Happy Monday everybody!

I’d like to share a few photographs of my latest creation with you. I hope you like it 🙂

I let you have a sneak preview in my Work in Progress Report a few days ago and the quilt is now finished.

I’ve used a Moda charm pack called Rose Parade with white Moda Bella Solids. There were a couple of problems with this design. The first being that when I opened the charm pack I didn’t like it! I love Moda fabrics!! How could I possibly not like this range? Well, I suppose it was because the colours didn’t blend or coordinate at all and I just didn’t know how they could work together. After much deliberation, I decided not to mix them up and divided the fabrics into different piles of “mostly yellow”, “mostly red” and so on.

This turned out to be a good idea because I had 6 piles. Counting them up posed the second problem. The turquoise pile had 8 squares and the red pile had 6 squares (and one of those I really didn’t like because it wouldn’t conform to my “mostly” sorting rule).

Solution?? Discard the extra turquoise one and the one I don’t like for now (I’ll incorporate those into a pillow later) and make two more Gift Box blocks with Moda Bella Solids Christmas Red. Sorted 😀 Now this is breaking my rule of trying to use a charm pack per quilt but the pillow idea will suffice on this occasion.

If you want to see how I made the blocks, just look back through my recent posts for tutorials.

Here are some close ups.

I’ve densely quilted around the gift boxes with gorgeous King Tut 40 weight thread on both the top and in the bobbin. The result is that the boxes have really “popped”. Believe it or not, that was my intention 🙂

Now, I know this block is not really called Gift Box but I just had to rename it because as soon as I rearranged my pinwheels (that is how this block was born) it reminded me of the origami gift boxes I’ve been making since I was a child. I hope you can see the resemblance.

As is the norm with origami, these boxes have no glue or sticky tape, just paper. They are quite sturdy and can be made tiny, a perfect size for holding a chocolate Christmas pudding truffle from you know where…… or you can make them as big as you like.

Here are the very easy instructions with photos in case you want to try to make one 🙂

All folds need to be precise and pressed firmly along the edges. It is best to keep your work flat on a table. If you insist on doing folds up in the air, you’ll probably make a mess and then hear me saying “Put it on the table”. Mine was made really quickly so you can do much better than this, I’m sure!

Start with 6 squares of paper. Mine are made from A4 paper and they must be square. You need to follow the same instructions with all six squares.

Fold in half. It doesn’t matter which way.

Open back up and fold each side into the middle to meet the first fold line.

Take the top right corner and fold it down to meet the left side. It needs to make a sharp point at the top left.

Turn 180 degrees (don’t turn it over) and repeat with the top right corner.

Lift up the big triangle and tuck it under the left side. Push it all the way in. It should use the fold you have just made and lie nice and flat.

Turn 180 degrees and do the same again.

Now, see those two little triangle flaps? Fold them back on the fold line and tuck them inside. Don’t fold them round the back (common mistake). They need to be tucked inside.

So, this is the front.

And this is the back.

Almost there. See the cross on the front? Well, that makes one square face of the box. The top and bottom triangles need to be folded down to meet the next corner along the long side.

Here is one face completed. You need to make sure you have a square with a cross facing outwards.

You need to make 6 pieces like this for one box. Oooh, this photo is quite Etsyesque me thinks 🙂

Now, the next part can be quite tricky until you have made one of these boxes and you can see how it goes together. Just remember, every time you add another piece, there should be no triangles flapping around inside the box and there should be no holes. If you do get a triangle flap inside,  take the offending piece out, turn it 90 degrees and put it back in. Triangles should be tucked on the outside. You’ll get the idea after a couple of tries. Another thing that might help is to look at the direction of the points of the previous piece. If they are pointing towards and away from you, place the next piece so it points to the left and right. Here is how to start in photos. Notice the direction of these two pieces.

Slide it in.

Continue adding pieces, changing their directions. Any triangle flaps on the outside should be tucked in on the outside like you just did (not inside). Here, there is only one piece left to add.

Remember, there should be no triangles flapping inside (I know I’ve said it already) and there should be no way your gift could fall through. If this is the case, rebuild it.

All you need to do now is put a gift inside and use the final piece (see the direction change) to make the lid. Decorate as desired 😀

Et voila! No glue, no sticky tape and a fairly sturdy box 🙂 These are fabulous made from good quality Christmas paper. Squares made from A4 paper will result in a box about 3 x 3 x 3 inches.

So now I hope you can see why my quilt is the Gift Box Quilt. I couldn’t call it anything else.

My next posts are going to give a slow reveal of a new project…..not quilting this time.  I’m going to explore posting by email…..my own personal challenge.

See you soon 😀 Avis x