In Smithville, Indiana. One our first shows and one of our favorites!
Bonnie Baskets Makes News
The Herald Times newspaper did a feature story on Me and Bonnie Baskets! Barry and our little dog, Phoebe made an appearance too!
You can read the article here.
Butterflies in the Kitchen
“Butterflies in the Kitchen” was inspired by an old mixing bowl that sits atop a bookcase in my sewing room/studio.
I’ve had this bowl for over 50 years and an old college housemate used to make her “Claw the Oven Door Dill Bread” in it. So many great memories, smells, tastes, and good times! I love that bowl.
This fits right in with my our new soft pottery collection and I am sure there will be more along the line with this design.
“Butterflies in the Kitchen” takes me to my happy place but it can be yours. $60 plus shipping if needed. If you want it let me know.
A Labor of Love
Another exploration of soft pottery started with a big happy accident. We have been looking for ways to get very vertical sides to the baskets to make them taller like a vase. One way to do that is to increase the starting diameter so you can tilt them up at a right angle up and over the nose of the machine.
I made a huge starting disk and one of my machines was having fits. I thought it would be cool to have a dark thread against the natural colored rope. Since the machine was being contrary, the stitching looked horrendous. It really need to be covered with some fabric on the top and the bottom. There are a couple of ways to do this, one I don’t like and the other I hate. It was too late for the one I don’t like and I had never done the more difficult one at such a large scale. After much frustration and naughty words, I got it done and it came out pretty darn good!
I wanted the sides to just be naked rope with no fabric wrapping. It was a challenge to keep the sides smooth and consistent, more like a pottery vase and less like a basket. Barry had found some very nice dyed rope that was all cotton and consistent quality. I added some in about midway up, not really knowing at the time how tall it would become at the end.
This project was indeed an exploration and there was much collaboration between the two of us along the way. In the past, I start them, stop when I am done, leave him some rope to work with and have him finish them how he decides (with my approval of course). This time, his ideas for the finishing touches drove the design and construction along the way.
Using two colors of rope on the brim was a gamble but it worked. Barry found a single copper pipe from an old wind chime we collected in some former life and proceeded to saw, file, sand and paint it for several iterations to finally get it how he wanted it.
So, it is what is. I present to you a labor of love, “Savannah Porch Social“. Imagine sitting on your front porch sipping sweet tea and visiting with whomever walks by.
Available at $95 for a limited time at The IN Store, or just let us know. SOLD
Unique Names
As all of Bonnie Baskets are unique works of art we have felt the need to start naming them to help ourselves and our customers refer to them.
This little cutie is our first named creation, “Weavers Willow”, and is priced at $25 SOLD. It incorporates some grass rope and thin jute fiber. I think it is quite “baskety”, light and airy. Interested? Let us know.
Fabric Hunting While Vacationing in South Carolina
Fabric hunting while vacationing in South Carolina. Bonnie visits Sew Suite in Bluffton and Island Quilters on Hilton Head Island. Finding new inspiration along with unique fabric.
This Whole New Life is one adventure after another. When traveling she misses sewing. When sewing she misses traveling. This time we took one of her sewing machines with us to Edisto Island.
Our First Show for Spring 2024
Bonnie Baskets has just been announced as a new vendor for the Hoosier Handmade Craft Fair & Market in Franklin, Indiana at the Johnson County Fairgrounds. The event will be Saturday April 6, 2024.
The perfect time to pick up a beautiful basket for Mother’s Day!
Spring 2024
It will be a few months until Arts and Craft shows start up again. Until then I will showing and selling my baskets exclusively through The IN Store in Ellettsville, Indiana. Here are some new baskets you can only find at The IN Store.
The IN Store hours are:
Wednesday – Friday 12 – 5
Saturday 10 – 4
New Autumn Designs
Here is a preview of some new designs I have made for the upcoming Arts and Craft Shows. Check our show schedule. Hope to see you soon!
What a fun show!
This was our first showing at A Fair of the Arts in Bloomington, Indiana. It runs once a month during the Summer as part of the Farmers Market.
We saw lots of old friends and made many new ones. Thanks to everyone for stopping by and supporting us!
We will see you back here again on June 10th.