Mattapoisett Basket

I have always loved Pine Trees especially the scent at Christmas Time when Evergreen Trees are brought into the home. There is a certain something, a mysterious wonder the scent conjures up. Several years ago, I went to visit an old friend on Cape Cod. She lives on the edge of a Pine Woods and we walked our dogs amongst the lovely Pine Trees there. She mentioned that her mother had made Pine Needle Baskets and she even had inherited a beautiful basket her mother had made called a Mattapoisett Basket and showed it to me. I was mesmorized by it. The basket was as hard as wood but light as a feather. The baskets are similar to Nantucket Baskets but made in Mattapoisett. Whether these were handed down from the Native American Tradition or something else, they are incredible beautiful using tennerife lace, ivory, leather, and Pine Needles. This is where the intrigue of the Pine Needle Basket started for me and I eventually learned techniques to make my own baskets. My friends mother made the Mattapoisett Basket in the 1970's while taking some classes from a master, Gladys Ellis. These baskets are a wonderful combination of Ivory, Pine Needles, Tennerife lace techniques highlighted with scrimshaw and pulled together like a Nantucket Basket.  http://www.basketmakers.info/2011/01/in-memorium-gladys-ellis.html