Construction begins

I finished the first block in my Hillside Houses quilt.

I thought I had all the planning done, but I realized this morning that I hadn't yet considered what fabrics to use for the windows and doors.  Since the lighter sides of the houses are supposed to be bathed in sunlight, I decided to make all of those windows with yellow fabric.  But which yellow to choose?

I made a very large mess of all my batik fabrics, trying to find all the yellows, and in the end, I decided I liked the one on top.  With that decision out of the way, now it was time to figure out what to choose for the other windows and the door.  I came up with this combination.

After all the pieces were cut, (36 in all) I laid them out and decided I liked it enough to start sewing.

The actual sewing was pretty easy, mostly rectangles with a few half square triangles.   Lunchtime rolled around, but I just had to finish the block so I could get my first glimpse of how this was going to turn out.  I was very happy with the outcome:

The triangles in the top left and the top right are parts of the houses in the row above.  That's why it was so important to plan out the fabrics in advance.  I was very happy with my system of fabric swatch cards, allowing me to quickly pick the right fabrics for those 2 spots.

I really can't wait to see what House #2 will look like!