Make a Quilt Covered Container for Organization

Spruce up your desk for spring with a quilt covered container. This container is made using a recycled vegetable can and scraps from an old cutter quilt. The surface is decorated with an appliqued die-cut flower cut from a scrap of wallpaper. The decorative stitching is a combination of sewing machine stitches using pink thread and hand-embroidered stitches using embroidery floss.

Make several shabby chic containers to organize a wide variety of small office supplies or place them on a dressing table to corral barrettes, make-up and cosmetic applicators.

Things You Will Need:

Cutter quilt scraps
Ruler
Scissors
Pencil
Cricut (optional)
Wallpaper scrap
Stick glue
Pink thread
Sewing machine
Button
Hand-sewing needle and thread
Standard-size vegetable can
Hot glue gun
Straight pins
Embroidery needle
Embroidery floss

Step 1
Cut a 5 1/2-inch wide by 10-inch long rectangle from an old cutter quilt. Lay the quilt with the wrong side up. Stand the vegetable can on the quilt and trace around it. Cut out the circle.

Step 2
Cut a basic flower of your choice from a wallpaper scrap using a Cricut machine, or trace a flower shape and cut it out by hand. For a flower cut out on the Cricut, adjust the setting to cut a 3 1/2-inch flower. For a hand-traced flower, enlarge or reduce the shape using a scanner/printer or a copy machine.

Step 3
Lay the quilt rectangle on your work surface with the right side facing up. Turn the rectangle so that the top and bottom edges are the long edges. Apply stick glue to the back of the paper flower. Center the flower on the rectangle.

Step 4
Applique the flower to the rectangle using pink thread and the blanket stitch or zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine.

Step 5
Hand-sew a button to the center of the flower.

Step 6
Wrap the length of the rectangle around the vegetable can with the wrong side facing out. Do not overlap the ends. Pin the two short ends together with the right sides matching. This will mark your seam allowance. Slide the tube off of the can. Sew the pinned edges together. Turn the tube right side out being careful not to tear or wrinkle the paper flower.

Step 7
Slide the tube back onto the can. Center the can inside the tube with an even amount of the fabric extending from each end. Hot glue the excess at the top to the inside of the can. Clip 1/2-inch wide slits around the fabric on the bottom of the can. Hot glue the slits to the bottom of the can.

Step 8
Pin the quilt circle to the bottom of the can. Hand-embroider a blanket stitch around the circle using embroidery floss. Hand embroider a blanket stitch around the top rim of the can to finish.