Aprons for Auction #2

     For the last few months, I have been helping out on my sons school auction team--what an experience. I feel like I worked solidly from January until last Sunday helping to do fund raising and I learned a lot along the way. I had no idea that there was such a process to procuring financial, physical or "in kind" donations. I was also unaware of how much work and dedication it takes many parents to put on a school auction. Anyway, the theme of the auction was channel surfing, so my friend Shaneel and I went to the event as Betty Rubble and Wilma Flinstone, I will post some pictures of our Yabba Dabba Do adventures in a later post.
    
Since I was pretty busy learning the ropes of helping on the auction team, I was not sure I would have time to donate any aprons to the event. However, about a week ago I decided I could probably get two done to donate. I had a lot of fun making them and it felt so good to have something special to contribute to my sons school fundraiser. I donated an aqua blue 1/2 apron with pale colored cupcakes, trimmed in chocolate brown. The other apron was a Modern Day Pinafore in all pink with a few special touches. I used a soft pink fabric and paired it with sweet, sugar pink cupcake fabric. --I also had a chance to put my "feet to good use" for this apron. As I was able to use my new magnetic seam guide for some of the top stitching and my wonderful ruffler for the bodice and a cute little ruffle at the bottom.

These is a tag I made to hang on them. I have fallen in love with the Fairy Dust Glitter from Joannes Fabrics--it works beautifully on paper and fabric.

Here is the new ruffle I added. The idea came from little pants and skirts that Nicole Vasbinder at Stitchcraft in Petaluma helped me create.http://www.stitchcraftonline.com/

A little applique cupcake on the pocket...

                          Here they are waiting for a ride to the auction.

Spring Auction Donations

Over the last month I was asked to donate aprons to a few local schools. It has been a lot of fun making some new aprons on behalf of some really special kids. This spring MAD Stitches will be donating eight aprons to four local schools. In honor of these special kids, I wanted to make two new fabric combination aprons. I will be making 4 1/2 aprons and 4 Modern Day Pinafores. I wanted to share the first combination for the half apron. This one was inspired by my special buddy Tyler F. B. I have had the honor of knowing him for almost 6 years. He is an AMAZING kid! Super smart, talented, caring and increadibly compassionate towards other kids. This apron is for his school auction in Belmont, CA. Here are some pictures. A special thank you to my buddy Ty--I am so glad that Beech has had such a wonderful friendship with you! You are our REAL LIFE SUPER HERO!!

Pink Polka Dots and Cherries

What Is It About Vintage Fabric and Styles?

I bought this little slip for Miss Annie in Petaluma at one of my favorite stores, Summer Cottage Antiques http://www.summercottageantiques.com/. It is one of my favorite shops for finding sweet little vintage treasures. It is also just a wonderful escape for anyone who likes to grab a cup of coffee and mill around a store filled with vintage treasures. Anyway, I bought this little slip along with a few other dresses for Miss Annie about a year ago. I don't know what it is about vintage fabrics that I love so much...? This little slip has the most beautiful detail. The lace looks so delicate and there are little pearl buttons at the shoulders and lots of hand sewn detail on the bottom of the slip. I also love the thin, muslin like fabric. It is such a simple litte slip/dress that I bought for her to wear during the warm, summer months along with lots of pillow case dresses that I am in the process of madly sewing up for her! --Photos by Jeff Wilson

Early Spring at the Park

We had a wonderful afternoon at one of our local parks. The trees are all blooming and it feels like spring is in the air. We had a nice picnic and the kids played on the park structure and in the sand box. It was a super early spring day!

It is All Green

It was St. Patty's Day mayhem around here this morning. It all started last night when the kids built a fairly elabroate leprechon trap. It was a big box with lots of sticky tape inside and lucky charms drizzled all around the box to....lure the leprechon into the box...... This morning when the kids awoke they discovered that the leprechon was too tricky for them and he ate a few of the lucky charms and then escaped. He was kind enough to leave a note, his hat and a few chocolate gold coins behind. So...alas looks like we will have to try again next year.

We made some mini green chocolate chip cupcakes for Beech's classmates and a fruit rainbow with a pot of gold for Miss Annie Pants class.

J...after a big cup of coffee made some of his famouse...green pancakes. It is hard to believe that many years ago, sans children we would head over to our local town tavern (back in our college days) and put away a few pitchers of green beer along with homemade green eggs and ham. Now...years later we are helping the kids set leprechon traps and are making green pancakes---my oh my how life has changed. Anyway, Happy St. Patricks Day and here is to lots of luck...

lunch in murphys at the wren with gary and annie

A Little Lemonade Stand Apron

I first made this fabric combination last year for a custom order. A customer wanted a few little aprons for her grand-daughters to have when they came for a visit last summer. When I went hunting for the fabric for these little girls, I started thinking, "What about some lemonade stand aprons for them...?" and that is how this little combination first came about.

I had visions of these little girls visiting their grandma for the summer and wearing these aprons in their  lemonade stand to help keep them busy. I heard at the end of the summer that they wore their aprons in their grandma's kitchen and roadside while manning their lemonade stand!

Anyway, it is a fabric combination near and dear to my heart because it grew out of a request I had from a grandmother who clearly adored her grand-daughters. I got to be part of creating something special for them to wear while puttering around their grandma's kitchen and passing the time selling sweet, homemade lemonade. Here are some pictures of my little Annie wearing her little lemonade stand apron...now we just need to make our lemonade stand and we are ready for spring!

It is All Pink

 I recently had a dear friend order a few aprons for birthday presents. She asked if I could do a custom order and make a few changes to the standard fabrics that I use. I was happy to do this because I am always so grateful to get orders--it means I can add a bit more to my overall donations. Another reason I did not mind is I am learning that some of the sewing creations I make as gifts or special orders turn out to be fun, new constructions that I probably would not have stumbled on otherwise.

Anyway, she requested I replace the brown with pink to coordinate with the pink cupcake fabric. I am used to matching up the bolder colors, so this was new territory for me. In the end, I paired the soft pink fabric with the pink cupcake fabric for the modern day pinafore and I was surprised to see how well all of the pinks came together. Going forward,  I am going to make a standard pink/pink modern day pinafore and add it to my little collection of apron fabric combinations. So, thank you to my friend J for her order and for helping me stumble on a new, sweet, all pink fabric combination--and a special Happy Birthday to her little C!