Basket making? State #5 has it

I finally finished writing state #5 (yay me and I'm sure Vivian is happy about it). So it's off to my editor friend before I can send to Vivian for the 4RV editors to work on. I have to sort of print out a version to decide which clues to use as discussion questions in the back of the book and which to use for the study guide. I was marking which would make quick discussion questions and forgot about the basket making clue. So I decided to use that as an extra activity in the study guide. I have had fun making my two different sized baskets thanks to a pattern from MakingFriends. The pattern is actually for a Girl Scout Thinking Day swap. I've enlarged the basic pattern to use with a large foam circle that I had purchased from Walmart. The circles came like 40 in a pack and were all colors. All I have left are a couple of pink ones and one orange one. So I took the smaller pattern and cut a small circle from the orange large circle to make the original sized basket.

The directions call for raffia which I don't have any on hand, so I found some ribbon (like the ribbon that is not cloth) and tried it first on the larger basket but it wasn't working too well. So I picked up a yellow plastic grocery bag and cut a couple of strips off the sides where the handles were and used that for my weaving material. Turned out pretty good on both the small and large one.

If you want to know how to make baskets, you'll have to wait until the fall of this year to get State #5 and the accompanying study guide. Pictures below.






From this large circle (as you can see that is on a standard piece of paper, so the circle is pretty large).












To this. (Notice the first top view is not as neat as the second top view because I decided the first time doing this was sloppy. I undid the basket and decded to start twisting the strips of plastic bag to make it tighter so it was a bit easier to work around. It took me the original two strips and two more to do the final version. The strips were cut from the sides where the handles are and cutting open the handle once the strips were cut, so I actually had a pretty long strip and as I ended with one strip, I tied another to it and trimmed the ends so it doesn't look too bad. This is a good recycled project. I'm also going to pick up some raffia from Dollar Tree and/or Walmart (because I know they have it in different colors and then I'll pick up some foam packs with multicolors and perhaps make the baskets in varying colors. I think the raffia should work like the bags did in that I can make it tight and there will be more layers of weaving. When I accomplish this, I'll post the finished projects.)












From the large circle and the small basket pattern, I cut the circle and this is what we ended up with.










Comparison views of the baskets side by side (as best as I could put them and take the picture since I seem to move slightly and cause blurry pictures).




Hope you all enjoy the baskets and come back in the summer when state #5 will be released.


I'm also hoping that now that the book is finished I'll have a cover soon, and that #6 will not take me as long to write as this one did and I'll get it submitted and ready to go with a cover for that one. When I have covers for the next two books, I get a new bookmark with #4, 5 and 6 on it. Looking forward to sharing new covers with you all too.

Where did the time go?

Ten days and I've not posted anything on this blog. I haven't even posted any more challenges from the class visit. I will post the rest of the Harris Burdick pictures shortly and let you readers write leads to them as we did in class. We have been moving on since the kids have another challenge from me to write a short story like a mini contest. Mr. Hughes is working on dialogue and a few other things to do with writing a story from start to finish. I won't be in class but one time this week due to a family emergency on Mr. Hughes' side and my going to the SCWW writer's conference at Myrtle Beach. I'm so looking forward to this. I get to have fun.

State of Quarries update: Six more clues and a few interactions to put in and the story will be finished. It will be with Lana and Batya before I leave for the beach and hopefully upon returning they will have sent me suggestions/corrections to make and then I can fix them and get it to Vivian. I probably won't have internet connection or if I do, won't be very much, so won't be able to do any updates during the time I am gone. I will, however, have all my research with me to start working on State #3 - so hopefully most of the clues will be decided upon by the end of the weekend.

Will get Harris Burdick pictures posted before I leave and then no updates until I return from the conference. See you all then - E :)

First story almost completed

Well, needless to say this story could have been finished a while back but I've been a bit on the lazy side and not really doing what I should do. I think depression has been my biggest problem of late. My regular job has been low and thereby leaving me fundless and not enjoying anything and not wanting to do anything. The first state story is ready for beta testing and so I'm hoping the 3rd through 6th grade (and two 7th grade teachers) will call me this week with an appointment to come and read to the kids so that I can get their feedback and do one final edit from that so that I can submit to the publisher. If this format works, then the other states should fall into place pretty quickly. Just deciding who makes an appearance in the stories and when and what bonus clues to use - that is the trick -

If the characters behave like they should, again I should have no problems. Of course some characters feel they should take center stage and others don't seem to want to come out too much. I'll have to coax them out soon because I need to get to the next state and keep on moving on. More character sketches coming soon.

I originally started with Guy being my main character focused on but the first story and it seems subsequent ones now are focusing on Matt but Guy is there, as is Jolene and Mary Beth.

I hope to have some goodies to give away as the stories progress. So be on the lookout - keep checking back for updates.

See you all in the postings - E :)