{Finished Items} Patchwork, Please!

I just couldn't resist any longer. Over the weekend I finally bought Ayumi's book, 'Patckwork, Please!'.

{side note: my husband can't stop saying it like this: "Patckwork? PUH-LEASE!" He's also the guy who will always say, "I have Du-puis" when we watch a hockey game involving the Pittsburgh Penguins and the announcer mentions Pascal Dupuis. Also, he never fails to say, "I guess he's just in a bit of a pickle" when we watch a game involving the San Jose Sharks and the announcer mentions Vlasic's name. *sigh* he's such a goofball, but aren't we all ;) }

We spent Saturday afternoon at The Grove and Farmer's Market having lunch and picking up some goodies. There is a Barnes and Noble at The Grove so I insisted we stop by since I may have checked earlier in the week if the book was in stock (it was!). It took a bit longer than I anticipated to find the book because a sneaky stock person placed it in the knitting section instead of the sewing section so I had a moment of panic when I couldn't find it. I felt so smart and victorious when I found the book.

I knew I needed to make a project from this book ASAP or else it would just sit on my bookshelf for weeks and months. The main reason I was hesitant to start on these projects is because I don't think I have the "right" fabrics. I don't have quite the fabric stash that most of the quilting blogging universe appears to have. I don't have any quirky text prints or linens and most of the fabric I have runs on the darker side, but I made do with what I had. All of the fabric I used was purchased at Momen+.

I made one bell pepper coaster and one pincushion.

I have one small, itty bitty gripe with the book. I would have preferred if all the templates were positioned close to the book's free edge. In some cases, the templates are closer to the bound edge and there is text closer to the free edge. Why couldn't they have switched positions??? I don't like "cracking" a book's bind, it sorta pains me when I have to make creases in bound books. In this case I have to really open the book in order to make sure the template is copied correctly. Thankfully, most of the templates are drawn to scale so you don't need to worry about magnifying the copies. However, I noticed one template needs to be copied at 133% magnification and my home printer doesn't offer that magnification size, so I'll have to go to a copier store.

I was too lazy to change the top-stitching thread to match the light fabric. I sorta like the contrast, although I would have liked it better if my top-stitching was even....whoops!

I have to admit that these two items took me way longer than I had anticipated. This was my first foray into paper piecing and I didn't quite read through all of the instructions in the sample block. My points aren't perfect, mainly because I think my grid ruler is a bit off, which caused my traced templates to be off in size. However, as Ayumi explains in the intro part, you shouldn't have "perfect" projects when you start because improving your work is part of the fun of paper piecing. And she's right! I'm excited to make more and improve my technique. After having completed these two items, especially the pincushion, I feel way more confident in tackling more paper pieced projects. I really want to try freezer paper piecing next.

The projects in this book are so freaking adorable. This book inspires me to collect fabric based on colors and scale of prints. I just found out a good friend of mine is expecting so I'm definitely going to whip up some bibs from this book. Now I just need to get my hands on more fabric....