Whiskers

Paper piecing. Any chance it's a "love it or hate it" type of thing? I truly admire the people who do it and the projects they make. I am amazed at how someone can get an idea for a design and then break it down into small sections that can be joined together with a straight seam. It really is a gift.

But I don't think it's for me. As a technique, that is. This month, our assignment over in the Happiness circle for Do Good Stitches is to make one of these Whiskers blocks in catfish colours - oranges, greys, and watery hues. I appreciate Craftsy making the pattern available as a free download - thanks, Craftsy!

Here is kitty:

You can't tell with the way the light is but the background is a nice grey pindot from one of Bonnie & Camille's lines. The orange is Glimma and the nice charcoal fabric is Running Stitch by Patty Young. I think the colours came together nicely and the block itself - not too bad at all.

I'm not a fan of the amount of fabric it takes; you need to have generous slabs of fabric to ensure the section is completely "covered". I'm not a person who prefers to sew with itsy bitsy scraps or crumbs, so the chunks I cut off end up in the garbage can - phooey! I imagine with (lots) more practice I would feel more comfortable cutting it close with my fabric pieces, but obviously, I'm not there yet. I also don't care for a lot of texture in a block when it comes from seams - from great fabrics and contrast, yes, sewing lines? No.

It's okay though, right? I really do like how the block turned out and I learned something new - can't complain about that. For now, though, I'll probably stick to other methods of piecing (and hope those little scrappy bits of fabric don't end up in the dog's mouth!).

e.