Fun With Half-Aprons

In between gardening and other home projects, I have tried to sit and sew for about an hour each day. In the past few days I have tried several different half-apron ideas that have been percolating in my thoughts. I am attempting to wade through all of the fabric that I have stashed away in the past year. It is always good to downsize. At the present, I am only accomplishing a transformation....
Now, if I could only sell the aprons and bags that I have made, then I would truly be downsizing. Here are a few pictures of this week's aprons. The first is a reversible laundry apron with large, roomy pockets for clothespins.

The second is just a half apron....one-sided, ruffled...sort of that French Country look.

I had a blast using fancy stitches on my embroidery machine to finish this apron.

And Yes, MJ....these are all on my Etsy, now!

This is my favorite. The bottom edge is scalloped and it is reversible. I love its flirty lines and the bright floral print.So, if I never sell any of these aprons, at least I will have the biggest apron wardrobe I know. Perhaps I will have to have an apron closet added to my home!! Otherwise...look out, you just might be receiving an apron for your next important holiday.

Etsy Re-opened

I have finally had enough time to re-open Honeybeez. This is my online store out of which I sell most of what I make (most of what you see on this blog is for sale). Here are the latest purses just finished... They are both quilted and the plum one is also beaded.













If you are a friend and wish to have one of the things that I post, just leave me a comment or e-mail me. If you are not familiar with etsy.com, check it out....there are tons of artists and crafts people with so much to show...it is like a virtual 24 hour craft fair.

Life Goes On....

I am always in awe of the cycle of life. Yesterday while walking my girls, I stopped by the pond down the street to check out the babies. It seems there are three pairs of Canada Geese that have had families. This is the largest family. They seem quite comfortable with the presence of canine visitors near their pond. At least once a day, though, they stop traffic as they parade across the nearby road to search for food in the neighboring lawn.

Guess what the weather is here, today! I will give you a few clues....

As seen on Martha Stewart. I thought I would give this bag a try. It is quilted and quite sturdy. Total construction time was about an hour. It is lined with a striped companion fabric. One pocket graces the outside and one completes the lining. EASY!!

Weather....

You can tell what type of weather we are having by the amount of sewing I get done. Yesterday was dry, so the day was spent doing farm chores like weeding the strawberry patch and mowing the orchard. Between work tasks, I took a little time to play with our sweet goat babies. They are getting so rambunctious and spend every second trying to climb Mount Bev. This picture shows Spider perched on my shoulder. I took this picture myself with my arm extended in front of me and the camera pointed in my general direction. What you cannot see, however, are the two goats in my lap and two more trying to eat my shoelaces. Lovin like this can only be taken in small doses!!

Today, however, is another story. I am stuck in the house once again. But as is my nature, I will try to put the time to good use. I have finished another apron and have a second one almost done. A small goof with the neck strap gave me a challenge. I ended up using a white buckle to attach the short strap to the long strap, making the neckline completely adjustable. It almost looks as if I planned it that way! That will be our little secret.

Another quiet, rainy morning. Should I go antiquing or should I sew??? Hmmmm....well, here is the answer to that.....

I sewed...another Amy Butler Purse. Don't you just love this pea fabric?

No sewing today....I spent the day in my gardens. I planted more corn, more radishes (and harvested a handfull of radishes that I had planted earlier), scarlett runner beans, yellow lemon cucumbers, eggplant, and 12 gourd vines of various type. While I was down on my hands and knees planting a gourd vine, I happened upon this little fellow. He was quite bold and allowed me to get very close to him. It probably helped that Maddie, my Newfie was on his other side. I am sure he figured that of the two, I was the least threatening! See how he puffs his chest and holds up his beak as if to say "Go ahead, Lady, take my picture!".


I believe he is a baby tree sparrow. His family have taken residence in one of the bluebird boxes we hung on the garden fencepost.

Rainy Day Fun

Today's weather feels like a regression back into March or April. It is cold and rainy. And since I am not a duck, I am content to stay inside and busy myself with projects. I had picked up an Amy Butler Frenchy Purse pattern a few months back and found some Amy Butler fabric online. I just love her fabrics. Here are two versions of the same purse...different sizes.

Tweaking the Old Favorite

I though it time to update my favorite apron pattern (it is always a work in progress...and now looks nothing like it did when I first started sewing aprons). I am in love with this cheerful fabric. It is by a company called Free Spirit. Their fabric has such a good hand to it and is basically garment quality. So, this is what I ended up with when I made a few modifications...it is still a reversible apron...with the striped fabric on the reverse side. Just looks like Summer to me!











And a second one...I might even love this fabric more. I added matching buttons to the pockets. Sometimes you get lucky and find the perfect button!

Memories of My Grandmother's Garden

For me, I suppose the love of gardening was a part of me from conception. Gardening has always been a big part of my Mother's side of our family. I remember so many trips to my Nana's house as a little girl, and each visit would always include a tour of the gardens. Most of her backyard was dedicated to a vegetable garden and her entire yard was bordered with flower gardens. Huge trellises graced each side of the garage displaying beautiful roses or prolific vines of gourds. My Papap spent countless hours keeping the insect population at bay. It seems like most times that I saw him, he had a can of kerosene in his hand into which he would drop each Japanese beetle that he plucked from my Nana's rose bushes. At the conclusion of those treasured visits, my Nana would take me into the garden with a little shovel and I would pick out a flower or plant seedling to dig up and take home to my own flower gardens. Over the years, so many "Johnny Jump-Ups", as we called them, found their way home with me. No wonder they are one of my favorite flowers to this day. Not only did I treasure these colorful violas, but also the hostas, lambs ear, lilacs, forget-me-nots and snow mound that also that became the beginnings of my adult gardens. Today, I am happiest when my hands are in the dirt...a common theme thoughout my entire life!

Finally a Little Time to Sew!

It seems lately like there just has not been enough time to sew. Most of my time has been devoted to Spring clean up. Getting flower gardens and containers re-planted and starting the vegetable garden has been quite an undertaking. Every available sunny day is needed to accomplish all of these outdoor tasks. Luckily we have had a few rainy days in the past week and I have had a chance to finish a few projects. I have several aprons cut out and ready to assemble. This "5 O'Clock Somewhere" apron is finally finished as well as a few shopping totes and a purse for a friend.

It is going to take a year of rainy days for me to finish all of the projects that are waiting for me in my sewing room and a lifetime to finish all of the ideas that are filed away in my imagination!

So Calloused!

These are certainly not the hands of a lady...one who sits in her best frock with her needlework on her lap, whiling away the day sipping tea and stitching intricate designs on fine linen. No, these are the hands of a tee-shirt, blue-jean clad farmgirl who has spent her day with shovel, rake and hoe...tilling the soil and planting a myriad of yummy vegetable seeds in her garden. Her knees are soiled, her shirt grimey, her hair on top of her head in a knot. Her shoes are caked with manure and her fingernails are no longer recognizable.

The satisfaction of a long day's work in the soil is her only harvest today...for the rest she will have to be patient. In the meantime, she will shower, put on a clean frock and return to her needlework while the warmth of the sun and the richness of the soil finish the job she began.

A couple of months ago the view from my kitchen window was this.
Today the view is this. That very same tree that was shrouded in ice is now covered with blossoms and newly unfurled leaves.



Every year around this time I am utterly amazed at the transformation of our world from Winter to Spring. In early March, when I am growing tired of the monochromatic greyish landscape, I briefly feel a twinge of fear that perhaps this will be the year that Spring never comes. This may seem like an unimaginable circumstance, but Jack and I have discussed writing a book about just that subject....a scientific mystery/thriller based on the idea that for some reason, one year, Spring just does not arrive. The world stays brown and grey...no new life emerges. Scarey stuff, isn't it?

For the Birds

Here is my favorite picture from my recent trip to St. Augustine. While there, I begged Jack to take me to an Alligator Farm. The alligators werenot half as fascinating as an area at the rear of the park where hundreds of egrets and herons were roosting. This gave me the chance to get a "birds-eye" view of several adorable fledglings. I only wish I had had a telephoto lens on my camera.

Everyone Needs a Little Goat.....

Therapy!!
This is a picture of my daughter, Jenn, receiving a little lovin from "Spider". Spider is one of Star's babies. He was born almost two weeks ago with very contracted (stuck in a bent position) legs. Becky worked on stretching his legs and vet-wrapping them in place. Her treatment was the answer, because, as you can see, he is in great shape now and quite affectionate!
This is Spider and his little brother using Jenn for climbing practice.

Jenn and I spent the day on barn cleaning detail....but rewarded ourselves with several sessions of goat therapy. Check out my farm blog for more baby pictures.

I Just Might Be a Bag Lady!

There is something wonderful about always having a place to keep your "stuff". I love bags! I love big bags, little bags, all types of bags. I started out making grocery bags and decided to branch out a bit. Now I am trying bags of all shapes and sizes. Who knows, maybe luggage is next! These little numbers were really easy and took barely any time at all. But then, they are small and will carry barely anything at all!!

Welcome to PA, Sheryl!!

What a wonderful afternoon I had. Sherl-lyn (my friend from MJF, by way of Long Island) and her friend Deb are in PA for a girl's getaway. They are staying at a B&B in Lancaster; learning to make soap, shopping for antiques and visiting quilt stores. Today they travelled a bit farther and came to see me. We spent the afternoon at the farm playing with the goats. I only wish Sheryl lived closer and could visit more often....we had a blast! It was a beautiful, temperate Spring day here....sun shining, birds singing.

I think Sheryl is ready to add a couple of goats to her menagerie (You will need a little fencing, Kenny, although Sheryl mentioned keeping them in the house!)

Back from North Carolina

What a wonderful trip I had. I learned to drive horse carriage. Here is a picture of the horse and carriage that I drove. They belong to my neighbor, Ann (pictured). This horse is a Friesian, from Holland, named Roelof. What a blast we had. Southern Pines is beautiful horse country.


Aren't these fellows magnificent??

One Last Apron.....

......before I go. Well, early tomorrow morning I am leaving town for the rest of the week. My next door neighbor (and terrific girlfriend) and I are heading to North Carolina horse country, Southern Pines. She winters her horse Roeluf (beautiful black Friesian) there each year. While we are there I plan to take some driving lessons so that I can eventually start carriage driving my horse, Moonbeam.

This is a picture of the barn at Dragstra Stables. We will be staying in a small apartment above the barn. During the week we will drive Ann's horse, help out with some farm chores and do a little investigating of the town of Southern Pines. Hubbies are joining us on Thursday. More pictures to come.........

Embroidery Lessons

Yesterday I had an appointment at my favorite quilting store for a lesson with my embroidery machine. Up to this point, I have been making aprons with it, piecing a quilt together, and using some of it's fancy stitches. Venturing into the embroidery feature has been a bit daunting. So, after a 2 1/2 hour lesson I was ready to start....the only problem was....no time left in the day to practice. I had an appointment at the hair salon for a color touch up and ended up with a polka dot (fixing it took a little extra time!)

I made up my mind that this morning I would take a little time and practice what I learned. I have several sweatshirts that my stepmom had given to me to cover up an old logo. Here are my first attempts in transforming her shirts.....not the best, not the worst.....just a starting place. Hopefully by the time I finish the rest of the shirts I will get a little more adept in placement.







This is how the shirt started out.










This is my first attempt.....off just a bit.






And another try....still off.....oh well, back to the drawing board. Still, all in all it was great practice with the machine.....boy am I going to love this feature!

It seems like forever since I made an apron. I made this reversible one yesterday and gussied up the pocket with some fancy stitches on my new embroidery machine (yes, Jack got me an embroidery machine for my birthday. I know, I AM spoiled. I AM overjoyed with this machine....the possibilities are limitless now!)

How Many Baskets are YOUR Eggs in?

From time to time I will hear someone say to me..."all I ever wanted to do was....". This phrase is often followed by a lamentation about how that person's happiness has been diminished due to the inability to accomplish that one life's goal that they held. Hearing this reminded me of the saying: "Never put your eggs in one basket!" Although sometimes it seems more like we hold too tightly onto just one egg.

It has taken me 50 years, tons of life experiences and a couple of really great books to come to the conclusion that we too often tie our happiness into one single thing. Our perceived source of happiness might be another person, a hobby, a sport, or an occupation. Or perhaps that one single thing is whatever lies around the next corner...that is...some event in the future that will bring us happiness. It seems to me that making just one goal the source of your happiness is a recipe for disappointment. There is one certainty in life....change is inevitable, we grow older, and tomorrow never comes. Today is all we ever really have.

I truly believe that setting goals is necessary in life...especially if you ever want to accomplish anything. But happiness cannot be dependant upon accomplishing those goals. Happiness has to be found in whatever the task at hand is. My conclusion is this. Develop lots of interests...don't be afraid to try new ideas, new hobbies, new paths. The more varied the activities that you involve yourself in, the more diversified your "happiness" will be. In other words...find lots of different baskets within which to place your eggs. And, perhaps even more importantly, don't hold on to just a single egg....carry lots of spares with you....just in case one get's broken.