Memorial day fun and new aprons!

We had a great Memorial Day.  The weather was perfect and we ate two meals under our shade tree in the backyard.  AJ had requested ice cream so we were happy to oblige and it was the epitome of happiness to watch her enjoy her ice cream cone. 

Buster loves to pace around the table and beg for a taste.  We had BBQ pulled pork and ribs from Winslows BBQ and we always love it.  We fancied up some canned baked beans with a little BBQ sauce, brown sugar and ketchup and boiled some corn. 

She's catching that drip of ice cream.  After she sat at the table for a while she wanted to sit in her swing and eat her ice cream.  That was pretty cute too.  She was as happy as a lark let me tell you!

For the past two weeks I've been making more aprons for the Peacock Cafe in Leavenworth and here are the five I've completed. 

I call this one the "Chick chick apron." 

The embroidery on the left is hand embroidered and the chick was done with my sewing machine.  I just sketched a basic outline and went over and over it with stitching.  Most of the fabrics used in my aprons are reclaimed linen from some really unflattering women's dresses.  I have to tell you that most of them already look like giant feed sacks before I deconstruct them. 

This picture does not do this apron justice.  I love the chocolate color of the fabric and the pale pink of the tea towel is beautiful along with the pale gray stitching on it.  The linen ruffle was cut from a really weird pants outfit that would've been completely see through because the weave is so loose.  But it makes an absolutely perfect ruffle on my aprons. 

It is really hard to photograph my aprons by hanging them up but I hope you can tell that this one says "Home."  There are few words that I think evoke such deep nostalgia like the word home does.  It has wonderful, rich nostalgia for me and I hope for most people.  I also think it evokes a deep sense of longing to belong somewhere.  I think it is perfectly suited to an apron.

This is my patriotic apron.  There is some red stitching detail on each pocket.  I was asked to make some aprons look patriotic but had a hard time coming up with something that I didn't think looked hokey.  Any suggestions?

You can see some of the red stitching detail in this picture.  The flowers I add are always detachable and can be worn on a shirt or a purse as well.

This might be my favorite apron out of this bunch.  The "Chick chick" comes close.  I love, love, love white linen and shell buttons.  Love it!  The embroidery also turned out just how I wanted it to.

The flowers are made from some chiffon fabric that I cut into circles and singed on the edges with a candle.  I think they look like brown poppies. 

I really enjoy creating these aprons out of old garments.  The linen is usually softer and on most of the 

backs of the aprons I used vintage sheets.  I hope to get a few more aprons done before I hand them over to be sold.  They take a good chunk of time to create since I want to feel inspired by them as I sew them. 

I don't really know how to "sign off" on my posts so I guess I'll say..."that's all I have to say about that"- to quote one of my favorite movies, Forrest Gump...well whatdaya expect, I AM from Alabama!!!!