A little blue/green basket! I forgot all about this piece that I made last month. At the January rug camp, we were able to take a class with Kay Kjeldgaard of Kay's Crafts to make her 5" Snippet Basket. It's a Nantucket-style basket. Since our class was only 2 hours long, and this was really a 4 hour class, she thankfully prepped each piece by gluing in the spokes and starting the cane weavers. Some of us still had some issues with the spokes popping out, but after some glue and patience, we were good to go. I got most of my basket woven during the class, but had to finish it off, with guidance, the next day. The cane was dyed, so the interior has the more solid side where the dye totally took, and the outside of the basket is more mottled, where the dye took here and there.
It has a nice wooden bottom, into which a wonderful little piece of scrimshaw was inserted. Since I already have another of her baskets with a rug hooking hook scrimshaw piece, I chose a lighthouse. This basket is now on my sewing table next to my machine and is used for thread snippets and trimmed fabric pieces. Love it!
Well, since we are on the subject of baskets. . . . . Here's a few pictures of my REALLY favorite type of basket. A basket full of garlic knots from one of my local restaurants. These "evil" knots are made from pizza dough and covered in a mixture of olive oil, garlic, and parmesan cheese. YUM! They are rather hard to come by this month, because the area is swarming with snowbirds and tourists. Waiting lists for restaurants and no parking - the downside of life in South Florida in the "Winter".
Happy Valentine's Day to all! This is one of my vintage valentines (signed on the back by a young Walter) and a great "find" for me - a lamb AND a bee and beehive!!! WeeOOOOO! Hope all you Honey-Lambs have a wonderful day and get to spend time doing whatever you want! Me? I'll be watching the Daytona 500 and maybe knitting a bit during the commercials. Have fun!
And of course, NO ONE roams around here without the strict supervision of the Canine Patrol, headed by Officer Cayenne! Who are these guys? And why are they looking at shadows? Move along please.
Even though more Winter is predicted (it's in the 70's here???), I've already seen several butterflies. The cats are huge Butterfly hunters while on the screened porch - running back and forth to follow their flight through the backyard! Yesterday I saw a gorgeous moth emerging. I say moth, because it's body was large and antennae were furry. Nothing as delicate as a butterfly. Earlier in the day, it was on the screen of the porch and I thought it was a large beetle-type bug. Later I noticed it was not. Unfortunately, between it's lower back wing that didn't seem to be fully functional and the drizzling rain, it was not having a good day. I'll have to keep an eye out for more of these guys - just gorgeous.
And here's a final critter - from an ad that a friend sent me. No, he's not a groundhog, but surely a relative. Those are little chain saws as his teeth! Rather appropriate for the boy.
And speaking of SEASONS, the countdown has begun and it's only a few more days now until the Bud Shootout and Speedweeks, culminating in the Daytona 500 and the beginning of the 2010 NASCAR racing season. AHHHHHH. . . . lots of Sunday afternoons of watching races and stitching, knitting, and possibly rug hooking!!! My kind of season!
