My fuzzy little basket

This past Wednesday Vanessa taught several of us in the guild how to do raw-edge cloth covered clothesline baskets.  They are a little fuzzy because the cut edges of the fabric are manipulated while wrapping the clothesline and start fraying.  That can be cute.  I prefer not, so I trimmed the longest threads to make it look a little tailored.

Vanessa showed us a variety of ways of finishing the basket.  I tried the loopies -- kinda fun to do and not as hard as I feared initially.  My bowl had a finished circumference of 24", so I spaced my loopies 4" apart.  You can make them closer together, and it looks like the top of the bowl is pique.

I have alot of fabric left over, so I'm going to make some coasters, too.  All the fabrics from the bowl and the coasters are scraps from my Tree of Life quilt, which I will show you when it's finished being quilted.

Just as follow up to my very flat tire, above is the odd looking piece of metal that DH removed from the tire.  It looks like a staple but is actually a twist from the top of a barb wire fence that I must have picked up on the road somewhere.  I was about three months away from buying new tires anyway, so now my car is almost all fixed up.  It still needs the new muffler put on that's been sitting in the garage for months, though.  I wonder if that will ever happen.  I mean, in my lifetime....

MARKET BAG

Kate M. taught the Market Bag class today.  I'm really glad I did alot of the preparation at home, what with ironing on all the fusible fleece and  fussing over which fabrics to use for what sections of the bag.  The outside pockets include one that has a space just for your cell phone.  You can see the line dividing the mauve pocket to create this space.

One of the things I did that was not in the class instructions was to  monogram one of the faces of the bag. 

Usually the handles to the bag are short, about 22" long, and placed on each side of the bag. However, that length doesn't work for me, so I decided to make just one long one that inserted on one side and ended up on the other.

Inside, the multiple pockets are a handy way to organize everything from pens to makeup.

Here are some examples of other people's fabric selections and their work in progress.

Batiks are wonderful for this project.

LOST SHOE?

Remember that old saying "For want of a nail, the shoe was lost..." and how it goes on to have a whole battle and a life lost because of just one nail?

Well, take a look at what greeted me today when I went out to the car to go shopping for new cushions for the outside furniture. 

This is not a dainty, low pressure-almost flat tire.  It is a sitting-on-the-rim flat tire.  Of course, I called DH to tell him, and he carefully walked me through how to turn on the compressor in the garage and find the correct head for the hose so I could inflate the tire.  Alas, having done all that successfully, I could immediately hear a loud hissing sound, and the tire emptied nearly as quickly as it had filled.

Here's the culprit.  This doesn't look like an ordinary nail -- you know, the kind with the flat, round head on it.  This thing looks more like a peg!  I have not been near a construction site for months, so I have no idea where I picked it up.  But it has fulfilled its purpose in my life today. 

I'm curious who is missing a shoe now...?

And of course, I have a class tomorrow and will be visiting BFF Mary later this week.  So I looked up various discount tire sites on the web -- don't even bother with Costco or Walmart.  They have nothing in stock.  In fact, these days almost no store has tires in stock!  What a shock to find that out!

Hubby to the rescue.  At lunchtime (which we were supposed to share as a side benefit of my shopping plans) he found a store locally that can have the tires by tomorrow AM.  The only down side of this is having to figure out how to get my sewing machine trolley into his Avalon, but where there's a will, there's a way.

So back to the sewing for today.  All the pieces for my Market Bag are cut and primed with fusible fleece.  I have found buttons and have made the handles.  I have enough fabric left over to make matching key chain and checkbook cover, too! 

Pictures tomorrow after all is completed.

UNDERWAY

A few Thursdays ago the embroidery class got together and started making a Fourth of July wall hanging, designed by our guru, Sherry Newton.  Above is the second of eight flag arrays that go into this wall hanging.  I am notoriously bad about putting things off until the last minute, so hopefully this one will be finished well ahead of the actual DAY!

Here's the other iron in the fire claiming my attention these days.  Kate M from the guild is teaching the Market Bag this Wednesday, and above I am auditioning fabrics to use for it.   The yellow is the bag and the stripe is being used for both the lining and the tall pocket.  The tall pocket is lined with the roses on spotted mauve, which folds down over the stripes for a cuff.  The other pocket is mauve lined with a slightly blue-ish or light spruce green.  There's supposed to be a button where the yellow pin is located.  The green folds over the mauve to create a different slant on the opening to the pocket.

Get it?...a different SLANT...?

Oh, well, I guess you had to be there.

THE BIG REVEAL

After being on display at the local library for the last five weeks, our quilts were returned to us.  But the mystery of whose quilts won the Viewers' Choice awards remained a closed secret until today.  My Garden Song took home Third Place, I am pleased to report.

And just in case you can't remember which quilt that is, here's a picture of it.  This is all machine pieced and machine appliqued.  I quilted it with straight lines over the blocks and stippling around the applique.

First Place was won by a quilt called "My Trip Around the World".  I wish I had a picture of it to show you.  Maybe the owner will send me one for the blog.

I have three projects going on at this time:  a Fourth of July wall hanging that is embroidered with my HV Designer Diamond, finishing up my Tri Recs Tool quilt that BFF Mary taught the guild, and finishing up the Tree of Life that Debbie Powell taught us.  I like having choices.  As they get finished, they'll appear on this blog, so stay tuned.

YOU ALWAYS KNOW IT'S APRIL WHEN....

Taxes are finished.  Financial advisor feted and consulted.  Sneaky dogs ran away again and were recovered.  And the sun is shining to beat the band!  Great day!