When Laura from Adventures of a Quilting Diva asked for volunteers to design itty bitty mini paper pieced houses for her Mini House-Along, I thought it would be fun. Little did I know exactly how much fun! I had such a blast sketching out and piecing this little Mini Snail House, and I’m a bit afraid I may be hooked on mini houses!

This mini house block finishes at 5″x5″ (5.5″x5.5″ unfinished) and was super fun to piece. I think it was the smallest block I’ve ever made, and being comprised of five foundation pieces made the itty bitty fun even more extreme! Next time I think I will use a smaller print pink scrap, or maybe even sketch or solid for the snail, but overall I kind of love it! I honestly didn’t think I’d be all about the itty bitty paper piecing, but it was so fun. These mini house blocks are a fabulous way to use up those tiny scraps you know you’ve been saving.

This block is available for free in my Craftsy shop, as the October block for the Mini House-Along. While typically one might think of haunted houses being more fitting for October, I think this works perfectly: it’s a snail dressing up as a house. Or maybe a house dressing up as a snail? Either way, we’ve got Halloween covered.

You can download the previous blocks in Laura’s Mini House-Along here:

September: Download the free Dog House pattern.
August: Download the free Jessica’s Cabin pattern.

or visit Laura’s blog for more details about the inspiration and design of the previous blocks in the Mini House-Along.

Design Inspiration

This block was heavily inspired by Suzy Ultman‘s fabric collection Suzy’s Dollhouse for Robert Kaufman. Once I agreed to design a miniature house, I started looking for house styles, sizes, shapes, and features everywhere. I found my inspiration right in my very own fabric stash!