Book Review ~ Animal Friends to Sew

I have been given a chance to review this delightful book, Animal Friends to Sew by Sanae Ishida. She is known for her award winning book Sewing Happiness.

In her new book, she offers up 15 projects with 35 variations (they are beginner-friendly!) of items inspired by the beautiful simplicity of Japanese and Scandinavian design.

Even though I don't have a little one to sew these items for at home, I had fun looking through the pages. In the book there is cute decor and everything from fun toys to adorable wearables. Here are some of my favorites from the book:

Imagine how fun it would be to use these place mats! Little helpers might want to set the table.

I adore these shoes! Why can't kids stay small to wear stuff like these?

Then these... I LOVE these hooded capes. Beautiful and whimsical designs like these make me imagine all the good things about being a child; being in the moment and just having fun.

Are you intrigued? You can find the book on Amazon if you would love to see the other projects in the book. Happy sewing everyone!

Tall Tales Quilt Pieced

I have been making some cute paper piecing blocks here and there when I had time and I finally finished piecing the whole quilt last weekend!

I happened to see these adorable book quilt blocks many months ago on Instagram and found the pattern at Quilt with Kate.

Look how fun these blocks are!

It was such a fun process to make these blocks. I went through my stash to see what kind of "book covers" I could make... one of the fun parts was to look at prints and decide where and how to cut out designs from my fabric for the perfect front cover. I wanted to create something I would want on my bookshelves. I am finished piecing mine, but now I am thinking about making another one for my sister who is a big bookworm. She and I have very different taste in style, so I can totally see in my mind's eye that her Tall Tales Quilt would look different from my floral feminine one.

Now, I am going to think about how I am going to quilt it, but already I have a great idea for a quilt tag on the back (grin). I can't wait to share the finished quilt!