I got going, I had fun creating the neighborhood. I enjoyed adding the little button flowers and stitched stems. The last thing I added was two small pieces of batting, pulled and torn to look like clouds. 

The back of the quilt looks a bit of a mess, but it won't be seen, so I didn't worry about that too much. My backing fabric is a piece I picked up and then decided I really didn't like it, but it works great for quilt backs! And striped binding just had to be! 

My Spice challenge quilt measures 11 inches x 31 inches. I thoroughly enjoyed the Spice challenge! Over on my blog, I've had a little fun describing the families that live in each house. If you're in the mood, pop over and visit! 

Wendy