Zakka Happy Progress

The Zakka bullet train has been speeding away from me since July and so I have declared it to be Zakka Style September in order to catch up and complete the book this month. I have 7 projects to finish and I am off to a slow-ish start.

There's a lot of other stuff going on within our house and also in the lives of other folks this week - so I have not had much time to sew at all. But I have a WiP for this week's Happy Garland Messenger Board and up for grabs is a $25 voucher to Fabric Worm. I love their selections and speedy service so I hope to be finished up in time to be in the running.

So here's my progress so far..


Summersville Charm Pack Give-Away Winner

It was so nice to read some of your favourite places in the world for this give-away. They were quite varied and had me longing to see some of them - I have always wanted to see the Isle of Skye, as the McLeod (my maiden name) forebears were from there, but I had no idea you could collect old pottery along its beaches! So thanks Lisa. And I would love to visit Nova Scotia (see my Celtic heritage shining through?) like Heather.

Anyway the winner of the charm pack is...

#28 Vera - who goes by the moniker Vexa. Congratulations. She has been a long time follower and a fellow participant in the Zakka Sew-Along.

Sadly she skipped the best town bit but I would imagine that there are some wonderfully beautiful places in her native Czech Republic. I have had a photograph of Prague on my wall since 1996 and long to go there, Mareen.

This week's stats:

Completed projects  - 0

Currently in progress  - Zakka Style Sew Along  Happy Garland Messenger Board

Yet to start - Craftsy BOMs

                         - Sherbert Dreams Quilt

                         - Zakka Style Little Pocket Pillowcase

                        - ZSSA Pleated coin purse ( I have finally ordered the frames)

                         - ZSSA Water Bottle Holder

                         - ZSSA Patchwork Ribbon

                        - ZSSA Sweet Momeroies Photo frame

                       - ZSSA Nesting Boxes

On Hold projects   1 - Katie Jump Kites - top finished

So how are you going so far this week?

I'm linking up with...

Give - Aways Aplenty!

It's a huge give-away week on the blogmosphere. I am late to it I know - so I missed out on the blog roll at The Quilting Gallery. But I managed to find another charm pack of 'Summersville' by Lu Summers whilst cleaning up my sewing room today. So all you have to do to have 4 chances to win is:

1. tell me your favourite ville/town in the world and why. Mine would be Whitby on the Yorkshire Coast - not only is it quaint with huge tides, abbey ruins and great local accents, but it is where James Cook first began his education to become the navigator, scientist and sailor that changed the world.
2. follow my blog or let me know if you are one of my regulars. 
3. Promote this giveaway on your blog or facebook business page and post me your link.
4. 'like' Grandma Macs Quilts on Facebook just so I can reach 500 and have another give-away of a Kaffe Fasset charm pack.

This give-away is open to international readers too, so long as you supply a valid email for me to contact you.

This give-away will CLOSE next Tuesday 4th September at 8pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time). I will announce the winner in my Wednesday post.

Ok other give-aways you might want to visit this week are:

Quokka Quilts - with a FQ bundle of Storyboek II 
Quiet Play - with a charm pack of 'Pure' by Sweetwater Designs plus 4 Transport Paper Pieced patterns from Kristy herself.
The Peony Teacup - to win an Aurofil Thread colour chart
Pretty Bobbins - a 6 stack of Gemma's favourite fat quarters


Blossom Heart Quilts - for some Japanese Kokka fabric and a chance to win a voucher to Alyce's Etsy store.
Local Honey Crafts - with a layer cake of Sew Stitchy 
The Patch Smith - for 3 people to win her sweet pdf patterns

PPP - Neighbourhood Play Mat (+ A Giveaway)

Neighbourhood Play Mat

Hello and welcome to my little blog for today's stop on the Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop through Quiet Play.

I am totally new to the foundation paper piecing method - my first lesson was with Kristy just last month. And my first block, a little house, is incorporated into my finished project today. See if you can spot it. 

With each of the house blocks I used two charms from the Lu Summers 'Summersville' collection. Then I stuck to solids or tone on tone prints in the primary colours, plus orange, green, black and white.

If you are interested in making this project, the 8"x8" 'Little House' pattern was designed Kristy and is available on her blog as a FREEBIE along with her 8"x4" 'Little Tree' pattern. The 8"x4" 'Charming Tree' pattern is available here on my blog.

So here it is. It's a whole paper pieced neighbourhood playmat for the kiddies - complete with faces at the windows, zebra crossings, roads to drive on and a Lorax in the park to keep an eye on the environment.

On the back, also inspired by Kristy's version, are 2 stacks of Lego blocks so that the playmat   can double for a Lego mat. 

And my middle child loves it!

I used the Quilting in the Rain' s 'Quick Quilt Binding' method of folding the backing fabric over to the front. It was my first time and it was sooooooo much quicker than any other method I have yet used.

I also included a sleeve with the option to hang it on a wall.

Summersville Charm Pack Giveaway

I have two charm packs of Lu Summers' 'Summersville' to give-away to two lucky readers. All you have to do is comment below for a chance to be in the running to win one.  This is open to international readers too. 

The winners will be randomly selected and posted on Sunday Stash #28 coming up on Sunday 2nd September. So you have until 8pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on Saturday to enter. Please make sure you leave a contact email that is valid to be in the running.

Thanks for joining me today on the Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop. See you at the Linky Party starting Wednesday August 29th.


Linking up also with...

The Neighbourhood Grows

Because of school holidays I have not really had uninterrupted time to sew in about 3 weeks. My husband could sense my frustration and was lovely enough to cook pancakes for breakfast and take the kids to church on Sunday so that I could have peace to sew. Lovely man.

So I spent most of the day piecing together a new pattern for simple trees. I am sharing the pattern in a tutorial on Thursday 25th July for the 'Let's Get Acquainted' Blog Hop.

I also added 4 new houses to the neighbourhood.


Next I have to tackle Kristy's more complicated Paper Pieced tree patterns.  Thankfully my extra charm packs of 'Summersville' arrived from Want it, Need it, Quilt! yesterday.

Now don't forget that there is a NEW blog hop starting late next week hosted by about 25 keen paper piecing bloggers. It is called 'Practically Paper Piecing' and is the brain-child of Kristy from Quiet Play. I am using these neighbourhood blocks for my project on August 20th - so stay tuned!

Cutest Houses on the Block

So my goal for this month is to learn how to do foundation paper piecing. But I knew I would need some help to conceptualise how to do it. So in stepped my pp literate friend and block designer Kristy from Quiet Play.

She came up with a simple block design for a house using our 'Summersville' charm packs. Then on Sunday afternoon, with much re-explaining and patience, she taught me how to make the block using the foundation of paper.

So today was the day to see if I could re-create the magic by myself. I took some advice from  my other quilty friend Marieka and decided to trace the pattern onto freezer paper first. I think it really does help! 

What else helps is to use large pieces of fabric rather than being miserly and using smaller scraps. The 5" squares are a little too small to use with good result - as you can see in my blue sky. I needed 3 and I only had 2 of that pattern. Shame.


I am not addicted to paper piecing yet but I did enjoy fussy cutting the little characters for each of the windows! Might have time to whip up another house this evening. Oh and pop over to Kristy's blog for today - she has the cutest  NEW paper pieced block design. I wonder how hard it is to do?


This week's stats:

Completed projects  - 1 orange QCA Bee June block for Kate

                                          - 1 teal QCA Bee June block for Kate

Currently in progress  - Foundation Paper Pieced House blocks

Yet to start - Craftsy BOMs for June

                         - Zakka Style Water Bottle Holder

                         - Zakka Style Elephant Bookmark
                

On Hold projects   1 - Katie Jump Kites - top finished

I am linking up with WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Sunday Stash #20

Wow! Officially we enter the second half of 2012 today. I am looking at my 'to do' list and 'goals' for 2012 and freaking out just a tad - only 6 months left to achieve them all. 


Today's Sunday Stash is brought to you by 2 cute little charm packs that I recently purchased off Jane at Want it, Need it, Quilt!


The first is Aneela Hooey's soon to be released 'Sew Stitchy'. 

Jane has access to pre-release pre-cuts so head over if you want to get in early. 


Second is "Summersville' by Lu Summers which was released April 2012. 

I have really warmed to this range since seeing it pop up in great projects. Look what two clever ladies in the Zakka Style Sew Along did with theirs here and here.


Hopefully Kristy from Quiet Play is going to teach me how to paper piece this month and I hope to make good use of these charms.


So what's new in your stash this week? Please feel free to link up below...