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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