Vintage Pine Needle Basket with CHILD's FOLK ART Decoupage circa 1940 Juanita, Washington

Found in the Tacoma, Washington area, this coiled basket was handmade of longleaf pine needles around 1940. The coils are sewn together with diagonal V stitches of raffia; the raffia also attaches the coils to the fir wood bottom. The wood was stained brown on the top side and left natural on the bottom. The inside bottom of the basket is decoupaged with a cutout picture of a redwing blackbird perched on a leafy branch. It's hand signed in pencil on the bottom: "Juanita, Wash around 1940 Lydia Edwards made this" {Juanita is a historic populated area that was annexed by the city of Kirkland, Washington}. It's not clear whether Lydia made the basket, added the decoration or did both. The beach was fun there; we've included a photo of the Polar Bear Plunge in the 1940's---is Lydia in the group watching the divers? The rainy, chilly days in the winter meant quite a bit of time inside, thinking of things to entertain oneself. We like to imagine Lydia as a child, carefully cutting out the picture and satisfying her decorating urge by gluing it into the basket. The picture seems to be firmly attached, although with a bit of wear: the bird is missing part of his beak. Lydia outlined one of the leaves in green crayon and add stems to the other two. The basket is well made and sturdy and shows no damages or real wear. A bit out of round, it measures 6 1/2 inches across in one direction and 7 inches in the other. It's 1 1/2 inches high and weighs a mere 4 ounces. A great piece of child's folk art! © PrimpingYourHome.com Visit our website at https://www.primpingyourhome.com/ PYH 5512