Welcome to the Zakka Along 2 to celebrate Ayumi’s Patchwork Please! book! My turn on the Zakka Along is making the Happy Hexagon Trivet. My heart feels likes it’s squeezing as I look at all the beautiful photos of the projects in Ayumi’s book. Patchwork Please! is a smorgasbord of yummy projects for every taste, every occasion and every skill level. I love Ayumi and I love her all projects. And of course I love Ayumi’s lunch bag pattern - it’s only a matter of weeks and I’ll be on my one dozen’th one.

For my Happy Hexagon trivet I chose some fabrics from a cute Kawaii roll I got from Bunny’s Designs and paired it with some Robert Kaufman’s Essex Yarn Dyed (in Flax). Like mac n cheese, the two play so beautifully together. But then E V E R Y T H I N G plays beautifully with Essex! For the center piece I made my own pieced unit so I could use the little scrap of monkey I had. I chose to use the freezer paper method (which I learned how to do when I made my Treat Yo Self quilt from the Refrigerator Magnets Quilt Blocks pattern by Elizabeth) to make the trivet. By using the freezer paper, I was able to get my fussy cuts just perfect. Iron over what I wanted visible, and then trim it ¼” past the paper’s edge. Brilliant.

When I got to the Essex round, I stitched on large scraps, pressed…

…and then pressed on the freezer paper and lobbed off the fabric at ¼” past the paper’s edge.

Next round I did the same thing - pressed my freezer paper on to my fabric to fussy cut, and then cut ¼” past the paper’s edge, and then joined it to the hexagon.

After the yellow round, I did the same method as the previous round with Essex - stitched on, press freezer paper on, and then trim.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Bind.

I finished the trivet with some hand quilting.

GIVEAWAY #1
I have some fabulous goodies for my giveaway furnished to me by Robert Kaufman, Form & Fabric, Pellon and Aurifil
Robert Kaufman: Four half-yards of Essex Yarn Dyed
Form & Fabric: Bundle of sunshiny fabrics plus some their signature kick-ass stickers
Pellon: Sampler “color cards” of their batting and interfacing products
Aurifil: Thread, thread, glorious thread
Just leave a comment below and I’ll have random.org draw a winner on Thursday, August 22, 2013 around noon ish PST.

GIVEAWAY #2
Want to join in on the Zakka Along 2? Want to win some cool stuff? Be sure to visit A Quilter’s Table for the Zakka Along 2 for the link-up info and to enter for a Kawaii roll from Bunny’s Designs and other great prizes.

Want to zakka along, too? You can join in the fun at the Zakka Along 2 flickr group here. Check out the Zakka Along 2 tour’s past, present and future:
.June 3: Penny of Sew Take a Hike –> Bell Pepper Coasters
.June 10: Maureen of MC Handmade–> Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Towels
.June 17: Anna of Noodlehead –> Lettered Tea Cozy & Teabag Pouch
.June 24: Angela of Cut to Pieces –> Polka Dot Café Apron
.July 1: Lynne of Lily’s Quilts –> Diamond Patchwork Placemat
.July 8: Lindsey of LRstitched –> Yum Yum Apple Bib
.July 15: Sukie of Sukie Don’t Ya Know –> Dino-Mite Hat
.July 22: Jennifer of Ellison Lane –> Books for Baby Quilt
.July 29: Krista of Poppyprint –> My Scrappy Box
.Aug 5: Kerry of Very Kerry Berry –> Swedish Bloom Time Lap Quilt
.Aug 12: Tamiko of Patchwork Notes –> You’ve Got Mail Wall Pocket
.Aug 19: Monica of Happy Zombie –> Happy Hexagon Trivet
.Aug 26: Krista of Spotted Stone Studio –> Piece of Cake Shopping Bag
.Sep 2: Lori of Bee in My Bonnet –> Triangle Patchwork Box Pouch
.Sep 9: Amy of During Quiet Time –> Vintage Pencil Case
.Sep 16: Svetlana of SOTAK Handmade –> I Love My iPad Quilted Cover
.Sep 23: Amber of One Shabby Chick –> Handy Market Tote
.Sep 30: Debbie of A Quilter’s Table –> Sweet Trips Embroidery Pouch
.Oct 7: Leila of Where the Orchids Grow –> Prettified Pincushion
RESOURCES:.
Patchwork Please! book
- Author: Ayumi Takahashi
Giveaways:.
- Giveaway #1 at Happy Zombie
- Giveaway #2 at A Quilter’s Table
Zakka Along 2.0 :: Patchwork, Please!.
- Flickr Group
- Hosts Lindsey and Debbie
Promotions.
- Robert Kaufman
- Bunny’s Designs
- Form & Fabric
- Pellon
- Aurifil
Edited in: The giveaway has now ended, and using random.org for comments 1-498, the winner is #212 by montse (of Spain!!) from Montse Cose Cose. Congratulations, Montseta!! This giveaway could not be more international (Japan, Italy, USA and Spain!) - I love that!!