My spring aprons are finally here. I just finished up a few full size aprons using spring inspired fabrics from designers such as Heather Bailey, Amy Butler, Alexander Henry and Joel Dewberry.
I used a plain simple apron design that I have found to be attractive on any body type. The apron is simple, but by adding a border or ruffle to the bottom added some sass to this plain style chef/hostess apron.
Here is a peek of what I have made. You'll find these for sale as well as a few others over at my shop on Esty.
Blue & brown apron made with Joel Dewberry Espresso Lily & Basket Sky Mix fabric ...
Pink, yellow & green apron made with Alexander Henry's Kleo and Bangle Dot fabrics
Here's an apron made with Heathery Bailey (Fresh Cut) & Amy Butler (Lotus Polka Dots) fabrics ...
Reverse side of this apron using Heathery Bailey Fresh Cut Stripes and Amy's Lotus Polka Dots... These Simply Sassy aprons each have an adjustable neck strap with 3 button holes and fabric covered buttons for the buttons.
Let me know what you think of my new spring line of aprons! Comments are always welcome. :)
Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a regional holiday in Mexico, primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla. The state of Puebla recognizes the day but it's not a national holiday throughout Mexico.
The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle Puebla on May 5, 1862. The outnumbered Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had not been defeated in almost 50 years.
While Cinco de Mayo has limited significance nationwide in Mexico, the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.
This month I had the opportunity join in the celebration of Cinco de Mayo at my monthly cooking club and at my daughter's school for Teacher Appreciation week. I made several new recipes in honor of Cinco de Mayo. For the Teacher Appreciation Cinco de Mayo luncheon I made a large fruit platter with fresh pineapple, strawberries and grapes (some bananas would have been good too) and a Mexican Fruit dip along with a chocolate fruit dip.
Mexican Fruit Dip:
Ingredients:
12 ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 jar (7 oz size) marshmallow cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons rum -- optional
Fruit such as pineapple -- strawberries, banana
Directions:In small bowl of a mixer, beat the cream cheese until it's soft and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until well blended. Add the sour cream, marshmallow cream, vanilla extract, almond extract, cinnamon and rum. Blend just until well combined. Place the mixture in serving bowl, cover and chill several hours before serving with fruit.
Easy Chocolate Fruit Dip:Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
1 jar marshmallow cream (7 0unces)
Directions:In a small bowl, mix cream cheese and chocolate syrup with a mixer until well blended. Then fold in the marshmallow cream. Place the mixture in a serving bowl, chill several hours before serving with fruit.
Taste Tempter Recipes
My cooking club, Taste Tempters, prepared several yummy Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes in April. The one dish I made was
Head over to Taste Tempters to see all the dishes/recipes we prepared for Cinco de Mayo.
I haven't posted in a long while. We've just been busy with every day living (Easter, Birthdays, Spring Break, Visitors, and etc.). A few weeks ago we finished up the laundry room. It's not exactly a complete makeover but we did get the room painted and all of the 'stuff' put back in and organized. This was definitely a quick and economical makeover - paint and a few baskets for organizing. So it's not too exciting but it looks better and it's nice to have the place cleaned up.
This is the Before laundry room .. (you can see more before pictures in an earlier post)
I love Paula Prass' studio/laundry makeover. I wish I had this room! I was inspired by her boxes with labels for organizing. To keep in our budget I shopped around until I found these baskets at Big Lots. They fit on the shelves that we already had everything fits perfectly in these cute baskets. I used card stock, scrapping booking stickers and ribbons to label what is in each box.
I had a request from a friend to make aprons for her and her children. I thought, geez ... why did I not think of doing this before! Mom had the kids pick out the fabric. Both kids (son and daughter) loved the Cinzia Berry by Alexander Henry. Mom & I chose Lizzy Dish by Elizabeth House and Purple Cute Deer and Shrooms by Jay McCarroll for the accent fabrics. All of these fabrics are so brilliant! And the child size aprons (aka "Minnies") are so cute - mostly because of their size.
I had so much fun making these. I will warn you, I went a little overboard on the pictures. Have a look and let me know what you think.
This is the first time I've made children size aprons. I adapted the child size aprons from this lovely free apron from Sew Liberated ... I used her basic free pattern and then I added 2 front pockets to each apron. And on the daughter apron I added a ruffle. I think they came out really cute.
Making these aprons has given me some inspiration to start making aprons for spring and summer. I'm thinking some gardening aprons are in order for this time of year. I worked in the yard all day today and I can't tell you the number of times I misplaced my garden scissors. I kept thinking if I only some place to keep them while I was working out here - then a light bulb went on - garden apron! I must finish my laundry room first before digging out the fabric again (I am very close to finishing)!
After many weeks of organizing and cleaning our house, we (mainly me) have been inspired to repaint our laundry room and small bathroom. The laundry room has been in desperate need for a makeover for a while now. It seems the best for me to organize is to clean out and do a big makeover all at the same time. Why make it easy?? My husband just loves it when I come up with these ideas! Only the best DH in the world would put up with my 'ideas'. This past fall we had new doors installed in this room and have not had the chance, until now, to get in there to stain the woodwork and so on, so its a good time to get it all done.
Here are the Before pictures of the laundry room.
Some how I need to get all of this stuff put back into this room on these shelves. How will I do that??!?
Just a few years ago (ok, a number of years ago) I was excited about spring break and hanging with my friends some place warm & sunny ... things haven't changed too much. Now I'm a SHAM in her 40's who is so looking forward to some warm weather and hanging out with my favorite people (my kids & hubby) in our own sunny warm backyard, playing on the swing set, kicking the soccer ball around, riding bikes, and hanging on the deck.
When the kids are at school, hubby is at work, working on my apron business, and my daily family chores are complete, I will spend every spare moment gardening (it is my ultimate passion). Gardening can be a costly hobby so I grow almost all of my annuals & perennials from seed. I placed my seed orders last week at Swallowtail Garden Seeds and Park Seeds. I have many many many seeds in my stash to choose from as well.
Speaking of stash - doesn't that sound familiar to all of you that sew ?!?? Admit it ... you have a stash! The 'stash' (fabric, seeds, planters, collections, toys, etc.) has gotten out of control at our house so I've gone cold turkey on the sewing projects for a couple of weeks so I can get our house in order. It started out I was going to spend a couple days organizing my sewing area which is also my seed starting area so it's a must to get that fabric organized to lend some space. Now two weeks later we're still on a mission organization frenzy. This only happened because I had to completely empty out 2 living rooms and 1 dining room in order to get our carpet fixed and re-stretched throughout the first floor of our house. The night before the carpet repair men came out, it took my hubby and I about 7 hoursto empty out these rooms. It took a lot of creativity to store the furniture and all of my junk. I have to admit I'm ashamed of how much stuff I had stashed away in corners, cubbies, china cabinets, etc. so I'm totally inspired to get get rid of junk and tidy up the house.
My one goal with getting the house organized so that I can start sowing seeds and getting ready for the gardening season. Once it gets nice outside it's hard for me to stay in the house so I hope my mission organization will help keep us on track so we can all enjoy the spring weather (when it gets here).
To help get on track I had to go cold turkey on the sewing projects for a couple weeks. I have a couple outstanding orders for some friends so I hope they understand I needed to take a break and plan to be back to sewing machine next week to finish up those orders and start on my spring aprons. And of course, I'll start to squeeze in a little seed starting as well. I highly encourage you to sow a few seeds .. it's just as fun to sow as it is to sew!
Here's a good video from Organic Gardening Magazine on how to start your own seeds:
Pink, yellow & green apron made with Alexander Henry's Kleo and Bangle Dot fabrics
Here's an apron made with Heathery Bailey (Fresh Cut) & Amy Butler (Lotus Polka Dots) fabrics ...
Reverse side of this apron using Heathery Bailey Fresh Cut Stripes and Amy's Lotus Polka Dots...
These Simply Sassy aprons each have an adjustable neck strap with 3 button holes and fabric covered buttons for the buttons.
