M is for mandala.
I love this shade of green outlined in white tracery, punctuated with thorns. And that a blue jay tucked an acorn inside. Good cache, jay!
M could be for maps woven into baskets.
I’ve been fooling around with taller/wider looms. This one is woven from a vintage map print of Berlin. Really liking the subtle colors and patterns.
Another view straight on, where the cream colored paper core catches the light less.
M is for mind-boggling.
ShelleyB has continued to experiment with her fantastical weaving patterns as well.
More of her madness carefully plotted charts. Love the houndstooth!
(I’m also working on a set of black and white storage baskets for the pavilion remodel, using black looms and plain old white weavers. And a jaunty circle-dot lining :)
M is always for mystery.
Another of the Rockaway Beach abandoned dollhouses. Who or what is behind that open door?
nancyland.com 
The weaving is all so very clever and so very lovely. The photo of the abandoned dollhouse is intriguing – it looks as though the jungle is overtaking the house.
Thank you, BW. I like the dollhouses because they were so unexpected and evoke so many feelings.
They do! Who lived there? who left that door ajar? Why did they leave and when? All those stories!
Love your baskets, the map one does have good colours. Those dollhouses are haunting. Maybe the bluejay’s name is Fibonacci?
Megan, hah! Fibonacci is a great name for a jay. Or maybe we could add it to the list of collective nouns — A Fibonacci of jays :D
The map paper is nice, but a bit lightweight for basketry. Mostly this has been a thinking-through-fingers thing while I ponder a bigger project. You know how that goes.
Marvellous! I like the map baskets. They have sparked a lot of image ideas for me. M is a magnificent, multitudinous idea making mountain of a letter.
Yay, ShelleyB, I done good if your imagination has been stirred up :)
M is the mountains!
Magical!
Hehe, Jeanne. I love what you’ve been doing with the #ABChallenge, especially the C: clarinet :)
The colors on the map basket are so pretty. Subtle but not faded out or boring.
Agree, Sheila! I’ve used maps as color palettes more than a few times :)
The plant picture makes me swoon, it’s magnificent.
Thank you for the additional abandoned dollhouse picture :)
Thanks, Keli! I have always experienced living greens as mildly hallucinogenic, and this pic is no exception. It makes me feel so happy and alive :) And welcome for the abandoned dollhouse picture. There are only four complete structures in the array, two of wood, one of unknown material, and one sadly plastic. Am toying with the idea of adding objects to them, and seeing what happens?
That sounds like an intriguing experiment. Nothing a tot could choke on though, just to be safe.
This was a certainly a visual feast! The Mandala is Magnificent; love the white edges against such a GREEN green!
Also Love your Map baskets! I have always found maps intriguing. Often when I am involved in a novel I will try to find the locations of the places mentioned on a map as I am reading the book. Makes the story more Meaningful.
And I think that ShellyB’s weaving patterns are Fabulous! I’m going to hazard a guess that perhaps she quilts too? ;D
And your photo of the abandoned dollhouse has a Melancholy atmosphere surrounding it. Reminds me of some Real Life ones I’ve seen on youtube. Houses with all of the furnishings and kitchen fittings still intact yet standing unloved and untouched since- who knows when!?!?
Maybe Martian abductions?
Glad you enjoyed the rambling, Elizabeth.
I share your love of maps, in all their incarnations. ShelleyB is over the top fabulous. She has a background in loom weaving, and that kind of intelligence and perception can never leave one :)
As for the Rockaway Beach dollhouses, I think the best way to tell their story as I understand it is be through a series of visits and images. I’ve focused on the dollhouses of course, but there are many more objects included in the tableau, and I think their collector and exhibitor probably has a much different vision (if any).
I am enjoying your challenge photographs; between the lovely subjects and your creativity :grin: the entries are always worth studying.
Nature’s patterns always seem to invite us to play with our own, don’t they? Your and ShelleyB’s talent and attention to detail make me itch to try minis myself…
Ah well, one of these days, I hope!
This makes me so happy, C’lady. I agree with you about the patterns we perceive in nature, and encourage you to play and interpret your own. Basket weaving is not for everyone, especially in miniature, but I find small handwork extremely peaceful. Useful, even, if I’ve something I’m needing to incubate or approach from another side. And then there’s the finished piece, the tiny basket, on the other side, from start to done! What might you do with this symbolic container? Working from a kit takes the burden and tedium of careful measuring and cutting away from the process, leaving just the weaving. I’m quite probably biased, but I find thinking through fingers heartily worthwhile :)
I do love black and white in the basket weave. They are just the perfect thing to hold any colour of object 😊
Classic, right?! Black and white anything is always appropriate. Using black cardstock for the loom and rims is easier than coloring them, too.