apron rack

Once again I am way behind on posting... I actually finished this project in October but just now loaded all the pictures onto the computer!  Anyway - I needed a place to hang all our aprons in the kitchen and have been loving the old yard stick coat racks I've been seeing around the web.  I didn't have any old yard sticks and I was not about to pay the $8 per yardstick I was seeing online.  Instead I found wooden rules on clearance at Office Max (I think I payed about $0.50/ruler), some scrap wood in the shed, and hooks to match my knobs and drawer pulls at Walmart.  After I cut everything to the right size       I used wood glue to attach the rulers to the wood and then rubbed the whole thing with Americana Decor deep brown Creme Wax (from Michaels) to make it look vintage.

Don't look too closely, some of the hooks are a little crooked!

Such a happy little corner in the kitchen now!

And the keepin' it real, unedited photo :)

finally finding some time to sew again!

I didn't realize how much I missed sewing until I finally got to sit down at my machine for a bit the other day!  So good to be making things again :)

baby aprons

Before Christmas I made a few baby aprons (like for a 1 and 2 year olds) on a whim.  I took them to a show and sold out in minutes, plus had requests for more.  Because they are so small they come together really quickly and are a great use for those pieces of fabric that are too small for a larger apron, but too big for the scrap bin.

I just finished up these aprons yesterday.  It was so fun digging through my stash to make them!

Emmy (some what reluctantly) agreed to modeled for me, so you can see just how adorable a baby apron is in use :)

more aprons

I finally listed those aprons in the shop!

craft show

I know I have been MIA the past week or so, but we signed up last minute for our first outdoor craft show this past Saturday, and I have been busy sewing and getting ready for that.  It was a stormy day (although, thankfully the rained stayed away for the hours that the show was open) so we were super glad I purchased this tent last week!

I sewed a ton of new aprons but unfortunately I finished them in the wee hours Saturday morning so these are the only pictures I have of them all :(  I will be listing what is left in the next week, once the rain passes and I can get some good photos.

In addition to the craft show I also got to go pick out fabric for our next couple of sewing class projects with Regan, my other machine sewing student, and her mom (who just happen to be our good friends), and we had dinner with our neighbors and got a tour of the tear drop camper they are making.  Pretty cool! (this is a phone pic- that is why it is so grainy).

Hopefully you will see me in this space a little more this week :)

shop update and craft night

I am sure you are tired of seeing these aprons by now, but I finally got 1/2 of them in the shop (along with a couple other baby items) and am labeling the others to drop off at Kitsch

In other news, after talking about it for over a year, I finally planned my first Craft Night.  It will be here, at my house, on Saturday night.  We will be using Ayumi's free tutorial to make these scrappy fabric baskets (these are ones I made years ago for Tallulah's preschool teacher and director).  It should be a fun evening full of food, fabric and fellowship- really, does it get any better than that?

I am hoping to make this a regular thing with all kinds of crafts, not just sewing. I'll post pictures on Monday!

Monday

After we finished up school I spent the afternoon/evening finishing up more aprons.

15 total- in three sizes: 5-7, 8-10, and 12-16.  I'll be taking some up to Kitsch this week and putting the rest in The Plaid Hedgehog as soon as I get them photographed.  When my fabric order arrives  this week I will be making a few more adult aprons too.

While I sewed, the girls had a "car wash" on the deck.  Loving this spring weather we've had the last few days, hoping it's here to stay!

I also added three sets of hand-turned bottle stoppers that my father in law made to my shop over the weekend.  He really does beautiful work.

what we've been up to

I so want to be posting here more often, but just have not been able to make it happen.  Anyway, here is a peek at just a bit of what has been going on around here since my last post...

I had a birthday (I am 37, for anyone who's dying to know). We also celebrated 13 years wedded bliss (no pictures, sorry).  I am thankful for everyday with my wonderful husband!

I've stated teaching sewing again.  This was the girls second project, I did not photograph the first, but they made these into pin cushions.  They are working on tote bags now and after that they will do aprons.

(funny thing about this picture is Regan is actually a whole year older than her friend- my friends all towered over me when I was her age too, actually, at 5'3" many of my friends still tower over me today :)

Emmaline is rolling all over the house- this is where I found her (half way under the couch) after leaving the room for just a couple minutes the other day.

She also cut her first tooth on February 22.

I did find a few moments to sew a couple baby things for a friend (and some to put in the shop as soon as the sun decides to shine so I can photograph them!)

I spent the better part of 3 hours cutting out a pile of aprons last night- now if I can just find some time to sew them I can add them to the shop too.

I'll end with this bittersweet photo of Emmaline, after her first night of sleeping in the crib in Addie's room.  You have no idea how hard it was for me to put her to bed across the hall from me instead of at the foot of my bed, but she is just too big to sleep in the cradle anymore :(

just when I was starting to feel caught up...

Three new adult aprons for Kitsch (the shop in Norfolk where I sell some of my things)...

They are all reversible

This one is my favorite :)

I finished up these aprons last week and was finally feeling like I was caught up after the craziness of the holiday craft show season...

Until I got my sales report from Kitsch and found out they had sold almost all the camera straps I had given them along with most of the size 8-10 kids aprons they had (YAY! I mean, this really is a good problem to have).
Then I had a friend ask if I would be willing to give sewing lessons to her daughter (which will be great b/c it just happens to be one of Regan's best friends, so I will probably teach them together, which means weekly friend time for Regan and it will force me to stop and work with R on her sewing!)
And finally (I hope, I don't think I can handle much more!) a friend brought by 4 boxes of blank T's and yoga pants (infant and toddler sized) that her cousin wanted to sell (long story short, she had her own business selling baby/toddler clothes, blankets etc. but due to some unexpected circumstances and an international move was clearing out her stash).  The stuff is REALLY nice quality, all made in America and some of it is Organic too! So, it looks like I will be adding something new to my shop in the next few months! 

Despite feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, I am pretty excited about all the making and creating in my future :)  Hopefully I can still find some time to pop in here every now and then too!