My Quilted Business Card

I just got a Christmas present!  Better late than never.

My girlfriend Beth took the Quiltboxes business card with a tumbling block design on it and made a quilt out of it!  And embroidered the logo and signature that’s branded into every box, how cool!

The gift was not a surprise; she’s been sewing it right next to me evenings in front of the TV.  It was a real education for me, I’m amazed at the time and patience required to hand quilt.  One night she decided that she didn’t like the too-solid looking line of the machine stitching and pulled it all out so she could hand quilt the whole thing.

We found the fabric at Mad River Quilting in Waitsfield Vermont.  Beth was looking for something reminiscent of wood grain and matching the tones of the business card. The group of fabrics is called “Stonehenge”.

We plan on hanging it in our tent/booth at all craft shows we attend.   It’s a great and beautiful gift.

Mother's Day Giveaway!

This year our Mother's Day give-away is a recipe box. The pattern is called "Albany", and if your number comes up on Saturday, May 5th, you'll have a very merry Cinco de Mayo! I like to think the pattern comes from Albany, NY since I live near and work in that city. There are, however, many other cities named Albany. Please post to the Quiltboxes Facebook page if you think you know where this pattern originates. The Albany quilt block is, of course, extrapolated out to make it a rectangle, but those in the know will be able to tell.

As always, this box is hand-crafted here in Poestenkill, NY. I've used Walnut burl all over, with Tamo (Japanese Ash) and red Maple burl in the quilt block pattern, and these are the natural colors of the wood. I can ship this in time for a Mother's Day gift, but this would make great bridal shower gift as well or 5th anniversary gift. It even comes with a set of 4x6 recipe cards.

If you're not on the Quiltboxes email list, you're not entered in the contest yet. If you live in the U.S. or Canada, sign up now using the form at the top right of this page before May 5th! More hand-made wooden recipe boxes are being added each day to the Quiltboxes Art Fire Store. A coupon code for 15% off recipe boxes until Mother's Day is in my latest newsletter, so get on that list, and I'll send you the discount code as well!! You'll be automatically entered in future contests and receive future coupons too.

The Five Inch Cube, Wrapped!

I've been kicking this idea around for a while. How do I achieve the look of a quilt, not just one quilt block? The answer may be my new 5” cube box.

Here is the prototype. I started with Greek Cross because it’s a simple design to cut so if I crashed and burnt there wouldn’t have been too great a loss in time. I’m pleased how it turned out though. The tough part is getting the pattern on the sides to work across the seam between the top and bottom of the box.

This box has figured Eucalyptus as the background with Redwood burl in the curved elements and figured Walnut for the triangles. Velvet on the inside bottom will be standard in the 5” cubes as well as free shipping. Each side looks exactly the same but proper alignment of the pattern still requires a small registration “button” that will allow the box to close only with the correct orientation. The box is made by hand, not by robot after all. More on the way! Then I’ll be starting my big production of boxes for the coming year, two new sizes this year.

Fumed Oak

I’ve been looking around for some darker woods to add to the deep tones in my quilt block compositions and a sales man at my favorite veneer house sent me a sample of fumed oak. Five minutes on the internet and I’m making it myself!

Oak has an acid in it called Tannic acid that can be darkened by exposing the wood to ammonia. A higher concentration than house hold ammonia is recommended but that sounded kind of dangerous so I just used the stuff from the supermarket and had great success, it takes longer that’s all.

I used this oak in my Valentines heart boxes that are in my Art Fire store HERE.

Here are before and after pictures of a piece of nice oak burl. It’s colored all the way through!

Right now I’m gearing up to start making my “blank” boxes I’ll use for the rest of the year so apologies if nothing new appears in my shop for a while. Meanwhile keep a weather eye out for that first Robin of spring!

The winner is...

Sandy Allen of Missouri won the giveaway box! I posted on Facebook but forgot to here.
One more thanks for all the sharing that was done. I got about 40 new sign ups to the news letter, and of course the giveaways.

Marcia asked where I got the Trenton block from that's on this page. It's from the encyclopedia of pieced quilt patterns. A nice two color/wood design.

New Year's Day Giveaway

Here’s a peek at the New Year’s Day giveaway box.

It’s a 4” box with the quilt block Weathervane on top.
The wood all over and on top is called quilted Makore (Mack-or-ay) and it looks like pink satin! The striped wood is Bolivian rosewood also called Santos.
And the lighter wood is burl Oak.

I’ll draw the winner out of my newsletter list on New Year’s Day. If you know someone who might like a chance at it tell them to go to the blog (Quiltboxes.com) and sign up. Don’t think of it as reducing your chances of winning think of it as…well, as…well do it for me. ;-)

New Ornaments From Quiltboxes!

Just in the nick of time for Christmas we’ve come up with a gift for your tree!Our new holiday ornaments are made of the same amazing and exotic wood veneers you’ll find on our boxes. At the center is a layered hardwood core, and on the face a gorgeous quilt block pattern. We love these ornaments because they let us try non-square quilt block patterns, and also use beautiful pieces of wood that are too small for boxes.

To celebrate the new ornaments, we’ll be giving away this “Modernistic Star” on Sunday the 18th. The ornament is our XL size, about 4 ½” tall by 4” wide. The woods used are Walnut, Bubinga, Cherry and curly Maple.

If you’re not registered for the newsletter and giveaways you can do it now on the right side of this page. If you’re already on our mailing list, you do not need to register again.
Click here to see the ornaments currently available for sale.