Spreading good will

It's that time of the year to refresh my gardens.  Part of that includes replacing my worn prayer flags.  I've always loved the practice of the monks in Tibet writing prayers on fabric flags and hanging them in the mountains of the Himalayas to carry their prayers throughout the world by the wind horse Lung Ta.  Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom.  As the words disappear and the flag becomes worn out the prayers travel through the wind.  And when the flags are worn and torn instead of throwing them in the trash they are burned and the smoke will spread the rest of the message.

What a wonderful thought.   My messages are simple, but I do wish them to spread goodwill.

The flags flap in the wind around my veggie garden.  As I was stringing my flags around my garden a couple butterflies and a bee landed on my hand.  In fact, the butterflies followed me around the garden fencing as I was hanging my flags. I felt so touched, it gave me goosebumps.  Lung Ta travel with my messages.  LOVE and PEACE

A tisket a tasket a trio of baskets

Catching up on UFO projects and blogs is a priority this month.  So this trio of baskets will be checked off my list.  It was a beautiful sunny day and perfect for sitting on my deck and weaving a trio of baskets.

First I needed a new veggie basket for under my sink.  In the past I had a plastic container that I purchased in the mid-seventies.  It was well used and finally broke into unusable pieces.  I decided I would weave a new basket out of splints and reeds.  It came out better than I imagined.  After a few measurements I got busy weaving.  I think it looks too pretty to be hiding under my sink, but its purpose is to hold onions and potatoes under my sink.  It is stained with a natural stain made of black walnuts.

Next on my list was to weave a small birds nest in the shape of a bees hive.  I had one hanging in my outside flower garden, but after a few years of enduring the weather it crumbled apart.   My small birds nest is a cute little basket measuring about 6 inches tall.  In fact, it came out so cute I made a second one to give to my little granddaughter.  She can hang hers outside and possibly a bird might find it as a home. She'll have fun watching to see if the birds like it.   A few years ago I made a large bird basket that hangs in my family room window with my plants - it's over 12 inches tall.  I love bringing nature inside.

The next basket on my list was a reed bowl shaped basket for my Amazon palm hanging basket I made a couple months ago when I was on my Amazon trip.  Using two palm leaves that I wove together made a great plant hanger.  It seemed that a woven reed basket would be the perfect vessel to place a plant in.  Now I just need to find the right plant.

Both the bird basket and the Amazon plant hanger with the reed basket hangs in my studio with my other plants.  I can't wait to find a plant that will grow up the palm weaving.

Back to working on my next UFO.

Out There

I saw this quilt called Out There in a fabric catalog and fell in love with it.  When I get an impulse to buy a pattern or fabric I try to hold off for a couple days to see if I really love it or was it just a whim.

Looking through my stash I had several navy and white prints.  I also found a couple larger prints that had navy, royal blue and a lighter blue.  This quilt was coming together from my stash.  

The Out There quilt in the catalog was sampled in Windham Fabrics fabric.  Lori Hein designed this quilt and was offered free from the fabric company.  How could this get any better?  It was meant to be.  I'm glad I took a few days to decide if I should order the pattern or the kit.  Everything was already in my hands.

As always I put my own little spin on patterns and changed the outside border.  My finished quilt size is 66" by 81"

Staying with the nature look of the fabric print I quilted a large leaf design.  I especially liked this design in the solid white fabric areas - it took the edge off of the stark white.

I want to use this as a picnic and beach throw.  But wait, on the same catalog page there is a nice beach tote that coordinates.  And again it is a free pattern.  I have lots of left over fabric to tackle this project so it is now next on my to do list.

So much for my UFOs,  I manage to create a few new projects in between.  But hey, I'm using my stash, although it doesn't seem like I've put much of a dent in it.  It's summertime and the weather has been nice and hot.  If I'm going to use this throw and bag this summer I'd better get sewing.  It's too nice to sew during the day so it will have to be an early morning or evening project.  Hopefully I'll be back to share my finished bag in a few days.  Time to sew.

Cafe Open

This was a quickie project - and who doesn't like a quickie? 

I'm not big on fabric panels.  I always like the panel quilts my friends make, but I don't tackle them very often.  I found this panel in with my stash fabrics.  I don't recall purchasing it, so I possibly acquired it from someone.  I liked this panel and debated for a couple months if I should make a table runner from it or pass on to someone else.  As you can see I decided to keep it.  And staying true to my new year's commitment I was able to use my stash fabric to complete it.

I think it's cute and it fits great on my kitchen bar counter top.  

I did minimal quilting by straight stitching along a few of the squares from the print.  I added the black and white checked border on the top and bottom and chose to bind the runner with yellow gold.  The finished size is 15" by 41 1/2".  All in all, I probably spent about two hours constructing.  But it did take me several months to decide what I wanted to do.  What a nice break to complete a project so quickly.

I will enjoy many cups of coffee by my new table runner.