Since my last post

a lot has been going on around here.  There have been house guests, soaping, canning, knitting and a little sewing and basket weaving!

This is the first try with my very own soap recipe.  I wanted to try using all tropical oils, and should have used a fragrance that I'd used before, but I couldn't resist trying out Baby Rose fragrance oil from Bramble Berry.  My friend Cathy helped, and even though it thickened much quicker than any of my previous soaps, we were still able to do a simple swirl and get it into my new cylinder mold.  It smells great and I can't wait to use it!

Cathy and I also made Linear Swirl with Oxides together.  I'm so glad she was there to help, because there were so many colors to pour into the mold!  We chose White Tea and Ginger Fragrance Oil and it smells so good!

We have a really large garden harvest in progress and in wanting to save some pears for the future, I had my first adventure making a fruit butter. Although it too way longer than the recipe said, and wasn't finished until after midnight, it smells and tastes great!

Another canning project was pickles, which are resting and soaking up the vinegar to be ready for eating soon.

Finished up the Jeremiah Basket, which was a kit I purchased a while ago.  I did swap out some of the reed, because some of it was scruffier that I like to work with.

 On the knitting front, I usually have many things on the needles, but am currently working on Summer Moon.

Tiny Basket

This basket is so tiny, I just had to photograph it with my small Fiskars embroidery scissors.  The kit is one of Sharon Klusmann's featured basket kits right now, and is called the Mahogany Cross Stitch in Black Ash.  While you might think making a tiny basket would be quicker than a large basket, this one took me all day, as I had to figure out the easiest way for me to complete the cross stitch rows.  This is the first time I've made a round basket, so there was a lot of new techniques, and of course, I had a few issues with following directions Yes, I read the instructions, but didn't completely follow them, and realized the difference at a point that I refused to rip back, so the bottom is a bit different than hers, but it works!

Mail and Magazine Basket

My husband wanted a basket for his mail and magazines, so I used a slotted wooden base and adapted a weaving pattern to fit (with a little artistic liberty).  The pattern I started with is called the Shelf Storage pattern and is a free pattern at N.C. Basket Works, but it is designed to be a larger basket with a woven bottom, so I had to do some figuring and made a sketch to make sure the dark verticals would be placed as planned.  As soon as I gave it to him, he started filling it up!

As you can tell, the interior pattern looks a bit different.

Beautiful Basket

What a find!  My brother-in-law found it in a second hand store and I think it's beautiful and had to share!  It's a large picnic basket that has a divided, quilted insert tied inside (note to self: take a picture of the insert next time we visit).

What a difference

stain can make!

I purchased three colors of Weavers Stain months ago, but did I use it?  No, it's been waiting for me, so yesterday it was time to try it out on some of my baskets.  First, I stained some scraps of reed, making color swatches of a sort, to give me an idea of the true stain colors, as well as samples with two coats and coats of two different colors.  Boy, was I surprised!  When I ordered maple, oak and walnut, I thought they'd be shaded from light to dark, walnut being the darkest, but I was wrong and maple actually came out darker.  The stain can be found on many basket making supply websites, but this one has more information on the ordering page.  Anyways, here are my resulting baskets.

Oak stain used on my Quatrafoil Garden Basket.

Bountiful Garden Basket stained with Walnut Weavers Stain:

Another designer's Garden Basket, stained first with maple (too orangy for me), and then with walnut to tone it down, but not darken it too much.

Basket for Janice, also stained with Walnut:

If you'd like to see how they looked before staining, click on the "basket weaving" link on the right hand side of my blog, or here.

Basketmaking with Friends

Cathy, Ellen and I had fun creating these baskets that will keep our basketmaking tools ready to go wherever we need them.  Mine is made from natural, smoked and black reed (top), Cathy's is made from Smoked, orange and other dyed reed, and Ellens is made from red, smoked and multi-colored reed.  They were all woven on a wooden base that was especially designed to hold basketmaking tools.  [The designer has another design for gardeners, but both have the same weaving pattern on them, and she also has a plaid basket design for tools.]

A close-up of mine:

We also worked on Quatrafoil Garden Baskets, although Ellen was called away so she wasn't able to finish hers with us.  Hopefully, she'll be able to finish it soon.  Her dog, Gordy kept an eye on our work and wanted to be in the pictures.  Isn't he adorable!  We opted for the fancy rim pattern instead of the handle decoration, so maybe we'll have to make the other variation someday.  

Cathy stained her basket and I love the way it helped blend the colors.  I've used spray stain on mine, but it's outside drying, so I'll have to take more pictures once it's dry.

Close-ups of my basket:

Seattle Art Museum

One of my sons and I visited the Seattle Art Museum, or SAM as it is called locally.  The first place we went was the Gauguin exhibit, and while I would have loved to take pictures, they weren't allowed:-(

Right outside the entrance to the Gauguin exhibit was an awesome sculpture made from strips of woven and / or pieced fabrics, some of them appeared to be bound in a similar way that most quilts are usually finished, and if I had to choose my favorite piece in the museum that day, this would be it!

The other exhibit I was drawn to was the weaving.  There was a glass cabinet with shelves containing medium to small woven baskets.

To the right of it was this woven mat, which I believe is made from cedar.

And in another case was this dress, which I also believe is made from cedar.  I can't imagine wearing tree bark, but sometimes we have to make do with what we have or can find.

Of course there were lots of other interesting exhibits, and since we're all doing more recycling these days, this one really caught my eye and I couldn't believe it was made from scrap metal from bottle caps and wraps.

Bountiful Garden Basket

I was hoping to finish this basket before posting a picture, but it looks like it may be a few days, so I thought I'd show you my Bountiful Garden Basket in progress.  It took quite a while to wrestle the rim into place, and it's still not as nice as I'd hoped, but it's now held in place with lots of zip ties, which I'll cut away as I bind the rim in place.

Cathy's Basket Class

Cathy brought  plenty of supplies and the students were able to choose other colors or make up a different weaving pattern if they wanted to, so everyone picked their favorite colors and customized their basket.  We had lots of fun helping the students and they all went home with a beautiful basket!

New Tote Basket

This past weekend was spent at Madrona Fiber Arts in Tacoma, WA.  It's an awesome event that offers workshops and a vendor mall, with lots of knitters, spinners and other fiber people getting together and spending time together.  The lunch area isn't what you'd usually expect, as the tables are full of fibers and surrounded by people playing with their yarn and fiber, or sharing their projects with others.  I'll talk about the classes I took in another post, but now I want to show you the basket I finished just in time to use to tote the supplies needed for one of the classes.

The pattern is called a New England (Penobscot - style) Tote Basket.  I love the way it came out, although I had to make a tiny change in the rim, binding it with waxed linen, instead of reed as the pattern stated, because there wasn't enough space to get reed between the stakes.  I should have let the stakes spread apart more as I started up the sides, as it would have made the basket a bit larger and there would have been enough space for the reed.  I love it just the way it is!

Gathering Basket Class

My friend Cathy is teaching her Gardening Basket and my friend Ellen and I will be her helpers. This beautiful basket is suitable for beginners, so come take a look at the basket at Gathering Fabric quilt shop and sign up for the class and make one!  (Class info. below.)

Here it is with my quilts in the background:

And another shot of the basket, showing the interior:

Here's the class information that was sent out:


(Links added for your convenience.)


A basket weaving class is scheduled for Friday, February 24th at the Grange in Woodinville from 9:30 am - 4:00 pm. If you have always wanted to learn how to weave, this is a great beginners basket to start with, called a Gathering Basket. You will go home with a completed basket. For more information and to see the basket go to Gathering Fabric. Susan is taking sign-ups at this time. The cost is $40.00 which pays for the Grange rental and supplies. You'll be able to use this basket to tote your projects, gather flowers, or use for crafting. We will have a potluck lunch so we ask everyone to bring a dish to share. You might want to bring an apron or wear old clothes.

more baskets

This first basket is woven on a wooden base / handle combo that I ordered with a pattern.  It's a great size for office supplies in my booth, as it holds all the essentials!

Unfortunately, I did not check the wood on both sides until I was ready to weave, because I found there were blue marks on the other side (I think it is dye).  I decided since it was a basket that would be used for all kinds of things that may end up marking the interior, it was not that big an issue, and went ahead and used it.  I lover the size, and it was very useful in my show booth last weekend.

Another basket completed before the show to hold some of my hand dyed fabrics in the booth.  I believe the pattern name was a Cranberry Basket, and it is supposed to be a cat's head shaping, but being my first cat's head basket, it isn't shaped as nicely as it should be, but I love it anyways.  Since the show is over, I'm now imagining it being used as part of a Christmas floral arrangement!

Additional info 1/15/12:  I've been asked about the rim directions for these baskets, and thought everyone would like to know the patterns and rim information, so here it is with links.

The top basket pattern is called Remote Roundup (scroll down for pattern  0021-P085 , click on pattern name and you will see ordering info on base as well, but no picture), and was purchased from NorEsta.  The rim was supposed to be wrapped once with reed, the usual way, but when I got to that point, there wasn't enough space between the stakes to fit any reed, so I used waxed linen, going once around and then back to where I started and tying the ends together (on the inside, under the rim where it wouldn't be noticed).

For some reason, I had thought the name of the second basket was Cranberry Basket (don't know where I got that name from), but the pattern is called Cat's Head Market Basket, and it is from Baskets of Joy.  The lashing directions are in the pattern and is called a combination lash.  My basket isn't shaped as well as the designer's basket, and maybe someday I'll make another that is shaped properly:-)

Gathering Basket - Finsihed!

The pattern for this basket is a bit different than the way it ended up, because I fudged to make it work.  There is a round reed between two hoops that makes the handle and center of the basket base, and you are supposed to just weave them over / under like the rest of the basket, but there wasn't enough space to do it.  Since this shape is a new learning experience for me, I ended up skipping over all three pieces in the lower part of the basket, but didn't want to do the same with the handle.  A friend gave me a book for my birthday that had the answer I was looking for, and I was able to adapt the instructions to make the decorative raised braid  on the handle.

Onion Basket - finished!

My onion basket waited for its rim, while I was busy doing other things, but I decided to finish it so it can be used.  Besides, I really like the size and texture of this one!

Inside, you can see how the extra filler pieces were split and tucked in before the sides were woven.

Coming soon another giveaway.......

Pincushion Baskets

10 little baskets dressed up and ready to go to the Block Party Quilters show next week.  Each basket has been hand dyed before or after weaving, and there are no two exactly alike.

Basket Weaving Progress

My gathering basket is getting closer to being finished, with only the handle left to be woven!  It has been difficult following the pattern, and I think it is because of this double handle with filler.  Other than the wood hoops, initial weaving in the natural reed color, and spokes that are seen here, I decided to finish the basket in an improvisational manner using the coordinating flat reed.  There are things I would do differently in a future basket, adding more ribs (I didn't add all the ones the pattern called for), and only two hoops.  The double handle and two D-handles used for the basket rim do add more strength to the basket, however my two hoops were not identical, or perfectly oval, and trying to weave around the added round reed that is between them was impossible in the basket, but I'm planning to try again on the handle.

Overall, I think it came out ok, considering it's my first time weaving a basket like this from a book.  It is much more difficult to work with than the little melon baskets, which were a piece of cake compared to this one!

Slow Progress

A couple more pincushion baskets have been woven and all the ends have been tucked.  Even though they still need rims, I've already decided my favorite is the multicolored one in the front left, and it was woven from scraps leftover from weaving the others.  Once the rim is on, I'm thinking I'll try dip dyeing the plain basket and see how it comes out.

The instructions for this Flower-Gathering Basket are from a Kindle book called Weaving Country Baskets.  It's progressing a bit slower than I'd hoped, although it's because I'm only following the structure and basics from the pattern, and have decided not only to change the colors, but also the reed size and style, trying to use up some earth colored #3 reed that has been in my stash for too long.  

As you can see, each side is a bit different, because I'm weaving the entire length of each piece of reed, however, I did try to keep the colors in the same order.  For the remainder of the basket, I'm thinking it will be random color changes, possibly using some 1/4" flat that I have in the same colorway, when I get the weaving even, but will make that decision when I get there.  The instructions said to weave around the round filler reed that is between the two hoops, I wasn't able to do it (maybe I should have spaced them further apart?), so am weaving the base as if it is one really wide reed.  I'll try again when I get to the handle:-)

Tiny Baskets

These little baskets in progress will be finished and made into pincushion baskets for my booth at the Block Party Quilt Show in November.  Each is one-of-a-kind, and these include reed that was hand dyed by me in Sisters this past July.

When the cat's away...

While my husband went on a recent business trip, I pulled out my basket making supplies and got to work, it just took me a while to take pictures.  Someday, I'd like to make an antler basket, and I've been told I need to make a melon basket to learn the basic techniques that will be needed, so I used some of the reed I dyed in Sisters, OR, and a purchased pattern, to make two little melon baskets.  The small one was made with 6" hoops and the larger one with 8" hoops.

Once those were finished, I decided to begin work on a gathering basket pattern that was in my "to do" pile, along with the special base and handle.  This is the most beautiful basket I've ever made!  The only thing that bothers me is that it's too light and white looking, so I've ordered some Weaver's Stain and am thinking of staining it, after testing on scrap reed.  Yes, it was time consuming, but I love it!!!