CHARM ABOUT YOU

This month's theme at le challenge was order. Something that we need lots of around here! I chose to use Noodleheads fabulous Divided Basket pattern to make a basket for all my rose star fabrics and papers (see an update on the quilt here).

For the main part of the basket I used Cactus Calico in Fiesta, Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt; the pocket is Wallflower in Piney Woods, Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt and the binding is Feathers in Grass, Sun Print by Alison Glass; the lining is Dotty curtain fabric in lime and the handles are cotton webbing.

It goes rather nicely with the thread catcher fabric basket I made last month!

So now everything's in order and I can get on with getting the quilt finished. I will try not to make another basket for next months link though I really could use these cute baskets in every room! 

Head over to le challenge to see what everyone else made and link up your 'order' projects (anything you've made this month that fits that theme). The new theme will be announced tomorrow.

There's been some happy dancing going on, partly because I've done a little productive sewing on projects I REALLY love and some secret sewing but here's what I can show you...

First up I have finally got the binding sewn on my feather quilt so just an epic amount of hand stitching it down and then I'll be able to show you the finish. I can tell you that the fusible wadding was amazing and I will definitely order more - it was still stuck while I sewed the binding and it's been through a lot since I have hand quilted it, constantly thrown it around and dragged it about! I can still feel a little stiffness so I will let you know what happens to that when I wash it. I'm madly in love with the Sun Print feathers I'm using for the binding (available here and here):

And after the initial hiccup of tracing the pattern the wrong way I've done some more needle turn applique. Now I will probably gasp in horror when I look at it in the future (you know when I've been doing it for the next thirty years) but for a first try I'm pretty happy with it and I had a lot of curves to do with those first pink/purple flowers. I am so thrilled I found Jan Patek's tutorials on YouTube, she explains things really well and is so entertaining - I've watched some of them a few times!

So a bit more to do on this one and then a couple more applique blocks to add to the butterfly quilt for my eldest daughter. I've had amazing butterfly blocks from my Bee A Brit Stingy mates and I will show you them all together when I get a chance.

Finally I did a happy dance tonight when I placed an order at the Fat Quarter Shop, they've got 30% off international shipping, so hurry and place your order it ends on the 6th. They've also got Bella Solids on sale (precuts, yardage and 108" wide - perfect for backings!) and 20% off the binding tool - one of my favourite notions! No codes required for discounts, they are applied automatically. So go shop and join the happy dancing!