Obsessed with Aprons!

Lately, I've been obsessed with aprons! I made my first apron in 2002, when I lived in Hameln, Germany. It was a crazy quilt-like experiment that was faithfully worn through many a cooking adventure. Since then, I have acquired quite a few others. I must admit, my aspiration is to be like my baking/cooking friend Kyran, who always has a dozen (it seems) aprons for me to choose from when we bake together at her house. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting close! Today I made this fabulous thing. I am SO pleased! Up till now, I've only ever worn full aprons (you know, with the tie around the neck), but Ambra wears these half-aprons (for lack of a better description), and told me the other day that it is a matter of changing your hand-wiping habit, but otherwise they serve the purpose just as well.

You'll notice to the right that I've got links to websites and blogs I think are great. Ambra's blog has a link to the Apronista blog. I found the Apronista so inspiring that I had to add the link to my own blog. If you're interested in seeing some super stylish aprons, go there. When my mom viewed the site today, she wrote to me and said: "Seeing these aprons gives me a paradigm shift into another world where people have time to enjoy pretty things, and tinker around in the kitchen for fun." No kidding! Having a fun apron makes it seem like there is nothing but fun to be had in any task you do while wearing it!

The Apronista site is one place I drew my inspiration from for this project today. Other inspiration came from, well, Ambra looking so good her her apron, Martha's quick Christmas apron instructions in the December issue of her mag (which actually were too simple for my liking, but still worthy of inspiration!), and a photo I came across the other day in a slide show of a quilt show in Italy. The apron jumped right out at me from amidst the sea of artistic quilts. When I saw it, I just knew I had to make one.

I have four favorite things about this apron:
1. The brown retro flowers fabric. I got a fat quarter of it in a lovely little fabric store in Glenwood Springs over a year ago. I knew it would be perfect for some project.
2. The ribbon across the orange that perfectly matches the brown fabric! Thanks, Am, for that fantastically serendipitous souvenier from France!
3. The tiny corner of turquoise velveteen, which I found at an estate sale a few weeks ago and got a good deal on. Perfect for adding some texture.
4. The tapering of the ties around the sides to the narrower black ties in the back. That really turned out well.

OK, I thought of a fifth favorite thing: the big white decorative flower! That was inspired by Jennifer. She's done some thread art and her quilts are always so artfully quilted... pictures made of thread and little scraps of rough-edged fabric.

If I'm lucky, I'll have a chance to post one more time before T-giving, after another full day of arting tomorrow. Stay tuned!


Thanks so much for viewing my blog!