jane's apron

halloween squares

I created this mosaic to give a quick look at how Halloween looks around my house.  I am really liking how the china cabinet in my living room can be dressed up for the holiday and can't wait to "stage" it for all of the holidays on the way.   

One of my best decorating tricks is to hang things from pretty ribbons...layered on top of framed pictures, mirrors, or big platters (an example of each is in the mosaic).  I'm sure there's a better way to do it, but I just use packaging tape to tape the ribbon to the back of the base (picture, mirror, or platter).   It's an easy up & back down decoration for us busy/thrifty girls. 

And the last picture is of my favorite decoration...our sweet black cat. 

We have teacher conferences this week and are off school on Halloween.  I have allowed my kids to extend way beyond my usual Halloween costume cut-off date and have a feeling we will be running around on Friday putting costumes together.   Just in case I don't make it back with a post before the end of the week...Happy Halloween everyone!

fright night

  

For some reason, I don't think cemeteries are the least bit scary.  They are always interesting to me...something about the names and dates.  There is a tiny old cemetery behind our church and school and I took a walk through it last week.   Lots of the headstones are completely worn and unreadable and pretty moss grows on the north sides. My favorite is the one that says Jane Josephine.  It is four-sided and has Lucy, Eliza, and Amanda on the other three sides...such pretty names.  It's very peaceful...

...but will be the sight of a haunted hayride tonight as part of the 8th grade Fright Night.   I have to laugh a little at the slightly macabre side of our church...no politically correct "harvest festival" but rather a scare-the-crap-out-of-each-other night of fun including a Haunted Movie Theatre.  My son is staring in "The Exorcist" room and my husband who is usually a wide-eyed observer of such activities will be supervising their room...he'll probably have to sleep with the light on tonight. 

craft apron giveaway

I ran into an estate sale by chance last Saturday when my oldest son had an early morning soccer practice.  The sale was from a "dealer" that was moving...high prices sent me right to the basement (my favorite estate sale room).  I found a vintage sewing apron kit.  The kit called for the cutest idea...sewing a tape measure upside down on the edge of the bottom of the apron.  You could then lift up the edge of your apron to measure something.  I put the apron kit in my "to be processed" file (the top of my dining room buffet).   Also on the top of my dining room buffet were two table runners that I had recently thrifted. The table runners were made from a printed canvas panel with a cute heart and bird and fake blanket stitching.   Inspired by the sewing apron next to them, I had an idea to make them into craft aprons.  One for me...and one for a blog friend.  

The front of the apron has two large pockets, a wide twill tape waist and ties, and a twill tape measure sewn onto the bottom.   The vintage apron had a loop for keeping your scissors but I really don't think walking around with a pair of scissors tied to your waist is a great idea...I made a small loop to hold my bifocals. 

Leave a comment on this post and I'll pick a winner on Friday afternoon!  

...I'm a little late (helping set up for 8th grade "fright night") but have a winner for the craft apron.  I am AMAZED that I had almost 100 comments!  Things are crazy around here but I plan to make it to each and every new blog on the list.  And I will definitely create a tutorial for the apron.  The winner is....

Elissa at Birch Swinging (yippee!)

Thanks for all of the great input about a new sewing machine.  I'm going to test drive a few this week.  Once I get it, I plan to create a tutorial for making the craft apron from scratch (not starting with a thrifted table runner).   I also have to let you know that, as I write this post, the washing machine repair guy is here....why, oh why, does one appliance like to break down when you consider buying something new?

 

sewing machines

My husband depleted my entire PayPal account yesterday on an expensive chainsaw.  It's important to note here that he already has a chainsaw.  This is totally OK with me. Moving on to the reason I bring this up...

I am going to buy a new sewing machine.  Do I already have a sewing machine?  Yes (see above chainsaw purchase). Realistically, the cost of the sewing machine is not a factor (see above depletion of PayPal account).   Due to my thrifty nature, however, I want to spend only a reasonable amount on a good quality, dependable, modern machine.   

Based entirely on this post and her attitude about sewing being exactly like mine, I am considering replacing my Singer Touch & Sew model 600 with a Singer Touch & Sew 7462.   I would love to hear from any of the experienced sewers out there.  What machine would you recommend to a friend...a friend that needs to move quickly while the whole chainsaw purchase is still fresh?  

a little personality please (my case for ME's Home Companion)

I thought about writing about this subject a few weeks ago but decided that it was a little too opinionated and bossy.  But now, because of the news about Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, I decided to go ahead and be bossy anyway (you know, just in case a new publisher is trolling the internet for evidence of support for the magazine...does that stuff really happen?).

My sister (who is an architectural designer) had a garage sale last month and, like any good sister, I helped her get rid of stuff at the end of sale...by my kids bringing stuff back to our house.  I schlepped a bunch of magazines that feature St. Louis homes.  Now, I understand the main purpose of those type of magazines is to feature "professionally" decorated homes and, in turn, support their advertisers (interior design firms, etc.).  But still...

As I looked through the pages, I became bored.  Sure, the homes and rooms were beautiful... beautifully decorated, perfectly accessorized, with matching artwork (don't even get me started on that one).   The only thing they were all missing was any kind of personality.   By personality, I don't mean a room that's a quirky mess...I mean a room that speaks of the person, family, kids, and pets that live there.   All I could think was...How can two publications from St. Louis see our houses so differently?  The difference is that Home Companion features real people, real homes, and, best of all, real artists that truly inspire the magazine's readers.  

Home Companion is the kind of magazine that I can pick up and instantly find something inspiring.  Today, I randomly pulled a copy out of my stack and found a perfect illustration of what I'm trying to say... your house is "all about you...tell your own story".

Wow, it feels kind of good to be bossy...maybe next I'll address some other things that bother me...like over-the-top weddings and tear-downs of pretty homes for ginormous beige houses.

pretty kits

I've said many times here that I love to put pretty supplies together...almost always start a new project by throwing papers into a pile and then adding all of the fun extras like ribbons, buttons, and tags (oh, my).  

This time, I have created kits using some of my favorite supplies and hope they inspire lots of fun projects.   Each kit is packaged in a pretty aqua-colored tin box (very gift-able) and full of card stock, paper, ribbons, buttons, tags, twine, scalloped paper, notes, fabric brads, a clipboard...and a page from a vintage 1962 sewing pattern catalog.  The kits are put together in four color ideas. 

red...

brown...

green...

...and pink...

patchwork clipboard

OK...at this point, we should all just forget about what I may or may not have said about not showing any more clipboards.  I really did mean it at the time but didn't know that I still had some new ideas to share.  But I found one....

...a patchwork clipboard.  I could seriously line the walls of my house in these things.  And they are very, very easy to make because there's no need to work around the clipboard hardware (other than a small piece at the top). I have a big pile of scraps of my favorite papers in different sizes so the scattered patchwork is easy to do.   Use a small piece to fit around the top of the clip (I press the paper around the clip with my fingers and then cut the lines I made with scissors).   Then just have fun with the rest...the mix of colors is the best part.   

In my first post about covering a clipboard with paper, I talked about using a sanding sponge to distress the edges of the paper.  I had lots of questions about what a sanding sponge was and where to find them  so I have added the craft sanding blocks that I like to use to my etsy shop (in the kits & supplies section).  

I was making these for a craft show so I added sewing pattern images on the top but I think they are prettier as just plain patchwork.   These are legal size but the idea works on any size clipboard.   

Just one more thing...I always have so much fun putting together swap kits that I decided to put some kits together for my etsy shop.  I had some pretty tin boxes just waiting to be used and I have been busy this week putting together a few pretty kits with all of my favorite supplies.  I will be back Monday with the details but will leave you with a peek...

...and, now that I've finished this post,  I have a question.  Is it just me or has anyone else using typepad noticed that their photos inserted into a post look a little fuzzy?   The exact same pics look fine in photoshop and flickr.  I'm back again...it was not my imagination.  If I double-click on the image in my post, change the size to large, and then back to custom, the image sharpens to what it should look like.  So it seems that you have to re-edit your pics...not sure what's going on there but if you are bothered by fuzzy pics you might want to try it. 

sweet swap

 

I received my swap goodies from my partner this week and it's starting to look a lot like Halloween around here.   As a long time flickr fan, I knew that Heidi made the coolest hand-lettered signs but never expected one of my own!  I now have my own Jane's Apron sign and am trying it out at different locations around the house...soon to find a perfect spot.  Heidi sent a lot more than I am showing here but I plan to show some of the rest as I get my house ready for Halloween.  

I also now have my very first ATC.  You know I love a good sly comment and love that the ATC says "She had a knife and knew how to use it". 

   

Of course, I love everything that Heidi sent but, kind of like that famous movie line, she had me at...

 

Thanks Heidi! 

first communion dress

 

That's me and my three-days-older cousin Patty at our First Communion party...1971.  Of course, my mom sewed my dress.  I don't really remember it but, looking at it now, it looks cute with puffed sleeves and a satin bow that tied in the front.  

This is something that may or may not happen but I am thinking about sewing a dress for my daughter's First Communion this spring...which will be here before I know it.   I found this vintage size 8 pattern last week and it rekindled my idea to try it.   I know it would be a lot easier (and cheaper) to just go to T J Maxx and buy one but I'm trying to change my mindset about sewing and think my daughter will enjoy helping me make the dress.  

I will need help from my mom for sure but I could also use a little help from everybody here.  Do you know of a dress pattern that would be good for the occasion?  Something modern but simple and appropriate for a little girl that's 8 years old?  

slow cooker chocolate chip pudding cake

 

My partner for the 2008 Sweet & Sinister Swap is Heidi at Everyday Cookies (love that blog name!). When I talked to Heidi she said she didn't so much like the scary but preferred the sweet part of Halloween.  She also liked thrifted items, baking, and crafting supplies...hmmm, sounds like Heidi and I are kindred spirits. 

 

I put the swap package together in a completely black & white theme.  It was a little hard for me not to squeeze a little orange in there but I ended up being really happy with the color constraints.  I thrifted a pretty english sugar bowl and filled it with candy, created a new "sew wicked" banner, included a pretty (scary!) pocket mirror, and painted an "H" with chalkboard paint and wrote "sweet" on it, and made a set of dress pattern notecards.  

I also put together some supplies; pretty ribbons, a pack of black & white papers (including pages from a See's Candy book), vintage buttons, and white pumpkins.

And finally, I wrapped it all up in vintage sewing pattern tissue.  I am now thinking I will buy patterns at the thrift store just for the tissue paper...way cheaper than new tissue paper and so much cooler.  

So, are you wondering..."When is she going to get to the slow-cooker chocolate pudding cake in the title of this post?".  I know I would be thinking that.  Since Heidi said she likes to bake, I also included a few printed recipe cards with some of my favorite chocolate recipes.  I've already shared them all here on the blog except the pudding cake. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it is so, so sinister...

Slow-Cooker Chocolate Chip Pudding Cake

1 pkg. devil's food cake mix

1 pkg. chocolate instant pudding

1(16 oz.) container sour cream

4 eggs

3/4 C vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 C semisweet chocolate chips

Place all but the chocolate chips in the slow-cooker.  Add 1 Cup water and beat ingredients with a mixer until well blended (about 2 minutes).  Fold in chocolate chips and bake about 3 - 4 hours on high or 6 - 7 hours on low (until cake is puffed in the center and pulls away from the sides of the cooker).  Spoon the warm cake into serving bowls.