Love Patchwork and Quilting: Winter House

I've so many things to blog about at the moment, I don't have time to get them all in, but I really want to share a foundation paper piecing project that is just about to come out in October's copy of Love Patchwork and Quilting.  You know my favourite things to paper piece are teapots and houses, so in preparation of the colder weather  a 'Winter House' foundation pieced cushion cover.

I love the photo styling!   I find cushions and pillows hard to photograph so its amazing what a professional can do!   This is a a skills builder project:  there are downloadable free full-size templates on the LPQ website for the paper piecing and I cover the foundation piecing process in details; there is a mitred corner border so the house looks like its sitting in a picture frame; and finally there is a machine stitched zipper opening which could easily be replaced by an envelope style opening too.

I kept to a muted cool palette with a hint of warmth just hinting at Christmas.  

This is the issue to look out for, you can see Lynne's new BOM top right in very pretty new Windham 'Mimosa' fabrics, as well as Cristina's stunning star quilt and a hint of Christmas with Ali's star stockings and Judith's easy paper pieced winter tree triangle projects.

House for Charise

For a million reasons,  I am behind on my bee blocks.  Work is busy, home is busy and I am prepping like a crazy for Fat Quarterly Retreat.  Paper pieced blocks take time- not just to make but to think about and design too and I have to be in the right head space, each block needs a lot of thinking time!  I love a house block and that is Charise's theme in Cocorico for April.   She wanted older house, Victorian, Edwardian, that sort of thing.  I found my inspiration in a vintage game card at Ingrid's blog, Ing things and she kindly gave me permission to post here.

I always recommend a trip to Ingrid's blog, she posts almost daily and is full of creativity and zest!

Such a lovely house image, I loved the arcs above the windows and I knew I had to include them.

And this is how it turned out.  The arcs were undeniably tricky and were hand pieced- too tightly curved for the machine.  The roof is straighter than it looks- no subsidence here- I think the seams wouldn't lie flat for photographing.  It has a French gite feel, I would certainly holiday there- chicken wire walls and a green dog- who wouldn't!

 The images are from vintage fabrics and are my favourite feature when sewing a house.  The 'garden fabric' is a feedsack scrap from Chase.   We arranged a little fabric swap and it was one where I felt I got the better deal- she spoilt me with a gorgeous package.

we have a little future swap planned after the retreat rush is over where we make each other something! I already have ideas for this.  Back to more prepping, I got my class lists today- oh my goodness, so many of you!  I truly can't wait :)

Happy House, Happy Two Years

So tomorrow is the official date for my second blog birthday, I am jumping a gun the little today but hey, who is going to stop me?  Blogging has bought me such great friendships and opportunities, I could not love it more!  So to celebrate, as many of you guessed, a little house block for anyone who wants to make one!

I made mine as little gifts to a couple of kind people.   The block is 4.5" unfinished, 4"finished, perfect size for lavender bags (as below) or pincushions or a for sewing on a bigger scale to make quilt block houses.

All the pieces are a perfect size for scraps so I went for a mix of vintage and modern and used some of my tiniest pieces.  The tiniest of all was the little ducky- it was an umbrella rather than a noose, no ducks were harmed in the making of this lavender bag.

For both houses  I used the freezer paper template method for piecing and Y seams for the roof chimney area.  The square blocks were rounded off and I added a light woven interfacing to make the blocks suitable for lavender bags.  

Now I know some of you fear the Yseams or prefer to foundation rather than freezer paper piece, so I have a multi option pattern for you.  If you want more details on how to paper piece, check out my paper piecing page for lots of online resources, and if you want to learn the very basics of foundation paper piecing where you stitch through a paper pattern, visit Katy's Foundation Paper Piecing for the Terrified Quilt-a-long

 Click on your choice below for your piecing preference! Both freezer paper pattens could be hand sewn- a great way to learn a Y seam- as well as machine sewn.  And when you have made your creation, please add to my Flickr group so I can see it!  I fancy nine little happy houses sewn together to make the centre of a cushion!

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Freezer Paper {no Y seams} PDF
Freezer Paper {with Y seams} PDF
Foundation Paper PDF