Spring Cleaning - Aprons

Decorative Dutch clogs!

My calendar flipped to May but it feels more like winter the last few days here in Minnesota. Last night it snowed up north. I got out my puffy winter coat for my walk today.

Still, I've been in the mood for some spring cleaning. It does not involve soap and water, rubber gloves or dust cloths. I must downsize my textile collection. I'm starting with a drawer full of vintage aprons collected over the years. I've washed and pressed them all and they look so nice.

 Maybe, on second thought, I can't let them go! But, no. I must do this so I'm enjoying fondling them and preparing them for new homes.

Here's a red tulips beauty. Until I was taking the close-up photo I didn't realize the stems are in Dutch clogs! It has one pocket on the left and so pristine I doubt it's ever been used. A border print put to great use.

And here's a cheerful apron in a great vintage print. Yellow commercial bias tape trims the large pockets and edges adding a bit of zing.













If you'd like more information on either of these aprons or are interested in the rest of the collection please contact me via email.







And here's a set of three very sweet embroidered gingham half-aprons.  Go to Etsy for more details.

 Here's a peek:

                                           HAPPY MAY DAY!

             Click here for a May Day post on baskets and flowers quilts.

Little 'Bricks' ....Charming?

15" x 19.5"

I just finished the second small quilt in a series I'm doing using the rectangles from a c. 1910 top that I took apart some time ago.
(To see the top and that first post click HERE )

The bricks making up the center section are each different....and each of the blue border bricks is different from the other bricks in the border but are repeats of some of the central blues.....clear as mud?
So I am still calling it a charm quilt....with some qualifications!

I am trying, at this point, to be a purist about using only fabrics from this particular top in this series.

I had a hard time deciding how to join the layers.
I always think I'll do a quick finish with machine quilting on these little ones but when it comes down to it, I just don't want to!
I tried tying it with perle cotton.....didn't like that. Tried quilting a few rows vertically in the ditch...didn't like that. I wanted to maintain a vertical feel so I ruled out curvy things like an overall fan for this one. Still not happy, I started going through books and pictures on-line to see how other brick quilts were quilted and decided on this big elongated "X" and then two parallel rows for the border.



I finished the edge by turning the tiny pink woven gingham backing (also vintage but not sure how early) to the front in a very narrow hem.





To do this you cannot quilt right up to the edge because you need to fold the backing out of the way to trim the top and batting only.

Then bring the back out fully and trim depending on how wide a hem you want. For this quilt I trimmed it to 1/2", folded the raw edge halfway and then to the front.

I spend a lot of time making decisions on even the smallest project but the bottom line is, I'm doing this for fun, I want to like what I end up with...so I enjoy taking whatever time that process takes.


Now....I need to get back to finishing two other projects....but I AM thinking of what #3 should be.

To see quilt #1 in this series click HERE