Hey, look, I'm back! And I'm not even blushing about skipping the past 4 days of my 30 Days Of Junkin' posts, because family and life take precedence over blogging. And so does suddenly deciding to add 4 large new raised beds to the garden, before it gets too hot to do the heavy work outside.
I will, however, still be doing 30 junkin' posts this month ... I'm just gonna tweak the titles on the 4 that are running late. That's why this post -- which was intended for Easter -- is called Post 12, instead of Day 12. Enough babbling. I hope y'all had a blessed Easter, if you celebrated, and a warm and sunny weekend.
Today I'm writing about baskets, in honor of Easter and Springtime. Lots of people collect baskets, including me. In one college apartment, I nailed more than 200 baskets to my living room walls in a large and lovely earth-toned collage. Need I say that the landlord had a fit when I moved out, leaving hundreds of small holes to be spackled?
Some of the baskets I use and display are close to 100 years old. Others are terrific yard sale, thrift store, or Ikea finds. Once upon a time -- back in the early 1970s -- Cost Plus (now World Market) in San Francisco occupied 3 large buildings on one city block near Fisherman's Wharf, and one of those buildings was filled exclusively with baskets and indoor-outdoor gardening items, including window boxes, houseplants, pots, and planters ... yow! I LOVED that place, and could spend hours choosing which baskets to add to my collection.
In my house, you'll find baskets filled with buttons, seashells, napkins, dishtowels, washcloths, fluffly white spa-sized bath towels, lipsticks, quilts, vintage linens, and treasured teddy bears. There are baskets of magazines near comfy reading chairs and baskets of DVDs on the built-in shelves above the TV. And I have four prized mid-century picnic baskets on top of my china cabinet,filled with ready-to-go mid-century Melmac dishes and 1940s tablecloths.
My local thrift stores have dozens of baskets priced at 50 cents or less, and now that Easter is over, they'll be receiving quite a few more. I buy them in pairs or by the dozen, and tuck them away to use for creating -- or packaging -- inexpensive gifts.
Here are a few more photos I found on the web to share. Please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by, and tell me a little something about your favorite basket or favorite way(s) to use baskets. Enjoy!