Houses! baby comforter

When I first saw the machine paper foundation piecing class at the workroom, I was in awe. Karyn blogged about her beautiful houses that they learned to make in the class; she also shared this flickr link for other cool patterns using this technique. There are some tutorials online that teach you how to do machine paper foundation piecing, but I know how much better I learn from face-to-face instruction, especially from Johanna, Karyn's go-to quilting instructor for classes at the workroom.

I was SO pleased with the class. Johanna is all about smart shortcuts that make life easier. I even think her technique is more accurate. I couldn't imagine tackling The Hunger Games quilt using a different technique. I would have pulled out all my hair (even the extra luscious hair I'm currently sporting thanks to this pregnancy).

The class we took was for the "Houses!" pattern, a Johanna original. Houses and trees are perfect candidates for this machine paper foundation piecing technique. Lots of sharp, precise edges. Some patterns are just too curvy to showcase the precision of this technique (I thought the birds from The Hunger Games quilt were perfect candidates, too.)

I used mostly scraps for this project, and with Johanna's help, we designed it to be slightly bigger, suitable for a baby comforter with a high loft batting. I struggled to find some good quality wool or cotton batting and had to settle for polyester... I'm hoping I won't regret that decision, but worse case scenario, I'll undo the quilt and replace the batting. The quilt top is just too beautiful to be ruined by sub-par, man-made filling.





There are essentially four rows of houses and trees. I added an extra column of tree-fabric (Farmyard by Sentimental Studios) to widen the quilt top. The backing is an ultra-soft chocolate brown chenille, and the border is a beautiful postcard fabric (Curio by BasicGrey) with notes of brown, light-pink, grey, and cream.

At Dustin's request, we kept our nursery colour scheme simple. We agreed to a cream wall, white furniture, big brown leather chair, and some pink/cream/brown strewn about. The comforter fits well in the room. It won't be used for a while as baby will likely be swaddled for the first few months. But I'm working displaying it on the wall next to the crib. I also threw together a small quilted mat and matching cushion to give the room a little bit of accent.


My nephew has already made use of the super soft comforter when he and my sister came to visit in December. I'm excited for baby-Dunwell to be old enough to enjoy such craftsmanship!