In Process: Schoolhouse Block Quilt

I could give you a bunch of history about the house block. But this blog post does such a good job I’ll just let you go here and read it.

Basically, there is evidence that this block was first published about 1890 but the name “Schoolhouse” comes from Ruth Finley in her 1929 book, "Decline of Handcraft”. (dang, Ruth).

I made a house quilt in 2022, then I quilted in a way I didn’t like so I’ve been waiting for the urge to redo it. Instead of doing that tho, I started working on a new one.

Here is some of my inspiration….

My theory is that you need some comforting things and some uncomfortable things to make a interesting thing. My data brain wants to find that exact ratio to always make something that make people stop and look.

For this quilt the comforting part is the shapes. Foundation Paper Piecing is precision at its most satisfying. The uncomfy part is the colors and patterns. Lots of them.

I’ve so far got 17 blocks done. At 6 I got annoyed. I don’t enjoy the same thing over and over. I want to a thing just long enough to figure it out, then I want to move on. But it’s part of the concept here. Just keep going. FORCE myself to keep going. Don’t change the scope, the goal, the rules. Nothing. Just keep going. It’s HARD. I feel like the art is in what happens emotionally while working.

The rules:

1. House is a cool color, blue and some green maybe some purple. The background is orange, pink, yellow, flowers or nature stuff.

2. When a fabric is complete, more to the next one right away.

3. The blocks will be put together in the order they are created.

Whats hard for me:

1. The same block over and over

2. It’s killing me to not change the colors up. Just to THROW some in thats unexpected.

3. It’s impossible for me not to think about how to make it better. My critic is telling me that the orginal plan is too simple, not interesting, not fun, etc etc.

What’s easy or exciting for me:

1. Documenting. I really like making process videos.

2. Picking the next color.

3. Seeing how the colors all relate to each other

Here is my first 17 blocks.

I’m planning on updating with little videos on instagram and youtube. Plus here in blog posts.

Thanks for reading!