For the last couple months I’ve participated in the Mini Series Sew Along with Alison Glass and Giuseppe Ribaudo (Giucy Giuce). I’ve admired these tiny paper pieced blocks ever since the patterns were released, so the sew along was just the motivation I needed to finally make them!
I chose to go with a totally scrappy look, pulling fabrics nearly at random from my scrap bins. I tried to structure each block to have warm and cool sections to help the different motifs stand out. Some turned out better than others, but I enjoyed the process of making each one.
In order to get the official finisher’s pin, I needed to use the 8 blocks in a finished project — or projects! — by the end of May. I didn’t want a mini quilt, so I chose to use my blocks in three different ways instead.
I turned two of them into postcards as part of my 100 Day Project, and two more became 4″ coasters for my sewing room. For the coasters, I used Yvonne’s mini mini quilt binding tutorial and it was quite helpful!
I used the final 4 blocks to make myself a Modern Japanese Rice Pouch, aka komebukuro. This pattern by Karen Stevens was simple and fun to make. I made the 8″ square version, and had a lot of fun piecing fabric and blocks together for the exterior and then embellishing with a bit of hand stitching using the new Alison Glass perle cotton thread from Wonderfil.
In the first photo where Charlotte is holding the bag, you can see how I used cheap polyester rope/cording for the drawstrings. That was all I had, but I didn’t like the rough feel and stark white color. I ordered some cotton ribbon from Brooklyn Haberdashery, which is much softer and fits the aesthetic of the bag much better. Perfect!
This is the second Alison Glass sew along I’ve done, after starting with her Trinket quilt last year. She’s one of my favorite designers, and I hope there’ll be another fun sew along next year!
Tiny pieces, your blocks are so pretty! 😍
I participated in this sew along, also. Love your finished minis, plus your finished rice bag.