The Box in progress--err, finished.

The box is going to be absolutely gorgeous. Okay, the last entry was attaching the felt padding and the embroidery to the plastic canvas round. This one is all about doing the box body. Here are some of the materials I used...

 Plastic canvas rounds and felt for padding cut into circles.

 Plastic canvas cut into a strip and sewn together. I overcast the edge that will be against the lid to add a bit of padding.

 Felt strips for padding the box side.

 

Plastic canvas side with the felt padding applied to the outside.

 This is the box side piece with all the felt padding applied, I did both inside and outside. I basted it on but only stitched the upper edge of the felt, as the bottom edge will be held down by the fabric cover which I put underneath the side piece.

 This is the liner pieces, with the felt padding basted onto the plastic canvas. I cut one row of holes from the outer edge, so that they will fit into the box with the fabric cover and felt padding. The lid piece needed to be smaller so that I could get the decorative braid along it.

This is the inside and outside of the box sides. I folded the fabric over the plastic canvas and felt sandwich, and basted the inside and outside together. Then I ran a gathering stitch and pulled it tight. The box bottom and bottom liner will cover the resulting ruffles.

This is the bottom with the beads I am using as feet sewn on it. I am slip stitching the two pieces together.

 This is the box bottom after I did the gathering stitches and before I did the lacing. The liners are done the same way, but I put the more yellow side of the fabric up for them. I thought it would make a pleasing contrast.

Here is the box bottom completely assembled. I used glue to attach the bottom liner. 

This is the side of the box. I really liked the rose border motif on the fabric, so I  cut it so that this would show.

This is the bottom of the lid. I slip stitched the edges, after applying glue to hold them together flat. Then I sewed the braid around the outer edge of the lining.

Finally, here is the lid from the top. I am very pleased with how this turned out.

This is a picture of Berkeley and Marie Curie, sitting on the back of the sofa and watching the birdies in the mulberry tree as they stake out their branches. I call it CATV, and it entertains them for minutes at a time, after which they are exhausted and must nap diligently to regain their strength. They also like to sleep on brocade, which I know because I took a bathroom break and laid my box aside while I did so. When I got back, Marie was snoozing on the pieces.

THE Magpie