Zakka Please! Actually it's Patchwork Please!
If you trio the words Japanese, Paper Piecing and Zakka together you will probably come up with a name - Ayumi Takahashi (Mills). She blogs at Pink Penguin, has a Japanese fabric store on Etsy and is just a genuinely nice person.
This is, surprisingly, her first book but I am sure there are many more to come. After Zakka Style came out last year I was hooked on small everyday projects that the Zakka Style features. What shines through Ayumi's work is her love of text prints and linen, fussy cutting and paper piecing.I pre-ordered my copy through Fish Pond in Australia (although it still shipped from OS). Alyce got her copy in Japan and had Ayumi's signature.
Ayumi's introduction is a delight to read. She goes on to list materials, techniques and resources in careful detail before introducing 19 projects to make.
Now there is a Zakka 2.0 Sew Along starting up next month (June 2013) back at LR Stitched with Lindsey and also at A Quilter's Table with Deb. I like both of these bloggers immensely. I will not have as much time to do all of the projects this time and so I will be making the ones that interest me.
And here are some:
I could do with those three above. The next couple would make lovely gifts as well.
Have I tempted you enough to buy a copy? Or even buy a copy and join me on the SAL? Last year I could not convince any of my QCA friends to join in with me but I did meet some fabulous new people through the Zakka Style SAL - Heidi, Kirsten, Mareen and Vera.
I am hoping that Amanda, The Patchsmith, will also be back as she was our collective pattern trouble shooter. She also photographed a lot of the tricky sections so that many of us could understand the pattern instructions.
Thank you to the wonderful 11 people who linked up last week and made Sunday Stash worth visiting all week. Next week the guest host will be Kate Quilts so I will join you over there. I will be in Armidale NSW for the weekend so will have to post in advance.
Linky below for this week.
Phew! I made the deadline!
I saw the Nursery Versery Competition early last week on Stitched in Color but did not think that I could even contemplate entering.
- First there was my deadline for the Practically Paper Piecing blog hop on Monday.
- Then there was volunteering Wednesday and Thursday morning at the school the Library to help set up the Art Show and Bookweek.
- Then my parents came to stay from Thursday afternoon to enjoy Grandparent's Day and the Bookweek Parade at school the next day.
- My mum and I also went to the movies for a Pre-School Fundraiser on Thursday night.
- Making a Darth Maul cape Friday morning right before the Bookweek Parade.
- Saturday saw me at 2 soccer games with the boys and then onto a birthday party in Byron Bay with Fran.
- Then we took my mum out for a birthday brunch this morning (Sunday).
If that wasn't enough to dissuade me, I had no Nursery Versery Fabric until the folks from Fabric Worm delivered my order on Wednesday.
Then there was the small matter of coming up with a project for the competition. I had contemplated using the fabric in this week's Zakka Style Sew Along project, a patchwork photo frame, but it did not seem a good match. Rachel from Stitched in Color had made the most adorable mini quilt that looks like a storybook cover and I found it inspirational.
Then Juliet of Tartan Kiwi posted a very practical paper pieced Art Folder tutorial on Thursday and the idea began to form.
But I only got a chance to start the project today. Sunday. Deadline Day. Luckily we are a few time zones ahead in Australia. So it is after midnight as I write this after spending from 11am this morning on this project virtually non-stop.
So here's my version of the paper pieced Art Folder by Tartan Kiwi. I followed the tutorial closely but decided to make my large enough to fit in an A4 colouring book. My paper pieced blocks were 10"square and adding the purple border bumped the project out to a finished 14" square.
I paper pieced the familiar paper pieced little house, from my Neighbourhood Playmat with fussy cut mouse windows but just made the roofline less steep.
I went with the purple colourway and then was able to use some of my precious other Heather Ross prints from previous lines like Far Far Away 2 and Gnomes and Mushrooms from Spoonflower. I did minimal quilting, mostly outlining and then continuing the raindrops. It should be a one-stop art shop, for Fran when we head out to restaurants for more birthday brunches.
You should pop over and check out the other contestants on the competition post. Some are pure brilliance!
