The Lone Starburst Pouch

Now that Rebecca has (finally) received the pouch I made for her for our mini-swap, I (finally) get to share it! This was obviously a very long time in the making...I actually started with this... 

 

...a Fancy Folded Star.  I love how it was turning out, but it was just too bulky to make into a pouch.  I had to come up with a new plan so I searched for something with a similar textured kind of look...enter The Lone Starburst! I found the tutorial at Six White Horses for this block.  I felt like it still had the same feel to it as the folded star, but much more appropriate to use in a pouch.  I wound up shrinking the pattern by 50% which made the paper piecing quite tricky, but it was fun to put together.  Luckily we had a little sun this weekend so I was able to sneak in some decent pictures.

I finished it off with some hand stitching around the star, I think it gives it a nice textured look. 

Check out my zipper tabs! Not perfect, but getting better...I still can't quite get them totally squared off.  Any suggestions? 

Finishing the back is something that I floundered on for a while and is probably why it took me so long to finish...I didn't want to overwhelm the pouch with another patchwork something-or-other on the back, but I didn't want it to be plain either, so I did some more hand stitching in an angled pattern to give just a little bit of interest. 

I finished the whole thing off with a matching key fob...I have recently become obsessed with these and want to make them with any excuse I can find so of course she had to have one...

I had a lot of fun making this, I was pretty nervous at first to try to come up with something that Rebecca would appreciate (and to make it good since she is so talented!), and in the end I really like how this turned out.  It was definitely out of my comfort zone a little bit what with all the hand stitching, but I think I'm improving! Maybe soon I will break away from just the straight quilting lines and try some other embroidery ;-)

I am linking up with Katie at There and Back for The Handmade Parade this week.  Always a good place to go see what some other people are up to for some hand stitching inspiration!!