Any of you who were involved in the Zakka Along of last year (I had intermittent success in keeping up with this one!) will have been happy to see Ayumi of Pink Penguin coming out with a new book this year full of little zakka projects. Having received my invitation to join the Flickr group for the book’s sewalong (which is open to anyone) before I even knew of the existence of the book, I happily pre-ordered it sometime last autumn (well it seems a long time ago anyway) and then sat and waited, and waited, and possibly forgot for a wee while that I had done so, and then Amazon dispatched it to me at the beginning of the month, although I only rescued it from the sorting office last week, and only had a chance to actually read it this week (are you still with me, or did I lose you to a slightly glazed look about 5 lines ago?!)
I have always loved Ayumi’s style, but had never really been able to put my finger on why I liked it until I read the book, and then I realised, it was the patchwork, fancy that being the title of her book then ;o)
The book starts off with a nice introduction to Ayumi herself, before looking at tools and techniques you might need, useful for a beginner, but not too intrusive for them wot know wot they’re doing (or at least kid on that they do…) and 30 pages in finds you at the actual projects. The projects themselves are broken down into categories ‘For the kitchen’, ‘For kids’, ‘For the home’, ‘For going places’ and ‘For crafting’ which is handy if you’re looking for gifts for particular people. They are all also given a difficult rating of, as far as I could see, 1 to 4 stars, although it doesn’t actually tell you anywhere in the book what these correspond to!
In the kitchen section, you find yourself making coasters (*), tea towels (**), a tea cosy (***), a teabag pouch (no rating), an apron (**) and a placemat (***). I quite fancy making the teabag pouch as a wee gift for a few tea lovers I know (hate the stuff myself!) and I do love the look of the patchwork on the apron.
For the kids you can make a bib (***), a dino-mite hat (**) and a books for baby quilt (***). Whilst the hat gave me a giggle, I might just make a bib or two for my cousin’s wee boy that I was playing with on Wednesday.
The home section offers a scrappy box (***), a lap quilt (****), a stationery wall pocket hanging (***) and a trivet (**). I rather like the wall hanging and the trivet, although I’m surprised the trivet wasn’t in the kitchen section!
If you’re going places, you can make a reusable shopping bag (**), a box pouch (***), a pencil case (***), an iPad cover (**) or a market tote (**). I’m thinking that the box pouch and the pencil case would both be rather useful this summer going on holiday, after all, we all know you can never have too many pouches (or bags, eh dad?)
When crafting, you might find it useful to have the embroidery pouch (***) or the pincushion (**), both of which might also find themselves going on their holidays with me!
So what about you, have you bought the book yet? Got your eye on a particular pattern?
If you haven’t got one yet, Amazon has them available here
I think I’ll be sewing along, but since the sew along doesn’t start til June 3rd, I think I might get a little ahead of myself ;o) Check out the introductory post from Lindsey and Deb here for more details.
You hate tea? I'm not sure I can read your blog anymore, lol. What are you going to make first? I haven't made anything yet but definitely will be!
Yup got mine! I love it but have yet to start anything. It'll be fun seeing the different versions!
I absolutely love it – all her little creations are just so cute, aren't they?! I want to make the two bags and maybe a pin cushion or two to start.
How can you hate tea?? Anyways, look forward to seeing your makes 🙂
I'm with these ladies, you hate tea, you're clearly not quite right!!! ;o)
I am in on the sewalong for sure. I absolutely love the book as it is so beautiful to look at plus has awesome projects 😉
What do you drink if you don't drink tea?
Love this book so much – my eagerness has been my downfall!
I must admit I saw this book and have really thought about busting out and buying it. Love Ayumi's tutorials online. She's brilliant at explaining things!
I enjoyed doing the Zakka along last year and although I only managed to get about a dozen projects actually sewn, would love to join in again. And I dont drink tea either – just coffee:)
Well that was a quick exit from blogger land. I though you were away??? The book looks very good.
Hugs
Have had my eye on this book for forever. i presume alcohol is more your style, he he.
I will probably buy this, but I'm usually way behind everyone else! And tell me, how do you live without tea?
Hmmmm, very tempting! I'm a coffee girl all the way, so I'll be hanging around a while longer :o)
A all in all to I actually need it, as I do love my zakka book? And for the record, I hate coffee 🙂
Ayumi's stuff is alway fab, so thank you. I'm off to have a look
I managed to buy the book twice by mistake, thanks to the joys of pre-ordering on Amazon months before it was due out!
There are lots of tempting projects but it really annoys me when the templates included are not all full-size, so I would have to knock off a star for that! Other than that it is a lovely book.
I'm with you on the tea, can't stand it. I preordered the book and then forgot about it too, so it was a lovely surprise. Haven't made anything yet though!
I can't see how anyone could hate tea when there are so many different ones available and most of them quite wonderful tasting. As for the book, I may have to buy it to add to my collection of books I have bought and not used.
I have the book now to find the time to play…I'm not much for tea either…
Yep, got mine, I enjoyed last year's sew a long. I have just finished the embroidery pouch but a cheat's version.
Thanks for this. I have seen the cover pop up all over the place, but had now idea what to expect inside. You're bril.