As I am preparing for our move to a new house, here are more houses from my past work.
Home means something different to each person – we all have different physical locations, memories, structures for our homes – and yet I think it is one of the most important concepts there is in our society. I know that my home, not just my house, but my home, means everything to me.
More house portraits in fabric. If you want details of their construction, look here.
This portrait is of a house in Wyoming. A friend commissioned me to do this picture, which was of her sister’s house. The white tree in front has a hand-embroidered trunk done with lines of thread, and hand-embroidered branches. I enjoyed working in a snow scene for a change. The yard swing was a detail requested by the commissioner.
I received the commission for this house in Nazareth, PA, at a show in Bethlehem, PA, I think. Other than that, I don’t know anything about the house at all, but I do remember how difficult it was to manage the details of what turned out to be a large hanging.
This house portrait was another commission, from what source, I don’t remember, but I believe it was made as a gift, and I do recall corresponding with the buyer about what details to include – the skis leaning on the house, the chimney with smoke rising from it, and the autumn colors. I found a fishing oriented fabric to use for the border to fit in with the outdoors theme of the picture. The house itself was in Vermont.
This house was in Elkins Park, PA. It was a pale stucco house set in a large yard. I was quite happy with the little dogwood tree and the shapes of the two large trees to each side.
I had more freedom to create an image by the time I made this one because of the sewing techniques I used. You may be able to see that this portrait was done by machine stitching using free motion raw-edge applique rather than the hand work I had been doing. I made only a few portraits in this method as I stopped doing them to spend more time on the other subjects I was increasingly selling at art shows and fairs. This example was not quilted but merely given a backing and hanging sleeve.
This picture shows the the last fabric house portrait I made, I believe. It was done for our next-door neighbors, so I had a personal connection. The real-life house was next door to the first house we lived in in Wyncote, PA, and was the pride and joy of its owners. Many pleasant memories come up for me as I look at the photo of the hanging. The owners displayed it in their front hall for some years until they sold the house and moved away, so I saw it often.
It was also done with machine applique techniques.
Claudia McGill and Her Art World 
I like the little person details owners request, especially the swirl of chimney smoke
You never knew what someone would want and I am proud to say I always managed to make it work out though there was some close calls. Usually people wanted a pet. But as you can see, sometimes there were other details that clearly meant something to the requestor.
I just love these
Thank you. Another aspect of my love for houses of all kinds and sizes!
These houses are amazing! I cannot decide which one I like best in this installment! I would like to live in the first one!
Thank you. I know what you mean. Every time I did one of these portraits I always liked imagining what each house was like inside (since usually I either just got some photos or I took them from outside only). I think a couple of times I did go inside to talk with the customer and had to try hard not to be nosy and look around…
I especially like that last house. I think you can feel the personal connection. (K)
For eleven years I looked out my kitchen window and over to theirs. Our houses were pretty close together. And, we visited back and forth a lot. Many memories.