Scrappy Pincushion Swap

I have been the most dreadful tease and posted a slow series of tempting pics to tantalise my swap partner at the Scrappy Pincushion swap.  Entree- linen, cashmere/wool, vintage cotton lace.

Main course: Denyse Schmidt Hope Valley- wall flowers and whatever the grey print is called, Yuwa text, American Jane Recess tape measures and Suzuko Koseki button print.

Dessert: DMC embroidery thread, linen tape with bird stamp and partners initial on the reverse, linen measuring tape to finish.

Finished! The pinnie bit was based on a little block in Kumiko Fujita's book ABC Patchwork Lesson (now out of print), called St Johns Pavement, I like this  block a lot!  Stuffed with fibrefill as it has a way to travel and I don't want customs getting all touchy about walnut shells etc!

I can only just bear to part with it...x 

Come the weekend, this blog will be celebrating birthday number 1, you know what that means, giveaway time!

Blocks and Swaps

A new year brings new Flickr activities, swaps and Bees  I ran the lottery gaunlet for Doll Quilt Swap 10 and got in and I am very happy.  There is a very cool button designed by Amy, assisted by Smith and her miniature circle of geese.

I am also doing My Favorite Little Quilt Swap which you can join at any time as long as you make your quilt by beginning of February, it is a very flexible swap commitment, click the link to find out more.

I have 2 bee commitments and I am very happy with those.  February is my month in Bee (a Little Bit) Japanese so I have been devising a block and prepping fabrics to send.

Some of my all time favourites, Suzuko Koseki, Sevenberry, Lecien, Kokka, Kitchen rpints, sewing prints, I have an emotional relationship with each.

A pile of strips and a chunk of Kona coal ready to go.

This is the block design- i have called it Floating Bricks

It is designed to showcase the fabrics and is flexible and adaptable.  I did a lot of free cutting which frees up the shapes and creates nice seam lines too.  Here's another...

I will post a tutorial on how to make this but it is pretty easy.  Meanwhile for others I made, non wonky Drunk Love Denyse Schimdt inspired blocks for Tong in the same Bee

And a fun block for Lisa in Ringo Pie- here theme is Mid Century Modern doors- loved doing this and the other blocks have been amazing.  I was inspired by this photo on Flickr

It was a tricky one, quick unpic in use a few times but I was determined to get it how I wanted it.  The wall plate number 5 is the date of Lisa's birthday/  I loved the yellow- Cosmo Cricket Early Bird.  I loved it so much I had to buy a lot more whilst I could still find it.  I am definitely using it again, it makes me smile :)

I ♥ Suzuko Koseki

I had such a lovely day yesterday, thank you for  all the good wishes and some great comments on the giveaway-click here if you want to enter.  One of my best presents was from Damian a great big pile of fabric, from Japan and most of it designed by Suzuko Koseki.  First peak...

A little mini pack of red prints, I can't quite put into words how much I like these fabrics.  I bought Machine Made Patchworks- also known as Patchwork Style a couple of years ago, the original non translation version and I was enraptured by it.  I had never seen fabrics with text, I had no idea where to get them or who had designed them, I didn't even know the book and the fabrics were by the Suzuko Koseki as all the text was in Japanese.  I had just got into sewing again with Clothkits and Gossypium and any text I found on fabric kits or labels I saved so I could create my own text fabric.  I searched ebay and found a few odd fabric panels from America of repro food packages and signs but not the real thing.  I knew there was more out there but I didn't know where to look... break for another set of pictures.

Close up on a fav...

Gradually on blogs like True Up I picked up more info, the name Suzuko Koseki and recognised the prints but only found the odd one at Sew mama Sew or Purl Soho and never what I really wanted.  Eventually, through Ayumi at Pink Penguin I found a Japanese shop with a fantastic range, Cotton Garden and with translation tools, the patience of the shop owner and Ayumi checking my email translations, plus a tortuous set of attempts paying by credit card and my bank getting all worried about Japanese transactions in the middle of the night- we succeeded.  I have had to wait a few months to see them, but wow, they were worth it.   Text, labels, kitchen images, squares, grids, lines,vintage style prints- my mum was perplexed by the misspelt words- these are the fabrics of my dreams!  If I could have fabric shop stocking these prints, I would be utterly content.

I felt I hadn't spent enough time with these fabrics yesterday- it was a hectic day.  I wanted to sit, look and touch them in their neat folded piles.  I would have quite happily laid down naked and covered my body in the little folded stacks whilst Damian took pictures- he was game- but do you know there wasn't time!
I have been trying out some print combos together as you can see in the pics, but all in all they render me speechless x

I have just added a flickr group I ♥ Suzuko Koseki- are you a fan?  Come and join...