A Tisket, A Tasket

I made some fabric baskets. Three of them, so far. Three more in progress.

loving the fabric baskets!

I took them outside, in the fast fading light to snap a photo or two of them.

artsy

I'm working on them as part of the Feather Your Nest sew-along. Contest. Thingy. Yeah. Nothing like being specific, is there. They inspired me to be creative, and also I will be sooo happy to use these baskets around the house. Raine will too, and I bet you can figure out that she likes cats and dinosaurs, right?

I've experimented with different innerfacing. Ive made some with handles, no handles, different handles. I've even gotten out my tub of trim and experimented with embellishment. All from my stash, I might add. There are still some in process. Here is a look at those:

green inside, flowers with piping outside

green feathers inside, dot outside,wide handles

flowers ouside, dots inside and eyelet

Feather Your Nest Me

 It's time for me to participate in a contest.

This one is all about making something for your own home. It sounded like something I would be interested in, if I could figure out what I wanted to make for my own home. Not so much into placemats or table runners. A wall hanging/mini quilt perhaps, but...

Then I read through their suggestions, and found a quick turorial on fabric baskets. Yeah.

Guess what I've been making? um hummmm.

Well, I would show them to you, but thanks to computer issues, and sewing instead of photographing, I'm not ready to do that yet. Soon though.

Happy Baskets!

Creative Learning

I inherited more than some fabric from my mom. I inherited her whole sewing room. Tools, fabrics, patterns and books. There are so many new books with modern patterns and techniques in them. I don't know where to begin, so I thought I would begin at home, and dip into the library I already have. I can decide what to keep and what to toss, and practice writing about what I find and learn while I'm at it. I can't help but think I'll be inspired along the way as well.

The first book I pulled off the shelf is called, The Complete Book of Machine Quilting, by Robbie and Tony Fanning. It's part of the Chilton Needlework series, copyright 1980. The price tag on it is $12.95. 1980, you were so cute!

I've only gotten through the first couple of chapters, so far, but I think they are fairly informative, if basic. I probably need the basics at this point, so that is not a complaint. I think the comments and instructions for sewing still hold true, even if the technology has changed somewhat, and there may be more to know on my newer machine. Actually probably not that much, since my machine is fairly basic, but some of the more advanced machines might help you out more than mine would. Still, gaining some understanding of what issue causes what problem is a good thing. It was reassuring to look through their basic list of tools and realize that I pretty much had them, or at least knew about them. One thing seems to have changed, and that is the current prevalence of rotary cutters for cutting quilt pieces. It was interesting to find terms like "quilt sandwich" in the book that I had thought were more modern. I can tell this book, even with age, will be a good reference to keep in my library.

I just looked, and there is even a second edition available at Amazon for much cheaper than mine originally was. I might have to take a look and see what has been updated.