Fold Over Sewing Pouch

My chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild, the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild, is having a tiny piecing swap. Which means, as long as you include some tiny patchwork, you can make whatever you like, and we'll do a yankee swap to exchange items.

First I started by looking through this giant book of quilt blocks for inspiration, because I had been making a lot of stars recently for another swap and thought I should branch out.

(The stars are based on a pattern from Lynn Harris's book, Every Last Piece, which is amazing, beautiful, and thought provoking about some things I tend not to think about, scraps and stash. This particular star is *gasp* even smaller than the tiny stars in her quilt...)

And yet I didn't want anything too complicated, because, well, tiny!, so I ended up doing a fairly simple Seminole Patchwork style block with the two tiny bits of Lighthearted I had and three solid fabrics. Seminole patchwork is a way to make multiple intricate and repeating blocks using strip pieces, recut and positions and cut again. Elaine who blogs and instagrams at/as Messygoat has a good tutorial and overview if you're interested. (Also, you should check her out because she's amazing.)

I started with 1.25" strips cut from fat eights, four of the navy polka dot, four of a pink solid (bubblegum in cotton couture), and one of the floral, and sewed them in groups of three. Two polka dot - pink - polka dot, and one pink - floral - pink. Then I cut them into 1.25" units and reassembled them into checkerboards. Then I bisected a number of 3" grey squares, sewed them on the checkerboards and cut them down to size:

I ended up with five blocks at 3.75" unfinished, and saving two for the interior, I added some navy and pink (using the leftover Lori Holt bee print from this skirt) stripes to stretch the three blocks out, and then strips of floral and solid (because I measured the floral badly... Sigh).

And then I had the cover for a Fold Over Sewing Pouch, a cute pattern by Aneela Hoey. And one I'd made before, though this time I followed the whole pattern and added the pincushion and the needle book.

The inside needed to be pink. Obviously! But... here's the thing, I don't actually own a lot of fabric that is pink. But what I do own a lot of is Tula Pink Fabric! And wouldn't you know, the pink fabrics from Birds and the Bees is just the right pink!

So, it kind of got this amazingly expensive Tula Pink interior, which is hilarious. Plus I pieced the squirrel in upside down, and then used fusible fleece rather than batting, meaning I wast stuck with it, so I had to invert the positioning of the interior in order to make it appear right side up. Though the zipper then became upside down. But anyway! I would rather have someone use and enjoy this bit of highly desirable fabric in a sweet little sewing kit, than let it sit forever on the shelf (and it would be unthinkable to sell it!). And it's much more exciting as a thing than as a potential thing, isn't it?

Now I'll wrap it up for the meeting! Can't wait to see what everyone's made!