Friday, 18 Jul 2008

The thread that holds this post together is 'pretty things' -- or, to be more precise, 'pretty things I've made'. . . or planted, maybe. Like this bachelor button:

Aren't blue flowers great? I remember wondering, as a kid, why there weren't more blue flowers. Thank goodness for bachelor buttons. They can stay next year -- well, be planted again. I've got to admit that I'm also loving my few poppy plants that made it to adulthood. I check on them every morning, and it's like having a new flower garden each day, since the previous blooms will have withered away and are replaced by new ones.

I've got this amazing johnny jump-up in a bud vase:

Why so amazing? I picked it almost a month ago now! Its original flowers fell off after a few days, but the leaves were healthy and alive, so I kept it in the water -- and the other day, this teensy, tiny flower opened up! It hasn't put out roots that I can see, but the stem seems to be as happy sucking up water from the vase as it was outdoors. Amazing.

Apologies for posting another photo of my zucchini bread, but I DO think it counts as pretty, and I DID make it.

Nothing really to say about that, except that you should try that recipe (of course, I can vouch only for my variation), and that I discovered my mom had been hiding my second loaf pan in her cupboard. I knew I had a matching pair!

So, one of the items I found at the estate sale last weekend was a picnic basket. I didn't get any good 'before' shots, aside from the one in that link, which I took after I'd cleaned it. I used an old toothbrush, soapy water, and a bit of Murphy's Oil Soap to get a lot of the dirt and dust out of the cracks and polish it up. I replaced the latches and covered the handles, and it now looks like this:

Not too shabby, eh? But that's not all! I wanted to use it to carry around crochet and small sewing projects, so I made a nice lining for it, like so:

You can see a closer shot of the inside of the lid here. It's got a couple layers of cotton batting behind it, so I can stick things in with pins, and there's a pocket in the main basket part for pens and crochet hooks.

I sewed the lining pieces and used hot-melt glue to attach them to the basket, and it was pretty straightforward. There was a slight emergency in the middle of making the top's lining, when I opened up the ironing board and managed to gouge out a chunk of my big toe. Right at the tip, and here's a tip for you: don't cut your toes -- they bleed a lot! But don't worry about me; I bandaged it up and finished the project, if a bit more hobbly than when I started.

I really love this basket now (I keep closing and opening the lid to admire the lining), and I feel like I should make the point that I manage to impress (and surprise) myself whenever I do something like this. It more or less went off without a hitch (never minding toes), and it's not because of some great, innate talent of mine; it's down to practice. It's amazing to realize how we can train our brains to approach problems in useful ways ('How can I fix up this basket with what I already have?' [I used hair-binders wrapped in bias tape to replace the latches]; 'What do I need to do to make the lining?') and that we can come to understand how things 'work', whether it's the seams you need to sew or the ingredients you cook with.