Christmas Apron Tree

The brightest spot in my kitchen this Christmas season is my little tree. Usually this tree is bare, but this season it is adorned with adorable mini Christmas aprons made by my farmgirl friends from all over the country. These little minis were lovingly made by a group of us, then sent to my dear friend Kathie in Florida, where they were re-packaged and sent back to each of us. We each received one apron made by each member of the group. Every time that I look at my little tree, I have to smile and count my blessings....so many friends from so many places. How lucky I am!!

Flirty Little Modern Apron

I love, love, love this fabric!! It is a soft aqua and dark brown cotton print and hangs so prettily in lovely feminine folds...polka dots on one side, paisley on the other....luscious!!

Back to Work

The shopping is done. The presents are wrapped. The cookies are baked. The house is clean and the laundry is up to date. Seems like a great day to get some sewing done! I have several aprons that are ready to be sewn...having cut out a bunch all at one time about a week ago. Wooo Hooooo.....here we go. If you look at my electric meter today, I am sure it is whizzing around merrily as I press that foot peddle on my sewing machine! Thank goodness I have two treadle machines ready to go in case of a power outage.
My first couple of aprons will be reversible Christmas aprons....which I will save til next year. I suppose it is a little late for anybody to want to purchase a holiday apron, but somehow sewing holiday fabric keeps me in the spirit. Here is the first one finished.

Back to the subject of Christmas presents. I was in a quandry as to what to do for Jack's grandmother this year. She is 95 and lives in a nursing home. She has dementia and no longer ambulates very well. Jack is always telling her about our farm and his sister, Becky suggested that I make her a collage of farm pictures for her wall. Afraid that her eyesight might not be good enough to enjoy a picture across the room, I decided to use a terrific website called Shutterfly.com to make her a picture book of the farm. Here is a picture of the finished book and if I can figure out how, I will put a link to the rest of the book.


Click here to view book

One more holiday apron....actually, this would be good year round....winter and summer.

Let's Talk in the Kitchen ......

Let's move out of the workshop for a bit and sit in my kitchen. Preparing food for my family has always been one of my joys. However of late it seems to have become a more daunting task. The list of foods that I will not eat or serve to my loved ones grows each day. I am taking great pains to become a responsible, educated consumer. Don't get me wrong, this is all a labor of love. But, my eyes have been opened lately and I feel a deep sense of responsibility for providing healthy, natural, organic, whole foods types of meals for my family.

I have made a pledge to remove certain things from my diet as much as possible....which makes grocery shopping a bit of a science and can no longer be done in a hurry. Reading labels is essential. So, as much as is humanly possible I no longer buy:

1. white flour (except for making an occasional cake or homemade buttermilk biscuits...for which it is essential...and warm, buttery, homemade biscuits are soul food) When baking bread, I use whole grains.

2. white rice and pasta - I have replaced them with whole wheat or quinoa pasta and brown, red, or wild rice, quinoa, bulgar, etc....and organic whenever possible.

3. anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup.....ugh, nasty stuff, not fit for human consumption. Who ever came up with the idea that we should consume things that were created in a lab, anyways? Read your labels....it is in just about everything...even most breads. I will try to not get on a soapbox about this chemical, but from what I read it is at least partially responsible for the increase in Diabetes, heart disease and cancer in this country.

4. anything with trans fatty acids....so I avoid all processed baked goods, cookies,etc. I don't bake with crisco. No tub of Cool Whip darkens my doorway (also created in a lab!!) I read labels on snack foods and keep them to a minimum. Although, I am not naive enough to think that lables do not lie.

5. I avoid the words "poppin fresh" like the plague!

What I do try to buy is this.....

1. Organic, whenever possible....especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Fruits whose skins we consume - like apples, pears, berries, etc. - have higher concentrations of pesticides in the skins. So buying organic (though it is a bit more pricey) is prudent. In the summertime, we grow strawberries and blueberries; which I use for jams and also free quite a bit for use during the winter.

2. Whole grains

3. Butter, never margarine. I would always rather eat a natural food like butter than a lab-created chemical like margarine. I cook with Olive oil and even bake with it. When I buy cheese...it is real cheese...not fake "processed cheese food". I'll take the saturated fats in an occasional nip of cheese...at least accompanying them is some nutritional value!

4. Skim milk - organic.

5. Almonds - for snacking and to throw in salads and stir-fry.

6. Juices - pure fruit juices, without any high fructose corn syrup.

7. Crazy Richard's peanut butter....no salt, sugar or oils added. Nothing but peanuts! I suppose the only thing better would be to find an organic one.

8. Locally raised beef and pork (this year we split a steer and a pig with two other families. Chicken, of course, and local, free-range is best.

9. Staples in our diet are our own Bee Haven Acres jumbo eggs, honey, apples, vegetable (which I froze and canned), strawberries, and blueberries.

10. Milled flax seed ...good to toss on oatmeal or whatever.....

11. Fish...now there is a whole other subject. I carry a chart of good versus bad fish. After all, mercury is not desirable and I want to make an effort to eat only fish that are sustainable. We have over fished our waters and destroyed ecosystems in the process. For safe and responsible seafood consumption, check this out!

I am always amused by the stark contrast between my grocery cart and those of most of the shoppers around me....mine is always so empty by comparison. Convenience foods never make it from the shelf into my cart. I have even stopped shopping in the cereal aisle. I rarely buy anything frozen except for an occasional vegetable that I cannot find fresh and.....of course we can not be expected to live without just a little ice cream!!

I make small trips to the grocery store, probably every other day or so rather than the large weekly or every other week trips. Most of what I buy is fresh, so it has a rather short shelf life. But, I like it that way...it reminds me of the European style of shopping and cooking.

It seems that in this country we have sold our souls for convenience sake. It is to the point where we have lost the desire for quality in our lives....and especially on our plates. Perhaps we chose to spend our money elsewhere, I'm not sure. But for me, eating is spiritual....it is a way of taking the energy of the sun and Mother Earth and assimilating it into our bodies to nourish and sustain us. It is perhaps the single most important thing that we do each day! Why should we not do this one thing with a sense of conscience.

If anything that I have said here has grabbed your interest, please do yourself an enormous favor and read this book: The Omnivore's Dilemma



I cannot tell you how much it will change your life and possibly your health!

Housekeeping Apron

This apron is a Christmas gift for a friend who cleans houses. It is made from a durable heavy cotton and is lined for extra strength. It has deep and shallow pockets....a couple of pockets that are narrow and will fit the handle of a duster. One tiny pocket near the right hip is just right for her IPOD nano. Pink ball fringe, ruffle and buttons were added just for fluff....quite glamorous I think. Hope she likes it!!

Ollivia....All Dressed Up

I spent today working on two special order aprons. The first was made from an Olivia the Pig Christmas print. I embellished the pockets to better accessorize her. On one, I used a felted red sweater to cut out mittens and ear muffs and winter scarf. I also added the red buttons to her ensemble. On the other side, Olivia is dressed in a tulle skirt and red glass beads to match her glasses and purse. Girls must accessorize!!!!



This next apron is another revesible made from aqua and green companion fabrics. The pockets are embellished with yo yo's.

Snowing.....Sewing

The holidays are quickly approaching and there are tons of things I should be doing in preparation..... BUT, it's snowing outside and that seems like a good reason to hunker down and get to some sewing instead! I have had this purse cut out for about a week...just waiting to finish the applique before starting construction. I got a very early start this morning, so I set about stitching and felting and finally finished the appliques. Another hour's work and the purse was complete.....


A couple of weeks ago I posted about the trouble I was having felting a piece of wool in the washer. Finally, I shrunk this piece to a workable size and it just sort of fell into a clutch purse. Here is the finished piece.....
Unlike most felted wool pieces, this piece retained its stitch texture,but it is nice and thick and feels felted.