Paper Pieced House

The finished block - complete with a pet and vegetable garden (well, peas anyway!).

My partner for this month's Quilt Block Swap requested a house block in bright colours. I was excited by this and decided that a paper pieced block would be perfect.

Drafting the pattern.

After perusing pinterest and numerous Google search results I decided to draft my own, though it was definitely inspired by Kelly Simbirdi's Row Houses Quilt. I changed the dimensions to make it into a 12" block and added a little friend peeking through the window.

Colouring in the various parts so as not to get confused when sewing!

In the past I have used regular printer paper for paper pieced blocks, but as this was a larger size I decided to try butcher's paper. As it is a lot thinner than printer paper it tore away very easily. The only negative was needing to be particularly careful when sewing straight on to the paper, as it did have a tendency to move around a little or tear during the sewing process.

The family pet gazing out the window.

Fussy cutting the little dog's face was one of the fiddliest parts of the pattern. I chose a floral pattern for the window boxes (for obvious reasons!) and white for the background to ensure that the bright pink and green stood out as much as possible. I am pleased with the end result!