Food?....or not?

Oldest Granddaughter is having her 15th birthday this week.

Since macaroni and cheese from a box is one of the main staples of her diet, this is one of the gifts I gave her:

No.....I did not just make her a batch and plop some on waxed paper........


....THAT IS A BAR OF SOAP!!!!

Isn't that the funniest thing ever? Don't you just love it? I bought it on ETSY from AJ SWEETSOAP

Anyone who knows me well, knows I have a weird thing about fake food in any form.....I'm a sucker for anything that looks like food but really isn't food.

Which is why I bought this soap, too.......of course I had to have it..... just because.....I mean, could you pass it up? Just look at how amazing this rocky road brownie looks....AND IT'S A BAR OF SOAP!!!#$%&*!!

It will be the perfect gift for someone eventually.....

please go on over to AJ sweetSoap and look at all the yummy looking soap she makes (check out the deviled eggs!)....I dare you to resist buying something! (or maybe it's just me and my weird fake food fetish?

Dear Gram.....

Dear Gram: (from Grace)

Why are you such a nice Great-Grandma? I really like that you give us all such good gift cards for presents. I forgot about the one you gave me for Christmas for the craft store, but Mimi remembered, so today she took me to Joann's.

They have such good stuff at that store! It was really hard to decide. You know how much I love crafts!

Mimi had some good coupons so I got to pick three things. I picked some princess magnets to paint and a Barbie paint-with-water book.

AND, they have really pretty colored poster board with different colors on each side. I don't know what I'm going to do with it but I know I'll think of something!

Thank you Gram for helping me be a crafty girl..............Love, Grace

Grasshopper

Grasshoppers.......AAACK!!!



I've mentioned my intense fear of them here before.



SOOO...... look at the new ornament I just got from Daughter's family!

Isn't he great?

(and he only scares me a little bit.....)

Katy No-Pocket apron

Do you know the children's book "Katy No-Pocket"? My mother often checked it out at the library to read to me when I was little.

It was written in 1944 and has the same illustrator as the Curious George books.

It's about a mother kangaroo who for some reason has no pocket and is desperate to find a way to carry her baby. By the end of the book she is wearing an apron covered in so many pockets that she is carrying around all the baby animals in the jungle!

My co-worker has a daughter who is turning 2 this week. This little girl is rather.....quirky? Oh, the stories I hear! She really is unusually one-of-a-kind already at age 2!

Well...among all her little quirks and oddities, she really, really loves pockets. If she isn't wearing pockets herself, she'll put something in your pocket.


For her Birthday, along with a copy of the book, I designed her a Katy No-Pocket Apron, just her size, with 6 pockets across the front.




I can't wait to hear what kinds of things she finds for her funny little self to put in all her very own pockets.....

still trying to get in the mood.....

I mentioned a few posts ago that I was feeling apron-y again after a lengthy down period...WELL,...false alarm, I guess. I don't know whether it's just the weather or hormones or burn-out or all of the above, but I AM TIRED OF FEELING BLAH! I keep coming up with ideas, thought, for Christmas gifts and such. My list is getting longer than I will ever have enough time for, so I'm trying to (to quote an old friend of mine) "Act better than you feel".......

To make matters worse, I'm sharing a table with Daughter at a Craft Fair next weekend and I don't feel like I'm going to be ready....AAACKK!! ....act better than you feel....act better than you feel....

So I am attempting to complete the following this weekend, NO MATTER WHAT!

*4 adult Christmas aprons

*4 child Christmas aprons

*print new apron brochures & business cards

*make apron inventory list for craft fair

*complete a simple fabric covered basket that will be filled with 5 small purchased stuffed dogs for Granddaughter #4's 6th birthday this week

OK...enough stalling here....I'm going to get busy right now!

I'll leave you with a show-and-tell of the few items I managed to get done since mid-Sept:

2 new sewing machine covers

2 flannel lap blankets for a wedding gift

3 grocery tote bags made from kitchen towels from the Dollar Store

2 no-sew totes made from bandanas

Composition notebooks bought on sale at the beginning of school and a few fat quarters = fabric covered notebooks/journals

and a requested Puppet Theater......(really just a curtain on a spring-loaded rod to fit in a doorway, but it works perfectly!

Hopefully there'll be much more to follow soon!

Long Distance Aprons

I have a long-distance friend, a single Grandpa, who spends a lot of one-on-one time with each of his 5 grandkids, ages 3-9. When he told me recently that the older kids are liking to spend time in the kitchen with him I had one thought.....THOSE KIDS NEED APRONS!! (Grandpa already has 3 of my aprons)

Here are my latest apron creations that I'll be mailing off to Northern Calif. first thing on Monday. One for the girls and one for the boys, for the next time Grandpa has a little helper in the kitchen.....

FOR THE GIRLS:

reversible ZEBRA & PINK LEOPARD

FOR THE BOYS:

reversible SKULLS, FLAMES & PIRATES

My two youngest Grandkids spotted these and just had to try them on.... "LOOK! it's just the right size for me!"..."I LOVE this apron, Mimi! It's just the kind that I like!!".....

So I guess I know what I'll be sewing this weekend........

His & Hers

HIS:

I have a good friend at work who is also the-guy-who-fixes-everything-that-needs-fixing. He walked into my office the other day with this on his arm

I said "HEY! Where did you get that? I need some of those for my sewing pins!"

A few hours later I found these on my desk

($1.99 each at Harbor Freight)

HERS:

Look what I did with them! I prettied them up.......

What a bargain! $1.99 plus a few scraps. These will be perfect for Christmas gifts.....or maybe even the ETSY shop?...(hmmmm....the wheels are turning....)

One for me and 3 for Christmas gifts.

I just love making Christmas gifts in June!!

new family heirloom

At the beginning of May, my sister in Seattle and her two young daughters decided to try making a quilt for the first time. They wrote about it on their blog here.

When Daughter read what her Aunt and Cousins had made, she decided she had to try making a quilt, too. In less than a week she had whipped up this masterpiece! Then a few days later she made this one!

The last few years she has been very supportive and appreciative of all the sewing projects I've made but none of it inspired her to dig out her long-buried sewing machine.....UNTIL NOW!!....THAT GIRL IS ON FIRE!! Boy has she been bitten by the sewing bug big time! By the end of May, only 4 weeks after her first one, she had completed 2 quilts (except for the free-motion quilting, due to being unable to find the right foot for her ancient machine...more on that later), cut out all the pieces for 3 more, and unbeknownst to me....MADE THIS FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Now keep in mind, this was completed only 5 weeks after she decided to "try" making her first quilt!

The theme of this quilt is "Martha's Vineyard", commemorating the trip we took together in April to visit Son/Brother. She used photos from our trip

She found fabric with shells & stones just like the ones we collected on our travels.

She found some with the shellfish that are so plentiful on Cape Cod

And even found this toile, which has actual scenes and places from Martha's Vineyard itself

The back of the quilt is special, too.

This beautiful work of art is now hanging on my bedroom wall where I can look at it every day and be reminded of our wonderful trip together and of what a lovely Daughter I have!

Isn't this going to be the best family heirloom ever?

For all those manly men.....

Father's Day is almost here. Is the man in your life one of those guys that are really hard to buy a gift for ? Well, let me help you out this year.........I think your Dad/ Husband/ Brother/ Son needs an apron! All men like to BBQ don't they? It brings out that manly, macho thing when they have meat and flames and BBQ tools to take care of.....And if your man just happens to like being in the kitchen, then even better! I'm pretty sure I have something for everyone here:

Does your guy ride a Harley...or wish he did?

Does he have a hobby? fishing or golf?

Does he consider himself a wine connoisseur?

Is he a soldier, currently or in the past?

a baseball fan?

How about Nascar? Dale Earnhardt?

I've got sushi

and even just good old fiery flames.

Trust me, your man needs an apron!

They're all in the ETSY SHOP....

SSEN Valentine Apron Swap (sent)

For the SUGAR AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE SASSY FLIRTY APRON SWAP, the theme was Valentines Day.

Rules were simple: send a marvelous Valentine apron, Valentine goodies, and a note revealing your identity. "Just make it a package you would love to receive!"

my partner was KELLY K. from Lagrangeville, NY. (Hi Kelly!)

Here is what my package to Kelly included:

The one apron I made 2 weekends ago during my 6-apron-frenzy-of-a-weekend that wasn't for the ETSY shop.........

a half-apron made from a Valentine tea towel that I found at Wal-mart. The ties are wide grosgrain ribbon and I added a pocket made from scraps leftover from one of the other aprons.

Also one of my favorite furry fleece scarves that went over so well with my family at Christmas. And Kelly tells me this is even her favorite color, how about that!

And last but not least,a yard of cute Valentine fabric and some Valentine ribbon for a project of her own AND an embellished spiral notebook, one of my own personal favorite things.



Oh, yes, and of course a bunch of avocados. I always enjoy sending these to non-Californians. They are always so appreciative!

I've already heard from Kelly and she really loves her whole package.

It's so satisfying to feel like you've made someone happy, especially a secret partner that you don't know. I've really enjoyed this swap... Thank You so much Lucy and Shawnee for doing a great job and putting in so much time and effort to make this such a wonderful swap......

I'm going out to the mailbox right now to see if Mr. Mailman has brought me my package yet! So much fun to get a secret package! Although I can honestly say I think I enjoy the sending even better than the receiving!