Strawberry Basket the Prefect table centrepiece

Strawberry Burlap Basket

 The boys have been begging me to go to the local Strawberry Farm to pick their own strawberries. We went last year and they had such a great time, they have been waiting patiently for strawberry season to start. 

For full instructions on how to make your own Burlap Basket press

How to Grow a Sack of Potatoes

- Literally!    Even if you live in a tiny apartment.

If you've ever grown your own potatoes you would be familiar with the great potato hunt that occurs at the end of each crop! For those of you that haven't, I'll explain. Potato's grow as a plant that comes out of the ground, whilst under the ground the potatoes are forming. The potatoes are ready when the plant dies off. The problem is you then have to find the potatoes by randomly digging through the ground around the plant. This is relatively easy for a potato farmer with a tractor but not so easy for the home gardener.

But I have a Burlap solution of course!

Growing your own potato plant inside a burlap sack makes the process of retrieving your loot of potatoes really easy because you know that all your potatoes will be contained within the sack. It is a great project for kids, and non gardeners as well, as it is very straightforward and low maintenance. Plus it looks fabulous in any garden or deck and also makes the perfect apartment garden.

For full instructions on how to grow your own sack of potatoes press >

Inspiration all around - inspiring ideas for using burlap

Love, Love, Love this cushion!

It seems retail therapy is the flavour of the month this month. I think with the kids on school holidays I actually have some time (even though it is usually 5 minutes with a bribe to the video store to follow) to visit all the beautiful homewares stores we are lucky to have in Noosa.

Last week I popped into Eclectic Style in Noosaville and was surprised to find a large range of Burlap items scattered through their shelves. It appears that Burlap is more in fashion 
than ever. A return to a simple design aesthetic has increased the popularity of Burlap in recent years particularly in the home decoration area.

Anyway here are a few of the treasures I came across.

Burlap for Retail Displays

It's school holiday time and last week we were fortunate enough to take the whole family to tropical Far North Queensland. The kids had a fabulous time Go Karting, going on the Skyrail and Kuranda Steam Train. We even went to Paronella Park where you can walk around the ruins of an early 20th century Spanish castle. A magical place and a must see if you are in the area.

Burlap Doorstop Pattern and Instructions - a gift for someone with everything

A great idea for a fast, easy and cost effective gift is a Burlap Door Stop. Last week was my Mothers Birthday, and the problem I have every year is what do you buy for someone who has everything? So usually I end up making some unique creation which I know she can't buy anywhere else. So this year I decided to give her a Burlap Door Stop perfect to use for the doors opening to her newly rennovated outdoor room.

The Finished Door Stop

Here's how I made it.

Materials:

Burlap
Contrasting Fabric (I used an upolstery remant, but cotton or polyester would also work well)
Ribbon for tag
Ziplock Bag
Sand
General Sewing Supplies

First I created my pattern by drawing a 15cm by 15cm square for the base. I cut two of these out of Burlap as I wanted the base to have extra reinforcement so it is two layers. Then I drew a horizontal line 15cm long. Then at the midpoint (7.5cm) I drew a vertical line 15cm long. And then joined the top midpoint to the two edges of the horizontal line to form a triangle. This sounds more complicated than it is - see photo for example.