My New Summer Cottage - June Across the Pond Sew Along

Welcome, friends,

to the June edition of the 

Across the Pond Sew Along!

It's The Patchsmith's turn to choose the theme,

and she has selected a sweet House Ornament.

As of June 1, Amanda had already

constructed two adorable little cottages!

Pop on over to her post, to see her clever innovation 

for the red one shown below.

{You won't be sorry!}

Photo by Amanda The Patchsmith

The best part about this month's project is that

we can all make these adorable houses 

from a free pattern by Kim of Retromama!

If you go to Flickr and search for "Retromama houses,"

you will come up with all sorts of inspiration.

Here is a super sweet one made by Kim - Retromama herself.

Photo from Kim of Retromama

I found this darling little Christmas house,

made by Kylie of Three Honeybees.

It's just one of many cuties she has made.

{Look at the Christmas tree in the window...heavenly!}

Photo by Kylie of Three Honeybees

The little houses are made as ornaments, with ribbons for hanging.

Take a look at what Josee of cul de sac blog has done with her houses,

decorating a beautiful curtain valance.

You must visit her post to see and believe 

the astonishing details on each little cottage!

{Utterly charming, right?}

Photo by Josee of cul de sac blog

And now...there's a new building over at Susie's Sunroom,
and she's added all the charm of an English garden
to her sweet little cottage!

{I think I had an English accent when I read her post to myself.}

Photo from Susie's Sunroom

I must say that if I'd seen Susie's house first, my window
might have had a contrasting color of thread
for the stitching.  Brilliant touch!

I have to admit that I've had this house ornament

on my must-make list for quite a while.

I even had this issue of Make It Yourself 

magazine by BH&G since late 2012,

which featured the same pattern,

among dozens of other great projects.

{My pages are nearly all dog-eared.}

The Across the Pond Sew Along

provides me with that little

kick in the pants that I need,

so that I actually make a few of those must-do things!

Using some scraps from a recent project,

I set to work building my own little house.

Here's the result, and I'm so pleased with it!

Why, oh why, did I wait so long to build my dream house?
I love every little detail.

It's just so tiny and sweet.
I made the house number from a bit of selvage,
and it happens to be the house number of someone
in my real life. ;)

Like The Patchsmith,

I found myself missing a coordinating 

piece of ribbon for hanging.

I improvised with my pinking shears,

to make a fabric strip hanger.

The back of this house is plain,

but if I make any more, I might invest

some time into adding details on the reverse side.

{The Patchsmith's back yard puts mine to shame.}

I have to admit that

this house is really very small,

and it took me a while to turn it inside out

after stitching it together.

I think it was worth the effort, though.  I love it!

I'm so glad that I waited until the last step
to add the little button doorknob.

I have some great polyfil that resists clumping,

and it was just right for this tiny project.

I picked it up at my local Walmart
and would recommend it for stuffed softies
and really small projects like this one.

Wouldn't this house make an adorable pincushion???

{Or a little housewarming or hostess gift?}

We hope you'll be inspired to join us in our

little Sew Along and add your photos to our Flickr group.

{Past finishes or latecomers are always welcome, too.}

Next time I post,

I'll let you know what else I made with my little house fabrics.

{If you want to know where my scraps came from...come back soon!}

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Czech it out!

There's a theme that keeps coming up in my blog,

involving sew alongs and how they open up new doors.

For me, sew alongs start out

being personal, focusing only on myself.

I want to learn something new, and show it to others.

Pretty soon, I turn my thoughts away from myself

and start to get excited about what someone else

has done with "my" project.

Before I know it,

I'm emailing a new friend and offering

my unsolicited impressions about their awesome results.

That's how I found Vexa of Halabala Style

and many other dear friends during the Zakka Style Sew Along.

Vexa has taken the zakka House Pouch all around the world,

adding her own signature style to each one she creates.

{Here are just a few houses from Vexa's lovely neighborhood!}

Photo from Halabala Style blog

Vexa lives in Czechoslovakia,

and she sent me this AWESOME zakka House Pouch,

just because I loved it beyond belief!

{Thank you, Vexa - you are an angel!}

I'm just going to show you around my new little house,

pointing out a few of the exquisite details.

Come on in through the adorable front door, 

complete with a wreath that jingles and a button doorknob.  

{Aren't the windows cute, trimmed in red?}

Inside the pouch live these magical little gnomes!

The back of the house

is just as pretty as the front!

I love the fabric placements throughout.

{My little old red snowflake mug looks sooooo good with this pouch.}

This tiny reindeer is so graceful and sweet,

prancing on the organza snow!

You know me and my love affair with ric rac!

The detail and workmanship are exquisite.

I really really love this zipper pull a whole bunch!

{It's really a Christmas pouch, but it turned out to be perfect for February, too!}

Vexa confided to me...and now I'm blabbing it to you...

that she was a bit nervous about this house.

Can you believe it?

It is my newest treasure,

made very special by the fact that it came from a faraway friend,

who is as talented as she is generous.

I must collect some colorful scraps now to send to Czechoslovakia.

I'll be back soon with my Christmas in February projects!

{Here's the teaser peek...I'll be back soon with more!}

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