Scrappy Mountains Pouch

Finally finished up this paper piecing project that I started back in April, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

After I made and posted the first panel, a friend of mine told me that she wanted the pouch I was making for her mother… who in her 80s continues to buy season ski passes each winter and dearly loves the mountains.

I let my friend pick out the fabric for the body of the pouch. I really wasn’t sure I liked the light blue, but now that it’s done I’m really happy with it. It feels like a really cold winter afternoon. . . almost dark. It feels crisp and clean to me, and I can almost smell the mountains that I miss so much.

The mountains are based of off the Scrappy Mountains paper piecing templates that I purchased a few months ago. They include a lot of variations of mountain designs, with several different sizes. I’ve seen some really fun fabric combos used on these by different people.

I made each pouch panel from two different templates. I put them together with more of the darker blue sky fabric, and did some improv piecing at the bottom with a dark green batik to give the effect of foot hills.

One of the things I love about this pouch is that all four mountains are different. There are a lot of options with these templates.

I debated about how to quilt this pouch. I wanted to quilt it because I feared that once washed, the paper piecing would be a mess. I wanted quilting to keep it all in place and manage all those seam allowances. I finally landed on straight line quilting, and I’m really glad I decided to go that way.

Someone recently was surprised that one of my pouches had a pieced panel on both sides of the pouch. I was so surprised by this! I just assumed that everyone did the same thing. I love having both sides complete with the design. It just makes it a nicer product.

I’m having so much fun with the little paper piecing I’ve done. There are some really amazing things out there that far exceed my skill level. But I’m getting better. I have plans to incorporate more paper pieced panels in future pouches.