Mindy Carlson

As I hinted in my last post, I’ve been experimenting with some new textile projects. The one I’m writing about today is fabric bowls.

I first saw them in one of my quilting fabric stores holding some odds and ends that were for sale.   If it had been for sale I would have bought it.  Since it wasn’t for sale I made a mental note to look it up on the internet.  It turns out the internet is a fantastic place and there about about 40 different kinds of ways to make a fabric bowl. But I finally found a blog with a tutorial on how to make a coiled fabric bowl.

It turns out that the foundation of a coiled fabric bowl is clothes line.  I was surprised, but I set out to find some.   How hard could it be?  The media is all “eco-friendly this” and “eco-friendly that” and what is more eco-friendly than a backyard clothes line?   In fact, I bet clothes lines have got to be everywhere.  Maybe even in the supermarket.   Went to Safeway. Nope.  Went to the local hardware store.  Nada.  Went to Home Despot.  Nothing.   I asked a guy there where I might fine the clothes line and the look he gave me told me that he not only didn’t know what a clothes line was for, he probably couldn’t find the washer and dryer inside his own house.  So, I decided that bowls would have to wait until Spring when the stores would surely restock their supplies of clothes line.

And then I went to that sale at my favorite fabric store, Capital Quilts, and found they actually carried clothes line.  They had just started carrying them the previous month. Woo!  The clerk also informed me that I’d find that fabric bowls really ate into your scrap pile and took more strips of fabric than you’d think.

She was right.  This blue bowl below to almost half a yard of fabric.

I was happy to use most of my Spring-time quilt scraps in this smaller bowl.

And especially for the show I made a festive Yuletide bowl.

Making them is really addicting.  I can make them in 2 or so hours which is like 5% the time a quilt takes me and so it’s a real boost in the instant gratification department.  Especially since I’m surrounded by fabric and project lists for the December show. (Which, by the way, you should come to. Details to follow.)  It’s nice to have a start to the “finished” pile and a dent in the “to do” pile.

Hopefully next time you’ll get to see the Bargello quilt top and/or the Halloween costumes for my sons.  All hand made, because I really have nothing else I should be doing.  Ta for now!