Woo Hoo,
I finished the "Mouse House" wall hanging.
I started calling it "mouse house" while working on it,
and I think the name will stick.
I have several people who want it -the wall hanging.
But I had intended it for myself. So I'm at a loss here.
I may decide to give it up later.

OK, so here's how it came to be.
I'd been looking at my quilting magazine's,
and there was a photo from a quilt show -of a beautiful
woodsy quilt with lots of details including a mushroom on a decaying log.
I'm pretty sure it was an Ausralian Quilting magazine...
(I am trying to be better now about these things-noting where they came from)
I am not that type of natural -realistic- artist; I'm simpler, more cartoonish.
(did you notice, I owned up to being an artist- big step for me.)
It reminded me of my youth, when I used to doodle,
and one of the things I used to routinely doodle was the little mushroom house.

I was away from home, and bored, so I went to a fabric store and picked up
a few pieces of fabric... just small pieces, and started by appliqueing the mushroom house.
Then, it need more things, so I just kept adding until I thought it was enough.
First came the blades of grass and the first poppy on the right hand side of the house.
Then I just had to add the clothesline with some clothes hanging. It's a piece of string, and I picked up some real miniature clothespins at a little craft store. I didn't like how the whole clothespins looked, so I took them apart, and used the groves to stitch them down. I liked the half clothepins better. Then I needed an occupant for the house, so the mouse came to be.
Then I thought the left side of the house needed more, so I added more grass, and a couple more flowers. When I thought there was enough, I added embroidery, and a couple of beeds. I am quite pleased with the look; but I don't know if I could ever replicate it. Also, because it was a piece I worked on while away from home, it kept getting put aside and it took me about a year and a half to finish it.

I've posted a photo of it here. Along with photo's of the projects from the "Art Quilt Workbook" that I have completed. Project #1 is the goldfish... lesson #1 wanted us to pick a theme, and for some reason, the theme I chose to work on is water... lesson #2 (I could be wrong on the lesson numbers -I should probably call them project numbers) project #2 is shading, lights and darks, and using a pattern from the book we were to do a pear. If any one else is familiar with the book and projects, you might notice that I forgot to reverse everything, so my pear and shadow is backwards from the book's. Oh Well, it doesn't look wrong unless you put it next to the book. And then of course, I can't leave anything alone, so I used some iron on appliqued butterflies. I just hope they don't look too much like fruit flies.

The next project is to use a photograph for inspiration and make our own pattern with lights and darks. The book used a photo of a person, and for some reason I thought I had to use a person, on looking back and reading the lesson material again I could have used any photo that inspired me. I do have the photo selected, and the pattern ready to go. I need to gather the appropriate fabrics to do the project. (I did use a photo of my daughter -when she was about 14). I hope she won't be too mad at me when she see's the final product. I'll post it here when I finally get it put together.

FYI; The mouse house is 18" high by 28" wide. and the projects from the "Art Quilt Workbook" are both 9" wide by 12" long.