Willow Basket, Quilt and Christmas Decoration

 Thank you all very much for the warm welcome and nice comments.  What a pleasure this is going to be, to share a common interest with others like me.  Confession time:  sometimes when life gets chaotic, I will go to my fabric stash and mellow out by sorting fabric, looking at patterns or even make a run to the fabric store.  Ahhh, life is good! 



SMALL WILLOW BASKET

 I had the opportunity to learn basket making in 1990 from a lovely lady, Teresa, who is still my friend.  We went out into the woods to gather everything we needed to make a basket:  creek bank willow, scrapped willow bark, cattails, and grapevine.  Then we could add basket reed, fabric, leather, lace or anything that was flexible.  The basket reed was dyed by soaking it in walnut hulls to give it a great brown color.  The longer the reed was kept in the smelly "solution", the darker the color.

 

I made this basket with a grapevine handle and willow ribs and rim.  Then it was woven with some reed and scrapped willow bark.  This is one of my favorites because I like the curlicue!

SMALL SQUARE QUILT

 My sister-in-law Ann purchased several bags and boxes of old fabric, batting and miscellaneous quilt blocks at a sale.  In the box was 5 sets of 10 block by 4 blocks, each small block measuring 1 3/4 inches.  My guess is the fabrics are from the 1950's and 1960's.



Well, I love a challenge and pondered what to do.  I laid them out on my white work table and WOW.  I LOVED the look of each block being separated by white, so that is how I put it together. 

 Half of the blocks are the original vintage fabric. I added some vintage and modern to make it a twin size quilt.  I added a border of the same squares and hand quilted it.   This quilt was given to my niece as a graduation present. 

MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS DECORATION

Santa's laundry - a decoration?  My grandmother made this many years ago.  It is the first decoration that I like to get out and hang up.

Even Mrs. Claus gets clean bloomers and an apron and check out Santa's red long underwear!

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Well its time to start thinking about presents for the grandchildren.  Happy shopping to all...

Thanks for visiting,

Cinder

My First Post!!!

I am so excited.  I have officially entered the blog world of wonderful people, topics and can't wait to explore.  My grandmother taught me sewing when I was 8 years old and I haven't stopped!  I started with small embroidery projects from the Ben Franklin variety store and the Five and Dime (does this show my age?).  Now I work on quilts, braided rugs and baskets, just to name a few of the things I enjoy!

Sewing has brought me hours of immense pleasure.  When younger, I sometimes got out of washing dishes to finish my project.  (My sister had to do them, sorry Dawn!)  I  usually have 4-5 projects that I'm working on and actually do get them completed! 

My favorite polka dot dress and check out my pixie ears.
Cinder

TREE OF LIFE QUILT

These lovely quilt blocks came to me from my friend Teresa,  who purchased them from a farm auction. 




Each block was hand sewn and slightly crooked.   This lovely brown print fabric looked like tree bark from a distance.  Quilting was done by outlining the tree and stippling the brown to give it texture.  What fun to bring new life to these beautiful blocks.



   
 Then I gave this quilt as a gift to my other friend, Sherri.  She lives in a cabin in the Ozark Mountains, surrounded by oak and cedar trees.  A big thank you Sherri, for helping me set up this blog.


Sherri's cabin on the Swan Creek

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Best wishes to all on Thanksgiving Day.