"Designer" Apron Tutorial

So, you want to make your very own, one of a kind, "designer" apron? This is a great stash buster pattern! First, you need a pattern. I have a one-piece apron that I just placed on top of my fabric. Carefully cut around it. By 'carefully,' I mean, don't cut your apron by mistake! If you don't already have an apron like this, you can find several free patterns on the internet like this one:
http://etherwork.net/ejmtph/sew/apron.html

Go through your stash and pull out one piece of fabric large enough for the apron body. Gather some coordinating, complimentary, or surprise fabrics. Cut the apron out, but ignore the rest of their instructions and follow mine now. ;o) Just remember, this ain't rocket science. The width of the ruffle doesn't have to be exact. I suggest not making it too full...be a little 'cheap' with it.

Cut 1 Bib ruffle = 4" deep x 1 1/2 times the width of the bib. (For the apron pattern in the above link, the bib ruffle will be about 13" wide.) Don't get it too wide or you'll have too much ruffle.

Cut 3 Bottom ruffles out of different fabrics = 4" deep x 1 1/2 times the width of the apron.

Cut 2 Ties = 3" x 42"

Cut 1 Neck band = 3" x 22"

Don't get bogged down with the width of the apron. If you have the full 42-44" of fabric, and you need the width, cut your apron that large. If you are working with a remant, go narrower. Adjust the width of the ruffles according. Just remember, the more ruffling, the more work you have to do!

Now that you have everything cut, if you have a serger, serge all edges on the apron and the ruffles (not the ties or neck band). With all ruffle edges serged, guess what? You don't have to hem the ruffles! Yeah! (Sorry. If you don't have a serger, start hemming ALL those edges - except the ties and neck band.) After serging the ruffle edges, pick one long edge as the top and run a row of basting stitches. Be sure to leave thread tails so that you can gather them.

Turn under the serged edge at the bib top only and sew 1/4 - 3/8" from the folded edge.
Fold the bib top in half and put a pin there. Fold the bib ruffle in half and pin it to the top center front of the bib.

Pull your gathering threads. Pin both ends of the ruffle on top of the bib. Sew the ruffle to the bib.

Match the edge of the bib with the edge of the ruffle.

Fold as one and turn the serged edge to the back and stitch it down. (If you had to hem everything, just lay the ruffle end even with the edge of the apron and stitch down.)

Continue stitching the entire 'arm' area.

Find the center front of the bottom of your apron and the center of a long ruffle. Pin and sew the same as for the bib. Pick up your second ruffle, find centers, slightly overlap to top edge of the first ruffle, gather and sew it down. Follow the same procedure with the third ruffle.

Line up the ruffle edges with the side of the apron.

Turn under 1/4 - 3/8" and sew through all the layers. (If it's all hemmed, just line up the edges of the ruffles with the apron edge and sew them together.)

Ties and neck band - Fold each in half lengthwise. With 1/4" seams, sew across one short section then down the long raw edges making a tube. Using a skewer or your favorite turning trick, turn the ties and band. Sew each to the apron in its appropriate place. Leave one end of the neck band free.

Cut 1" piece of velcro. Sew one side to the back of the apron. (Yeah, go ahead and sew through the ruffle - it won't be noticeable.) Adjust the neck band to suit you and sew the other piece of velcro to the band.Try your new designer apron on for size and GO COOK SOMETHING GOOD!

I am going to make a Cannoli Pie. Photos to follow...

And The Winner Is...

I've checked and rechecked your comments and blogs. The entries are:

1 Army Brats and Me
2 Holee
3 Holee
4 lesthook
5 lesthook
6 Shogun
7 Shogun
8 Gloria
9 Gloria
10 Downsouth
11 Dorraine
12 Dorraine
13 Rachel G
14 BonnieN
15 Elsie123
16 Elsie123
17 MalleyCC
18 Lisa
19 tisme

Drum roll...and the winner of this fabulous cookbook and 'designer' apron is....

Research Randomizer Results
1 Set of 1 Unique Numbers Per SetRange: From 1 to 19 -- Unsorted
Job Status:

Set #1:
16

Elsie 123

Thank you all for your participation and such nice comments.

ELSIE! Congratulations!! I've PMd you on HGTV for your address...decided that was the most secure route we could take.

Once again, everyone else, thank you for visiting my blog and leaving comments. I've enjoyed visiting your blog. God's blessings to all of you!!

Giveaway Date Change

Two weeks. TWO WEEKS?! What was I thinking.

Unless there are any objections...I'll be using one of those random number generators on Saturday, June 27. I don't see any reason to drag this out for TWO WEEKS!

Time for 200th Post Giveaway!!!

I know you've been wondering what's taken me so long! Sam and I got on the bikes this morning and rode around Lake o' the Pines, then went to Longview, ate at Olive Garden, stopped by The Harley Shop and I turned in my mileage so that I can get my 1,000 mile patch. When we got home I so wanted a fudgsicle...but we have none. Sigh.

Then, this afternoon, I decided to make something to go along with the one item for my 200th Post Giveaway. So...without further ado...

You have a chance (or two) to win your very own copy of our Friends of the Library cookbook. This 3-ring binder holds almost 500 recipes submitted by Friends, Patrons, and other supporters of the Daingerfield Public Library.
An added surprise is this one of a kind designer apron. (Took me the better part of the afternoon to make it today.)

To be eligible for the drawing:

1. Leave a comment.
2. For a second entry, mention this giveaway on your blog and let me know in the comment that you did so.

Date changed!!! I will use a random number generator on Saturday, June 27. No need to wait another week for this!

And you thought it would be another motorcycle related giveaway.

I got up at 6 a.m. this morning trying to beat the heat. The low for the night was 76 degrees. Sigh. First thing...I saw a baby bird on the porch. He wasn't developed enough to fly yet. With my gloved hands, I scooped him up and put him back in the fern. He was so excited and upset - he jumped out again. (Our porch is concrete!) I took the fern off the hook to verify that babies #2 and #3 were still there. They were. So I scooped up the escapee and placed him right on top of the nest. He realized that he was 'home,' so settled down. I put the planter back on the hook.I got up and moving that early to spread mulch. The bluebonnets have finally dried and seeded. I'd pulled the plants up out of the flower bed and moved them down by the bigger patch of bluebonnets down between the crepe myrtles and the driveway. So...time to spread 60 cubic feet of cypress mulch. The big bed took 13 bags. Isn't this just the prettiest hosta you've ever seen - in MY garden?
Time for a break with a glass of iced tea now that the temperature has climbed to 86 degrees at 10 a.m. This is what I see from the 'park' bench on the porch. Doesn't it look like a cool oasis?

I bought a couple of wind chimes the other day. This is a rooster. I love the colored glass and just the least little breeze sets him to 'crowing.'This little fellow hardly sings at all...even hung from a slender branch. I am so glad I got the rooster too!

This fellow perched on the staff that the hummingbird feeder hangs from. At first I thought it might be a parent bird...but it's not. The babies in the nest are bluebirds. I spied the mama bird with a worm in her beak waiting for me to leave. Which I did...
See the empty spot in the middle? I dug out the mountain laurel. It just doesn't belong in this acidic soil in northeast Texas. I put it in a pot. Perhaps it will grow in it. I have to decide what to put into the empty spot.
After spreading mulch, I poured stuff around the azaleas to make the soil in this bed more acidic. I've been putting lime around the laurel...and this stuff (whatever it is, it also has iron and other stuff for azaleas, camelias, and a host of other plants) around the azaleas. Nothing but the nandinas have been doing much good. So eliminating the laurel can do nothing but help the azaleas.

Then, as if I hadn't done enough already...just spent four hours...WHAT?! FOUR hours sweating. That is sooo unlike me! ;o) After my shower, I made an apron. I saw a regular bbq apron at a ...surprise!!! bbq place... It was a regular chef-style apron with ruffles. Sam didn't like it, but I looked it over real close from afar.

I laid my old reliable apron out and got into my scraps. That is a piece of baby blue eyelet for the body of the apron and just strips of whatever for ruffles. Even though some of the fabrics look the same, they aren't. Perhaps I need to just lay it down on the bed or try hanging it and take a regular photo...not the reflection of some poor bloated woman in a mirror. That's just so not fair! And 'they' lied! Humphf...'They' say that the camera adds only ten pounds to your figure. That is so not true. I bet in reality it's really twen...I mean thirty pounds! Betcha!!!

Are you counting down to my giveaway? Information will be in the very next post!

Whose Idea Was This Anyway?

I had a hotdog for lunch. Complete with mustard, sweet relish, and Cheetos. The only thing that kept lunch from being a balanced meal...no chocolate. So, yogurt was on the menu for me this evening, and I intended for Sam to raid the refrigerator...there's one delicious serving of a hamburger and rice dish I've thrown together...since forever. That with salad was going to be the offering for Sam.

THIS is what happened. Carol is out of town. Elton was going to be in our neck of the woods checking on supplies at the local lumber/hardware store to compare prices with one of the big stores. He called Sam. Sam and I were in the same room and could very easily make eye contact. Sam asked him when Carol would be home. Got the answer. Looked at me and asked, "What's for supper?" I shrugged, looked at him (NOTHING was between us to block his view), and said, "Not much." He told Elton, "Sherry said to come on over, that she'd fix supper. Bye."

I am flabbergasted. I said, "That is NOT what I said. I am having yogurt and you are having the last of the hamburger and rice and there's not enough for you and Elton." It was his turn to shrug his shoulders. Left the room with the lame excuse that he needed to go to the bathroom.

Humphf.

Just as Elton got here, I was putting chicken breasts - that I intended to cook tomorrow - in the oven to roast. If it hadn't been for them, I would've sent the guys to town to eat and I would've had my yogurt.

Would you believe that I really and truly did forget to cook rice? Tomorrow's menu was going to be:
Roasted Chicken Breasts
Buttermilk Gravy
Rice
Salad

We had:
Roasted Chicken Breasts
Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
A hastily opened can of hominy
Salad (overkill on the greens, but remember I was going to eat yogurt so left the cheese stuff alone)
Ice cream

Oh! And a loaf of homemade bread fresh from the machine. ;o) Can't forget that. I really, really shot the planned yogurt supper!

How about some recipes?! I haven't posted any in a while.

Someone gave this recipe to Mama many years ago. We thought it sounded good, but had never really done much cooking with thyme. We're country people and don't hold to them fancy herbs. ;o) It was decided that I would cook it first. If Ron, my first husband, would eat it...it would pass. His name should've been Mikey...He liked it!

Hamburger and Rice with a Little Thyme

1 pound ground beef...not fatty but not too lean...you'll want some flavor!
1 chopped onion
1 or 2 cloves of minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
2 or 3 pinches of thyme
1 can tomatoes, drained but reserve juice
1 cup rice
Enough water added to tomato juice to make 2 cups

Brown ground beef with onions and garlic. Season to taste. Stir in tomatoes. Add the 2 cups of liquid and stir. When it simmers, cover with a lid, turn heat down as low as it'll go and cook for 20 minutes. Don't peek! IF you must, wait at least 15 minutes. And if you do peek, you might as well give it a quick stir.

I looked at my earlier posts and can't beiieve I haven't posted this delicious gravy recipe! The only time I make it is when we have roasted chicken and rice.

Buttermilk Gravy

1 cup chicken broth (I pour 1 cup water in the roasting pan to make certain I have broth for this. Sometimes I have to add a bit of water to get the 1 cup back.)
1/4 cup buttermilk
3-4 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper to taste

Heat chicken broth. Whisk flour into buttermilk and whisk into chicken broth. Season. Heat until thickened...just barely simmer. DO NOT BOIL THIS! It will not get thicker but seems to break down the buttermilk and it's not as good. If it doesn't get as thick as you want, dip out a small amount of the thin gravy and whisk in another tablespoon of flour. Pour that into your gravy and heat until thick.

Take notice!!!! This is my 198th post. I will be having a giveaway for the 200th post. And I know exactly what it will be! Just two posts to go before the announcement.

The giveaway for my 100th post was a patch for a motorcycle vest like this:

You have sooooo much to look forward to! Bwahahahha

Have You Ever Wanted to....

........................
This too shall pass. Thank GOD!
........

Ah! Life's trials and tribulations. The difference one day makes. No. Problem not resolved, but it's one of those things happening to someone else. It affects me indirectly...because I know part of what's going on...and someone has tried to drag me into the middle of it... Sigh. Some people make living life so hard.

To those of you who read the original post and have been praying for me...why don't you continue to do so. ;o) And throw in the others I didn't mention.

Building to Date

It's at a stopping point. Doors are ordered. Electric service is ordered. Sam's been making a few purchases to get things ready for the electricity. Elton is doing the same on his building.

The pile of leftover insulation in the back is sitting on top of the bathroom. It will be used to insulate the bathroom. Two windows in the building. The other side will house the camper.

Four skylights will help with lighting.

I Got to Thinking...

Mama watched one of Sam Elliot's early movies and talked about how cute he was. (IS!) He is one of my all-time favorite actors...mainly because of his voice.

And, what about...

James Earl Jones - edited He's alive and still acting! I thought so too, but in Wikipedia I saw the 2006 death date. That was his dad. Thanks Shogun for setting me straight.

James Garner - Murphy's Romance with Sally Field was one of my favorites.

Tom Selleck - who can forget those Magnum, PI legs?! And he wasn't bad at all in Quigley Down Under. He also played in a few movies based on Louis L'Amour's Sacket family books with Sam Elliot.

And last, but definitely not least - Sean Connery. ANYTHING he does is...

Is anyone else getting hot in here?

My Opinion Exactly!

I agree with Holee!

http://beashive-bea.blogspot.com/2009/06/dear-president-obama.html

Except I would never leave my credit card with my son...at any age!