In The Box

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THIS!!!  THIS IS THE PICTURE I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!! 

You can see why!

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These were three of the boxes that were on the top shelf of my closet and hadn’t been touched in years. (The fourth was taxes from 2001-2014. I shredded them all.) I took them down to go through them and found the picture I had been looking for.

Over 34 years ago I worked at an art supply store. My dad brought me balloons for my birthday, and you can see my reaction. I kept the photo for years on my refrigerator and then things happened and I lost track of it.

I am SO HAPPY that I found it. It’s on my refrigerator again, so I can see it every day and smile!

Where the Box Lives

When my brother first proposed doing a swap for one of his boxes, my first thought was, where am I going to put it? Horizontal space is limited at my house.  But I had this table in my bedroom that partly covered a full length mirror I hated. Yes, Julie, that is one of your quilts.

 So the box lives there.

As soon as I saw the box in Colorado this past summer, I knew what I'd put in it.

Jewelry.  What else? I put some of my most favorite pieces in it. I covered the bottom of the box with a silk scarf so the interior wouldn't get scratched.

The top lift out tray has my high school class ring, an engraved silver thimble that belonged to my grandmother, some vintage pins from the 50's and 60's that were my Mom's, a much older vintage pin that belonged to my grandmother, a locket containing my goddaughter Violette's photo, some of my favorite one-of-a-kind pins, and yes, there's a five dollar bill in there too. For some reason I think a jewelry box always has to have some money in it.

My Colorado brother came over for dinner last night with my Mom and had to check it out. Here he is sniffing it to see if he can still smell the scent of the California Nutmeg that makes the box's bottom.

"It's funny," he said, "I've never seen it with anything in it."

The Box and The Shirt

The Box from my brother and sister-in-law, not surprisingly, arrived in a bigger box.

Removing the crushed paper and extra cardboard, I uncovered this. The box was wrapped in one of my brother's old corduroy shirts.

 Really. Notice the buttons on the shirt are all buttoned up!

I actually had to unbutton the shirt to get the box out. I texted my brother "You are too funny by half."

His reply? "You can keep the shirt."

I DON'T THINK SO!

Like I told one of my colleagues later, "I'm going to send the quilt to them wrapped in his shirt."

"Oh no," she replied. "You send it to them wrapped in one of YOUR shirts."

"Oooo... what a good idea!" I told her, "That's EVEN BETTER!!!" (Gee, I hope I have a shirt big enough to wrap around the quilt...)




Oh, you want to see pictures of the box itself? Sorry, gonna have to wait on that. I have some binding to sew.

The Box

This is the handmade box my brother P is trading me for the Colorado Quilt.

This is the inside. Isn't it lovely? I told you he made it, didn't I?

Here's a detail of the beautiful dovetails in one corner.

I already know where I am going to put it when it arrives. Since the quilt has to be quilted before I send it to Colorado, it will be a while before this makes the trip across the country.

I can be patient.

Update from my brother:
"The box is made with Mahogany, the bottom is California Nutmeg and the lid is Eastern Walnut. All the joinery is cut by hand with a small hand saw and chisel. When possible everything has a hand planed finish. There you have it."

Happy Mother's Day!

The mail in my development is left at the "Mail House" and packages are left in the main office. If I get a package, a note is left in my box alerting me.  Usually I know what's coming, but last week I found a "You have a package at the office" note in my box. I hadn't ordered anything.  What could it be?

Since I wasn't expecting anything, I didn't know what size package to look for. I was surprised to find a large box.

I laughed when I saw the "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL MOTHER'S DAY" written on the top.

Hmmm.

It's from a ceramics studio in Pennsylvania, and had an "Etsy" label. So I brought it in the house and put it in the office.  It wasn't heavy, and I don't think what's inside it is very big, but we'll see.

I told my friend Daniela about it and she exclaimed "And you didn't open it? I would have opened it right away"

Well, I didn't. I've had it here a week now, and I'll open it while FaceTiming my son and DIL later today.

I'll have the full reveal later.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hip to Be Square

One of the best ideas I ever got from a book about organization was to have a wastebasket in each room of the house. The idea was to encourage their use by simply having them where needed. I have followed this advice, and can tell you it really helps keep rooms clean.

In a book about home crafting, I found a suggestion to use an empty tissue box as a tabletop waste receptacle for bits of thread, fabric scraps and broken pins. It sounded like a good idea, so I started using one. But empty tissue boxes are flimsy, big and often kinda homely.

At one of the home goods stores I found some pretty boxes for a couple of dollars.I bought a couple, and placed one one the bookcase behind my ironing table. Very handy. I keep another one on my sewing table.Then I moved the bookcase to another wall. I didn't have a place to put the box, until I realized I could hang it from the magnetic knife holder with a metal clip.
Then I got a better idea. I hung it from a small picture hook attached to the wall behind the ironing table. This keeps it high and out of the way. It also leaves me more space on the magnetic rack.It's handy, it works, and it's pretty!