Pine Needle Basketry

About a year ago a local pine needle basketry club requested that I make them some pottery pieces to work their basketry on.  I had never heard of this before and went to visit their club where I was amazed by the beautiful work they were doing.
They start with a base piece which can be anything from a small disc of clay to alarge bowl.  They also use wood, leather, stone and anything that can be drilled into around the edges.  The first bunch of pine needles are laid horizontally along the edge of the piece and whipped-stiched through the holes.  The layers are continued until the desired size is reached.  They also incorporate things such as beads, twigs, antlers,etc. into the pieces.  The possibilities are endless and results quite lovely.
I have a friend (Maggie) at pottery who also belongs to one of the basketry clubs.  After she admired one of my bowls we made a deal to barter my bowl for a lesson and supplies from her for me to make a pine needle basketry piece.  We met to do that yesterday and I am quite excited about it.
The picture shows my piece in progress alongside some of the needles.  From what I understand, the long needle pines are becoming rare.  We are fortunate to have some in our area and one actually across the street from me.  The ones I am working on now are 11inches long.  I have another friend here (Lynne) who planted one of these trees and the needles are 17 inches long!  The longer the better because you have fewer connections in  the piece.