Basket case

Houston, we have a problem

Short one from me today! Let’s see how that goes…

This week marked the return of our favourite electrician. Favourite, in that we’ve found a very friendly chap who’s happy to come along and do a handful of odd-but-needed jobs, including sorting out the lights in my storage cupboard.

The same lights that decided to play shy when he turned up, and didn’t perform their usual party trick of flickering like an illegal rave:

The same lights that illuminate the 2 metre long depths of my Storage Cupboard Of Many Things…you can see where this is going, can’t you.

yep, it all had to come out…

Anyhoo, having dug it all out, paid the fella for his excellent work (the new lights are neater, brighter, definitely don’t flicker, and as he’s over 6ft tall, so fitting them in a cupboard that’s only an inch or so above a metre high* must’ve been particularly backbreaking stuff) I had to put it all back again. And there was stuff in there that really shouldn’t’ve been, because it was supposed to be put into ‘creativity packs’ and distributed (possibly via Etsy, mixed feelings about that one - now likely to be Ramster) but so far I’ve not got round to actually doing the packs.

Apart from needing my desk back, I was determined that having got it all out, sorted the shelves and - gasp - thrown things away! - that it wasn’t all going to go back.

Which left me with this rather lovely collection of baskets in plain sight (they don’t all contain fabric, some have boxes and bags of beads too 😉) whereupon I realised I may have a problem…

Admittedly four or five a few were pulled into the photo to make the point, but this doesn’t include the two on my windowsill no make that five, there are three more containing pot plants; two squarish ones holding notebooks on the side of the computer desk; six behind my sewing machine I almost forgot (three proper grass baskets, and three stitched bowls, does that count?!) and at least half-a-dozen more scattered throughout the house.

Here they are again, stacked up for their photoshoot:

I kept finding more to add to the pile…

While I come to terms with my recently diagnosed basket-addiction - oh my, one of them was even my chosen 30th wedding anniversary present, the darker round (!) one, left of sewing machine - here’s where I’m at with my Ramster pieces so far. Once I get going (hardest bit) it’s pleasingly cerebral working these out.

The paler yellow-y/white one has proved the trickier of the pair so far, as I’d already stitched it massively but in a way I didn’t like. Took a lot of head-scratching to work out how to pull it back, but I’m pleased with where it’s going now. The more orange-y piece has been more straight-forward, maybe because it’s got my favourite grey/orange/teal combo with hints of pink, but there’s still got a long way to go (nothing’s stitched down yet!).

works very-much-in-progress!

Completing these pieces is a delicious game of puzzle-solving, finding the perfect blend of colour, texture, shape and line. Busy vs not, intricate and detailed vs knowing when to stop. A bit like knowing when too many baskets is too many baskets.

Oh.

* I’m not the only one to mix measurements, am I? I use inches and centimetres all the time…

And please reassure me I’m not the only one to love a basket 😅🧺😍

Wondering if “basket case” is offensive? I did too, and found this article discussing this very Q while checking my Ps and.