Friday 25 January 2013

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:


Heart of Charnwood

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!!

 she can quilt

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

16 comments:

Di said...

They are beautiful as well as tiny magnets. I think that your swap partner will be cock o hoop with her gifts. Di x

Charlotte said...

so cute!

Second Chance Tan said...

Ooooo I just got this book out of the library and am in love with it! Have been making the sewing pouches today.... check out my blog for my recent post about this book. The magnets look fab x

Tammy said...

cute magnets.
conn_and_vans_mom(at)yahoo(dot)com

Marla said...

Very cute. I love my zakka book.

heart of charnwood said...

Well done Amy these look fantastic, thx for entering my competition, and you are most definitely in! Love the bucket bag too, someone is getting lucky in the swap!! : )

MetroQuilter said...

Cute magnets

Pippa Parsons said...

lucky swop partner :)

moira said...

love your fabric bucket - it's fab

Anonymous said...

I just purchased a hard copy of the book, only had it on my kindle. Looking forward to doing some of the cool projects you showed today :-). Looks like they are very fun.

Allison said...

I'm sure your swap partner will love getting thse cute magnets in the mail :)

Sarah Craig said...

Whoop whoop! Those are so cute - and so tiny!!

Gertie Pye said...

These are so cute! Another lovely make. You are having a very productive January, Amy!

Kelly said...

They are so cute Amy, who cares if they aren't straight ;-)

Stella Nemeth said...

The magnets are perfect just as they are. Imperfect because they are hand made and could not possibly be perfect like a machine made object can.

rubyslipperz1052 said...

These fun projects really put a smile on my face as I scrolled down all of the wonderful pictures!

I am definitely thinking to make some magnets...I think that I would handsew the pieces (while in the car or sitting somewhere without a sewing machine). I can also see the same idea with a open crochet over a solid fabric. Fun!

I might just have to get this bookt too! Thanks for the suggestion. =)

hugZ,
annie