Making a nest......

Hello, hello! Sorry about no post yesterday. Doctors' appointments for the hubby. Everything looked good. I'm so happy!

I'm trying to make Crackers a nest. Some place where she can rest her cute little body when she gets tired. Right now she spends all her time on top of the entertainment center, but she says it's too hard on her bottom, so I'm trying to make her something that I can add a little padding to. Here is my first attempt. A handmade basket.

 I started with a large, old atlas. I tore pages out and cut them into strips about 2" wide. I got a bamboo skewer and started making my weaving strips.

Start by putting some craft glue on one corner of one of the strips.

Fold it over a bamboo skewer and roll it into a skinny little tube.

Put glue on the last corner and seal the tube shut. And know this..........try as I might, I couldn't get the tubes to roll evenly. They all turned out with one really skinny end and one end that was a little fatter! But I just alternated them when I wove them to keep things even.

Put the strips on a hard surface and flatten them. (I was in bed on the heating pad, so my hard surface was a lap board.)

Continue until you have all the strips rolled and flattened. Now, you use these strips to weave the basket! They are really very strong, but you can't pull on them as hard as you would a piece of reed or other fiber. If you don't know how to weave a basket, Google basket weaving and you will find all the info you could possibly need.

Here is the basket almost finished. I wanted it to be higher in the back and lower in the front, so I had to experiment, because I've never made one that way. And it is still only almost done, because I decided it wasn't what I wanted. So I'm off on another hunt for the perfect nest. And Crackers is still sitting on the hard entertainment center. Poor baby!

A reminder to all of you. I haven't received any ideas for naming the ladybug yet. I need some help! She can't keep being called "the bug." She needs a name of her own, so leave comments with name ideas. Do it now!

She needs you............goodbye and love to all,