Wonky Houses Done

Here are my finished wonky houses.

I will choose one at random to keep and send the rest to Jane.

Here is a smattering of the labels.

And a question of nutrition.

Is muesli still healthy if it's topped with Froot Loops?

Wonky Houses Update

In between work and the normal domestic dramas that seem to pop up regularly, I have managed to nearly finish my wonky houses for Jane's Wonky House Block Swap. I need to get them in the mail by the end of the week to allow for international posting time.

The windows and doors are spray-basted and I will raw-edge applique them down.

To me, they are very cheerful and fun to work on.

Check out Jane's Flickr group to see what everyone else has done.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1844300@N23/

(Blogger's being funny again today.)

Happy New Year & Wonky House #1

To all my Asian friends, Happy Year of the Dragon to you!

May this coming year bring you peace and prosperity.

As I work for a Chinese couple, I have a bonus day off today, so much sewing progress coming up!

I joined Jane's Wonky House Block Swap.

Here are the fabrics I settled on.

This is my master sketch. I drafted it at 13 inches and it will be trimmed after piecing.

I copied the master sketch by hand on art paper, which is slightly thicker than typing paper. I then covered it in clear contact and cut it apart. I noted seam allowances on the perimeter and straight-of-grain guidelines. Labelled each piece.

I ironed and starched all my fabrics, then ironed together several fabrics so I could cut them at the same time. (This dramatically reduced any slipping during cutting.)

Here you can see the white template on top of the white background fabric with the seam allowance added on two sides. What was I thinking? White on white is hard to see.

So here it is again. I found this yellow ruler that I got from Jan Mullen to be perfect for this job. I have three fabrics layered here. The template is paper side down and it does have a slight friction on the fabric to reduce sliding.

I first lined up the straight of grain...

Then cut my fabrics, adding the seam allowance in the process.

Cutting the fabrics was pretty straight-forward and completed in a couple of hours. I tidied each stack away here in my project box as I went.

I put together my first block in no time. It came together beautifully. I will do the rest with chain piecing.

Here is the first block. The door and windows will be raw-edge appliqued with machine stitching.

Please have a look at the Flickr group set up for this swap. These houses are amazing!

Quilt Inspiration

I found this fabulous blog and wanted to share it with you. It's called Quilt Inspiration, and it showcases fabulous quilts. They've just wrapped up a couple of weeks of "Winter Quilts". They link back to original websites for purchase but they also have free patterns. It is definitely worth a look, especially if you have the blahs.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner,, you might want to whip up a little quilt. QI has some lovely free patterns here and here. This is an example.

Keep the Heart Truth Growing free wall hanging and pillow pattern by Jane Spolar for Janome.

I'm making wonky houses for Jane's swap and don't have a lot to show for it just yet. Turns out I'm not the free spirit I thought I was and it's taking a little longer. I've abandoned my first sketch and simplified the design to make the project achieveable in the time allowed. You can see the Flickr pool here.

Wonky House Sketch

I joined Jane's Wonky House Block Swap

and have finally decided on a design.

Not sure yet how I'm going to put it together,

but I really like it so will figure it out.

Jane has opened another group if you want to join in.