Kathy's Wonky Paper-pieced House

Wonky.  Hubs says that I love that word and use it all the time.  So, when the Music City Modern Quilt Guild challenged me to create my own 12-inch block, I just had to make a wonky house.

The challenge was to use Moda Flirt fabrics.  It's not my favorite fabric (all pink and cutesy flowery), but I made it work and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I would call this pattern 'intermediate level' because you have to sew it in sections.

Here's what it looked like before I trimmed it up.

When you do a pattern in sections like this, you have to remember to leave a 1/4" seam allowance on all edges of each section.  It's a good idea to leave a 3/8" or 1/2" seam allowance on the outside four edges to allow you more flexibility for squaring up your block after all the sections are sewn together.

Now it's time to tear off the paper and sew the sections together.  I find that it's easier to tear the paper off of each section in reverse numeric order.  For some reason it always works better.

And here it is again, Kathy's Wonky House.  

Here's a miniature version.  I reduced my 6-inch block pattern to 75%.  I wanted to show my fellow guild members why paper piecing is an awesome way to deal with tiny pieces and sharp angles.

No, you can't have the $20!  I took this picture so you could get some perspective on how small some of the pieces are and so I could use some fabrics that I like from my stash.

Here's the pattern if you want to give it a try. Let me know how it goes.

Aunt Kathy Went to Eagle

Last week I sent a package to my nieces and nephews.  I got to visit them in December.  I took a few pictures like I always do, but this time I decided to do something with them.  I had such a great time with them and wanted them to know all the fun memories that I made with them.  So, instead of making myself a few scrapbook pages stuffing the photos in a box, I made them a book.

I know, I should've used a Cheerios cereal box but this one was so fun and colorful.  Don't panic all you acid-free archiving scrappers.  I'm a bit OCD about that too, but it's only the cover.

It always makes me laugh to have a long list of things done by the same person.  I did that in a tortilla making video once upon a time.  I even included 'stunt hands' in the list, which were mine of course!  But, I digress.

Hubs gave me a bookbinding kit for Christmas.  I used the instructions and tools from the kit to create this single sheet Coptic binding on this book.  This binding is useful when you have single sheets and you want them to lay flat when the book is open.

Here's a close up of the exposed braided Coptic binding stitch.  Cool, right?

Here's what the stitching looks like on each page.  I glued a strip of cereal box onto each page for extra durability and for the fun factor.  I was considering making each page out of cereal box, but that would've made it just a tad too busy and would've messed up the acid 'freeness' of the book.  See, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to that!

Whilst in Eagle, we spent way too much time playing around with Photo Booth on my laptop.  It was hilarious!