A tune from my childhood kept going around in my head as I stitched house blocks. The only words I could remember were "little houses on the hillside...little houses made of ticky tacky."
What was this song?
I googled and found the lyrics.
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
Ah. Boxes. Not houses.
But such a catchy tune, no wonder I remembered it.
You can learn lots when you google a snippet of a memory.
Not just the lyrics, but I learned that ticky tacky is shoddy construction material, the song was written by Malvina Reynolds, and became a hit for Pete Seeger in the 1960's. You can hear them sing it on You Tube.
It seems to fit this little quilt made of scraps.
Do I need to add empty lots to the subdivision? Does the quilt need space to breathe?
What seemed right to me, but I couldn't explain why, was that there were no empty lots needed. But I wasn't sure.
Without saying which way I was leaning on the empty lots vs. no empty lots issue, I asked three people what they thought.
My husband said, "No empty lots."
My sister said, "No empty lots."
My daughter said, "No empty lots."
(Surprise! A rare occurrence of complete agreement.)
Since I have been posting and playing on Instagram lately, I decided to take a chance (for fun) and ask for more opinions.
Not such agreement here!
Wow!
Most of the responses favored empty lots. Here are some of the responses.
"Yes, definitely empty lots!"
"Oh yes! Kids need a place to play!"
"Open space is limited and necessary!"
"I'm an empty lot girl!"
"I'll take one so the boys can play baseball in my side yard!"
"Do some fun shadow houses in those lots!"
"Might be fun to add a few trees to the empty lots!"
"Maybe embroider something in the empty lots."
"Empty lots make your eyes roam around and quilt more interesting."
"Empty lots. Gives me hope to move into this neighborhood."
"Empty lots kind of break it up plus bigger quilt with less work always wins."
Of the fewer responses supporting no empty lots, this one was the most fun...
"No empty lots, makes house value go down!!!"
Now. What. Do. I. Do.
Many of these responses came from quilt artists whose work I admire and greatly respect! Since most people favored empty lots, do I dare not add them to my quilt?
Yes. I dare.
In the end I decided not to add them.
I looked and looked at my quilt both ways.
No empty lots looked better to me.
I still could not explain why...
until I re-read my designing daughter's text response,
"I think there is enough variation without them."
Agreed! Final decision! No empty lots!
Even though I may not have chosen your favorite, I do value your help! Really! I am so grateful that you took the time to respond. I loved reading every one!
Here is Little Boxes...
of course I had to rename it!
55" x 70"
875 pieces