New Award, Thank You Charmine

Thank you, Charmine, for this adorable award. You are also one of my top ten so I pass right back to you. It feels so good to know that my ramblings that sometimes go on too long and my creations that bring me pure joy, are at least looked at by a few others.

The one rule is to pass on to my favorite top ten. I really can't do that. I have to pass on to all of you wonderfully creative people that are sweet enough to follow this blog of mine. So if you are one of my followers, please accept this award and please check out each other's sites if you aren't already familiar with them. I hope I'm not cheating by breaking the rule just a little, but that's the only way I can do it.

Thanks again, Charmine. I am very appreciative.

More Aprons, Coming Up

My first apron is finished. I've always had this desire to make aprons and now I know why the thought appealed to me. You can be so creative with them. The pattern is really pretty basic and easy, and then you add, change, embellish, etc. and each one is unique and fun. So this is the first and while making this one I had many more ideas come to me, so I'm on to the next one.

Here it is showing it tied in back. I need to get a dressmaker form to model this better or model it myself, I guess, but that means I should dress up a little and put on some make up. I don't have time for that.

Then here it is with the long ties wrapped around to the front and tied.

And here's a close-up of the button and lace embellishment I did on the pocket. I inherited a big tin of old buttons that my grandmother had collected over the years and another tin from a good friend of my mother's. I love just going through these tins to see what's there and how I can play with them.

Now I'm so inspired I have the fabrics picked out for my next one. I think this one will be a hostess or half apron with this whimsical hat fabric as the main body and the green, yellow and pink stripe maybe for the tie and either one of the greens or the pink for the pockets and trim. It will come clear as I move forward.

I think I am going to sell these, but I don't know where, or how, or how much yet. I don't want to have to get into sales tax and that kind of thing just starting out so I don't know how that works if I take them into a few little boutiques that I know of, do they take care of that? And do I need to bother with any legalities or taxes on Etsy? Then I have to account for S&H and what to charge for that. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Works In Progress

I've got some new projects going. It seems I always have more ideas than time, but I like to keep them going in stages. I'm getting started on a project that I've always had in mind that I wanted to do and that is make vintage inspired and embellished aprons. I bought the material the other day for my first one. That's as far as I've gotten, but next free evening or weekend I'm going to make it. The main body of the apron will be this black background with the pink scrolls fabric. Then I think I'll put on a pocket or two with the pink striped. I also got some pink organza ribbon to add somewhere. Once I get started, ideas will come to me. I may sell these, we'll see how it goes.

This knitting project is going to be a pink baby sweater. The other baby clothes I've knitted had to be neutral, non gender colors because I had started them while my daughter in law was pregnant and they didn't want to know the sex ahead of time. Well now that we have our beautiful little baby girl, Riley, I went right out and bought pink yarn. I love pink anyway, can you tell? And now to have a girl is so much fun. I have started the back of the sweater and up to the back yoke. This yarn is so pretty. It's called "Cotton Kisses" by Plymouth Yarn. I'm making the 6-9 mos. size.

This project is almost finished. About another hour or so and I'll be done. You may remember the baby quilt I made from another post. The color scheme for the new nursery is beiges, tans, and off whites. I've had the quilt done for a while. Well, they'll be moving into their new apartment in Spokane in a couple of weeks and I wanted to make a window valance to match the quilt and other bedding.

So I went back to the quilt store and bought more of the same fabrics and made this valance.

Here's a close-up view to see the fabrics used. Notice the first border fabric. It's a white on white print, but the print is a baby motif. Probably no one will ever notice this as you have to look pretty close, but Dee (DIL) and I know it's there.

I would love to go up to my sewing room right now and work on these projects for the rest of the evening (it's 4:00 pm), but it's Friday and I try to reserve Friday nights for My Bob. We have dinner reservations at 6:30. Hopefully this weekend will provide some time if the grandsons don't come over and stay too long. I love for them to come visit, just not stay too long.