I volunteered to spearhead the Glendale Quilt Guild’s 2019 Block of the Month program. I thought it would be fun to make a series of traditional quilt blocks that are all linked with a thematic twist.

One of the most traditional quilt blocks is the house block. But have you ever thought about how many common phrases include the word “house”? Here are just a few: lighthouse, farmhouse, tree house and dream house. My idea was to use a basic house pattern that would remain the same throughout the program and change the house theme every month. The theme would be reflected through the choice of fabrics used and any embellishments added.

Original, theme-less house block

Original, theme-less house block

I had 21 house phrases and we randomly picked one at every guild meeting, starting in February, to be the theme for that month’s house block.

As for the block itself, I designed a simple house block that would finish raw at 12-1/2” x 12-1/2”. (When sewn into a quilt, the block will measure 12” x 12”.) I left a decent margin of background around the house, leaving additional room for participants to add thematic elements.

I then drafted a pattern to remake this block and tested it twice (as seen below).

First pattern test block (still theme-less)

First pattern test block (still theme-less)

Second pattern test block (again, theme-less)

Second pattern test block (again, theme-less)

While I designed this program for my guild, anyone could participate. And people could either use the house block I drafted or not.

Pattern

Most of the pieces in this pattern are rectangles and the instructions tell you how to cut out those rectangles. The exceptions are the four pieces that make up the roofline — the front of the roof, the side of the roof and the two triangular pieces of background on either side of the roof. For these areas you will need to use pattern pieces. Links to both the entire pattern or just the page of pattern pieces are below.

NOTE: Different printers have different settings. To make sure the page of pattern pieces is printing correctly, whether you plan to paper piece or not, check to see that the outer line around the A/B/C/D paper piecing pattern unit measures 3-1/2” x 8-1/2”. If not, you need to adjust your printer’s settings.

Links

You can find the five pages of pattern instructions & roofline pattern pieces by using this LINK.

OR, if you just need the page of roofline pattern pieces — for either regular piecing or paper piecing — use this LINK.

Themes & Results

Here are the randomly selected house block themes and resulting quilt blocks:

  • February: Open House (click below to scroll through them)

  • March: Summer House (click below to scroll through them)

  • April: Dog House (click below to scroll through them)

  • May: Dream House (click below to scroll through them)

  • June: Power House (click below to scroll through them)

  • July: Country House (click below to scroll through them)

  • August: Fun House (click below to scroll through them)

  • September: Haunted House (click below to scroll through them)

  • October: Green House (click below to scroll through them)

Below is my final quilt, measuring 52” square. I made sashing strips with house shapes. And for the border fabric, I couldn’t find a black and white fabric with a house print that I liked. So I designed my own and had it printed via Spoonflower.com.