Quilter7x

The third house looks really good. Keep going and definitely continue to post pictures! :D If you have any lace, you can sew that into the window part of the house also. A light yellow color might give the impression that there's a light on in a dark house.

I'm so sorry that the ladies in the quilt shop aren't friendly, that's unusual. Check your local high school to see if they have any night classes on quilting, you can get a lot of help there. Look near the exit to a big grocery store to see if anyone has any ads there that are quilting related. Someone offering long arm services should know how you can get involved in a guild.

Barb_MO

Lace hearts, Everyone has given good advise on this project, so I probably shouldn't even say anything...but I will...first of all, I think you have gotten the house and roof done very well. The only problem is with the sky and the chimneys. I would take that section off, measure each piece including the seams and see if you have all your pieces cut to the exact size called for. it may be off just by the width of a thread or two, but since there are four seams in that section, a couple of threads off four times will affect the size a lot more that you think.
I would save the house and roof, and piece a new top section, and measure after each piece to determine where your seams are getting off. A little tuck in the seam area when you are pressing will take up a little of your section. So make sure you aren't pressing in a little tuck here an there.

Lace hearts

I'm really sorry not to have been back on to reply - my mum's had to go into hospital, so it kind of threw me. It's been lovely to come on and read all the helpful advice.
Salmonsweet - thank you, I'm loving all your pointers. I've made a couple more, where the piercing isn't good (hark at me, I didn't even know what piecing meant a few weeks back! :D ) but the fabric colours work a lot better, I think. I'm trying to concentrate on that first, because I'm used to working with large florals and small prints don't feature a lot in my fabric stash or experience. So this is all very new to me. So much to think about. I'm a little hampered at the moment with the piercing by not having a proper ruler.
I'm not sure at the moment about taking off the chimneys. I'm thinking this will be my first quilt, and I'd sort of like it to catalogue my mistakes and my learning curve. By the time I get to the 42nd house, I guess I should have cracked it (or given up), and I like the idea that I'll be able to look back on the memories of learning I had with it. But once I look at it with a more experienced eye, maybe I won't want those dodgy ones in there. But it does make sense to unpick - thank you.

salmonsweet

Lacehearts, good to hear from you and I'm sure we all understand totally. Sorry about your mum, may things turn out well for her soon!!

When you have time I'd love to see more of your houses. It's a beautiful journey you are on.

Re unpicking or not... I'm sure unpicking and remaking can teach you lots, too. What I was thinking before (but was hesitant to mention), and just as an option if you like it... is that with the "dancing" blocks pattern you have chosen, it might be kind of cool to see your more slanting and "dancing" houses in it, too! It looks like such a playful quilt, if you like to keep your houses as they are I think it could really work. Both as a "journey quilt" that says "here are my very first steps on my quilting journey" and as sheer fun and play. And really all I want to say with this is to follow your sense of what you'd most like to do.

Lace hearts

Thank you Salmonsweet. I do realise the unpicking will teach me a whole lot - I think it's sound advice, but, yep, I'll wait and see how it goes. I chose the quilt because I fell in love with it, but also because I thought it would be forgiving of mistakes, once I've added the triangles (boy, will that be a journey of its own!).

I've taken a picture of my next four. The first two are pretty bad, mainly because of my ruler problem, but that's fine - I'm more trying to think about the prints at the moment. So, here they are, for what it's worth.

Now, with my sixth and seventh houses, I spent simply ages measuring and cutting. Ages. And ages thinking about colour blends. I even used a plain fabric! I never use plain fabrics! :D But I'm really pleased with these ones.

salmonsweet

Lace Hearts I love them!! I'm just jumping up and down with excitement looking at them all. I especially love the seventh one, great how you fussy-cut the flower in the window and the stars in the sky. I'm enjoying all of them, it's like I'm beginning to "see" your unique language of prints and colours, which is soo cool. I think this will be a fantastic quilt.

Quilter7x

Wow Lace Hearts, those are some really nice looking houses you've got there! :D

Quilt Mom

Definitely Progressing!!!

Look through your post/blocks at the progress you have made, Lace Hearts! Wonderful job! You are determined and talented, and you will fit beautifully in the quilting world.

Sorry the ladies at the shop were not very nice. Stick around, learn from the people here, then go back and wow them with your wonderful quilts!

Seriously, you show a lot of progress. I hope you keep posting pictures so we can see you quilt come together.

How is your mother doing? Is she still in the hospital?

Lace hearts

Aw, thank you heaps. I've just got back from the hospital, and it's so lovely to come on and see your comments. I do feel I've made progress. Just wish there were more hours in the day. :D But it's good to hear it from you guys.
Thanks for asking about mum. She's not good, but she's in the right place. She's picked up pneumonia of all things, which is becoming more common again over here. Most times pneumonia can be treated at home, but not if it's a bad case, and she has it bad. :-( But she's a fighter, and aside from being in pain, she's doing okay and is on all sorts of meds.
I'm probably not meant to post about this here. Sorry if I've done anything wrong in doing so. Please just tell me gently if I'm not meant to. But anyway, my point was that it was really good to come home upset and come on here and read what you've said. That said, I do appreciate the tips and hints that I've been given - still may get to the point where I begin unpicking. But not yet. :)
Also, thank you for saying you want to see pics - I didn't think you'd want me to keep posting pics of my progress!

pieces

JoAnns has a #800. You can order products and have them shipped to your house. Check the website out. They have 40% or 50% off coupons. These coupons are usually on 1 item. So you can order 1 ruler on a coupon.