Thanks for the shoutout and visits during the apron event

Lots of fun with the apron event and some thanks are in order. First, thanks to Julia, the primary Apron Goddess for sponsoring the event. Next, a tip o' the hat to Scarlett Burroughs for thepicture and mention at Craft Gossip.com. To all of you who left comments, I appreciate each and every one of you for visiting and taking the time to make a comment. Comments let us bloggers know that someone out there in the blogosphere is looking at what we post. You all rock.

Aprons, Aprons, Everywhere

Today is the day. The Apron Goddesses' Aprons, Aprons, Everywhere event has arrived. Follow this link to their site for a Mr. Linky connection to all the participating apron goddesses. It seems I always find wonderful new blogs during these events, so I really appreciate bloggers who sponsor them.



This is my fancy hostess apron that was inspired by the pink, black and white 1930's reproduction fabric I used on the binding. Thanks to Jim for serving as photographer.



Here's a detail of some of the embroidery and the button nest composed of gems from Mama's button jar.

What's happening this week in Safety Pin Studio

Aside from a little cooking and cleaning, I spent most of the weekend in the studio which was very good for my soul. On the OP Challenge front, I'm getting ready to finish the back of the "Mérida Remix" piece: the label is printed, and the bias tape is made. I just have to print out the scanned pictures and then all my materials will be ready. I'm anxious to compose the back. Pat Sloan is apparently going to be doing a block this coming weekend during the virtual retreat, so I may encorporate one of her blocks into the back.


When I taught the crazy piecing workshop for the Piedmont Quilter's Guild several weeks ago at Randy's Quilt Shop, I used two demonstration pieces. This apron was my finished piece to demo embroidery and embellishment. (I won't show the crazy piecing demo piece yet because it's going to be a birthday present for one of our nieces.) I found the Soul Food t-shirt at Goodwill, cut out the design, and Wonderundered (I'm not really sure if that's a legitimate verb or not!) it to the muslin base, then crazy pieced around it. Crazy piecing something like an apron that's long and not so wide means that you sometimes end up long strips at the bottom. I like to cut that up visually by making strips with several fabrics and then sewing and flipping them.

The other thing I did this weekend was to get the new baby quilt pieced. I took a ton of pictures and I'll get those posted in the next few days.

More crazy piecing and embellishment

I tried to take a picture in the mirror and it's not the best, but this is the apron that I made as a sample for the class. I have had a piece of 1930's Depression fabric for years that's bubblegum pink, black, and white and I love that combination of colors. It was my inspiration fabric. I used it in the apron and for the ties and the binding around the top. I made a strategically placed button nest when one of the seams frayed a little while I was embroidering. I love using my Mama's old buttons in my projects. She is my sewing model. My mom knits and does embroidery, but never took to sewing. Her mother could sew anything. I can remember her cutting patterns out of newspaper. When my mother and her sisters were teenagers, Mama would make dresses for them based on what was in movie magazines. When I get a scanner, I'll put up some pictures of her. One of my favorite things to hear her say was, "That's foxy!" I think she'd say that about this apron!