Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Ruffled Ruthie - Basket Belle



Ruthie is nicely ruffled, but Donna is dismally distressed!  Ruthie was the smaller woven rattan basket on a wooden base I picked up the same day as Big Bertha the Basket Tray.  See that post here.

I had a vision of what she would look like and pressed forward on the preparations.  Now, you regular readers know at this point I usually subject, er, shower you with my terrible, er, terrific photographs. 


However today there will only be a few because ...
                            
I HAVE ERASED ALL THE PHOTOS FROM MY CAMERA!!! 

 I know, I know it is impolite to scream, but the situation warrants it.  I have put in a call for help to my super-brilliant nephew who will first ask if I backed up the photos on the computer.  Who really does that?

Back To Ruffled Ruthie!



There is a before photo because I had shown this in the Happy Hunting post.  Ruthie is sitting in front of her friend Big Bertha.  I had imagined them as companion pieces. 

So I spray painted Ruthie with Rust-Oleum Ivory Silk - my favorite color at the moment - used two coats - inside and out.






 While she was drying. I took a four-yard length of torn cotton muslin and hand-sewed a running stitch down the center of the ribbon.  The color of this muslin is called tea-stained. I gathered it into a ruffle and pinned it around the edge until it was evenly spaced and hand-stitched the ruffle to the basket.  Using a two-yard length I made a second ruffle and made a flower.  The flower was stitched and glued on the basket.
Now here is where you are really missing the pics - the adornments!  I took three Frozen Charlotte torsos and wired them with silver beading wire.  I cut a card from a German music book (My Heart Is In Bloom by Johannes Brahms), stamped it with a curlicue design, and punched a hole in it.  Next I took a shipping label, spritzed it with walnut ink stain and alcohol, stamped it with "beautiful" three times with a curlicue background and wired all of the elements together.  This took a little time to make sure the embellishments would hang correctly.




 


Here is Ruffled Ruthie the Basket Belle sitting in the chair outside.  She is finished, but needed  a little something to stage her.



Another quick pic of those little Frozen Charlottes.  I just love them to death.  I still have some for sale on eBay (zoeyfeb98) if you want to check them out!  The ones on sale actually have heads!








I gave Ruthie a bouquet of hydrangea fresh from the silk greenhouses of Hobby Lobby.  (My hydrangea is sulking just out of the picture!  She despises my yard.)  Now Ruffled Ruthie the Basket Belle is the proud companion to Big Bertha the Basket Tray, and I must say, they make a very attractive pair.  Next I need to complete a table for them to sit on when we move over to the new booths!  

Speaking of my new booths (they are actually my old ones before we had to move out for renovations.)  The white one needs painting.  I am thinking of going pale lavender or silvery sage or a candlelight yellow, but cannot decide.  It has to be light-colored.  Any thoughts?  Let me know - and soon - I have to have it finished by the end of next week!  (Riverfront Antiques Mall, North Augusta, SC - regular customers please note we will be staying open on the "small"side until we complete the move to the "large" side.  There are great bargains !)

And was Molly upset that all the photos had mysteriously disappeared while we had played chase the pinestraw?  Why no, she was content just having our afternoon massage and cuddle session.












Well, the email alert has been beeping away as I wrote this post.  I hope it is Super Ferris, the computer genius nephew, writing to say he can save the day (or at least four Christmases of photos!)

See y'all!






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18 comments:

  1. that is so pretty Donna!
    and loving Molly :)
    My computer crashed a few weeks ago and I lost everything - photos - contacts - even a book I had written 4 chapters of ( not that I probably would have done anything with it, but still )
    I feel for you
    XOXO

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  2. Love the basket dressed in white & ruffles! I have some dark rattan baskets in desperate need of some white paint and seeing this makes me think I need to bump that project up on my list :~) Ruthie is beautiful!

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  3. That's so frustrating. One of my memory cards got ruined somehow and I lost a whole season of photos! I know how you feel

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  4. Great makeover, so pretty basket:-) Hugs, B.

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  5. How pretty...love those flowers from that HL hothouse:)

    Blessings,
    Linda

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  6. The basket is amazing!! I love everything about it. Molly is so cute, too! :)

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  7. I love Ruffled Ruthie!!! She is so beautiful! So sorry about your photos! I hope your nephew can save the day! Thank you for linking this up to Rustic Restorations Weekend!

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  8. Hi! Cute basket makeover! Thanks so much for your kind comment on my post about my antique trunk.

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  9. That basket is beautiful! Love the kitty too:)

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  10. Oh I do love that basket! The ruffle is just right and the flowers are gorgeous! (silk greenhouses of Hobby Lobby....you crack me up!) You do make the most wonderful tags!

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  11. I just ADORE the basket!! WOW!

    Thanks so much for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer.. From Dream To Reality!

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  12. Love the basket and the gorgeous hothouse HL flowers, they sure can growth them! Love the addition of the ruffle! Molly is pretty cute herself! So glad you shared your creative inspiration with Sunday’s Best – your creativity helped make the party a success!

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  13. This basket isn't just gorgeous, it's elegant!

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  14. Such a pretty basket...but yes, very distressing indeed! I had a whole memory stick lose my first entire year of blogging photos. Luckily I had the blog as my back up. But it would be heartbreaking to lose family Christmas photos. I hope you find a way to retrieve everything. Good luck! Thanks for sharing at Etcetorize this week~

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  15. Shabbiliciously gorgeous Donna.
    Thanks for linking up at Shabbilicious Friday.

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  16. Love Love Love the basket!!! You made it look so beautiful!!! Wish I could find something similar to this. Love it!!!

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I enjoy reading all of your comments and will always answer with email. I will try to track you down if you show up as a "no reply" commenter to let you know. Friends are like that!