Little Houses Quilt Block Bowl

I've called this one 'Little Houses' but it is adapted from this pattern which I saw a few weeks ago on Rachaeldaisy's Blue Mountain Daisy blogspot.  She lives in the Blue Mountains about an hour outside Sydney, Australia - so you see how far this little bit of inspiration has come!

All the way to Norfolk, England - which has no mountains whatsoever  -  of any colour! 

Obviously this is a pattern meant for quilts, but ... you know me!  I loved the little houses round the edges, and got to work measuring out my own version onto a slab of wet clay.

Once the design is marked out, I flip the whole thing over (tricky!) to put my potter's mark and stamp and date on the underside of the piece.  My potter's mark is a 'C' and a 'D' overlapping and was one of the first homemade stamps I ever made.

Then I pushed the piece into a lined mould and worked on the edges.

Then, once the clay is bone dry, it goes into a bisque firing kiln - you can just see it underneath all the other bits sitting on top of it.

 Twenty four hours later - out it comes, ready to glaze.

Once glazed, below, it is ready to go back for a second firing.  The raw glaze colours do not reflect the finished colours - thankfully!

And then another 24 hours, until it's completely cooked, and out comes the final piece.

I am really pleased with it. I decided to make the pointy bits look like a sunburst, as I think it's a lovely, sunny, cheery design.

Thanks to Rachaledaisy and to the inspiration to be found in all corners of Blogland!

x Cathy