Handbag Workshop by Anna M. Mazur

Handbag Workshop: Design and Sew the Perfect Bag

To be released: October 14, 2014

If, like me, your idea of making a purse has thus far been sticking an outside fabric and a lining together, adding a zipper, and a plain strap AND you find that you might be able to go a LITTLE more advanced — this book is not for you. 

The beginner section is more like intermediate.  There’s leather, suede, frames, hand stitching details like chains onto the bag.  Not really something that most “Beginners” would be comfy with. 

That said,  if you are more advanced and not afraid of tougher fabrics, lots of little tweaks, etc you could use the patterns (18 total) to make bags as nice or nicer than some designer bags. 

* Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost in order to review it. I offered no guarantee of a positive review, though I only request books I think I'll like because why read a book you think you’ll hate?

Lucky Spool's Essential Guide to Modern Quilt Making

Lucky Spool's Essential Guide to Modern Quilt Making: From Color to Quilting: 10 Design Workshops by Your Favorite Teachers

The first lesson in this book is on color — dissecting colors, explaining hues / values / etc.  It was something I must admit, I skimmed.  The best advice here was to consult color wheels and a reminder that there are no rules (though you do want to stay within tasteful ranges, hopefully). 

The second lesson follows up on the first lesson by explaining what solids can offer.  This course seeks to remind you that solids can enhance prints or can be used to create patterns.

Lesson three takes a different approach, focussing on prints.  

Lesson four teaches us about improvisational patchwork.  Probably my favorite chapter.  It encourages sort of an organized chaos kind of quilting.  Good for people like me who only barely sew and who find advanced techniques either intimidating or too time consuming and frustrating.  This chapter/lesson really screamed “I am for everyone”.

Next up was The Alternative Grid.  There was a lot of negative space here as well as traditional quilting spaces tweaked just slightly to look more modern. 

Circles and curves was up next.  A chapter where the title along frighted me.  This lesson did little to make me feel more comfortable about working with things like circles but for those who love torturing themselves with such things, there are a few nice ideas here, though nothing here is a  super memorable standout.  

Paper Piecing - this is probably the best eye candy chapter.  Instructions here will show you how to do things like make a dress and stiletto heel out of fabric.

Large Scale piecing -  This focussed on blocks that were larger than 12”.

Modern Machine Quilting - here they focus on the ability to do some fancy stitching — some of which is more complicated than others.  While I am in total awe of some of the stitching patterns here, I don’t think I feel any more confident about actually trying them just from reading this.  

A study of Modern Quilts - pictures and blurbs of 50 quilts.  Could be inspiring or just filler… 

Overall I am unsure of who this book is for.  For advanced quilters this would be quite the unnecessary book.  For beginners it seems either too boring or too advanced.  Perhaps for the intermediate quilter or those who like eye candy and the occasional tip and trick (those do exist here but I am not sure there’s enough unique  ideas here). 

A decent book but not a must add to most collections, 

* Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost in order to review it. I offered no guarantee of a positive review, though I only request books I think I'll like because why read a book you think you’ll hate?

Flip Dolls & Other Toys That Zip, Stack, Hide, Grab & Go by Laura Wilson

Flip Dolls & Other Toys That Zip, Stack, Hide, Grab & Go

This book is broken up into sections.  The first 25 or so pages explain how the book came to be, what supplies you’ll need and a brief history of flip dolls. 

Next up is the “Zip & Stack” section which includes a stacking tree, nesting flowers, elephant parade, cheshire cat, smiling crocodile, and sly fox.  All of these either utilize zippers or stacking methods to make them unique.   The elephant and trees are rates easy while the others in this section are moderate.

Next is “Hide, Seek, & Go” which includes a peekaboo turtle, getaway car, bouncy bunny, gulp the whale, winged horse, and nuts n’ bolts robot.  Pretty self explanatory.  The Turtle hides in or out of his shell.  Bouncy Bunny uses elastic to make him go.  Etc.  These are all rated at the moderate skill level.    

“Show & Tell” features items that are more for display than play.  Good Times watch, bright ideas computer, plucky ukulele, crabby crab, knotty frog, perching bird, lie detector.  All of these are listed within the moderate skill range.  The best one here is the bright ideas computer — a cloth computer where the screen is a window just big enough to fit a photo, blank pages, art work, even a small sketchbook.

The “Flip & Turn” section is likely the one that people will buy the book for.  The dolls that are a two in one flip.  These dolls flip inside out instead of upside down.  Cat-Fish, Secret Message chat bubbles, The caterpillar and the butterfly, George and the dragon, The owl and the pussycat, Superhero, Vampire-Bat, Circus flip.  There are a mix of easy, moderate, and advanced in this section.  

The book includes templates for all projects in the back — you’ll need a way to enlarge them.  

These 27 projects are all adorable. I wish it had focussed more on the flip and turn and hide and seek but I could see how those could feel repetitive.  The skill levels feel mostly right.  I never seem to move out of beginner without lots of 4 letter words being involved but some of these moderate seem fine for me. 

* Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost in order to review it. I offered no guarantee of a positive review, though I only request books I think I'll like because why read a book you think you’ll hate?

Brazilian Bracelets by Florence Bellot

Brazilian Bracelets: Making Friendship Bracelets & More

Good instructions for the bracelets provided.  The most advanced item here is a hair wrap.  The simplest include thin bracelets using only a few strands.  If you grew up making these, you'll find the classics (v, x, and/or stripes).  There are directions for adding beads to your designs.

My biggest issue with this book is that some of the directions feel incomplete for people truly new to the craft.  One example would be the first braid instruction (3 strands).  How to braid is not included in techniques.  If someone has never braided anything before then this book will be of no help as the directions for a simple braid (which tell you it's not rocket science)  simply state "begin to braid".   The more advanced 4 braid bracelet is just as bad (a braid I never bothered doing so this would be of no help to me).

Most of the other instructions are more clear, including pictures to at least start your design).

A good book for those wanting to learn the craft, but you may need to learn some of the techniques in detail before starting.

* Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost in order to review it. I offered no guarantee of a positive review, though I only request books I think I'll like because why read a book you think you’ll hate?

Crafty book freebies

Kindle : Host The Ultimate Halloween Party: Low Cost Scary Tips, Tricks, And Ideas For Your Halloween Party - it's that time of the year so put on a great DIY Halloween party!

Kindle:  Pink Little Lady Amigurumi Crochet Pattern - an adorable pattern booklet for making just the one little doll.

Kindle:  Incredible Cardboard! - Got a bunch of boxes lying around? Don't know what to do with all of that cardboard? Search through this book for ideas.

Kindle:   25 Cool Things to Do with Wine Bottles - had a bottle or two of wine recently and don't want to throw the bottles away? Find re-purposing ideas for them here.

None of the books were available as NOOK freebies at the time of this post, or I'd have included links to them as well.  Please check the price of the book before you click buy - freebies come and go.

Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys: Magical Two-in-One Reversible Projects

Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys: Magical Two-in-One Reversible Projects By Susan B. Anderson

Projects in this book are as follows: Happy Mouse, Sad Mouse, Egg to Penguin, Egg to Alligator, Chrysalis to Monarch, Pigs in a Blanket, Flower Fairy in A tulip, Bunny & Lamb, Snowman & Tree, The Fox & the Hen, Dog in the Doghouse, Squirrel & the Hedgehog, Top-Down Seamless Petticoat Dolls (aka a classic Topsy-Turvy doll).

 While this book states that beginners can tackle some projects, as a beginner I’m going to say that you probably want to get some projects under your belt before you attempt these. Even the easiest project (Happy / Sad Mouse) requires some nimble talented knitting fingers when starting the project and while doing things like adding on the ears. That said, I don’t think you need to be a pro knitter either. As long as you’ve worked yourself into a status of being comfortable with knitting concepts you’re ready to use this book. There are not many tips and tricks here, so please do get some practice in before diving into this book, I am. Otherwise Happy Mouse, Sad Mouse might simply make you sad sad sad (the author even warns you that you should visit YouTube or some knitting websites if you do not have basics down).



There are no duds here though some will wow you more than others. Some of these I can see getting a lot of play from kids and adults alike while others probably won’t be turned all topsy-turvy quite as often (who wants to see an egg when you have a cute penguin waiting for you on the other side?). Still, every single project here makes me want to practice knitting so that I am pro enough to be able to knit these all in my sleep and give them to everyone I know, they're all just too cute!

* Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost in order to review it. I offered no guarantee of a positive review, though I only request books I think I'll like so as not to waste my time.