This is The Small Object’s fabric basket pattern from the Crafter’s Companion. I am pretty happy with the final product, though I suspect I did something wrong or there are mistakes in the pattern. The lining didn’t fit in properly, and the top won’t cinch all the way like in the photo. Since there are other nice examples of this pattern out in blogland, I suspect I did something wrong somewhere. Oh well, it still works. I kind of like it plain, but I’m contemplating adding some embroidery or buttons to it. Eh.

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Hi – this is Becket again. I haven’t posted in a while because I recently moved to the SF area. I’ve been very sad leaving such good friends behind like Maitreya and Amy!! But, between email and Apple iChat (and the blogosphere) I plan to stay connected as ever!

I recently made a baby quilt – this time for my own future baby. I liked the color combo so much on the last quilt I made for a friend at work, that I decided to copy it, but change the overall layout and design. Although this design is more traditional, I’m hoping that the colors and the fabrics give it that much-needed modern edge. Maitreya had the great idea to tie the quilt only on the solid squares. I really like how that looks.

I sewed a long tube of fabric along the back for easy wall-hanging with a wooden dowel. I was thinking of hanging the quilt above the crib. Here I am holding up the quilt proudly in our backyard back East…

Oh, and stay tuned for a post from Maitreya on a BEAUTIFUL quilt she made for my baby – and the really cool technique she used to construct it…

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After making the car, Ellen decided to make something for herself and picked out the sheep pattern from the Aranzi Aranzo book. Coincidentally, I made a sheep from this pattern for Karl a couple of years ago (in fact, the “wool” on both is from the same recycled shirt). Turns out that he was named Woof Woof and deemed a dog. LOL

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Mark’s sister and her family were visiting this weekend, and my niece Ellen asked if we could make a stuffed toy for her brother. I gave her all my Aranzi Aranzo books to look through, and she picked out the car pattern, since Karl loves cars. She did almost everything: picked out the fabric, traced the pattern, cut out the pieces, did most of the sewing, stuffed it, glued on the wheels and eyes, and drew the smile. Isn’t it just great? And kid’s got some good taste in fabric: went right for the Denyse Schmidt.

ps. The wheels and pupils were cut from felt with craft punches, using Moonstitches’s clever trick of sandwiching the felt between 2 scraps of paper. Worked like a charm and made me wish I had more punches. :)

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