Travels, Aprons, and a Quilt

Summer 2012 is finally winding down.  "Finally"?  Did I really say that?  Yes!  It's been a busy few months for me and I'm glad to say I've been home a couple of weekends doing some sewing.  Since the beginning of June I've been to San Francisco (work), Boise (Mary), Orlando (more work), San Diego/Los Angeles (adventure!) and topped it all off with a trip to Maine (vacation).  All these trips were fun and tiring!  After returning from vacation in Maine it has taken me a week to catch up on laundry, e-mail, housework, and oh yeah, my job.  

Now that I've gotten back into my regular routine and "semi" back to my diet ;o) I'm ready to add sewing to the list of things to do.  So before I get to work on the pictures for the post on Mary's quilt I decided I needed to do a little sewing to get back in the grove. 


Tea Towel Apron

To get my creative juices flowing again I started a new project.  We had a bridal shower last weekend that we needed to make 4 aprons for.  "We" (that would be me and my sister Dutchy) had planned to get together and make these aprons over the summer. 

We are both experienced seamstresses and accomplished quilt makers but, as they say, timing is everything.  You can see from all my travels listed above I wasn't available much plus I still work full time.  Which is only half of the equation because Dutchy is retired and as far from sitting home in her rocker as you can get. 

Needless to say it was getting down to the wire and although we had started to make one apron the whole project just wasn't going well. There were too many parts to the apron and the colors weren't right.  So I went searching on the Internet and found the cutest apron pattern tutorial on Missouri Star Quilt Company site. 

It's an apron made from a single tea towel and a little bit of fabric.  It has an adjustable strap and can easily fit any size from adults to kids. I just love the way the strap is one long piece of binding and it slides through the sides of the apron to the top and back down the other side. 


I showed a sample to my sister and she loved it too.  Now she wants to show her craft group how to make them.  I hope you like it as much as I do!  The video is two short (less than 3 minutes each) tutorials and she give you all the dimensions.



I tried using some fabric from my sister's stash but the main color theme for the shower was purple and this fabric was orange, yellow, and green!  They are fun fabrics for a kitchen but not for this shower.  I finally figure out that there wasn't enough contrast between the apron fabric and the pocket fabric.  It looked OK but not WOW. 



Since I didn't have any tea towels with purple in them (that was the theme color for the shower) I went in search of fabric and found this swirly one. 

 

And this beige one.

I made the "tea towel" ones for the brides maids and they came out really cute but I didn't get any good pictures of them!!  Here's one of the bride's maids wearing one but it's pretty blurry.  Anyway, can you believe that's the size of a tea towel?  She's an average size woman and it fits her fine.

Here's the top of Heather's apron.  Hers was more detailed with beige binding and white rickrack.  I love how it turned out but it was kind of big when she put it on at the shower so she didn't wear it.

But the real star of the shower was the quilt that Dutchy made for Heather for the wedding.  It was a big hit with Heather and the crowd too.  Beautiful work Dutchy!!  The pattern is "Apple Blossoms" and it is gorgeous!



Heather and her Nana Dutchy with the
quilt Dutchy made for the happy couple.

After taking pictures all day long at the shower I was so disappointed to find that most of them were blurry and can't be used.  This one of the quilt was one of 3 that came out good.  I've been struggling along with my camera held together with duct tape for a while now.  I guess I'll just have to go get a new one.  That sounds like a plan!

Bridal Shower #3

Another fun thing to do when it's too hot to quilt is to see a bride to be receive a special quilt from her Grandmother.  No I'm not the Grandmother, I'm the Great Aunt.  My sister Dutchy is the Grandmother and she's the one who made this beautiful quilt for her Grand-daughter Lindsay. 

And you can see from the expression on Lindsay's face that she was very happy and touched by this special gift. 

I believe the pattern is the Tennessee Puzzle but I'm not certain.  This picture shows a close up of the border.  All of the fabrics are 1930's reproductions.  Aren't the colors beautiful? 

There was another tearful moments during the gift opening.  It was when she opened a gift from Great-Great-Aunt Doris.  It was a set of pillow cases embroidered by my mother Dolly, who is Lindsay's Great Grandmother and Doris' older sister.  My mom had made them for Aunt Doris and she wanted to pass them on to Lindsay.  We're all sentimental when it comes to these things and I know Lindsay will appreciate them.

Here's Aunt Doris on the right with her daughter Jenny on the left and Great Granddaughter Emily in the middle.

The whole shower was lovely.  It took place at The Fells an historic estate and gardens on Lake Sunapee in Newbury NH.  We sat up on the porch of the Main House overlooking the back gardens.  I would love to go back at some point and walk around a bit.  Here are some more pictures of the shower and the beautiful setting.


The wedding party sat with the bride under a canopy on the lawn.


There was even a wheel barrel full of tools for the groom, Joel.  Shown here with Lindsay's mom, Sharon.  It was his first - and (according to him) his last shower!

Here are Lindsay's Aunts, Tracy and Brenda, with Mt Sunapee in the background.

And the youngest attendee of the day, at 3 years old, was Kaylin.  She's Brenda's granddaugher and what a trooper.  It was a long day and the weather was hot and humid but she was as good as could be and just a bundle of joy. 

She and her mom, Jessie, always have the cutest outfits like the ones they're wearing here.  Jessie makes their outfits and has a new store on Esty.

All in all it was a lovely day of celebration with family and friends.  Thank you to all the people who worked so hard to put it all together.  Great job!

And we'll see you at the wedding in October.