Just Reflecting.....

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It was a fairly quiet weekend.  A weekend with quite a bit of rest and it was spent.....

collecting garden goodies in aprons...

having a cold one with old buddies not seen in a while.....  ( just look at those two!!!  Hubby on the right...grey hair and all .... just after a short nap. LOL )

and watching nature turn as the seasons do.

I hope your weekend was a great one and remember to give your loved ones a hug!

It Arrived!

Pin It It arrived!  My apron arrived from Allison who was my partner in the apron swap over at Rhonda's blog . Allison lives in AUSTRALIA!!!  How neat is that?! 

I am absolutely in LOVE with it!  Pretty pink with little blue flowers and look at the vintage hankies she added as pockets!  There is even an extra hankie to wipe the sweat off my brow as I bake.  Very 1920ish ..... don't you think?

As part of the swap, we also had to include a family favorite recipe and a postcard of where we lived.  Allison sent two recipes that I definitely be trying.  One is Pure Fruit Cookies and the other is Apple Parsnip Soup.....which sounds delicous!  The postcard she sent is of Sydney. 

In this post , I gave a sneak peak of the fabric I was going to use for the apron I was making for my swap buddy.  Now that it has been mailed off and she received it, here is the final product.  I also included 3 knitted dishcloths as I could NOT find a postcard ANYWHERE in town!!!  I guess the suppliers of postcards don't think there will be any tourists in April in Minnesota! LOL  I found cotton yarn that matched the colors that were in the apron ... very 'spring-like', I thought.

Allison seems to love her apron as much as I love mine.  This was a fun swap and I have made a new friend in the land down under and have a beautiful apron to wear when I'm baking up a storm!

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Tuesday's Tip

Pin It Yesterday I mentioned that I had found something in my fabric stashes that I just couldn't part with.  Here is a picture of it.  It doesn't look like much .... actually it is half of an old kitchen curtain.

But there is a familiarity about this fabric ..... it reminds me of something .... I don't know what it is but it is a good feeling.   Maybe when I was growing up or my Grandma or my Auntie  had a tablecloth or a dishcloth with a similar pattern or maybe even my Mom had curtains like this.

Whatever it is, I just couldn't part with the fabric ... but what to do with it?  The material itself was in good shape.  No holes, no tears however there wasn't a lot of it.  Maybe half a yard?
I looked the curtain over and over and then the light bulb went off.  An apron!!!!  I love aprons and what could be better than making an apron with fabric that gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling?  Then I started thinking outside the box.

On the back of the curtain was the 'slots' where a curtain rod is to be pushed through.  So I dug through my stash of fabric and found a coordinating deep brown.  I cut two 3 inch strips approximately 60 inches long.  I then placed the strips right sides together, stitched along the sides and bottom, turned the 'tube' inside out, used a knitting needle to push out the corners and closed up the top. 

Clipping a safety pin on one end of the strip, I fed the strip ... now 'tie' .... through the slot at the back of the curtain.  Viola, an apron!  Getting a little fancy, I added a pocket with the same deep brown fabric.

Easy, peasy and now I am recalling all the single 'curtains' that I always see at Goodwill!  Wow, I could have an apron collection rather quickly by making them this way! 

So if you have an old kitchen curtain just laying around in a drawer somewhere, sew a tie, feed it through the slot at the back and you too will have an instant apron to wear while baking those yummy treats for the family!

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Lazy Sunday

Pin It One of the blogs I like to follow is Rhonda's over at 'Down to Earth'. Her writing style and way of life is inspiring to say the least.

She is so successful with her blog that she has added a forum and just published her first book on living simply. I can't wait until it is available to purchase here in the States!

The other day she posted a new swap. Now I love swaps. Not only do you receive an awesome gift in the mail but in the process make new friends. How great is that?!

This new swap is an apron swap. To me, wearing an apron changes ones attitude towards housework .... it allows us to step back in time to a slower pace of life. I love my aprons and own quite a few. When I don my apron, I feel like the pioneer ladies of old taking care of their families and handling all the work on the farm that was dealt with on a daily basis.

Above is a picture of the fabric I chose to make the apron for the swap. I hope my swap partner likes it. The butterflies felt like spring to me. I will be adding a pale blue rickrack trim to the pockets and as well. I LOVE rickrack and it seems to be making a comeback.

So if you enjoy swaps, why not head on over to Rhondas. She can be found here....

Down to Earth


We might just end up being swap buddies!

Have a great Sunday and remember to give your loved ones a hug.

Apron Is Done!

Pin It I found a pattern that reminded me of my Grandma. She always wore aprons that I can remember.



Many times she would collect eggs from the chickens, bake the bread, and give us kids hugs and while she did all this, she wore the apron.

This apron reminds me of my Grandma. I wanted to make one for myself to wear in her memory. I never followed a tissue paper pattern before and I think I was quite successful. I will wear this in memory of her always. I will collect the garden produce and bake the bread... I will never be as good as my Grandma...but I am now trying. I was only seven when she passed, but I still remember her and her smell. I will always love her with all my heart.

Remember to give your loved ones a hug...we never know how long they will be in our presence.

Have a great day!

The History of Aprons

Pin It I don't think our children know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material but along with that,
it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in the apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the menfolk knew it was time to come in from the fields for dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

Remember....

Grandma use to hot baked apple pies on the windowsill to cool. Her granddaughter's set their on the windowsill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.