Last year's Christmas wrap...Chicken wire

HI again, I apologize for two things, 1) the length of time in getting back to our grand ideas, and 2) that I'm starting with last year's first instead of my favorite. I'm still not sure which one is my favorite, but we'll get to them all.

So I finally took the time to finish my brothers fleece/cotton/flannel John Deere quilt, quilted with tractors. This is a nice enough gift in itself...he finally allowed it to be used instead of holding a place of honor on the back of his chair at all times. However, wrapping this in a box or bag was not good enough for me. It needed to be wrapped not once, but at least three times, and well, differently. After searching out ideas, I came up with chicken wire...my brother had chickens after all, and it would be tough to get into unless you came to Christmas with wire clippers...we tend to keep these things nearby as you never know what to expect.

More or less, I worked from the outside in on this gift. I decided it would fit nicely in a Home Depot bucket, and spent a good amount of time with my own wire snippers, snipping wire. However, I did not want the blanket/quilt so much as nicked itself, so I wrapped it in a paper bag. Let me back track here...
I used a fair amount of 1/2 inch thick nylon rope to secure the bucket once I had everything in...bows and ribbons confound guys, providing you use more than one piece of string or multiple bows. I like this trick.

So as not to harm the blanket, I placed it in a paper bag, taped it(probably with duct tape) and rolled it into chicken wire. Then I tied the chicken wire unto itself. I placed the rolled chicken wire bundle into the bucket, with many nicks on my hands from the chicken wire, closed the bucket and proceeded to tie a number of bows on top with nylon rope.

My brother patiently waded through the rope, then pried off the lid, pulled out any filler materials...we always use filler materials, and proceeded to work through the chicken wire. After a few moments of frustration, returned with wire clippers and a sawzall...we like to be prepared. However, in my attempts to protect the blanket, as well as my hands...(leather gloves next try), I did not fold down the ends of the chicken wire. Upon returning, my brother looked at the package again, shoved his fist through the chicken wire into the paper bag and pushed out the gift. Once he was through the duct tape or other tape meant to hold said bag in place, he was in business for revealing his gift, which I'm proud to say took him at least six months to start using it for its intended purpose.

I will admit, I did complain that he didn't use it for his intended purpose of keeping people warm for the fist six months.

Next time, most likely, I'll discuss how to utilize a rubber band ball for gift giving. Until then, Merry Wrapping!