It's a basket... or a bowl

Last quilt show I went to I saw a sample of the technique to create a bowl from strips of fabric wrapped around rope.  These baskets/bowls are based on the technique described in the book "It's a Wrap".  There was also a demonstration on The Quilt Show a couple weeks ago.  Earlier this evening I sat down with a bunch of strips from my stash and the rope that I bought last week and I made this bowl.  It was fun, and quite easy.  I thought I might have an issue getting the sides to turn up, but it started turning fine when I wanted it to.  I finished piecing the log cabin blocks I was making for a kitty quilt that used 1 1/4" strips, so I had alot of fabric strips already cut and waiting for a new project.  This one was strictly a practice item, but I think it turned out pretty neat.

It's pretty versatile, I bent the edge over and the basket now had a lip, then I turned just one edge over and depending what I was going to put in it, that could look cool.

I made the decision about 10 days ago to sell my Singer XL-1000 on eBay to help offset the cost of the new sewing machine I wanted to buy.  The auction ended last Saturday and I did get it sold.  Not for what I would have liked, but as much as I thought I needed to considering it is almost 10 years old.  

The new machine that I bought is a Juki F600.  First I have to tell you that I have a Juki 98Q that I absolutely love for my piecing, but it is strictly a straight stitch.  I wanted more stitches that were more focused on quilting, so I decided it was time to let go of my XL-1000 that was meant to be an embroidery machine and I hadn't used the embroidery feature for several years, since I purchased my commercial embroidery machine.

Now back to the F600, it arrived on Tuesday.  I have done alot of practice stitches already, just to see some of the 225 built-in stitches, and I completed the piecing of the log cabin blocks for my kitty quilt.  This evening I stitched the bowl.  This is an awesome machine.  One of the more important features that my new machine had to have is a knee lift for the presser foot.  I know people who have this feature and do not use it.  I want to tell you I really don't like sitting at a machine that does not have this feature.  My husband sat and watched me for a short time yesterday and he noticed how much I used the knee lifter and how beneficial it was to what I was doing. He said, now I know why that was so important for you.

Not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow.  It is Friday and our date day, so with no plan in place, we will have another adventure... maybe.