Running Free by Ruth Anne Danger

More new baskets from Ruth Anne Danger!
She wins so many awards with her beautiful baskets. These are fabulous, Ruth! She calls these her "Running Free" baskets.



Horse bases are available in my MakeABasket.etsy.com shop, you can put your own spin on them, for your own award-winning baskets!

Horsehair Wave Basket by Carol Miller

Here is the first horsehair wave basket sent in by a reader of this blog!

It was coiled by Carol Miller as a birthday gift for her friend, Valerie.

Valerie reportedly said, "What can I say, the horsehair wave basket is just to die for!"

What can I say, but: I agree!

Way to go, Carol!


You, too, can make a wave basket!
Wave bases are available in my etsy shop at MakeABasket.etsy.com
If you need guidance in working with horsehair and/or making a wave basket, you might want to try one of my patterns or kits specifically for horsehair.

National Basketry Organization Exhibition: All Things Considered

All Things Considered VI: National Basketry Organization Juried Exhibition
Opened July 30, 2011 runs through December 12, 2011

I am honored to be included in the NBO's biennial exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA.

Fuller Craft Museum
455 Oak Street
Brockton, MA 02301
t 508-588-6000

Fuller Craft Museum and Shop Hours
Tues—Sun 10am-5pm
Wednesdays 10am-9pm
Closed Mondays

For more information, see my facebook event page.

Etsy Feature

Today my "Lifepath" basket is featured in the BEST etsy shops blog! What a fabulous complement. I love the idea of having a $1000 virtual budget and shopping it away each week. Anyone care to take a turn?
pamela

Return from BlogBreak: Great Baskets to Get You Back Into It!

Well, I have taken a little break from this blog, it has been almost 2 whole months since I posted! Sorry to keep you hanging.

Fortunately, others have been hard at work, to fill the gap. If you are looking for an active, interesting blog with some basket content to follow, I highly recommend Vicki Phillips blog, Phillips Family Fusion. Fed daily by Vicki and her daughter, it is a wonderful amalgam of their lives, including not only Vicki's wonderful pine needle creations, but nature, gardening, animals, touring, home...there is something for everyone!



Here are images of just a few of the wonderful basketry creations Vicki has blogged about.

Some of Vicki's baskets feature pottery bases from my MakeABasket shop on etsy. I am flattered.

She really does a great job, complementing the glazes, and bringing the colors together in her weaving. But what i really love are all the stories she tells about her baskets. These are the kinds of things i think about when weaving my own baskets. In addition, Vicki has a great hand with the photography aspect of blogging, taking a great styled shot of each basket in a different setting. I love it!

Clicking on the photos of each single basket in my blog will take you to Vicki's blogpost about it.






the depth of field on this next image is wonderful, Vicki!


This last one is my favorite, i love the colors and the way it just all works! Very lovely.



Vicki sent me the shots of all her baskets together, in preparation for a show she has coming up. Also, some of the baskets are for sale at the Gig Harbor History
Museum during their Woven Stories: Native American Basketry of the
Pacific Northwest and Alaska exhibit July 9 - October 16.

Best of luck to Vicki on her basket sales!
I would love to see what the rest of you are weaving!
pamela

Beautiful Basket by Geraldine Kiser

Here is another lovely pine needle basket! This one coiled by Geraldine Kiser!







Geraldine started with a mockingbird base from my MakeABasket shop. Did you know the mockingbird is the state bird for more states than any other? That includes Texas, where Geraldine lives.

Geraldine gave it a wonderful asymmetrical treatment, even folding back one side as she coiled. She also gave it a floating coil, above the mocking bird, on the high side of the basket, mimicking tree branches. I think it is just exquisite! So wonderful, Geraldine.

Since she travels alot, Geraldine carries pine needles with her and works as she goes. If all her baskets are as beautiful as this one, I am sure people ask her about buying them all the time! I am glad to see she signs and dates the bottoms.

way to go!
pamela

5 Life Lessons

I have always thought of basketmaking as meditative. Others have told me they do, as well. Somewhere I read that such repetitive, rhythmic activities as weaving were essential stress relievers and what today's fast paced living is missing. People just don't sit around and whittle or spin anymore...at least, most people. Those of us who are actively involved in traditional handicrafts know the benefits of handwork...don't we? I think there are many lessons to be learned from most handcrafts...don't they all have something in common? YES! Check out this blogpost from Tammy Strobel, listing the life lessons she has learned from knitting.

Thanks, Tammy, for articulating these for all of us!

Positivity

I love the Positivity Blog, by by Henrik Edberg. Maybe you have seen a link to it in the right column of this blog.

This post, with quotes from Abraham Lincoln, particularly spoke to me when i read it today.

Take #7:
Sharpen your ax,

which includes:

Do. Fail. Learn. Do.

There is more, of course. I admit, it is pretty obscure without the rest...
You should read it.
I bet you'll enjoy it, too.

pamela