Ringing in the New Year

Well, this New Year’s Eve is pretty much the exact opposite from last year’s for us. Last year, we left the 1 year old with grandma headed out to the Tempe Block Party to see Jimmy Eat World and do the whole party atmosphere thing. This year, we are hanging out at home with the 2 year old and this little one:

Born Wednesday night :)

I am sure I will inundate the blog with more pictures of this cute little girl later, but I will leave you with just the one for today. Forgive me if I slack off even more from my normal blogginess(or lack thereof) as we all settle into a new routine around here :)

And, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Crazy Busy

Ok, I am slacking again. And I don’t really regret it! I’m 9 months pregnant, and since I last posted, I have had 3 boutiques/craft fairs, helped my mom move, been sick at least twice, finished a bunch of quilts (all for the boutiques), finished a batch of crayon totes (that I still don’t have pictures of, so still haven’t posted in my shop, doh!), and started numerous Christmas gifts. Yeah, you could say I’ve been a little busy :)

Anyways, just a peek at Zoey’s quilt I am making her for Christmas:

I basted this one this morning (with Zoey’s “help”. I love that I don’t have to “hide” her presents yet. Probably last year for that though!) I am backing it in minkee (wish me luck on quilting! Never backed with minkee before!), because I decided since the new baby will have a nice minkee backed blankie that Zoey tried to steal even before it was MADE, it would be a good idea for her to have her own snuggly quilt, too. Added bonus, she really needs some sort of bed covering besides the little blankets she has been using (fine for summer, but now not so much), and that is this one’s destination.

So there ya have it. I also sewed a bit on the baby’s “official” quilt, and on a carseat tent. Hopefully there will be a newborn to USE these things soon, because I am SO DONE. So. Done. But it’s all good :)

Have a fantastic weekend! We are off to pick out a tree this afternoon, and decorate the house tomorrow!

Little Red Riding Hood aka Super Grover

Here is my cute little red riding hood girl! I figure this is the last year I get to choose her costume for her, so we went super cute :)

Of course, when I went to try the cape/hood on her, she had just watched Sesame Street, and yelled “Super Grover!!” I said yeah, that makes you Super Grover! And that’s how we managed to get the hood on for all our various parties and trick or treating :)

Best part about Zoey’s costume? ALL of the fabric was leftovers from other stuff! The red is left from Christmas stockings we made ages ago, the blue gingham was originally sheets, turned into tabtop curtains (remember when dark blue was “in”?), both from my mom’s house and going in the yard sale pile (we are doing a serious purge of her house right now; everything is going!), and the white is just my normal white Kona cotton! I even had the white ribbon and the zipper for the back on hand. the only thing I had to buy was the red ribbon and the basket (basket $3 goodwill!).

We went themed this year, so Spencer was the woodcutter. Who likes to pose when I have the camera within arm’s length. And yay all I had to make for his costume was the fake suspenders!

Ok, he kept getting called Where’s Waldo though! Apparently I did a REALLY good job on the hat, since that IS from last year’s Waldo costume…but really, since when does Waldo carry an ax and wear flannel?

And since I know you are all dying to see my costume (hah!), here it is. I was the big bad wolf dressed up as grandma :) $5 Goodwill nightgown, some quick furry gloves and ears, and fur double stick taped to my knee-high boots, and my costume was pretty easy too!

Anyways, I know this post was a few days late, but I have had serious computer issues lately, which kept me from blogging :( But should be all fixed now! Just in time, cuz I really need to get a Blogger’s Quilt Festival post up! Like, today or tomorrow!

Pictureless Monday

Ok, I saw that I haven’t posted in two weeks, and felt kind of silly.

I DO have some sewing going on around here, but today and tomorrow, it is all about the kid’s Halloween costume! I really want to have it done at least a day or two before it NEEDS to be done, cuz leaving it ‘til the last minute just stresses me out :) It is being interesting though, since my kid is a fairly solid size 2, and the smallest pattern I could get was a 3-4. So far it is working out ok sizing it down a little though, and then she will have some dress up clothes later since it’s still a tad big :)

Oh and I FINALLY got something sewn together for the new baby! It is the most luscious blankie out of minkee and voile. I seriously might steal it for myself :)

Ok, and I will valiantly try to get some quilt pics posted this week too!! Now off to the real job…

Halloween Table Runner

Ok, I am ignoring the fact that I have THREE completed quilts, that I DO have pictures of, to blog, and instead showing off what I just finished!

Ok, bear with my pictures, I have ZERO good lighting in my cave of a house…I promise these look so much better in person!!

So, my awesome friend Melanie came up with this beyond amazing table runner last year, and I have wanted one ever since! Seeing as it is finally Halloween time again, I finally felt justified making one.

THEN I decided that it would be awesome to make a couple of these to sell at my boutique this month (this Saturday now!). So, off I went to get supplies for 2 to sell and at least one more for me. Well, I totally misfigured while standing in the cutting line, and only ended up with enough glittery orange satin for two runners. Yeah, you heard me right, glittery orange satin. It looks so cool. And made it very difficult to photograph.

Soooo, I only have two, which I will attempt to sell on Saturday. However, if one of them happens to not sell, I think I will be totally ok with that so I can keep it for myself and not spend all that time cutting again!! Seriously, I have a bruise on my finger and made my thumb go numb from all the snipping.

If you aren’t near me and want to make yourself one of these awesomely cool runners, check out Melanie’s tutorial. (heck, if you are near me and want to make your own, check it out!). If you ARE near me, and don’t want to bruise your fingers but want one, come find me on Saturday!

And, just because it downloaded from the camera when I sat down to get these pics off, here’s a shot of me and my 27 week prego belly. Ignore the goofy look on my face, I don’t do well for pictures in sunlight :)

Have a fantabulous day!

Basting

A look at my kitchen table right now:

I really wanted to have this cute little quilt ready for the boutique tomorrow (BOUTIQUE TOMORROW! Recker/Guadalupe in Gilbert 9-2! Come visit me!), but I had no ambition this morning, so I didn’t have it basted and ready to quilt by naptime. Instead, I basted it and am now blogging during naptime :) Sooo productive of me :)

Fabric: Sweetwater’s Pure and Kona Ivory

Posts two days in a row!

Miraculous! Not only that, but this is another completed quilt!

This is the other quilt that I finished just before I got laid up on the couch with my parasite, thus never posted.

I love this quilt!! I am seriously tempted to keep it for the baby, but I think I’m going to make one specifically for her instead. We will see :)

I used my square in square method for the blocks again. I always seem to go back to that when there’s some color combo that I want to play with but not think about too much. A few blocks and a couple borders, this quilt went together really quick. Then I decided to play around with the quilting a bit.

I made myself a pattern template (out of cardstock!) for a flowery looking thing in each of the blocks, then a squiggle through the green border, and the scroll loops in the outer purple border. It was nice to try something new!

Oh yeah, and this was the other quilt that I dragged my quilt holder all around my grandparents for :)

I started out with my two solids and then pulled prints to match. The solid green is Kona Tarragon (I think! It has been too long!!), and the purple is Kona Eggplant. The back is a super cute paisley flower print from Basic Grey’s Eva line, and I used almost every bit I had for the back! the teeny bit that was left, I used for a set of burp cloths to match the quilt:

In fact, there wasn’t a large enough piece for the burp cloth, so I added a strip of solid to that one :)

The quilt finishes at 34” x 42”.

Both the quilt and the burp cloths are up in the shop (for now!!)

Oh, and time for a plug for my upcoming boutique! For any of you locals, I will be at a boutique this Saturday, the 24th, 9am-2pm at Recker and Guadalupe in Gilbert (right next to Highland High School). Come check it out and say hi to me! I’ll be the one with the quilts :)

The Post Office is my favorite place…

I finished up that custom order from the last post! And while I am not always drawn to yellow, by the time I was done with this one I was converted! I am very grateful for custom orders that push me a little out of my comfort zone.

My customer wanted a finished size of 35” x 54”, to fit a bed. I believe this is a good size for a toddler bed, especially one with rails, since it wouldn’t have much of a drop. I wanted to try it out on Zoey’s bed, but since who knows what germs are in that cesspool, I didn’t :) She also really liked my Toss Up pattern, so we went with that, though I had to completely refigure the block sizes, which was a PAIN. But totally worth it for the end product!

I quilted a meandering flower pattern, which I think makes the whole thing super cute and feminine. And cute. Did I mention cute? And I didn’t stitch my finger :)

The fabrics were all from stash (yay!), and luckily I had enough of that Oh Cherry Oh yellow flower for the backing. The solids are both Kona; the cream is Bone and I don’t remember what the yellow is, whoops. The almost solid light pink is actually a Basic Grey grunge solid, love it! Oh, and the binding is a yellow pinstripe from American Jane’s Punctuation line.

Now, to explain my post title…so this is the first time I have had to ship internationally, so I had NO idea what I was doing with customs forms and whatnot. So, after standing in the really long line full of old people while my 2 year old shrieked, yelled, danced, and said embarrassing things, I got to the counter. I had done all my forms right(yay!), but then as I went to get my wallet out of my bag, it WASN’T THERE. Seriously. So I couldn’t pay! The lady had already date stamped all my stuff, so I had to go back THAT DAY, too. And it wasn’t the closest post office to my house…it was the one near where I was right then. Anyways, I went and met the hubs for lunch and he pulled me cash and I went back on the way home, but by then, it was 2 hours after naptime and the kid was cranky. Thank goodness there wasn’t a line when I went back!! So, that’s my saga. My wallet was still at home in my bag from the LQS from Saturday…doh! But at least now I will know what to do to ship international next time!

And isn’t that quilt just so cool? :)

What I’m doing today

I’ve been working on this custom order for the last few days. Just got it basted, and gonna head in to quilt it as soon as the kid is down for her nap! Now, if I can just not run over my finger this time… :)

Oh, and somehow I miscut my backing, so it’s like 1/2” too narrow…luckily the top is just a little bit bigger than it needs to be, so I can trim it down :) But seriously, did I forget how to measure or something? Duh!!

I am one of THOSE now…

So, I did something really dumb yesterday. I was quilting my garden fence quilt during naptime, and I was able to finish it rather quickly, and since I already had my machine all set up for free motioning, I moved on to the other lap quilt I had ready to quilt (a Christmas one, I haven’t show any sneak peeks yet, sorry!). Started quilting that one, and it was just zipping right along, way faster than I anticipated. I figured the kid would wake up before I could finish it (cuz really, TWO quilts quilted during one naptime? Miraculous!), but she was still quiet! Then I was getting really close to the end, so I was sort of hurrying…

DON’T HURRY WHEN YOU ARE FREE MOTIONING!!!

I have no idea how my finger got in the way, but next thing I know I am reflexively jerking a NEEDLE out of the top of my FINGER. Now, at first I didn’t even really realize what had happened. And then it started to hurt….and bleed….profusely…I ran in to the bathroom and threw it under cold water, and suddenly couldn’t remember if I had seen the TIP of the needle come out of my finger…in fact, I was pretty sure it hadn’t. Oh, yeah, there wasn’t an exit point, just the entry. So I start freaking out because there was still part of the needle in my finger, I had to go to Urgent Care, but I couldn’t drive cuz I felt like I was going to pass out, the kid was still in her room quiet, but she’d been asleep for 3 hours already, my husband wasn’t just down the street at work, he was at work far away yesterday afternoon. I hurriedly grabbed a rag, wrapped my bleeding finger, and called my mom; she should have been just leaving work, and has to drive right by me to get home, so I figured she could pick me up. Yeah, she didn’t answer…so I called my mother in law, who thank goodness didn’t go out of town until today, and she headed over to pick me up. Oh, and funny part of this: Zoey gets up from her nap with her diaper only half on, and as she walks put, it falls the rest of the way off. She got to hang out diaperless until grandma got here, because I apparently cannot put a diaper on one handed!

So, off to Urgent Care. They got me back pretty much as soon as I got in the door; didn’t even have me fill out paperwork or anything first, that was nice! But guess what? They couldn’t XRay me OR give me any painkillers because I’m PREGNANT. BAD TIMES! So, they had to poke and prod at me without any kind of numbing or pain relief…except tylenol. Yeah, I totally almost passed out at one point, so they stopped for a while. Anyways, very long story short, they couldn’t find any metal still in my finger, and recommended finding the needle when I got home to see if the point was still on. Why didn’t I think of that earlier? Oh yeah, because I was bleeding…lol Antibiotic prescription and I was on my way!

We found the needle(and know it’s the right one cuz the tip is still bloody!), and sure enough, it is still totally intact, so I’m not all worried anymore :) So now my finger is all bandaged up, and my husband wouldn’t let me sew any more last night, but I think I will go back in at naptime today!! That quilt is so close…

ps- Yeah, I never used to understand how people ran over their fingers with their machines…and I still don’t know how I did it, but I guess it really can happen to anyone!

Scrappy Rainbow Quilt- a Finish!

I finally have a finished quilt to show off! I started this thing way back here, and I actually finished this quilt the week I found out I was pregnant (in May), and before I could get pictures, I was laid up on the couch. Anyway, I present to you my scrappy rainbow quilt!

I started making some random 5 1/2” blocks when my string scrap bin (a big red vines container. I’m cool like that!) was stuffed so full I couldn’t get anything else into it. I sorted out all the strings by color and went to town with no plan at all! Well, when I hit purple, my last color and least amount of scraps(had to borrow some from my mom!), I decided I needed SOME sort of a plan…so I started playing. I love the gradient look, so I went with it, and found that I only needed a couple more purple blocks and then I would be done!

Thanks to my awesome husband who let me drag him all around my grandparent’s and take pictures of quilts, he’s awesome :)

Now I have a slight rant about the back…I decided that this gray and white Ta Dot (I believe the color is Stone) would be a PERFECT back, and I had a good size piece of it, but not quite enough. So, off I ran to my LQS where I remembered seeing a bolt, got the bit I needed, and ran back home. To my horror, they were DIFFERENT DYE LOTS! Now, I know this is bound to happen, but I was so annoyed…and I couldn’t get any from the original bolt I purchased from, because I bought the end of bolt! Anyways, I worked it out so that all the dots from one piece were on one side of my scrappy back strip and all the dots from the other piece were on the other side, so it’s not very noticeable (except to me!!).

I quilted a continuous swirl that started a little off-center, (not that you can tell from the above picture, it’s just a cool pic), and started the swirl off with a cute daisy. It was fairly easy since this was a small quilt, but I don’t know that I would do it on anything bigger!

And I finished it off with a black and white pinstripe. I love how it sets off the rest of the colors and frames the rainbow! By the way, I thought it was pretty funny that I blogstalked across my quilt’s close twin while I was laying on the couch sick back in May. Rainbow, striped binding, even the quilting! I guess quilters think alike!!

I have listed this quilt up in the shop. Hurray for something new in there! It was starting to get just a little sparse, what with not sewing for 4 months…but I am definitely back in the groove(mostly), and I am still trying to keep up on my blogging! Yay!

Have a fantabulous day!

Apparently I’m Famous!

How was everybody’s weekend? I had a lovely time; I basted THREE quilts, got to go on a real date with my husband, and then went up north for a couple days to get out of the heat! Oh, and while I was at my grandparents(the getaway up north!), I finally got some pictures of the quilts I haven’t posted yet! I will work on editing/sorting out all 100 of those pictures later…

But now on to what this post is REALLY about! As I was sitting eating my cereal and doing my morning blogstalking, I went to my BFF’s blog, The Crafty Cupboard. To my surprise, she has an entire post up about something I made! That is on the FRONT OF A MAGAZINE! Ok, really, I’m sure my name isn’t anywhere on/in that magazine, but my workroom and my lovely employer are!

So, go NOW and look at Melanie’s post so you can see the amazingly huge curved cornice that I sat, knelt, layed on the floor, shot myself in the side with the pneumatic stapler, dropped said stapler on my eye (I had stapler issues that week…), and all around slaved over to make! I feel all special now :)

Have a wonderful day!!

Some New Pillows

Well, I did finally get those garden fence blocks put together, but it took two naptimes instead of one :) Now they just need some sashing and I will have another completed top!

I have had fabric sitting in the middle of my sewing area/master bedroom and pillow forms for said pillows in the corner of my room for literally MONTHS to make some couch pillows. So guess what? Today I finally got them figured out, cut out, and made! Woo woo!!!

The light in my house sucks!

Now, part of what makes this so exciting (besides cleaning up a bit of my room!) is that since we have been married, we have had exactly one couch pillow. That my husband and I usually want at the same time. We are not good at sharing. Spencer has been asking for new pillows for years! Oh, and did I mention that our one couch pillow was ZEBRA STRIPE? Yeah, that’s right, left over from my teenage years! Talk about a clash in décor!

The other part that makes this exciting is that all of the fabric was scrap from work, so it didn’t cost me anything! (well, pillow forms, zipper that I already had, and welt that I already had…)

They are technically not done yet, because that front blue piece is just held on my some steam a seam temporary tape, and is already pulling off (helped by the 2 year old!). I need to hand stitch it on, cuz I didn’t want any topstitching. And really, it needs some sort of trim between the two fabrics, so I hope to eventually add some flat tape trim, but they are good enough for now! Oh yeah, and the backs are the same brown with blue swirls as the front borders; didn’t get pictures of those!

And I leave you with a “pillow in action” shot. The kid claimed the pillows before I even had the forms in, and spent most of the afternoon relaxing on them, while she watched Mulan on the laptop. Not the TV, the laptop. She insisted.

I’m alive!!!

I am, I am! I have finally hit the halfway mark in this pregnancy, and I feel better again! By the way, it’s a girl!! Hubby really really wanted a boy, but he’s coming around :) And at least this way we already have clothes and whatnot.

And, since I’m feeling better, I am back sewing!! HURRAY!!!

I got this quilt layed out yesterday during naptime, and I will hopefully get the blocks put together today (crossing fingers!). I also have an entire quilt top done and ready for basting!

Why all the sewing all of a sudden? Well, I have 1 boutique a month until the end of the year coming up, and possibly 2 in November, and my inventory is DOWN! 4 months of not sewing is a LOT…Oh, and since I will be 7 months pregnant and the size of a HOUSE by the big boutique in November (in Prescott Valley! More details coming as I get them for locals!) I have to get quilts (especially bigger ones) done now! Yay thinking ahead and not freaking out then!

Anyways, that’s what is going on over here! Lots and lots of plans, and me running out of time to complete them all before this kid makes her appearance. Wish me luck!! And I will do my best to get back into the blogging groove :)

Ta da da!

So, we have already established I'm horrible at posting on the blog. And Kirsten has just been trying to survive the illness her new little parasite is inflicting on her, so our poor blog has been very neglected. In my defense, I have been helping her out with her first parasite as much as possible while she has been sick (not to mention all the time that my money job takes up!!!)

Anyway, I've had this quilt completed for quite a while but I finally got pictures and at long last here it is. You may remember a drawing I made while I was still dreaming up this beauty.

It's hard impossible to tell from the picture, but most of the strips that make up the interlocking squares are continuous strips. This was really fun and challenging to make but it went amazingly fast. Now I want to try it out in other color combinations. Zoey wanted in on the photo session and who am I to deny anything this little cutie wants!

Here is the back. With all that black on the front, it needed some brightness on the back.  I just cut 10" squares from all the pieces I used for the front squares and patched it all up.  Zoey is trying to find Papa, who was the designated quilt holder.

I have lots more projects to post, so hopefully this will get the ball rolling!  Oh, and Kirsten is finally feeling better and has escaped to San Diego for a fun getaway before school starts up again, so hopefully she will have some great pics to post when she returns.

Disappearance

Soooo, I fell off the face of the earth and haven’t blogged in what, a month and a half? Well, I still don’t have pictures of the two quilts I finished before my hiatus, but I have a picture of the parasite that is keeping me layed up on the couch all day:

Yeah, there’s my little parasite! The kind that makes me puke my guts out for a few months! I have a much closer relationship to my toilet than I would like….

But really, I am so excited! Well, except that I haven’t gone near fabric or sewing machine in far too long, and have no creative thoughts in my head right now…that better turn around soon or I might go crazy!

So, if I disappear for another little while, now you know why :)

Now I love it!

A little charcoal sashing and I think I'm in love! This is how you make purple look manly!

Stay tuned for more manly solids!

Unsewing

I spent some quality time with my seam ripper last night, undoing what I had spend the previous evening doing. Now I have this:

Because I don't love this:

Hopefully I'll be back next week with pictures of my solution! (And hopefully I will love my solution!)

Now I just need to spend some quality time with my camera and computer and show you all the stuff I have been working on!

Houston we have a problem

Do you see that??? That is a HOLE in my FABRIC! Right smack dab in the middle of a strip I cut for a border! I found it as I was ironing, so I went ahead and ironed the crease, but the hole just happens to be right at the center fold line….hmmm, me thinks I did NOT make this hole and it came off the bolt that way…..RRR!!!
Anyways, yeah, this lovely Kona eggplant will soon be attached to a lovely little baby quilt that spewed out of my machine last week. I have a boutique this weekend, so I am sort of trying to get it done in time to have it there, but I’m not pushing too hard. If it happens, it happens.
Pictures of the actual quilt instead of disappointing HOLES soon!


**EDIT** Just to alleviate any anxiety about purchasing fabric with holes at the crease, I must post a retraction. This was fabric that Kirsten snagged from my stash. And this is what happens to perfectly beautiful fabric when you have a messy cutting area and don't take the time to make sure the cutting zone is clear before you start cutting. I didn't even know I cut it and I can't absolutely guarantee that I did cut it as the cut bit was never seen, however, given the state of my cutting table when I was cutting, I take responsibility for that hole. I thought I would just catch it the next time I was cutting on that fabric, but when Kirsten swiped it last night, I had forgotten all about the mishap.

WIP Wednesday- a new quilt

The lighting is terrible, as is my carpet, but I had to snap a picture when I laid out these blocks yesterday.

I actually got this top mostly put together after this photo was taken, too, so there will be a cute new baby quilt showing up around here soon!

I am having issues deciding other things for this one, like backing…binding…should there be borders…any input would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, and my purple scraps were so abysmal I had to borrow some from my mom. Yay she had lots of purple scraps!

More on this one soon!

Easter Revisit

Seeing as it is almost Easter, and I don't have a whole lot going on at my sewing machine right now (ok, so I do have some scrappy blocks I just started, but I don't have pictures yet), I thought I would share my Easter basket tutorial again. Enjoy!

Alright, at the urging of Melanie, I have created a tutorial for these adorable baskets! And I warn you now, there are a LOT of pictures in this post! Like, going crazy waiting for all these dang pictures to upload, a lot of pictures. Anyways, on to the tutorial!

The first two steps are deciding on your basket size and choosing fabric. They kind of go hand in hand, because they might influence each other! The larger one has a 9"diameter and is 6" tall. smaller one has a 6" diameter and is 4" tall. I will give the cut sizes for both sizes, but feel free to deviate if you want!

Cut sizes for 6" diameter basket (fat quarter friendly)

Main front fabric:

1 strip 19 3/8" x 3 1/2"

1 circle 6 1/2" diameter

Lining and banding fabric:

1 strip 19 3/8" x 1 1/2" (front band)

1 strip 19 3/8" x 4 1/2

1 circle 6 1/2" diameter

Handle fabric:

3 strips 18" x 1 1/2"

Cut sizes for 9" diameter basket

Main front fabric:

1 strip 28 3/4" x 5"

1 circle 9 1/2" diameter

Lining and banding fabric:

1 strip 28 3/4" x 2" (front band)

1 strip 28 3/4" x 6 1/2"

1 circle 9 1/2" diameter

Handle fabric:

3 strips 22" x 1 1/2"

Other supplies:

12/32" cording

fusible fleece

normal sewing/cutting supplies

bodkin

Once you have chosen your fabrics and size, cut them all out! The handle fabric size might seem long, but remember that it will end up shorter once it is braided! If you want handles longer or shorter than the ones pictured, you can adjust accordingly. Figure out how long you want the handle and multiply by 1.5 for the take up in braiding.

* 1/4" seam allowances are used throughout this project except when specified!

There are many ways to cut circles, but here is my way. Use a string (in this case, I had a needle with embroidery floss on it within arm's reach, but a piece of yarn or other string tied around a pin would work just as well), put it in/on your fabric, mark the string at HALF the cut diameter(for a 6" dia. basket, mark at 3.25). Then use the mark on the string to mark your circle, like so. Hint: once you have one circle cut out, lay it on top of the second fabric and use as a pattern!

You should now have 8 cut pieces.

Now, take your main outside piece and outside banding piece, sew long sides together, and press.

Cut out and iron your fusible fleece onto your basket front, lining, and both circles. The only pieces NOT "fleeced" are your handle pieces. Hint: lay your cut pieces onto your fusible fleece and use as a cutting guide!

Next, take your two outside pieces, and stitch the short side together. Be sure to line up your banding seam or it will not look continuous.

Press your seam open. The piece should now look like this.

Now, fold the tube you just sewed, in half, with the seam on one side. Mark the fold. I used a disappearing marker. Then match the seam with the mark you just made and mark both new fold lines. Now you should have "quartered" the tube. Continue matching up your marks and marking the folds until you have "eighthed" the tube.

Grab your outside circle and fold it in half. Mark those folds.

Then line up the marks and mark the folds again. Continue until your circle has eight marks as well. Kind of hard to see in my picture...Sorry!

Now pin the pieces right sides together, matching your marks.

Sew together! I find it easiest to sew it with the circle on the bottom.

Press the seam. This part is kind of a pain since it is on a curve, but it makes it look much better! ps I have no idea why my camera put the line through this picture. It has been happening a lot lately...anyone have a tip for me?

See? The seam should be all pretty now.

Repeat all of that for the lining pieces, omitting the part about the banding but use a 3/8" - 1/2" seam allowance to stitch the lining bottom to the lining side!! Oh, and pressing the bottom lining seam is not necessary, but you can if you want to. I didn't. Once it is seamed, trim the bottom seam allowance down to 1/4".

Press the top edge over 1/4", to the inside for the outer piece and to the outside for the lining. That doesn't sound confusing at all... :)

Insert the lining into the outer piece. It will look like it could never fit, but don't worry, it will! Set this aside for now.

Ok, time for the handle. Take a few deep breaths, this part can be a little tricky! First, take a handle strip, fold right sides together matching the long edges, and sew to make a long tube. Stop about 1/2" from the end, and backstitch! Now, get your cording. Stitch it to the end where you have the little flap.

Ok, get out your bodkin (if you don't have one, a big safety pin will work too.)

Slip the bodkin into the fabric tube. See it sticking out there?

Clamp it around the end of the cording. Now you are going to turn the fabric and pull the cording through at the same time. I'm not gonna lie, this part is a pain. Push the bodkin through the fabric tube and pull the fabric down over the cording. I actually made a video to help show how to do this, but it's not loading....If your bodkin comes unclipped inside the tube as you turn it, don't panic! It happened to me at least once every single one of my tubes. Just push the bodkin back into place and reattach it.

Cut the cording about 1/2" below the end of the fabric once it is completely turned.

Repeat with the other 2 handle strips.

Once you have 3 covered cords, stitch them together at one end. Then braid! I pinned to my ironing board to hold it in place while I braided.

Stitch the end of the braid to keep it from unraveling.

Alright, now you have a braided handle and a handle-less basket, time to put them together!

Put one end of your handle between the front and back pieces at the seam. Pin. Now start pinning the outside and lining together, working around to the side opposite the seam. Pin the loose end of the handle between the layers directly across from the end in the seam.

Topstitch 1/4" from the folded edge of the fabric around the top lip, and then again at 1/8".

Guess what? You are done! Stand back and admire your handiwork!

If any of you use my tutorial to make this I would love to see! Either comment with a link or email me at maniacalmaterialgirls [at] gmail [dot]com! Oh, and if you have any questions or trouble with the tutorial, email me for that too!