January "Book project"

The lovely Ange of Heart of Charnwood has a terrific idea going on for a linky party.  The idea is to grab one of your craft books and make a project from it.  One project from one book, once a month. She is calling it the "Monthly Book Challenge".

I have a lovely handful (or two) of some great craft and sewing books so I have quite a few projects that I would LOVE to make marked with sticky notes.  So, after a little while browsing through my lovely craft books and finding more things to mark with fun sticky notes, I decided to make something from the lovely Zakka Style book:

Yes - I made some Itty Bitty Quilt Block magnets!  Yes they are small and itty bitty... and quite fiddly to make (which is why there are only four!!), but I love how they look all sort of quirky and handmade.  This means I also hate how they look because they aren't perfectly square and the seams are skew-whiff.  My machine doesn't like small pieces of fabric and now in hindsight I should have sewn a long strip then cut into 1" sections to sew the 9-patch together.  Live and learn, live and learn...

On a positive - they stick!  Here they are on my fridge:

This one shown below is my favourite because of the mini star on the red Mama Said Sew fabric - and the seams mostly meet up!  Oh how I love linen - I used a nice dark grey (yum) and green Aurifil thread.

With the stitching, I went for the wonky look (on purpose, honest...sorta!!).  For the magnet, I purchased a sheet of sticky backed magnet from Ebay ages ago and still had some left over so this is what I used and it works. 

These magnets will be the second item I am giving to my secret partner in teh Sew Sew Modern Flickr swap.  I just need to buy something chocolaty sweet to add to the Echino scraps and extras I'm sending to my lovely partner.  Fingers crossed she likes what I have sewn.  There is always that anxious trepidation waiting to hear that it has been received and if they like what you have sent!

Here are the magnets with the 'Big Echino Bucket' I made for her:

 

Here is the whole parcel that I sent.

I followed a brilliant tutorial for the bucket on 1/4" Mark blog and love how it turned out.  There are handles on it but I prefer the folded edge to it.  It measures approximately 8" across and 11" tall, which is somewhat out of proportion (too tall) so the folded top helps make it a more realistic size and height for its width!

So to sum it up, I made Itty Bitty Quilt Block magnets from the Zakka Style book for this months "Book Challenge".  There are some FAB projects in this book and though I have made a lot of them already, I still have a few I want to make!  If you decide to buy this book I totally advise you to check out the Zakka Style Sew Along Flickr group for the book errata as the book does contain some cracking errors!!

The Big Echino Bucket and Zakka magnets were one of my seven things I wanted to completed in the first quarter of 2013.  These are for the Sew Sew Modern swap.  I  shall link this up with Leanne over at She Can Quilt when the time comes!!

 

Also linking to Whoop Whoop and Finish it Friday (Amanda Jean's Chopped Rhubarb quilt is amazing!).