Gift Finishes: Covered Boxes and Cross Stitches

 

I stitched this seven-inch round piece as a Christmas gift for my eldest granddaughter, Marian. When I saw the pattern at Liberty Hill Needleworks, it immediately reminded me of Mari and her little dog. The wintry wreath reminded me of our ice skating adventure in Vermont last year. So, none other than Mari should have this embroidery.

The biggest challenge with a round embroidery is how to finish it off. I could not find a good quality round frame anywhere. The designer of the pattern had this displayed an embroidery hoop. I thought it worthy of something more substantial than an embroidery hoop display. Since I could not find a frame, my next thought was to attach it onto the lid of a Shaker box. Another exhaustive search yielded no round Shaker boxes that were the right size. Finally, I went with the idea of attaching it to a round paper maché box. I found a website (Factory Direct Craft) that carries all shapes and sizes of paper maché boxes and I ordered a few from there. 

I covered the box with some pretty, coordinating fabric in the "Merry Little Christmas" line by Tilda fabrics. I lined the inside of the box as well. For all my fabric covered boxes, I use Mod Podge for Fabric. (I fell so in love with the Tilda fabrics that I bought enough to make a quilt.)

Once I got playing with fabrics and paper maché boxes, I decided to cover some smaller boxes I already had on hand. My friend Kay had an adorable pincushion in her craft studio that she made a while ago. She told me how to make it and off I went! I needed a gift for our rug hooking group's gift exchange and I thought a set of two little boxes would be lovely. I had so much fun making the first set that I went on and made another set for me. : ) I topped the red set with a velvet pincushion and the blue set with a wool pincushion. I will fill the blue gift set with some notions before I wrap it.

 Finally, I made a little "Winter" pillow to give in another crafting gift exchange. My daughter Chelsea saw the pillow in a video chat we were having and said how much she liked and and could I send her the pattern. I decided to send her the pillow itself as a cheery little gift. She is a hard-working mother to three little boys and what mother couldn't use a surprise gift in the mail? I figured I could make something else for the gift exchange.

 So that was my busy week last week. On to more crafting adventures before Thanksgiving arrives! Claire's family will be here for the holiday so next week's focus will joyfully be food and family.