Aprons

I'm kind of a messy cook. (OK, my mom would say kind of doesn't even begin to describe it.) It took me one day realizing that I didn't own more than one or two shirts without oil stains and holes from rubbing against our concrete counter top to realize that I needed an apron or two. I was just getting back into sewing again, and I thought aprons would be a fun start. Here are four very different aprons that I made. (Sorry all the photos are in a mirror...it's the easiest way to take them when it's just me at home).

My mom was cleaning out her fabric stash and sent me some great pieces. One was a little piece of vintage fabric that belonged to my dad's mom. This is very special to me because I never met her (she died before I was born). How fun to be able to make something out of fabric that belonged to her! As I was sewing I thought about what she wanted to make with it...hopefully she would be proud of this vintage-inspired, girly, fitted, little apron! I used a Simplicity Pattern.

This next one is another vintage-like, girly, pleated half-apron made from an old curtain. The pattern came from Amy Butler's In Stitches. Love it!

I should have washed this one before the photo, but oh well. This one is a simple little smock-style apron that I found a tutorial for here. I ended up just drawing the pattern out myself on pieces of paper taped together, and then making various adjustments. It is reversible and I use it all the time. (I made this one a few months ago.)

This one is not a kitchen apron at all but a gardening/harvesting/gathering apron. I think it is so clever and I feel like quite the homesteader wearing it. I found the fabulous tutorial here at The Cottage at Frog Creek. It it all about gathering, with pockets for gathering eggs, and a clever way of becoming a pouch for gathering garden produce. It can also be worn long for kneeling on in the garden (my jeans will no doubt thank me).

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! How did you love your mother today?? Mason and I spent some time just being outside, taking walks, hanging clothes on the line, and watering the greenhouse. We didn't spend quite as much time outside as we might have liked due to the wind, but we still had fun.We have a little nature bowl, and this spring it holds a birds nest we made from usnea lichen, with eggs in it. Today we moved it to the center of our living room table and added some little items from nature - a couple of sticks, some rocks, a feather. We lit some candles around it and looked at all of the objects...one of our ways of appreciating our earth. Of course, Mason promptly blew out the candles, and then asked for them to be lit "just one more time", so he could blow them out again. I also just finished a craft project I've been working on quite a while for Mason. It's so fun that I finished it on earth day, because it's a nature-inspired table fort! We call it the magic mushroom house and Mason adores it. I first got the idea of making a table fort for him from one of my favorite crafty blogs, Make it and Love it. If you sew and don't know about this blog, definitely check it out! I've used several of her tutorials and have loved them all. I didn't buy fabric just for this project, but happened to have a couple of big pieces that worked great when pieced together. I used ladybug vinyl for the windows, and added some felt embellishments. I got some of the ideas for fun felt things from another site I love, Wee Folk Art. They have some wonderful free patterns! I did plan on adding more felt things (mostly animals, bugs and flowers), and Aaron had the brilliant idea to add them on occasionally instead of all at once. That way one day when we put in on for Mason to play in he'll notice a new bird, or a new flower. Love that idea!

Learning how to open the velcro door

He loves reading books inside...I need to get him a little battery powered lantern!

Side window

It was very time-consuming, but very worth it!