My Weekend Trip

This past weekend took me on a trip to North Carolina. My youngest lives and works in Charlotte. He just bought his first home...a townhome. For months now he has been asking me if I would come and help him decorate when he moves. So....this was moving week and I joined in the fun!

Here is a picture of Andy in front of his new home. He is so proud and so happy. At 24, he is quite independent. We had a great time shopping and cooking and even took a little time to take in a movie.

It is hard to have your kids be far away like this, but I have peace knowing that he is doing well and is so happy.

Happy Pink Saturday

Welcome to another Pink Saturday.

In keeping with my pink apron theme, I thought I would try something a little different.

This pink cutie is a pint-sized apron for a little artist!

It has 24 tiny crayon sized pockets filled with a brand new set of washable crayons.

It is sewn from the most delicate pink gingham and calico.

Pink ball fringe is the icing on the cake!

You can order this apron as well as many others on my Touch of the Past website.

For more Pink Saturday blogs,

visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for a complete list of participants.

There sure are a lot of us who just love pink!

Hope your weekend is a wonderful one!

Happy Fall to you all!!

Fall Colors

Summer has faded into Autumn.

There now is a chill in the air.

Mums have replaced lilies, and leaves

are turning.

Don't you just love the rich colors of Fall mums?

Pink Saturday at Bee Haven Acres

Pink Saturday is here again!!!

I hope it has been a great week for you all.

(Those of you who are still dealing with Hurricane Ike issues....

we will keep you close in our hearts.) For this Saturday's Pink apron, I thought I would use a piece of 1950's vintage cabbage rose fabric. It is the softest cotton you can imagine. This apron is my own pattern. I started making pleats, experimentally, and ended up with this little gal! I think she's kind of cute, actually. From here she will travel to my online store and hopefully make her way to a new loving home!!

If you would like to see more pink Saturday entries....

check out How Sweet the Sound for a complete list.

Thanks Beverly for organizing this fun project!

A Perfect Newfie Day!

For the next 3 days, we are at our farm. This is pretty much how our weeks go for now. 3 or 4 days a week are spent in the country tending to farm chores and the rest in what I call the "Flat lands"... in town, living in our Condo. This is pretty much how we have spent the past 6 years. As luck would have it, though, we will soon be selling the Condo in the flat lands and heading for the country full time. Of course there is a bit of a construction issue that has to be finished before we can make that move. So for now....we commute back and forth.

It's funny, but the dogs always seem to intuit when we are going to head for one place or the other. This morning they awoke with enthusiasm...sure that we were going to head off on a fun adventure. Their excitement peaked as they watched me pack food and clothes into the car and load them up.

Upon arriving at the farm, the girls and I set off to survey the animals and check out the gardens. We carried a market basket with the intention of picking apples...enough to bake a pie. Maddie, our newfie, loves these walks and today was no exception. On the way back to the house we stopped in the orchard. After picking enough apples for a pie, I decided to grab one for a quick snack. Do you know how hard it is to ignore a hungry newfie? Impossible, so I knelt down and shared my apple with Maddie.....Mmmmm good to the last bite!
Click Here to watch Video!

One satisfied Newfie!

A Perfect Day

I am in the second half of my life...that is if I live, like my Nana, to be 100 (which I am planning to do...God willing) Some days it seems as though the first half went by so very quickly. So much so that I hope to slow down time in these next few years. Perhaps one of the best ways is to take a little time at the end of the day to reflect back on the day.

Today was an ordinary day...ordinary, but wonderful. The bluest sky, a cool breeze, and a hint of Fall greeted me as I stepped out with the dogs for their much loved morning walk. We are so fortunate to live very close to a great nature trail. It winds for miles around us and is greatly utilized by dog- walkers, joggers, and bikers of all ages. I especially love the area in this picture. Although this picture does not do it justice, this area of the trail reminds me of a forest cathedral. The trees on both sides of the trail meet in the middle, high over my head, and the music of the birds in those treetops is as melodic as a choir. This is one of the few things that I will miss when we make our upcoming full-time move to the farm.

This patch of mushrooms was along the trail and caught my fancy. I imagined a whole troop of fairies perched on the tops of these toadstool umbrellas.

After the necessary housework and grocery shopping I settled in to do a little sewing. Although all of our patriotic holidays are over for the year, I thought I would start a little quilt to celebrate our flag. When it is finished I will tuck it away for next summer. I finished two patches today and made a mental picture of what the rest will look like....more to come.

Yes, it was a rather ordinary day, but I accomplished all that I set out to and took a little time to appreciate all that was around me in the process. And really....what more can we ask for? I hope your day was equally wonderful. And I hope you have still retained enough of the child within to see fairies on your toadstools, too!

Autumn Quilt

Autumn is my favorite time of year. There is nothing better than a walk through fallen leaves on a crisp afternoon! In honor of the beginning of Autumn, I decided to use some fabric that I found at a quilt show this summer and put it together to make an Autumn lap quilt. I can hardly wait to curl up on the couch in front of a fire with a good book and this quilt over my legs! Mmmmmm....and a warm cup of tea. This quilt was simple and only took me two days start to finish (it helped that Hubs went to Pittsburgh on Saturday for a baseball game....gave me lots of time to work on this!)

Pink Saturday

Is it hard to believe it's Saturday already?

And Pink Saturday too!!

I just had to sew another Pink Saturday apron

(with vintage touches) to share with you.

And....I made a matching "Pie-Taker" that can

accommodate a pie or casserole.

It is quilted and has a removable board between the layers

for insulation.

This cheery, "Cherry Rose" apron and pie tote is available for sale

in my "Touch of the Past" apron shop at http://www.apronmaven.blogspot.com/

for more Pink Saturday posts see Beverly at How Sweet the Sound

And Have a lovely Pink Saturday!

(Thoughts and prayers go out to our friends in Texas who are dealing with Hurricane Ike.)

Quilted Pie/Casserole Taker

This morning's project is one that has been on the back burner for a while. Weeks ago a friend showed me a vintage pie taker. It was similar in design but had wooden handles worked into the top closure. The vintage design was not quilted either. I took a few measurements, cut some fabric and got busy. Here is the result....

It has a wooden insert between the bottom layers that provides support and insulation. Spills? No worry....just remove the board and toss in the washing machine.

This is not my favorite fabric...but it works for a pie-taker. I think I will try another one in pastels....a little shabby-chic pie taker. Perhaps one to match tomorrow's Pink Saturday Apron! Back to the sewing room.........

Special Order for Heather

Here is friendship pillow number two....a special order for Heather....quilted and embellished.

This type of pillow can be made with any picture....imagine a special baby or childhood picture made into a quilted keepsake.

Busy Week

So here it is Thursday already. The week has just flown by. Unfortunately, I have not darkened the doorway of my sewing room yet. Perhaps today I will have a bit of time to finish another apron and work on a Friendship pillow special order. I have been busy, though. Yesterday I finished rendering beeswax and pouring this year's candles.

Our honey harvest produced a cardboard carton full of honey combs which I melted in a double boiler, filtered through cheese cloth twice and poured into a mold. It is a messy process requiring cookware dedicated to only this. (Otherwise clean-up would take longer than the rest of the process.)

The end result is these adorable beehive candles that burn long and clean.

I have also been trying to get our bottle honey ready for sale. Labels are finally in place and the finished product looks like this.

And finally, I have been trying to get the remaining tomato harvest canned and put up for this coming winter. I have many quart jars of tomatoes and 14 jars of organic (Putanesca) spaghetti sauce...which is our favorite!

What's that I hear? Oh my, it is my sewing room calling my name. First a load of eggs to deliver and then.....maybe I might get to heed the call!

Pink Saturday at Bee Haven Acres!

This is my first Pink Saturday posting. So in honor of the event I made a

"Pink Saturday Apron" . It is for sale on my Touch of the Past website.I am joining a bunch of my girlfriends in this fun blogging project. Every Saturday they all make Pink the subject of their posting. The idea for this community event comes from Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. You can visit her blog to see a list of all the participants.

Have a great weekend and a truly blessed Pink Saturday!!

And The Winner Is.....

Drumroll, ladies.....oh I can just feel the excitement in the air....along with September's chill! Thank you....all of you....for visiting my blog and sharing your September passion. It was so much fun to read your comments - it seems we all have the love for September in common.

Okay, okay.....the moment we have waited for. I had Hubs pick a random number that I had pre-assigned to each of you. He blindly chose number 12 before walking out the door to work this morning. So......number 12 is Marian, the Princess of Pink! You can visit her blog to look at all of her creations. Marian is from the Netherlands. How exciting is this! One of my aprons will be traveling!

Marian, email me with your address and the apron of your choice and I will pack her up and take her to the Post Office....and she will be on her way to you!

Happy September to you all. I hope your month is filled with all of the things you love. To those of you who are celebrating birthdays and anniversaries this month.....Cheers! To the rest of you...may your month bring lots of changing leaves, cool crisp nights, football games, apple cider, flocking birds, sweaters and sweatshirts, etc. etc. etc......

Apron Give-Away

It's Back to School time again. To celebrate the beginning of school, falling leaves and sweater weather....I have decided to hold another blog giveaway. This time I ask that you leave me a comment with what it is you love about September. I will enter your name in a drawing for the apron of your choice from my "Touch of the Past" website. The winner of the drawing will be announced here on this blog on Friday morning, September 5th.

Morning Wonder

It seems that each and every morning brings a surprise. After a clear-sky night we were met by a bank of fog that hung in the air like wet, laundered sheets. I stood by the pasture waiting for enough daylight to walk the horses back to the barn for their breakfast. Listening, I could hear the sounds of the thankful cows as the neighboring dairy farmer eased their udder burden with the help of his milking machine. I heard the braying of a distant donkey, muffled by the moist air, and the wakening of our guinea hens in the old pine tree by the barn. The fog gave the pasture a surrealistic feel as I strained my eyes to focus on the silhouetted horses grazing just yards away from me. I gave my usual whistle and heads lifted from the grass and turned my way. I guessed that they strained their eyes, as I had just done, to see from where the whistling came. Slowly, they lumbered toward me and came into focus. Taking two ponies first, followed by the remaining three horses, we headed to the barn for the comforting warmth, light, and shelter found there.

After feeding the horses and making my rounds to the goats, chickens, guineas and ducks, I made my way back to the house for a farm breakfast....Fresh eggs, French toast and local peaches were my reward for the previous two hours' work.

This morning's fog began to dissipate and we headed out for a local Labor Day arts festival. When we climbed the hilly road that leads to our farm and entered the next valley we were treated to this view....the fog surrendering slowly to the warmth of the sunlight....another beautiful day in Cenral PA!

Every day brings a little piece of magic on the farm!

Birds of a Feather

Every so often you meet a person that seems to be a kindred spirit. I have been so blessed to have a few of these types of friends. This apron is for one of those friends....someone far away in distance but always close to my heart. I call this one "Birds of a Feather".

Inspiration...

I have been holding onto a batch of quilting fabric that I bought to fashion a sunset. Ages ago I had taken a picture of one of the girls silhouetted against the most beautiful sunset of pinks, purples and oranges. My plan was to reproduce that picture in fabric and turn it into a quilt for her. But for some reason, I just have not gotten around to starting this quilt. It seems that Mother Earth has chosen to remind me of my tardiness lately. The last two evenings have produced the most incredibly beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. Though it is hard to capture their magnificent intensity digitally....I took a picture for you to enjoy. And yes, I will definitely get that quilt started!

Friendship Pillow

"Plant a seed of friendship; reap a bouquet of happiness."

Lois L. Kaufman

A special gift for a special friend....with gratitude.

Butterfly Finds a Home

You may remember a few posts earlier I posted a picture of a butterfly doily. Today I decided that this beautiful creature would make a perfect pocket covering. Each of its' wings forms a hand hole for the large center pocket located beneath the butterfly making it not only lovely but useful.

Vintage Roses

I suppose that my favorite of the vintage fabrics are the florals. Here is another piece from Stephanie that is reborn an apron....

Award Received

I'd like to say a huge thank you to Kim at Oakmoon for this lovely award. It's very sweet of you to nominate me, Kim, thank you!

Now I am going to nominate some blogs that are my favorites to read.

The Rules for those recieving an award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog

2. Link the person you received the award from

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Put links of those blogs on yours

5. Leave a message on the blogs nominated

Those nominated, in random order, are:

Maryjane from The BeeHive Cottage for a most beautifully inspiring, magazine-like blog!

Ruthann from Warm Pie, Happy Home for a wonderfully homey blog with vintage appeal!

Stephanie of Queen of Dreamsz for our shared love of vintage fabric!

Grace, Katmom, because she is a kindred spirit and the best darned lavender farmer!

Anne of Anne Fannie's Green Acres for the most inspiring gardens!

Jess of the Hectic Household because she is one of the most creative Moms I know!

The Padlock is Off

A trip to the local antique market yielded 57 new doilies for use with aprons.....so.....the padlock is off the sewing room door and I have my nose to the grindstone. This afternoon I finished this one. I think it would be a perfect gift for a bride to be, or somebody who decorates cakes, etc. I think I will just call it "Wedding Cake".

Vintage Gift

Is this not the most beautiful piece of crochet work ever? I received this as a surprise in the mail from my friend Georgann. Georgann has been a long time sewing inspiration for me. She comes up with absolutely incredible creations! I can hardly wait to add this to an apron. I think tomorrow I will remove the padlock from my sewing room and try to come up with something special for this wonderful gift. Thanks so much, Georgann!!

The Weather Dictates

Well, our hot-air balloon adventure was cancelled at the last minute. It seems that with a breeze of 9 miles per hour...ballooning is a "no go." We will schedule for another day and try again.

In spite of that, we ended up having a wonderful family day we. All of the "kids" (not goats this time) found their way to the farm today and we ended up doing a bunch of projects together. We moved stones away from our rock garden...to save to make another garden when the log home is built. We chopped wood. We cleaned pastures. And we built three more elevated garden boxes in the vegetable garden.

Hunter, Jack, Ryan, Tim and Bryan (engineering team)

Bev (heavy equiment operator)

Ryan, Bryan, Tim (excavators)

Jenn and Hunter (Gator Crew)

Amanda (supervisor)

Primo and Rocky (canine comic relief)

After the work was done we went 4-wheeling, took all the dogs to the pond to swim, did a little fishing and had a big farm lunch. Such fun...all of us around the table...babbling on and sharing experiences. This is the kind of day that we live for. Only one thing was missing...and that is Andy (our 4th....who lives in Charlotte, NC). We missed you today, Andy!!!

Thank you to Amanda and Tim, Jenn and Bryan and Hunter, and Ryan...without your help we could never have accomplished all that we did! We love you all!

Up Up and Away

I have vacuumed the sewing room and closed the door. This time there is a padlock on it. For the next few days it will remain closed as I am going on an adventure.

My honey and I are taking a hot-air balloon adventure tomorrow. Until that time I must attend to farm chores and visit with our kids who are home briefly before back to college.

I hope your weekend is wonderful!

I will share pictures of our balloon flight after tomorrow.

Up, up and Away!!!!

Vintage Ballerinas

Just a couple of hours ago, this pink vintage ballerina fabric was one panel. I am not sure what it was in a past life...but it has been reborn. Oh my, what will I do when this pile of vintage fabric is gone? I guess I am going to have to visit antique malls to look for more! You just cannot buy new fabric that has the look or the feel of the old.

For the Birds....

I found this adorable chicken fabric and thought I would turn it into an apron.....and here is the result. I call it "Hen Party". Yes, the pocket is egg fabric. Perfect attire for those trips to the henhouse for fresh eggs. I am sure the hens would LOVE it! Baaaaawwwkkk!!!

And The Winner Is........

Thursday is finally here! As each of you contacted me I placed your name on a list and assigned you a number. I had 71 entries. This morning, before Hubs left for work I had him pick a random number....and he picked #34.

#34 is......................(drumroll...........)

Carol VR from Ontario, Canada.

Congrats Carol! E-mail me with your address and I will get your apron into the mail today!

Thanks to all who participated in my give-away. I will be posting more give-aways in the future, so check back from time to time....or you can stop by and visit me whenever you like....I always have time for a cup of tea and a chat!

Addendum: Carol contacted me and would like to have this full apron that was featured on my Etsy site http://www.honeybeez.etsy.com/. It was sewn from 2 soft, colorful prints from Free Spirit and is reversible. Sure hope you enjoy your apron, Carol!

Vintage and More Vintage....

This piece of fabric caught my eye this morning....and I started laying out pieces. A little applique on the pocket (on top of the doily) and.....here you have it: (vintage from start to finish!)
So, now I must lock the door to my sewing room for a while and get some other things done. The problem is....all this vintage fabric calls to me and it is hard to stay away. Ok, somewhere I must find the strength!

The Wonder of Vintage Fabrics

Oh how I love vintage fabric. As I sew something new with each piece I wonder about the history that is woven into its' threads. This is one of my favorite pieces of fabric that was amongst my gift from Steph. Today I gave it a new life.....an apron of course! But I still wonder about its' previous life... (To check out Steph's fabric page..click here.)

Time to Sew

What an amazingly cool August we are having...and plenty of rain. Besides the benefits of not having a drought to deal with, this weather gives me a little extra time to sew. Today I finished this cowgirl fussy apron...."Calamity Jane". This is one of my favorite fabrics and I have used it in several colors over the past year.

My next projects involve digging into a yummy pile of vintage fabric that my friend, Steph sent to me. When I received those boxes I felt like a child on Christmas morning. I can hardly wait to turn them into something fabulous!

Apron Party....Summer Blog Giveaway....

Put your apron on girls, we're having a party!!!

Just because!! Because: life is good. Because: friends are dear. Because: I love the fact that so many of you visit me here. Because I am having a blast at my online store Touch of the Past Aprons . Because: I feel like having a blog party!!

So......I am hosting an apron party on my bl0g and giving one of my aprons away. Just because!

If you like aprons and would like to participate.....email me at BeeHavenMaven@aol.com . I will ship your apron anywhere.....just because!

I will be pulling one of your names out of a hat next Thursday, August 14th. You needn't be a blogger or an aquaintance of mine. If you stop by this blog and are interested....please join in!