Orange Confetti Clothesline Bowl

 

 My third Orange Confetti Clothesline Bowl. Much happier with my third attempt. Second one was my typical, too fast, trying to make it the same, fiasco (in my mind). This third one is also a tad smaller. About 8 inches across.

Anyway, even with the leather finish, this bowl still had to have a knot. A snake knot, to be precise.

I just love how organic the bowl comes together. Not overthinking the design, just letting it evolve how it wants to.

 Last Sunday, my only day off, was warm - over 60'f,  and sunny.  Yard work was calling. Specifically, this wild Nootka rose.

It had no redeeming qualities other than keeping the neighbors at bay. No excess of blooms, no excess winter rose hips, just excessive vicious thorns and the ability to jump over and under the aluminum flashing I put in to keep it contained.

Late in the summer I tried some Crossbow on it and I was happy to see some dieback.
It will take me two years or so to get rid of the vigorous runner roots but I am waging war.

I have a nice clumping bamboo to put there instead. Teresa gave me some of her clumping bamboo varieties for my birthday last year. They are in pots until I gain control of this spot in my flower bed.

 It's all chopped back, crossbow applied and some roots dug up.

My living fence is now opened up and the neighbors got a bit closer.
Gardening is a process. That's for sure.

 I did do a bit of sewing. This was all cut out on my sewing table and was finished. This little professional pouch with leather accents measures about 5 1/2" by 4 inches tall.
Nice small pouch.

For coins, stuff, timbers memorabilia.
---our local soccer team.

While the rest of the nation is enjoying the winter months, our spring has started here in the Willamette Valley. My Christmas Cheer Rhodies are starting as well as my early daffodils.

Warmer weather is expected through next week and I might even see my mini-iris's pop open.
We can still expect frosts until April but this winter has been mild - our usual state of affairs here. Last year was snowy and icy - which happens every ten years or so. Good to be back to 'normal'.

Fabric Wrapped Rope Bowl

Complete with threads hanging off.

Benta and Janine challenged me to tackle fabric wrapped clothesline bowls.
I dreamed about it.

A red, white & blue bowl....

Actually, they didn't challenge me. They just thought about it. lol

This is how I start my bowls. I wrap it tight into a spiral and push straight pins in to secure.
This particular rope is a cheap one -- $5 for 100 feet, which will make a good sized bowl. It's cotton braided around a styrofoam core. I didn't have any problems sewing on it but I did use a size 14 needle. Anyhoo, my pins won't pierce the styrofoam so I insert them just enough to grab the cotton bits. The pins help to keep the spiral flat while starting the sewing.

I also put a spot of Fraycheck on the end so it doesn't 'fluff' up. You could use any glue.

I make my spiral about 2 inches in diameter and then zigzag around in tight circles and even going back over the initial circles twice and then start going round and round. It's important to have the tail come off on the right hand side so you can zigzag in a continuous spiral.

 I really didn't want to mess with strips of fabric, getting tangled trying to wrap the cording.
And I was right. It is a bother.

So, in my dreams the other night, my bowl was designed with three rounds each of red, white & blue. With the rest of the bowl being the natural cotton clothesline.

I robbed my scrap basket - no real fabric was harmed in the making of this bowl. However, blue became turquoise, because there is no other color of blue in my scrap basket.

And just plain white up to my fabric strip colors felt wrong, so I switched threads and bobbin and put some red into the bottom of this bowl when the base was still flat.

 I really like my knot finish on this bowl too.   Three stripes, three knots?

 Overall, I like this bowl.    I'm not in love with it though.

It feels unwieldy big. And the contrast between the natural white and the fabric colors is more intense. Just using thread feels more modern and trendy.

I do like how the handles were even set off the top.


I can't say that I'm done with these bowls. They are amazingly fast and give such awesome results. They feed my need to make a craft in my small amount of free time. This fabric wrapped bowl took just over two hours. Just using thread is half the time. Big bang for my creativity.


I still need to trim thread tails and this bowl will go on the completed pile.

 My friend in Japan sent me an awesome t-shirt: SEW Elaborately Days - complete with vintage sewing machine.

Last, but not least, Fabric sale tomorrow in the church parking lot (??!!).
I'm gonna take my bike (3 miles into town) so I can behave myself.
With my tiny biking backpack.

hahaahahahahahahahahaha.