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Second Chances

I don't always have a plan in mind when I repair something; I repaired this crazy quilt piece (the first I ever attempted) just because I didn't hate it anymore. I was sure I'd find a project I could use it for in the future.

Sure enough, later last month I bought this old dusty wooden hat box from a junk shop with the intention of refurbishing and redecorating it.

The repaired crazy quilt piece was just big enough to cut into a top for the lid.

I took my time (crazy quilted patchwork doesn't like to be cut up) and used low-loft batting and a piece of thin muslin to turn it into a circular quilt piece.

To bind it I used a very flexible length of gold metallic fabric and a lot of pins. I also found a matching ribbon -- one I bought many years ago and was saving for the right project -- to tie around the sides.

I still need to embroidery and embellish the crazy quilt piece, which is going to take a few months, and sew a proper lining (I'm just using an old cutter quilt piece to line it right now) but I'm very happy with how the project turned out. It's perfect for storing my perle embroidery thread.

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