Plaids with Pepper

I tried before to get into a class taught by Pepper Cory, but failed. So when the class schedule arrived for Quilt Festival 2016 & there was another Pepper class, quick like a bunny, I signed up. If she were teaching lawn mower repair, I would try to enroll, but very luckily, this class was about using plaids & solids in quilts.

Pepper Cory is a lovely person. She knows her fabric & quilt history; she is a talented & creative needlewoman; she is a gracious & giving teacher. I had a great day in her class. Her handouts for the class would make us a sampler quilt using our plaids. In the morning, we all made her Florida House block. It is a block she drafted from a vintage quilt she owns that has Florida provenance (hence the name). I did not care much for my block (middle row, far left), but really liked the look of all the houses together -- I filed this away in my Quilt Ideas folder.

Early this year, I was rooting through my stash, looking for something -- I don't remember what it was or whether I found it -- when I found this stack of about 40 pastel plaid fat quarters. The colors reminded me of the beach houses we saw when Shug & I drove down Galveston Island.

In my mind, Pepper's Florida house block connected with the beach houses which connected to these pretty plaids

It isn't a hard block to make, but there are 13 pieces in each block, & except for the sky pieces on either side of the chimney & those on either side of the roof, no 2 are the same size. They sew together pretty quickly, but cutting requires focus & attention. My first house was a tear-down -- kind of boring & drab. I needed to add some something to keep my houses interesting. I found a batik, some dots, some calicos (besides the kitten above) & a long-hoarded large-scale tropical.
This is a neighborhood I would like to live in!