Swapping Goodness!

I got really lucky this week with some pretty sweet swapping goodness.
First off, I got my quilt from the Four Season's Quilt Swap.
I was so surprised. I had been so worried about sending mine off that I forgot that I was getting one too.
Bryan is my mailman too and brought me a package from the post office and asked what in the heck I had ordered for Australia and did I know what the postage was on things from AU. I about died because I am usually very careful about where I order things from ebay and etsy but occasionally I will get carried away with the item I want and forget to check the shipping. (you know apron bidders can go a bit nuts sometimes.)
I opened the package and found this lovely quilt and about peed my pants!!
It is from Helen of Patch Work of Mini Grey.
It is so fantastic!

It has multiple layers and fabrics. The workmanship is simply wonderful. It is all Wonky and I LOVE that! The colors are so bright they just dance off the quilt. The flower and stem parts are made from string pieced bits. I love it!

Yes I am spoiled!

THEN......

I got my Summer Sassy Apron Swap Apron early. The aprons aren't due till June 1st. My partner gets a gold star! My partner was Paige from Paige's Page
The theme was summer and she took that plus my list of favorite things and came up with this.



Chickens, yellow, red, black polka dots, what's not to love!

Here is the back detail.

Also too stinking cute.
Then to top it off she finished the rest of requirements with style.

A chicken dishtowel and a sassy summer drink recipe (no alcohol thank you). To top it all off she made me a pair of chicken book ends. They are so darling. I will have to put them in my kitchen when I finish it. It will be so fun! I might just have to do a chicken kitchen.

Thank you Paige and Helen!!

New Construction

Yesterday we started construction on a new home for my mother. We had promised my dad that we would take care of her when he died and so we are building a granny flat on the side of our house for her. I have started a new blog where you can watch the construction. This is mostly for the benefit for the rest of my immediate family but if you are just dieing of boredom and have nothing else to do, you can come on over and watch her house go up at

My Mother's House.

Fabric Scrap Swap at Tracey's

(original photo taken by Planet June)

My dear friend Tracey at Itching 2 B Stitching is hosting a fabric scrap swap. If she can get enough people to sign up you could get 2 partners. It is open until May 20th. To sign up you need to go over to her blog and get the information and email her. It sounds like a lot of fun. This is a great way to clear out some of your old bits and get someone else's little treasures. You know that one gal's scraps are another gal's treasures.

Onion recycling Tutorial

I learned this tip a couple of years ago and have tried it and found that it works and is quite marvelous. I love to use fresh green onions but am always out or there is a slimy little bag of them in the bottom of the fridge.
Here is my marvelous tip for growing them yourself and recycling a bit.

Onion Recycling Tutorial

1. Take the onion you are using for cooking, green, red, yellow, or white, it doesn't matter.
Cut off the root end. You are going to do that anyway. For a bulb onion like a red, white or yellow, I kinda core the onion and cut out a little cone there at the root end.

This onion came from my garden so the roots are huge but the ones from the store work the same.
2. Take that root bit you cut off and plant it in dirt and water it well. You can directly plant this in the garden. I plant mine in a tub in my yard for easy onion access year round. You can even plant them in a flower pot in a sunny window.

There you have it. In a few weeks you will have tons of green onions for the picking. Actually I just take my knife out there and cut them off at the ground and they grow me another onion quickly. If you just need the green parts for your recipe, just snip off a few of the green things and chop them up. The onion plant will send up more and that will actually stop the plant from going to seed which makes the onion tough.

and yes I know my pot needs weeding. :o)

Spring Quilt

Last week I made a quilt for the Four Season's Quilt Swap again. This is the spring round.
I hope it will do. It is simple but I thought it was fun.

I have sent it off to my swap partner. I hope she likes it.

happy bird detail

Miffy's Birthday

OK you know how I feel about birthdays. They are for celebrating, singing and shouting about. It is the day you came to this big blue planet. That is pretty fabulous what ever you age is.
One of my friends on the Internet is celebrating her birthday with an apron give away. I am all for that so here is the apron.

Isn't that to die for! It should be worth a birthday wish or two.
To get a chance at winning this apron you need to go on over to Miffy's World and leave her a birthday wish at this post.
So what are you waiting for. Run off and spread the birthday goodness all around.

Skillet Pot Holder Tutorial - PPP

I think I saw this idea at a dinner. It was so cool! I love pot holders but hate having to grab for one all the time when I am doing a ton of cooling where I constantly have to pick up the pan, such as when I am making crepes. I have singed a good many darling hot pads in the process.
Well here is my solution and a very clever on at that (not my idea but my version of it.)
I decided to make a skillet handle pot holder. This stays on the handle while I am cooking. I don't recommend walking off and leaving it unattended but you shouldn't leave a hot pot unattended anyway. :o)
After making several apron from jeans, I have several bits of scraps left over. So this is my material of choice. It is heavy, durable, washable, and free.

Skillet Pot Holder Tutorial

1. Trace the handle of your skillet onto paper to make a pattern.


2. Add a generous amount of space around your tracing to fill out your handle, maybe 1/4" to 1/2". Don't add too much space at the top or it will make your pot holder too long and it will keep sliding off. Cut out your paper pattern.


3. Take a piece of denim twice as long as your pattern is. Fold it in half lengthwise. Fold it in half again the other way. This gives you 4 thicknesses. Place your pattern piece along the folded edge and trace it with pen or pencil. Sew on the traced line. (By using the folded edge, the bottom of your pot holder is already finished when you are done. )


4. Trim within 1/4" of the sewn line.


5. Turn and you are done.


There you have it a pot holder that exactly fits your pan for quick, safe and easy fast cooking.

The Winner Is

Ok so I waited till morning. I was just too tired. :o)
I numbered everyone and put the numbers in a number generator and it picked number 32 and that is .....


mattie said...
Happy Birthday! Such a cute apron...

So I will contact Mattie and get the shipping details from her.

For the rest of you, I am sorry I couldn't give an apron to each and every one of you. Your sweet comments made for an extra special birthday treat each time I sat down to the computer.

THANK YOU!

I do have two extra aprons left though. ( I couldn't help myself). They were so fun to make and I had such fun fabric in my stash. I had a lovely pair of black jeans (my favorite pair in fact) that were screaming to be made. So I did two more in black and pink. I am putting them in my Sexy Apron Day Etsy shop. If you want one made by the master (hee hee) you can snatch them up today.

Birthday Giveaway!

OK, I promised that I would post this. It is my birthday today. I am now 3 times as old as my oldest child. To celebrate I am giving away one of my new Jeans aprons. I stayed up late last night making one but didn't get a picture taken yet. I will get that as soon as I can today. It is FREEZING outside so it may be a little bit before the pictures get loaded.
So, until I get that done I wanted to make sure you had the opportunity to post and get in on the drawing. What you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will pick one of you at midnight tonight and post the winner. If your profile is one that won't let me e-mail you directly then you are going to have to come back here tomorrow morning and find out who won. If I can't contact that winner with-in a day, I will pick another one. :o)

Finally got a minute!

I used my one and only Amy Butler piece of fabric. I love the little bit of blue in it.

Here is the pocket detail.

Jeans Half Apron Tutorial

I couldn't help myself. I had to make another apron tutorial. I vowed I wouldn't do anymore after last year but I miss them! I love creating aprons. I can't take all the credit for this. I got the idea from my niece Angelic's Spring Sassy Apron. It was just so sweet and simple. I had to make one and I thought you might like making one too.

Supplies:
an old pair of jeans (actually just one leg)
Scraps of fabric
1 1/2 to 2" Ribbon (optional)

The instructions - (I won't be giving exact measurements because I didn't really make them and you can tailor this to fit what you have on hand.)


1. Cut the leg off an old pair of jeans and cut the inside leg seam open. Lay the leg out flat.

2. Fold the fabric in half and trim off the leg hem. I measured down 18 inches and made a straight cut. This is easily done with rotary cutting tools.


3. You will notice that one side of the pant leg is wider than the other. Trim them up so they are even.

This is what it should look like now.


4. Fold the sides under and top stitch to finish the edge.

5. Cut a piece of fabric the width of the top of your apron plus about 2 inches or so. I cut mine about 6 inches wide. This will be your waist band.


6. Take your waist band piece and fold it in half lengthwise and press. Then fold each of the long sides in about 1/2" to 3/4" and press. Sandwich the apron top inside of this band now. Take the ends and fold them over the apron top and then fold the band piece down. I know that sounds confusing but I hope the picture shows this.


7. Cut two pieces of wide ribbon for the ties (about 32" long each) and sandwich them into the layers of your waist band. Top stitch all the way around the band to secure everything.


8. For the quick pleat ruffle, fold the apron bottom in half. Fold it in half again. Fold it in half one more time. :o) Yes three times. Now press it really hard with your iron.
I cut out a ruffle piece that was about 5 inches wide by the width of my fabric. (that was the size scrap I had so I used it.) Hem one long side of it and the two short ends by folding under and stitching. Fold this ruffle in half three times like you did the apron bottom. Press it very well with a hot iron.


9. When you unfold the apron bottom, quickly pin where the creases are or they will disappear quickly.


10. Unfold the ruffle piece and pin it to the bottom of the apron matching up the crease lines.


11. Eyeball the pleats now which ever direction you want them to lay. Have fun. I made box pleats.

12. I almost forgot the pocket. I cut out two 7" squares from my fabric scraps. I sewed around the edges leaving a hole to turn the pocket. I top stitched across the top of the apron and the pinned it in place where I wanted it and stitched it in place. I like my pocket on the right side because I am right handed. I think the pocket looks better on the left for some reason but works better on the right for right handed people.


13. To finish off your ties, cut the ribbon at a 45 deg. angle. You must seal the edge or it will ravel really bad. You can do this by running it quickly over a flame from a lighter or a match. I just couldn't take a picture and demo it. :o)

Now you are done!



Ruffle detail.

Ok Now that you made it all the way to the end, I have a treat for you. I just love this apron. I would like to share one with one of my many bloggies. So in honor of my Birthday on Tuesday, I am going to make another one of the puppies and offer it to one of my bloggies. What I will do is post a picture of it on Tuesday morning and I will watch all the posts that day. At midnight, I will put all your names in a pot and pick a lucky winner that I will ship my apron off to to celebrate my birthday. I can't wait to see which of my blog land friends gets to have the sassy jeans apron.


****Edited May 26, 2009 *****

Dear bloggers,

I have had some questions asked about how to make this apron just a little wider. This might be necessary if the jeans you are using are not really big. I use rather large men's jeans because that is what I have access to.
To widen the apron simply cut off the other pant leg of the jeans. Cut it as long as the desired apron. Cut the let seams open and trim up the pieces so you have two equal sized pieces. Simple add each of the pieces to the sides of the apron and sew them on. Then follow the tutorial as normal. You will now have a much wider apron with a very similar look to the ones in the pictures.
Hope that helps!

Avocado Pie - April PPP

Yes that is Avocado Pie and it is really pretty good.
Why avocado pie? Because my Flirty Apron Swap Partner Nicola sent me a bunch of Avocados and I have been trying other recipes with them.
Here is the Pie recipe.

Avocado Pie

INGREDIENTS:
1 (9 inch) prepared graham
cracker crust
2 avocados - peeled, pitted and
pureed
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 (5 ounce) can sweetened
condensed milk

I prepared the pie crust and browned it in the oven (the March Pie has a crust recipe)
The I put the lemon juice, milk and avocados in the food processor and blended it till it was smooth. Pour this in the pie shell and chill in the fridge till ready to serve.
I served it with whipped cream on top.
This is an unusual pie. The flavor is light and fresh. Tart and sweet.

Mother's Day Give Away

I am posting this for my friend Jan. She has a lovely apron shop where she sells aprons, tea pots, tea cozies, cookie cutter and more.

Here is what she is doing.
Jan has set up a Mother's Day Giveaway on her blog.
She will be sending out this lovely apron to a lucky winner.

She is also including this teapot set and cookie cutters.


How do you get in on this wonderful giveaway?
Go to Jan's site and follow her directions.

I can tell you that her aprons are simply wonderful.
I have one. hee hee! I love it.
Jan was my secret partner for the Flirty Apron Swap.
She took a peek at my blog here and somehow figured out that I love chickens. She made me this lovely chicken apron.

I wear it every chance I get. It is so fun, covers everything and is dark so I can use it for what ever I am cooking without stain worries. :o)
You should go check out her blog and store. Her aprons would make wonderful Mother's day gifts, birthday gifts, or just a treat for you!

The Summer Sassy Apron Swap

Little Plug Here.
The Summer 2008 Session of the Sassy Apron Swap is now open over at The Sassy Apron Swap.

The sign ups are open till April 15th unless we get to many people and that might happen. We are almost at 100 on day 3. I am just posting it here for some of my regulars that have been asking and wanted a warning that it was up and running.

Flirty Apron ?

Here is my contribution to the Flirty Apron Swap. I messed around with my design a bit and changed the ruffle. I needed something flirty for a 50+ grandma with little grand kids.


Is it flirty enough? It is on it's way to the Sassy Grandma. I really love the cookie jar fabric.

Key Lime Pie - PPP - March

My dear friend Rachel of the Country Cupboard Bakery suggested the pie for this month. She said she had tried Key Lime Pie once and thought it was lovely and wondered if I knew how to make it. Well, no but I could try.
Rachel runs this little Mennonite Bakery just down the road from my house, out in the middle of no where in South West Missouri. She has the most wonderful goodies there. Here Cinnamon Rolls are famous and positively sinful!!! She also stocks Jam from Das Jam Shop that is a local Mennonite Jam factory. They jams are simply divine! I love them!

On to the pie.... When looking up ideas I had some rules in mind.
It had to be tasty,
It had to be easy,
and it had to have reasonable ingredients.

Here is what I came up with.


(sorry this is the only photo, I meant to take a lovely picture of a slice of pie topped with whipped cream and a slice of lime but it is all gone. Once we cut into it we forgot all about photographing it and just snarfed it down.)

Key Lime Pie for Rachel

4 egg yolks
2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
1 cup Lime juice (key limes if you can get them and fresh if possible)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp lime zest (optional as lime zest can be bitter)
1 - 9" pie graham cracker crust

1. Pre-bake your graham cracker crust.

2. Pre-heat oven to 370 deg. F.

3. Combine egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, sour cream, and lime zest. Mix well and pour into your pie shell.

4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

5. Allow to cool. Top with Whipped Cream, garnish with lime slices, and enjoy!

There you have it, easy, fast, and good!

Easy Graham Cracker Crust

1 package graham crackers (9-8 whole crackers), or 1 1/3 cup crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
Mix very well, pat into pie pan and bake at 375 deg F for 8 minutes.


Note: You can use 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime juice. If doing that, I would use lemon zest instead. It tastes so much better.
Also if using farm fresh eggs, you will not get a greenish pie. It will be yellow. :o)

Oh I almost forgot to add the squeezing key limes is hard!! I was going nuts with my citrus juicer until I remembered my garlic press. I cut the limes in quarters and put them in there. It still took a while to get 1 cup of lime juice but my hands weren't killing me when I finished!