a little Patchwork Style

When Craft Buds asked me to be a part of their second annual Craft Book Month, I only had to give it about 2 seconds of thought.  I can always use a little extra motivation to actually make one of the cool projects in one of my favorite craft books.  The real challenge would be choosing just one!





Patchwork Styleis a great little book by Suzuko Koseki that's inspired many a project round here.  In fact, my kitchen rugs (circa 2009) were my first real sewing project.  They still look pretty sharp today, if I do say so.



I've been using my Patchwork Style purse constantly (literally, every single day) since piecing it together in 2010.  And, actually, it's time to make a new purse, but that's not what I chose tackle.



To me, Craft Book Month is about finally making a dream a reality.  Because, correct me if I'm wrong, but you probably own a few sewing books that you like to cuddle up and dream beside?  That's all good and well.  I fully encourage dreaming!  But, then again, making ideas tangible is a whole other very good thing.  There's a whole blog hop involved in this event (hey, thanks for stopping by!) that is fun if you want to look "inside" other sewing books.  But, you can also participate by entering your finished craft book project in a drawing for some cool prizes.  More details at the close of this post!



I wanted to make something more fun than practical, so  I chose this apron.

I'll be using it to hold cash at Indie Craft Parade this weekend.  I'm excited!  It's kind of like wearing a sign that says, "I make cool patchwork!"  Hehe.

Oh, and I altered the front patch pocket so that it can hold a pen, pencil and some business cards really nicely.  I used a generous helping of my special scraps, plus my favorite natural linen from Fabrics-Store.com.



Soo..... how did the project go?  Well, much of the same you might hear on any review of a Japanese style craft book.  The directions are very light on words and heavy on diagrams.  I'm not so great at reading maps, so I have to study the diagrams for what feels like eons to see what they want me to see.  In the end, with this project (as with other Patchwork Style projects) I follow some of the directions and fudge the rest to my liking rather than drive myself bonkers trying to understand.

Since I had the same experience making those rugs long ago, it's kind of comforting to know I wasn't a complete idiot back then.  Or.... I'm still an idiot now?   Oh well.  I'm more confident with fudging for sure!

Bottom line, I do love this book.  The Patchwork Style projects are very inspiring and the directions DO give me enough traction to successfully make the projects.  I would love to own more books by Suzuko Koseki, who is such a patchwork genius.  And, I'd even like to get some of the ones that are only published in Japanese!  I guess the language doesn't have to be that big of a barrier, really.  Now, if only money were no issue!

Here's the details on the Craft Book Month blog hop and contest:

Week One

Sunday 9/2: Hopeful Threads / The Jolly Jabber
Monday 9/3: Stitchery Dickory Dock / Me Sew Crazy
Tuesday 9/4: Olive & Ollie / Sew Sweetness
Wednesday 9/5: Fabric Seeds / The Busy Bean
Thursday 9/6: CraftFoxes / Stitched In Color
Friday 9/7: Katie's Korner / A Prairie Sunrise

Week Two
Sunday 9/9: Sweet Diesel Designs / missknitta's studio
Monday 9/10: Sew Tara / Clover and Violet
Tuesday 9/11: Sew Fantastic / amylouwho
Wednesday 9/12: Projektownia Jednoiglec / Two More Seconds
Thursday 9/13: Ellison Lane Quilts / Don't Call Me Betsy
Friday 9/14: Live a Colorful Life / LRstitched

Week Three
Sunday 9/16: Fairy Face Designs / Canoe Ridge Creations
Monday 9/17: Inspire Me Grey / Freshly Pieced
Tuesday 9/18: Lindsay Sews / The Cute Life
Wednesday 9/19: The Littlest Thistle / Sew Crafty Jess
Thursday 9/20: Urban Stitches / imagine gnats
Friday 9/21: Sew Bittersweet Designs / The Plaid Scottie

Week Four

Link up your craft book project at Craft Buds from Sept 23-30 from your blog or Flickr account, and enter to win prizes. Winners will be announced on Monday, October, 1!

To participate in the month-long contest, just link up any project you've made from a pattern in a craft book. That easy! One entry per person, and all craft book projects must have been completed in 2012. Just create a new blog post or Flickr photo (dated September 1, 2012 or later) and link back to Craft Buds in your post or photo description.

No time to create a project? This month, just follow Craft Buds and comment to win some new craft books and lots of giveaways!

If you'd like to see more of my recommendations for beginning sewing, quilting, embroidery, etc. craft books, check out my Books page.  Happy dreaming!