Better Late Than Pepper

Only a week or so late.....

I have had a busy June so far. And, the  projects that I found time to work on  have been lots of fun and personally rewarding . 

Last night, I was able to finish  work on the first Zakka 2.0 project.  The first Zakka  sew along looked like  so much fun, that  I wanted to join in on projects that I have time to do.

Lindsey,  at LR Stitched, and Deb ,  at A Quilter's Table,  are the weekly hosts.  Every week a new project is introduced, from the book, and we get to see everyone's version of the project on a Zakka 2.0 Flickr page. 
By the way,   Ayumi, the author of the book, explains that 'zakka' refers to objects that improve your home, life, or appearance.  (The book is available at BN.com and Amazon.com.)

The Zakka 2.0  Book Sew Along

Week One:  Bell Pepper Coaster

Since I began this project late, I got to read some excellent suggestions and gain  insights from other bloggers!
My two "go- to first gals", Amy  of  Amy Made That!  and Amanda of The Patchsmith  showed their peppers on their blogs.

Amanda's Bell Pepper Coasters

Amy's Bell Pepper Coasters

I decided  to use the freezer paper for the patterns, as Amy suggested.  Then I gathered up all of my red, green, orange and yellow fabrics that I thought I could pair up together .  I even had some scraps of a novelty pepper fabric, with a black background.  I made the stems from brown fabric ( 1 1/2 inch wide folded so no raw edges, sewing the folded sides together to become about 3/8 wide.)

I made my orange pepper first.  I must admit I was distracted that night, and doing too many things at one time.  I got the freezer paper part right,  but totally ' missed'  the concept that I should sew the shapes first, before cutting them out and turning them inside out.  As a result, my orange pepper was not as sharp around the edges as I would like.  But it was a great learning tool.  And I used scraps of the black pepper fabric for the back of the orange pepper.

I made it hard to turn 'right side out' by not understanding the directions the first time

 Several days later, I made the other 3 peppers.  This time, I knew what was going to happen, and had so much fun making them.  They turned out much neater, happily!

I used freezer paper for the templates

I used freezer paper for the templates

 

I used scraps of Pellon FF 987 for the batting on the front piece

All of my little peppers in a row

The backs of the peppers.  See the pepper fabic (black background)

Close up of the backs

Happily  , I had improved while making the peppers!

My pile of peppers

Which one do you like best, Whiskers?

I liked this project, because after I figured out how to make the peppers, they did not take long to make.  And there is a lot of flexibility to make them with ANY kind of fabric!  Hop on over to the Flickr page to see what they are making!

Yay!  I am officially in the Zakka 2.0 Book Sew Along now!  

"I'm a pepper.... you're a pepper, and if you drink "zakka" pepper, YOU can be a "zakka" pepper, too! "   *  Dr Pepper ad reference link 

(Sorry folks for that horrible pun!  It kept going around in my head while I made my bell peppers.)

I'm off to my sewing room!