Blue Mountain Baskets

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Taking a Mindful Moment Rushing Out at Dawn

2018-04-22 / Andrea / 0 Comments

On of my volunteer duties is to send out the Nature Photo of the Week for our local Blue Mountain Watershed Trust. We feature different local photographers each week who take fantastic photos of wildlife, land & waterscapes. This photo was just taken on my phone but the moment was memorable:

Sunday, April 22, 2018

White-tailed deer at Sunrise in Duncan, Grey Highlands (Euphrasia)

A mindful moment: This morning I shifted from dreading a 2-hour drive at the crack of dawn to being grateful to be at these quiet crossroads at sunrise to be greeted by these three playful deer. We shared a long peaceful moment staring at each other before we all dashed off into our day.

Andrea Matrosovs
Your Nature Photo Coordinator
Communications Committee

Your nature image of the week, compliments of the Blue Mountain Watershed Trust.

Week 16: Completed small willow basket series

2018-04-22 / Andrea / 0 Comments

My motive to the size of these baskets was to make small pussy willow and spring flower arrangements in cat food tins.

Combined with ALL of the large willow baskets from previous weeks, they were prolific with flowers and pussy willows at our Duncan community potluck held at the Ravenna Hall.

Two were destined as surprise thank you gifts for my two Associate Deans at the college. I just finished teaching this semester at Niagara College and have decided to return to concentrating on life up here in our Blue Mountains…

Week 15: Series of small willow baskets

2018-04-15 / Andrea / 0 Comments

I am helping to host the next Duncan community potluck where we gather with our rural neighbours for a nice seasonal meal together. Happily I have got the job of organizing spring centrepieces.

I want to make small baskets in which I can nestle some spring flowers and pussy willows. Inside I plan to use wet green foam blocks in low cat food tins (ha ha- you know I have many of those).

So this week I made a prototype basket and have started bases for a series of baskets. I wanted to figure out how many sticks to put in the base and how many stakes to go around such a small sized basket. Next I will practise different weaves for each, so each basket will be a little different.

Where is Spring??

2018-04-15 / Andrea / 0 Comments

Spring 2018: April 15

My willow walk on April 15, 2018!

April 15: The new willow patch location- my cuttings will have to remain sleeping in a cold dark place for awhile longer!

Lord Grey’s English Country Dance Society

2018-04-14 / Andrea / 0 Comments

It is lovely to be back at regency era English Country Dance right here at home. My husband and I joined the Lord Grey’s English Country Dance Society to dance each month in Clarksburg a couple of seasons ago, but our jobs down south created too much confusion in scheduling and geography.

Since we dance in Stoney Creek and at Fort George when working in the Niagara region, we’ve been able to keep up our skills to dance at the upcoming Apple Blossom Ball at the Marsh Street Centre. I can’t wait! We went to a practice in Clarksburg on Sunday and it was wonderful to see familiar faces and meet new people.

For our first balls I sewed this fancy dress and matching vest that you can see in the photo. I often did the hand sewing in the car while Chris drove during our weekend commutes (when I wasn’t grading tests). I made Chris’ jacket and pants by modifying an old tuxedo he had. The dress is based on a Butterick pattern.

Week 14: 1st Green & Purple Wire Basket

2018-04-09 / Andrea / 0 Comments

Ethernet and power cable wire cut-offs upcycled! The purple has been coloured using a Sharpie.

This is my first attempt to use my son’s business colours in upcycling his Ethernet wire cut-offs. While the green is a close enough match, I have had to create a purple wire for his logo colours. The Ethernet wire is made of too hard of a plastic covering to take a Sharpie pen permanent ink (it just rubs off). I Did discover old cut ends of power cable wire take the ink well (a softer plastic coating). I just played with technique and colour in this first prototype. I will return to this project for another attempt as I source more old power cables I can strip down.

Inside view.

Week 12: Easter Egg Basket in Willow & Dogwood

2018-04-01 / Andrea / 0 Comments

I wanted to make a basket for our eggs and traditional Latvian pīragi buns (Granny buns as we call them!) at our family’s Easter gathering.

This First Frame Basket Project (Shallow Dish) in Jon Ridgeon’s book looks just like an egg and by using Green Edna, Hakuro Nishiki willows and dogwood, I was able to ‘decorate’ the egg with stripes. I used freshly cut dogwood for the oval frame and green willow for the ribs. The dogwood weavers were cut offs from my log basket that were still weathering outside, so we will see what shade of red they end up after freezing outside and then being soaked with the willow.

Week 13: Carrying basket with handle in willow

2018-04-01 / Andrea / 0 Comments

Yippee! I’ve made it to the first quarter of the year- – Basket #13…

I wanted an oval shopping-style basket since sometimes I have longer items to carry. The narrowness makes it easy to keep close to one’s side if mingling in a market crowd.

I had meant to do a wrapped hoop handle but forgot to stick in the spacer stakes while I merrily wove the French randing. I therefore kept the 4 centre stakes on both sides out of the simple trac border and bowed them over tucking the tips into the opposite side to make a sturdy woven/wrapped handle. It worked though I didn’t know what I was doing when it came to the wrapping ends. What is this kind of handle called?