Around the World Side Project

Some weeks ago, I explained here why I was restarting Around the World in 80 Stitches. That meant that I had a partially finished project. At first I thought I'd make the hearts into Christmas ornaments until a friend suggested an alternative I hinted at here.

Ta-Da!

 

I am so pleased with my box! After Denise suggested that the piece would be a great box top, I went to Hobby Lobby and found this wooden box. At a Baldy View EGA meeting, Laurie M. showed us how to use paint and Briwax to turn an inexpensive wooden box into something pretty. The mirror was already in the box. I painted the box light brown and then painted the outside with two coats of ivory. I sanded down the paint to let some of the brown show through, put two coats of dark brown Briwax on the outside and clear wax on the inside, and then lined the interior boxes with pretty paper and felt.

The box in process

I was happy that I could turn what I thought would be a loss into a really pretty gain. The pictures don't show how nice the finish looks. Thank you Laurie for teaching me how to do this. That skill let me turn a - get this - $7 BOX into something this pretty. Yup, seven whopping big ones after my 40% Hobby Lobby coupon. Another few dollars for the paint, some Warm&White and sandpaper while everything else came out of my stash.. I did buy the Briwax but I'd planned on getting that for something else anyway and wanted it for my stash too.

Cleopatra's Cat

Several of the local EGA members are doing a group correspondence course by Mary Long. This is a whopper (for me) project that is mounted on 16 inch x 20 inch stretcher bars.

The designer planned the project in blues but I have much more reds that blues in my stash so my cat will be red. It uses a lot of that pretty gold thread as a laid stitch under each section. Basically you lay gold thread across each row then stitch over it so that the gold peek out from between the more matte threads on top. It's a very pretty effect. I'm using the recommended canvas of eggshell and metallic gold too so it will really shimmer. I'm thinking the green for my kitty's eyes.