Thinking inside--and outside--the box

I went rummaging in my studio/office the other day, trying with no success to find a couple of models. They had a somewhat limited audience, and it occurred to me that perhaps I had never unpacked them from our move from Texas three and a half years ago. So I dove into a couple of packing boxes and came up empty-handed in terms of my initial search. But I also discovered a treasure-trove: three Sudberry House boxes of different sizes and a hand mirror, all in their original shrink-wrap. Pretty cool, huh?

There's little more intriguing--to me, anyway--than a brand-new box awaiting a lid insert! And I also needed a present for someone special. So after considering and rejecting a number of design options, I settled on a crazy quilt pattern. I've used the concept for several "Eggs for All Seasons" and enjoyed both the planning and the stitching.

The particular Sudberry House box I'll be using is the company's Petite Round Walnut model, which takes a 3-1/2 inch lid insert. I worked out the design on graph paper, using the trusty compass I inherited from my father to make sure the circle was perfectly round. Through trial and error--there are very few decent erasers in our house, thanks to me--I then worked out the placement of the various quilt segments. Only then was I ready to transfer the design to canvas.

My color scheme will be blues, pinks and white, and while the stitches I'll be using have already been "built in," the colors I've used to paint the canvas are not hard and fast. I've pulled four values each of the pinks and blues in DMC cotton floss and have a few different shades of metallic threads from which to choose, so I'll work out which color goes where as I stitch along.