Every Bloom is Charmed

Every Bloom is Charmed by Blackbird Designs was released at the Country Sampler Retreat 2023. It was given to me as a gift. It was designed to be mounted on top of a dark brown rectangular basket (SKU 171389-L) from Hobby Lobby. The recommended fabric was 36ct Heartland by Picture This Plus.

A number of years ago, I had purchased two of the wooden jewelry boxes (SKU: 648196) from Hobby Lobby to use in other projects. I decided this would be a perfect project to stitch this one for and mount on the top.

I chose a piece of 28ct white Monaco I had in my stash to stitch this one one so it would be the perfect size. I am using the floss that came with the kit although stitching with two strands rather than one so I will need to add more floss. I also plan on using something to antique the fabric after I finish stitching.

Started Stitching:
Finished Stitching:

Once I finished stitching the pieces, I decided to leave the fabric as is rather than antiquing it. I stretched and laced it on top of a piece of matboard with one layer of batting. Monaco is a rather stiff fabric, so the corners are more rounded than sharp points, but I am happy with how it turned out. I am really pleased with the basket itself.

Next up is painting the box. I plan on using a blue or gold acrylic paint.

I decided on Colonial Blue because none of the shades of gold was what I was looking for.

I can see I need to do some touchup work on the inside paint. I used a pale, pale blue cardstock cut to size on the bottom of each of the sections. I may either remove it or change it out to a different color in the future, but it will do for now. The fabric backing for the top of the inside is my choice from the three pieces I had that matched the paint color.