just another beauty…

I found my sewing maching, once again~

I’ve been caught off-guard…

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to enjoy the fun, creative, no-pattern sewing that I love so much.

Yesterday was my day to return, and I was, once again, taken by surprise!

it truly refreshes me

and it inspires me…

It is quite possibly compounded with the fact that, in my opinion, this is the most stunning apron creation that I’ve made so far.

I had a very hard time doing it justice with my camera!  This apron was made with a very, very old, delicate, linen table cloth ~ the end of an embroidered dresser scarf ~ a vintage napkin and a touch of rick rack.  Nothing new was sewn into this {except thread!}~

an apron for Michelle~

I finally finished a project today…

Michelle, a friend who visits me here often, asked if I would make her an apron.

Recently, I made one similar to this one, which she liked.  Since I still had the {ingredients} to make another one we decided that would be a great custom apron for her.

This one’s for you, Michelle…

I’m going to Rathdrum…

Today I set up for tomorrow’s show: The Vintage Barn Sale in Rathdrum, ID.  This is my favorite show.  It’s beautiful, country setting is so picturesque and calming.

Ok…I know ~ everything is starting to look the same.

I try to avoid repetition, but I just can’t seem to help myself.

If you think you’re tired of looking @ aprons, guess what? I’m probably even more tired of making them.

Really though, I have officially run out of shirts that I can make these western aprons with.

Any cowboys or cowgirls out there have any extra shirts they don’t want????

To mix it up a little I took these pictures in the garden…which is growing nicely.

American~made goodness…

what cowgirl could resist her cowboy in lavender snaps...

home-made goodness from:  America ~ Washington State ~ Summit Valley ~ Stevens County ~ on Huckleberry Mountain…

Two more aprons completed.  I set up for my next show tomorrow and I’m pushing myself as hard as I can.  It’s slow going though.

Made in America = hand-crafted goodness that takes time…a lot of time.

But those who appreciate the idea of ‘American-made’ and have chosen to support it, also appreciate the time that goes into it and know that the cost is often higher.

Support: made in U.S.A.

ficelles de tablier

Yesterday Mr T and I did some thrifting.  I bought this small table cloth for .50¢ with the intention of transforming it into an apron.

With the addition of this…

and that, I’m pleased with how it turned out.

With this apron I began with a kitchen curtain.

I added a corner piece from a beautiful, vintage dress scarf, some brown rick-rack…

…a touch of my all-time favorite Amy Butler print, a snippet of my signature T.V. ribbon tag…

and an adorable bib-shaped pot holder w/3 little pink rosettes on it.

I’ll consider this another apron success!

another country~girl apron

I finished this 2nd apron from a well-loved western shirt right before my show so I didn’t have a chance to get pictures until I was there.

This green was great fun to work with. It finished so well with the addition of some of Heather Bailey’s Bijoux for the waistband and tie.

I was only able to finish two of these western-shirt aprons but they were the source of some great conversation and they both left to happy homes.

That is the goal, after all!

An apron for the cowgirl in you…

Here is an apron for the serious cowgirl!

It’s been made with a shirt that belonged to an old cowboy!

I’ve layered it with a vintage dresser scarf that has a fun crocheted edge, to give it the look of a slip,

and I have given myself an A+ for creativity on this one.

Sometimes when I’m working on things like this that, honestly, could go either way, but are full of fun and creativity, I chuckle to myself {a lot}, but Mr T hears those chuckles and that makes him chuckle too!

just imagine…

√…

the last of the Farm Chick fun…

…for this year, anyway!

I really feel blessed to have been in this great show.  I’ve always heard about how wonderful it is.  Last year I attended as a shopper and loved the few hours that I was there but after having spent 3 full days there (including set-up) I would have to agree with everyone – it truly is a great show.  Yesterday I mentioned some of the ‘greats’, but I don’t think that I mentioned neighbors.  All of the gals around me were wonderful.  I’m sure that we could become fast friends if given more time.  And, I’m quite sure that my-girl Liz, met most of the people who were in the whole show.  I was just mentioning to her that my views were really up↑ on my blog.  She wasn’t a bit surprised and said that while she was walking around she was always giving out my card and telling people about my blog.  And to think that I thought the whole time she was gone from the booth (which was most of the time), she was just flitting about in her little social way, looking cute and having her picture taken by others, but she was actually promoting my business…  WOW!…what a girl!  😉

I took a few more pictures in my booth today – I really didn’t get out much, it seemed like each time I did, I spent money so I stayed put and didn’t get many pics of other booths.

Today we took 3 of my chicks and hung them in the front of the booth in a bird cage.  They seemed to fair pretty well – I’ll make sure that they are still alive in the morning.  They were a lot of fun to have there and they drew a bit of attention.

I’m so exhausted tonight and I wish that I could say that someone else wrote this post because I fear that it may be kind of crazy but I’ll just have to say that I did it and that now I’m going to bed and will sleep sound until my normal wake-up time of 5:00 am, which undoubtedly will come way too early.

Swappy Ladies!

Last spring Amber started a fun swap called ‘Swappy Ladies’.  We are now bringing our 3rd swap to a close.  I’m actually a couple of days late on getting mine mailed but, honestly, I haven’t been too disturbed by this.  It’s all good.  In fact, I added a bonus today because I saw this post this morning and thought, “I have to add one of those ~ it’s too perfect”.

“Why is it perfect?”, you ask.

Because…the guidelines of the swap go something like this:

We want to stick with the idea of reduce, reuse or recycle OR a hand crafted item..all of the floral orientation.
Meaning…you will provide your swap partner with ONE floralish item that has either been homespun by your sweet little self or has been purchased USED at a garage sale, thrift store, your Grandma’s house ect… Along with a spring verse, quote or a prettyish little spring story of your liking.

(Amber’s words exactly…I just centered it because I like it that way better and I added a dot (.) after ‘Meaning..” because I like it that way better ~ & I added a …. OK, to be honest…I don’t get to irritate Amber nearly as often as I used to because I now live 5½ hours from her. 😦 ~so I just had to take advantage of this opportunity. )

So, back to the pillowcase apron – perfect, right?  Yes!  Made with a 70’s…maybe 80’s, floralish pillowcase from the thrift store.

I made a charm to fit with the floralish/homemade theme and these swaps are all about friendship {even though we often don’t know our partner} so I worked that in.

Side 2 shows more florid fun.

Then, I added a…er, uh…mmmm ~ ‘thing’.  Could be used for….uh…whatever.  It just fits the category so well.

Floralish, homespun by my sweet little self, and made with completely repurposed/found items.

1)barkcloth from old drapes 2)red cordury from a jumper, purchased @ thrift store 3)remnant from burlap coffee bag 4)snaps & rick rack, thrifted…

♥ for the verse, quote or prettyish little…. ~I’m going to add the Lion Chaser’s Manifesto that I had in yesterday’s post.

This is going to Mya!  I don’t know much about Mya except that she’s a fighter, a survivor and she used to live in Hawaii (thus the usage of the beautiful floral barkcloth…very Hawaiian) and now lives in Texas.  I hope she enjoys!!!