Building Tiny Houses

Happy Saturday, my friends! I'm happy because I'm heading out to the Farmer's Market with the kids this morning. I can't remember when we last went, but it's been quite a while. Erik and Mae go fairly regularly, but I haven't gone with them since last spring. It's always fun. The last several times we went, Erik even made fresh-squeezed orange juice for us to enjoy with our breakfast, which was purchased at the market. I don't have anything on my list vegetable-wise, but I'll admit to getting kind of excited when I noticed people in some parts of the country are getting rhubarb now. Then, I realized I probably won't be able to get rhubarb in Oregon this time of year, but one never knows. Fingers crossed. Even if there's no rhubarb, I'm betting I'll find something delicious.

After writing my post from yesterday, I found the newest inchy posted. It stitched up pretty quickly...all backstitch and cross-stitches.

If you're wondering where to find these, you can find the pattern and instructions for preparing your stitchery on the Crabapple Hill Studios website right here. Daily stitching instructions are posted either on Facebook @CrabappleHillStudio or else on Instagram @meghawkey1. They'll be posted throughout the month of February, and a little beyond.

So I procrastinated on my procrastination yesterday, if that makes any sense. I did my housekeeping chores first, which meant I had the rest of the day to sew. Usually, I spend a good part of my day dragging my feet about housework. With so much time left in the day, I was able to finish the first little house. Of course, I could not have done this without my helper cat.

And every helper cat knows that you simply cannot walk around on patterns and fabric without first cleaning your peets.

When I do paper-piecing, I always use the add-a-quarter ruler. With these being so small, I'm using the add-an-eighth ruler to reduce bulk in the seam allowances.

Smitty believes the stripes on his tail also give an accurate measurement.

When all the sections were pieced together, it looked like this.

The pattern also includes paper-pieced border sections, but I just trimmed mine, and then used a leftover binding strip for the border. Each tiny house is trimmed to 5 inches, and then I added a 1-1/4 inch border to make their finished size 6-1/2 inches. I love that I can use the teeniest-tiniest scraps for this, and it will be a good use for those leftover binding strips too. Anything trimmed off was so small it went straight into the trash.

Smitty was expecting a Zoom call from the editors of Cosmeowpolitan magazine just then, and so he had to bow out of any more sewing for the day. (I think he was just weary of paper-piecing.)

Sadie came to help with the next one.

We only got about halfway through the sections for House #2 before it was time to quit for the day.

When Smitty finished his Zoom call, he went exploring in the newly reorganized closet and happened on this box of shopping bags.

It seemed like a purrfect spot to rest his weary bones. Sewing and taking calls on Zoom is 'zhausting.

So, for now, I'll continue on with the stitched inchies and the tiny houses. I want to finish up the second house, and then there's one more. The fourth will be released on Monday, and I'd like to be caught up with them before then.

A busy day awaits me. Time to get going. I hope you have a good day planned for yourself. Oh yes, and to my friends in the grip of winter's worst weather, please stay inside, stay warm, and stay safe.