chickensense

To Hell with Housework - Retro Eclectro

I love aprons! I have a whole page on my website devoted to apron tutorials and links. I also have a post on how to make my favorite empire-waist patchwork apron.

Using Google’s Image Search I found these funky aprons designed by Retro Eclectro. I just love the skulls apron named “To Hell with Housework.”  That’s my motto!

Visit my apron page at www.chickensense.com for a ton of apron photos, tutorials, and links.

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I want a Kindle so bad!

It allows you to download books instantly from Amazon. Most of them cost around $9, but I saw many that were less. Also, it can store books in the public domain for free, such as from Project Gutenburg, plus it can store Word, .PDF, mp3 and other documents after conversion.

You can go online from anywhere (free!) to download books from Amazon, or the internet. I read a Kindle blog that says you can even check your google email if you use Google’s .mobi site for mobile phones. The internet service is free from Amazon.

The only catch is the Kindle 2 costs $350! Ack! I could buy 100 books from www.paperbackswap.com for that much money. Hopefully the Kindle won’t take too long to come down in price, because I’m getting old…fast. (Yesterday Jesse (10 years old) asked me if they had bicycles when I was little. Ack!)

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Update: Link to a wonderful Kindle bag to make for yourself: IoniaQuiltWorks.BlogSpot.com

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The more time I spend at home, the more I understand why aprons were so popular in years past. For one thing, they are so pretty that they make me feel pretty. (A happy delusion on my part…) They protect my clothes, especially when I bake anything that uses flour, which seems to get all over me somehow, and they protect from grease splatters, and are always handy for drying hands. Aside from these expected uses, aprons are wonderful for bringing in eggs from the chicken coop, or cradling baby chicks, or even for carrying flowers and vegetables in from the garden.

I love the romantic look of long, billowing aprons, but I wanted one that doesn’t tie around the neck, which always irritates me, and I wanted the high “empire-waist” style such as you see in the movie Sense and Sensibility. When I came across a leftover bit of my patchwork quilt made out of 5″ squares of floral fabrics, I thought it would make a perfect apron.

I started making the shoulder straps by taking two 20″ long strips of 3″ wide fabric and folding them in half length-wise right sides together. I sewed down the long side and across one short end. I then turned the strips right side out.

Next, for the bodice I cut two 14″ by 7″ pieces of green fabric. I laid them right sides together and sewed around all the sides, leaving a 2″ opening along the bottom for turning it right side out. (Whip stitch the opening closed after turning.) I then sewed the closed end of each shoulder strap on top of the top corners of the bodice.

For the waist band I took a 40″ piece of patchwork and cut it 5-1/2″ wide. I folded it in half length-wise right sides together and sewed across both short ends and about 5″ in along the long edge. Then I turned it right side out. Next I sewed the bottom edge of the bodice slightly on top of the top folded edge of the waistband. I stitched the skirt to the raw edge of the waistband.

My patchwork skirt piece is about 45″ wide. I sewed a hem around both sides and the bottom edge. Then I pinned the top edge, right sides together, to the bottom, raw edge of the waistband, being careful to leave the other raw edge free. (That edge will be folded down and whip-stitched to cover the raw edges where the skirt is attached.) I measured by eye and folded and pinned a few pleats near the middle of the waistband. You can gather the top edge of the skirt if you prefer.

I then took the other edge of the shoulder straps and sewed them to the top folded edge of the waist band at opposite ends of the waistband. I attached double-fold bias tape to the ends of the waist-band to serve as ties. Finally I folded over the remaining raw edge of the waistband and sewed it by hand to cover the raw edges where the skirt was attached.

Visit my Apron Page for lots of apron tutorials and links.

UPDATE July 2009: I have my very own blog now: chickenlady quilts on Blogger.

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Have you seen the glove patterns, v8311 and v7949, that have been put out by the Vogue pattern company this season? They are so beautiful!

I have been searching for years for an all vinyl gardening glove. That used to be all they had years ago, now you can’t find them anywhere. So now I will try making my own instead. By having a vinyl glove, your hands don’t get wet and cold when planting. I don’t care for the knit garden gloves that have the finger tips dipped in rubber, they do keep you dry, but you can’t feel very well through the thick rubber.

I would also love to have a pair of lace gloves. I have absolutely no use for them, and therefore could never justify buying some, but I’m sure I have enough lace scraps to make some for “free.” Except for the cost of the pattern, of course! Vogue patterns are currently on sale at the local Hancock’s Fabric store for $3 something–a really good buy.

APRIL 2009 UPDATE:
I found some stores selling ladies gloves. They are far more reasonable than I thought. They didn’t have vinyl gloves for the garden though. Still the lace gloves are gorgeous and some are less than $10.
GreatLookZ.com

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