She Brews: Just Monkey'ing Around........

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Who am I

Give me an old creaky oak floored building, with high tin ceilings and hanging fixtures, half decked in vintage quilting material, half in used smelly books, a Starbucks in the middle, with big fluffy chairs, a little Dave Matthews Band playing and some days perhaps, David Crowder Band, depending on my mood, and my best friend, my daughter and I may never leave.

Just Monkey'ing Around........

Got my new fabric from Fat Quarter Shop on-line and was so excited. Delicious and yummy courderoy and flannel and soft cottons. I purchases a little of everything. Jelly Roll, which is that neat roll of strips; charm pack, which is the 5"X5" samples of all the line; and a package of Fat Quarters. I should have taken a picture of each, so you could see....well, here is sort of one:

Figuring out projects for the strips and the squares is a challenge--but I love the choices, and so I must buy them this way!
Awhile back Floresita asked me if I would show how to do the basket in one of the Japanese books I recently purchased. I finally got around to making one, so I could tutorial it. Here it is:

This is the little basket Floresita asked me to show how to make. I cut a 6.5" X 10.5" piece of material that I wanted to be the bottom of the basket. Then, I cut 10 pieces that were 2.25" each. These I cut from the jelly roll strips, as they were almost exactly that wide. I sewed five squares together in a strip like this:

Remembering to turn the monkey's heads so that they would face up on the basket, I sewed the strip to the main piece(6.5" X 10.5") I had already cut. It then looked like this:

Measure out a new piece (which will line the basket) to match the newly sewn piece's size. Then, put the fabric's right sides together and a piece of batting and pin to hold or baste all through and machine stitch the two outsides together. Don't sew the sides that have the little squares---leave those for turning your project right side out.

After sewing the two side seams, turn the fabrics right side out and quilt the piece in strips following the squares across and the squares down. I only quilted across where the squares were, but I quilted the long way from square strip to square strip. Virtually, the same direction as the side seams.

The next thing to do is to figure out how to draw the sides up. It took me a little to figure this out, and I don't know if I can put it in words, so I will show you the picture of me doing it.

I figured out how far I wanted the point to come up, and at the crease I stitched it closed, then folded it up--pinned it and slip stitched the two sides together and then sewed on a button to hold up the point.

I forgot to take a picture of this stage before I put the binding across the top......Next, I cut two 13" long X 2" wide strips on the bias and sewed them together. This I used as the binding for the top of the basket.

Well, for the handles, you take three 12" X 1" strips cut on the bias, iron them in half and pin them together on one end and braid them. I thought this a little flimsy, and would like to figure out an alternative, nevertheless, this is what the book said to do. Then, sew each end to the basket. Here is my finished project.

OOPS, how did that monkey get in there? Oh, he drove me crazy the whole time I was making the basket......

If you are wondering why so many views, I wrote down the numbers of the pictures when I was reviewing them in my files, but when I pulled them up for the browser, they were not the same number and I didn't know for sure what I was posting until it posted.....argh.....darn computer stuff........enough monkey'ing around......