Building this neighborhood

My procrastinating is over and I have finally finished this small wallhanging quilt for charity. My quilting group, the Strip Piecers, started this project in fall. We each made at least 4 house blocks, using up scrap fabrics. Then the blocks were mixed together and divided up among us to make wall hangings. Some people sewed the blocks together 2 x 2, others horizontally, and others vertically like mine.

I was putting it off because 1) I hadn't done much machine quilting on my new electronic machine (and I used a fabric on the backing that was really tough to get a hand needle through), and 2) I wasn't sure how it should be quilted. I was finally spurred on when I was without my new machine this past week (it was in the shop) and I got out my old mechanical machine. I ended up just stitching in the ditch around the blocks and houses as I couldn't think of anything that would complement the houses. It looks fine this way, and I added some vintage buttons for doorknobs on each house.

The finished wall hangings will be sent to Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), a volunteer network helping those affected by disasters in Canada and the United States. Their main focus is on clean up, repair and rebuilding of homes, and they try to give a quilt to each homeowner at the dedication of the rebuilt home.