Speedy snails are good luck

This may well be the fastest turnaround from receiving fabric in the mail, picking a project to do, finishing it, and then blogging about it!

I needed a bright and cheery pencil tray to bring some order to my really scattered desk at work.
I remembered Pink Penguin's organizer basket tutorial and figured I'd give it a go. Then.. fabric selection. I wanted to use up some "new" fabric before that heady first-love rush wore off. ;)  I just got  Kate Spain's Good Fortune (my first ever full-collection FQ set ever*!) One of the fan prints, which I liked much better in fabric than online, went perfectly with Essex linen in putty.  Once I made the match, there was no going back. 

The inside is quilted to some W&N batting with diagonal zig zags through the fan print. I tied the corners with perle cotton (size 8) and used the "leftover" for a loopy doodle through the Essex only.  Not sure if I'm going to keep it in or take it out. Maybe it needs a dragonfly. ;)

I think I have trouble with keeping exterior and interior the same size, because the baggy quilted inside sort of bugs me. I will probably do my trick of sewing lining to exterior next time... but for now, it's done and usable!

As an aside, one of my poor rulers (non quilting) suffered some damage. I managed to sew through it while I was quilting the inside! The machine thought it was just fine... so let that be a statement to how strong the Janome is: Soft plastic is no match!

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(*Julie at the Intrepid Thread had some terrific pricing, so I splurged! I am still designing a quilt that will use all or most of the prints, but in the meantime...)