~Tis National 'Wear An Apron Day'!~

Now this is a holiday that I can get into! Clean or dirty...... store bought or handmade....... frilly or simple...... aprons are just the best!!!!!! They have so many uses, but two of my favorites are to snuggle little children in when they come to you with little 'ouchies', and the articles that one can find in the pocket of an apron. These are better than what you could discover about someone by going through their purse. Pockets of aprons carry so many telling things. I have an apron I wear all the time when I am home. In the pocket of my apron this morning is a semi-clean tissue, some Chapstick, kernels of chicken scratch, and a quarter I found on the road out to my mailbox a few weeks ago. Must mean that I am boring - nothing but common items in my apron pockets.

My mother recently gave me a treasure that I will always cherish. 'Back in the Day', when she was in high school, apparently they gave out pins for 'homemaking' class. When she was a senior she earned this pin for attending all four years of homemaking education. The pin attaches in two places - and creates a chain in between in which two other charms slide - a key charm and a scroll charm. This is one of my favorite earthly possessions and I let it reside on my apron. I just love it!
Call me sentimental, old-fashioned, or just a plain simpleton, but I wish they had these programs still. Our children need to learn these things at home, but there are some that would benefit from homemaking classes during their schooling years.

So go put on an apron - and celebrate 'National Wear an Apron Day!' You might just feel a little more domestic in your duties today!

Blessings on your apron wearing day ~ Shanda

~Living Civil War History Quilting Class~

I am just so excited!!!!! Starting this Fall 2011, I am teaching a Living History Civil War Quilting Class. I am 'commissioned' to teach two battles each year at my local quilt store. This fall will be the Battle of Bull Run along with the quilt pattern "Prairie Bound" from Country Sampler in Spring Green, Wisconsin (oh, and by the way, I LOVE this quilt shop!). I am working on a quilt for each of the classes, have been researching 'hardtack', and am sewing on a civil war dress as I am going to be teaching this quilting class in period costume. The fabrics above are for the first quilt. Aren't they yummy? The dress I am working on 'tis the one on the left.

I finished quilting a quilt that my mother has been working on for sometime and mailed it to her today for Mother's Day. She cross stitched all these blocks and embroidered family member names on each square. Quite the project. She stitched, I pieced and quilted, and now she will finished with the binding. She lives in Illinois, so God bless the mail system!!!!!


Also, short post I know, but I have a 'find' to decorate. Pewter? Redware? Crocks? Quilts? These are delimas that must be solved. What do you think? Suffice it to say that this has found a home in my dining area, and I am so pleased with it that I can't bring myself to decorate this work of art. It is beauty in itself.



Enjoy your bounty this evening in the sunset and blessings on your slumber!

~Shanda~