Basket weaving class - October 20, 2012 posted by Lorri

It's always fun to learn a new skill.  My friend Kate discovered a woman who teaches the art of making baskets.  Schedules were checked, and a date was finally agreed upon.  Six of us jumped in the truck, and headed off to Greenwood County for our class.  Since this was a new thing for us to learn, I took some photos to share.

The U shaped piece is the handle. The guitar shaped cutting board is being used as a weight.  This was the first step.  The instructor had all the pieces pre-cut. More or less.

 

Sara, Kate, Rochelle and Anna

Making the base of the basket.

The base of the basket is done.  I don't remember the name of this piece, but we weaved it around the base where the sides folded up.

I thought this was the hardest step.  Weaving the bottom row on the side. If you don't get it woven correctly, you have to do it over.  Ask me how I know this.

I liked this part.  It's actually starting to take shape and you can add different colors.  You have to keep wetting the slats (I can't remember the correct basket term for these) so you can work with them. 

Adding the colors. 

Folding down the pieces.

Anna was kind enough to let us have the basket class in her barn.  This worked out well, as this is kind of a messy project.  You can see the clothes pins that we used to hold things in place.

This was the final step in the assembly process. It reminded me of sewing.  I like the seagrass detail that we added.  The seagrass is the braided rope looking part.

Our finished baskets!  Even though we all used the same pattern, they all are shaped a little different.  The teacher sprayed each basket with a special kind of stain that included tung oil.  I liked how it looked after she sprayed it.  Kind of reminds me of tea dyed muslin.  Fortunately Kate had the foresight to have a toolbox on the back of the truck to store our baskets, or we might have gotten quite the varnish-buzz with six of the baskets in the cab for the two hour trip home.

My basket at home.  We were all really pleased with how our baskets turned out.  I believe that Kate is looking at the possibility of seeing if a basket making class could be scheduled here in Cowley County.  

 

 

Kay's doll quilts October 16, 2012

Kay's doll quilts

The  Little Balkans quilt guild is making doll quilts to be given to the Salvation Army.  They will be giving them away at Christmas with a doll to local children.  The quilts size can vary because there are many different size dolls.  I made mine from 18" square to 24" square.  I also made a rectangular one.  I tried to make them in girlie colors, though a few red, white, and blue ones got made too.  They were all made from leftover blocks from other projects.  I used leftover blocks from Kendall's, Vada's and Charlotte's baby quilts.  I machine quilted them with simple straight line quilting.   They were fun to make  and so far I have made 8 doll quilts.  They are quick to make and a lot of fun too.  I am working on the ninth one now.  I have LOTS more spare blocks so I will probably be making more!     

Sherry's pinterest trials

Since Lorri posted her pinterest projects, I thought I'd post a couple of mine.  I have pinned LOTS, but only got a couple actually done.  I have every intention of trying most of them someday, some I posted as inspiration or just because I really like them.  There are such talented, inspired and a few crazy people out there. 

This is one of my first projects from pinterest, didn't have a pattern with it, just some vague instructions.  So I drafted my own pattern, used some recycled wool fabric from wool suit coats from the thrift store and "Viola!"  I have made 5 of them so far, one out of a heavy dotted canvas cloth.  I've sold 4 of them so far.  And won Grand Champion in the Recyling division at two county fairs. 

Pinterest Favorites and Foibles (Posted by Lorri)

Like many people (mainly women kind of people), I do like to cruise around on Pinterest.  My daughter Kristy posted her favorites and duds on her blog, and challenged others to do the same.
So, here goes.

This is one of my favorites.  I bought the extra long golf tees, to keep my spools of thread and bobbins together.

This one is handy also.  It is a dish drainer from the dollar store, with all my tupperware lids organized together.

This is "Boatmeal".  Baked oatmeal.  This has pumpkin in it, and I like pumpkin so I thought I'd try it.  It was okay.  Just okay.  And boring.  I added walnuts and a bunch of generic splenda.  It smelled really good, but not worth the effort.

 

 Made this baby quilt after seeing a photo on Pinterest.  I thought this turned out pretty cute.  Pretty simple to make.  I'd do this one again.

I made this to hang in my laundry closet.  I like sunflowers, so I used sunflower scrapbook paper and mod podge.  The clothes pins have brown polka dotted scrapbook paper on them.

I hang my microfiber cleaning cloths on them to dry.  Since you are not supposed to dry them with fabric softener, I air dry them on the rack.

This is just the side view.

This is the same scrapbook paper I used on the above laundry rack.  This is an outlet cover in my laundry closet.  I was experimenting on this after seeing it on pinterest.  This was easy.  One lesson I learned - cut the X  for the switch with your exacto knife before you apply the mod podge.  I didn't and the paper tore.  Yep, I'll do this one again.

There are some nice tutorials on Pinterest about using mod podge.  I couldn't find what I wanted for my fall fireplace decorations, so I made the give thanks plaque.  The wood plaque came from the hobby store, scrapbook paper for the background and letters (I already owned the letter stencils), and, of course, mod podge.

A closer look.  Easy and fun. And cheaper than buying it ready made.  Also satisfied my inner 4-Her.

I read on one post that you should spray your scrapbook paper with sealer before your use the mod podge.  Well, I couldn't find my sealer so I forged ahead.  If you look closely, you can see a wrinkle in the middle of the paper.  Lesson learned.  I still like how it turned out.

This is GENIUS!  I wish I had known this years ago; sure would have save me some grief. 

 This is Fruit Salad with honey lime dressing.  We eat a lot of fruit at our house.  I recently tried this when  I was taking this to crap night at a friends house.  It was pretty subtle flavoring - I'd add more lime juice next time.  It kept the apples from turning brown.   I may try this again.

Zucchini boats.  Yummy!  I'd do this one again.

I thought this one was interesting.  I couldn't gauge how much dressing to put in the bottom of the jar, so I put it in a separate container.  I plan on doing this one again.  I think this would be good for me when I have some leftover salad ingredients, to go ahead and put it in the jar to be ready to take to work.  Then maybe I wouldn't be throwing out slimy leftover lettuce.

I made this baby quilt for Charlotte after Kelli found the photo on a blog. I enjoyed doing the machine applique and machine quilting.

I have a few more to post, but need to take pictures of them.  If you need more details, you'll have to go to my boards on Pinterest.

Happy pinning!

Cousins September 14, 2012 (posted by Lorri)

Hopefully, you are all blessed with having some fun cousins.

I found some cousin photos that I thought I'd share.

My cousin Kelly shared some old family photos with me several years ago, when we were working on a birthday project for my dad's 80th birthday.  I just love this photo, these little guys just look like they are ready to have some fun.  I am guessing this photo is from about the mid 1930s.  Check out the vehicle behind them. 

Front:  Arnold Von Soosten  Left middle:  Virgil Von Soosten  Right middle:  Cletus Von Soosten (our uncle)  Back left: Edgar Von Soosten (our daddy) Back right: last name Lassman from Independence

Looks like the cousins are ready for an Easter Egg Hunt.  I'm guessing late 1950s.

Front left: Doug Von Soosten, Kathy Von Soosten, Sherry Von Soosten, Janice Knopp and Richard Von Soosten.  Back row:  Johnny Knopp, Delbert Knopp

We all look pretty miserable here.  I'm guessing it was a hot summer day.  Probably 1960.

Left: Lorri Von Soosten, Kay Von Soosten, Sherry Von Soosten with Kelly Knopp in front, and Janice Knopp

2012 Memorial Day, Gavin Crager on the left, Caedmon Crisler on the right.  Ed the cat in the front.  (Sherry's grandson, Lorri's grandson)

September 2012 - Charlotte Huser kissing Vada Huser
(Lorri's granddaughters)

Our families grow over the years, don't they?

All Things Vada (posted by Grandma Lorri)

We celebrated Vada's baptism August 18.  She was so good!

Here are a few pictures:

Stephanie, Clinton and Vada

Vada with her Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Von Soosten

Kristy does love her nieces

Here is Vada in her baptismal gown.  I enjoyed making this for her.  She is very cuddly.

I made this quilt for Vada.  Stephanie saw a photo of a similar quilt on Pinterest.  I like the bright colors. I free-motion quilted flowers in each colored block with variegated thread.

Found this idea on Pinterest also.

Vada's Aunt Kelli (standing in the background) knitted this really cute hat for Vada.  Grandma Jeryl is holding her.

It was a good day with a sweet, sweet baby.

Charlotte's Baptism - July 2012

Here is Charlotte test-driving her baptismal gown. I used white muslin with cotton lace for the trim.  

I love this picture of Kelli and Charlotte together.  She is such a cutie!

Kelli and Aaron and Charlotte after the baptism.  I didn't realize how much Aaron looked like his brother until I got these pictures back.

 

 

Charlotte with her Great-grandma Von Soosten.  Charlotte looks much more comfortable in her slip.

And, of course, no family event is complete without a new quilt.  I made this quilt for Charlotte.  Kelli found a photo of this quilt on a blog. There was no piecing in this quilt, just applique.  I did free motion quilting in between the elephants, stars and circles.  Making baby quilts is so much fun, they go together so much faster than the bigger quilts. A cute quilt for a cute little girl!