Originally Posted by karenm36

Though my fingers are sore to the bone and it took me 3 days to do this, I'm pretty pleased with the results considering I was just making things up as I went along. I did take LOTS of pics. I'm going through them now to see if the quality is okay to make a tutorial as many of you inquired on the last fabric basket that I made.

This was originally made with the intent of going to my son's girlfriend for Christmas. (And it may still...unless I make her another one.) She has a real active kitty which made me think about doing something different to cover the contents of the bowl so that the cat couldn't get into it. (Being that it's a fabric bowl I was thinking that the cat might be especially curious of it...not having cats I don't know, but that was my thinking...;-)) I was also thinking that I might put sewing notions in it for her since she's been expressing a desire to start sewing.

So on this basket I did a few things different...I put a binding on the top edge for protection and durability, put a drawstring type cover that can be tucked into the bowl if she doesn't want to use it or it can be pulled out and she can stuff this full to overflowing and all the contents will still be safe and covered up.

Here's what happened though during the course of making this. I found out that the young lady, Mary (who is an Ugandan orphan), that I have been sponsoring so she could get an education for the last 5 years has been accepted to a University! She starts this fall. Unfortunately she was not able to get a scholarship. The good news is that it costs "only" $1000 per semester. That's fantastic compared to our costs here in the states. I, on the other hand, don't have the funds so I was wondering...what if I were to raffle this basket in my community to raise the money for Mary? I could put $100 in it. People could purchase tickets for a drawing. I was wondering what to put in it...and in this economy I figured cash might appeal to anyone and they could spend it as they saw fit. And they'd get this pretty basket to keep or to give to someone.

What do you think? Do you think this would work? Of course, if I did this...then it's back to making another basket for my son's girlfriend!

Thanks for your input! blessings, Karen

Originally Posted by jaciqltznok

wow..that is stunning...good job.
As for the raffle, I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but there are laws in each state/city governing raffles. You need to contact your state officials and find out what they are. Especially since you are a private citizen and not a chartered 501 charity!

Keep us posted!