LOL, yes it is! It’s summer time and I love those fruity girly summer time cocktails, don’t you? We are having company tonight, 3 other couples, to celebrate one of the couple’s recent engagement. The menu is easy and lets us all sit by the grill and visit while dinner is being cooked.

I whipped up these “cocktail napkins” for us to use while having appetizers and our fruity cocktail drinks Aren’t they fun?

Oh back to the menu, you asked? Well one of my goals was to use some of those herbs I planted in the spring, remember? I have a bumper crop now so I need to use some. We are having:

Appetizers/Drinks:

• Cut vegetables (red pepper, cucumber, carrots) with freshly made dill dip
• Colby Jack cheese and grapes
• Sangria with fresh fruit

Dinner:

• Balsamic glazed grilled salmon
• Fresh fruit kabobs
• Caprese Salad
• Fresh garden salad with lemon basil salad dressing
• Thinly sliced ham wrapped on asparagus spears, grilled

Dessert:

• Chocolate brownies (gluten free)
• Frozen strawberry banana all natural yogurt (I tested it last night and it is SO DELICIOUS!)
• Decaf Green Mountain coffee (the very best I’ve ever found, bar none!)

Wish you all could come join us! It would be so much fun to have everyone visit.

I find when Deb is gone I too often struggle with finding something to talk about on our blog that I think you would find interesting.

Unlike Deb, my life is pretty routine, no pets to manage or clean up after or tell stories about.

Kids all grown and the mess in the kitchen is my own.

Laundry only requires a couple of loads a week.

I spend well over 50% of my non-sleeping hours sewing or shopping for fabric.

Me, I am quite content with this new lifestyle as when I wake in the morning I have no schedule, no deadlines, no boss to report to, I eat when I get hungry and too often in between hunger, nap when I am tired.

So I think you could sum me up as saying, “I live a good life” but to most people it would be boring, boring, boring.

Pictures of my accomplishments while Deb was away.

Beautiful napkins that portray Martha’s Vineyard.

Napkins from fabric named for Bar Harbor Maine.

Now in case I have really bored you…Deb is back with lots of pictures from her garden, probably a few stories, and maybe surprises to share …I just know I am glad she is back ….so please drop by again soon and check what she is sharing!!!

It is my turn to share a while on the blog as Deb is going to be traveling.  And dear readers I am not apologetic in saying my world is pretty small because I am having so much fun with my time, just shopping for fabrics and sewing, so I doubt I will give you any awesome blog posts like Deb’s on Mother’s Day.  There I am bragging again

I sew at least 4-5 hours almost every day and never seem to tire of looking at something finished and exclaiming, “wow you are so cute” or touching a fabric and saying,  “you are so beautiful.”  Everyone always said my flower gardens flourished because I spoke only love words to them from the beginning of the season until the end.  A real lesson in choosing our words to bring life and encouragement to others.  Too bad I didn’t know that as well as I do now when raising my children Okay, on to what I wanted to share.

Really I am not here to promote our business but love sharing some of the unique opportunities that come our way.  Today I am shipping a custom order for a friend we made while visiting Warsaw, Missouri for a festival last year.  She found the fabric and asked me to make her the apron.  See what you think.

The fabrics are Michael Millers Gnomeville Border and the yellow is Michael Miller Gnomes.  Now this apron looks pretty simple but….the apron top layer that usually takes 1/2 yard took over a yard to get all that border visible.  The little gnome houses are not evenly distributed on the border, another dilemma that was very challenging for a while.  Finished apron will ship tomorrow morning and I hope she loves it.  Take a look at some of the close-ups of this adorable fabric…but please no more custom orders of this fabric…way too much wasted fabric for me.

Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone is having a wonderful week.

What do Mother’s love to do most?  Brag about their children.  I am doing that today.

Some of you may recall the post I did on folding an Easter Bunny napkin.  Today I am posting a napkin Debbie made.

Can’t you just see this napkin setting in the middle of a pretty red, green, gold or any color plate?  It would “wow” my guests for sure.

I am “hoping” Martha, you know,  Martha Stewart whose instructions I gave you for Easter Bunny fold sees this so Deb can get her napkin in a national magazine!

Well I am her Mother so I can dream big for her.

I thought they were cute beyond words and loved the fold she put on them and wanted to make sure you had a chance to see how talented she is

I still pinch myself on occasion to think at my retirement age of life I am having so much fun.

Recently I had an inquiry from a lady in Portland, Oregon who teaches children’s dance. She had seen an apron in Creative Chics online store and wanted to know if I could create aprons for her dance recital.  The theme of the performance was an Enchanted Garden and the little 3-5 year old girls would wear scarves on their head and have a feather duster in their hands, remindful of Cinderella cleaning. She only had two specific requests; rick rack and a double layered full skirt.

Well of course, I said yes.  Shopped for fabric sent her suggestions and here is the final result.

Can’t you just see these little angels flitting around the stage?  I asked for pictures and sure hope I get some.

The drawing for the $25.00 gift certificate was announced Wednesday and the lucky lady was Sarah Seitz of Bellevue, Washington….

What makes Creative Chics unique is we do not make the same apron over and over but each design is only created once…or until our quantity of fabric purchased is gone.  Deb and I constantly remind each other that the fun part is creating. We are definitely not producers, we work way too slow decorating with our fabrics. Many occasions we have taken an hour to decide what pocket to use and how to trim it, definitely not productive but allows us to love what we do.

Sarah selected a beautiful Heather Bailey half apron and it will be arriving in her mail early next week.

Beautiful fabric and ruffles made this half apron so feminine and cute besides being totally reversible.  I think Sarah made a good choice with her winnings!

Congratulations Sarah!

I wish you all could have won   our inventory has dropped again with Mother’s Day sales so we are busy making new items before we have another drawing…hopefully soon.

Can black and white be my favorite colors when technically they really aren’t colors? Well I love how bold, dramatic, dressy or classic they always look together.

The napkins have an offset design that gives you 2/3 scroll work design on one side and on the opposite side it is 2/3 black with 1/2 scroll work fabric.

Using fabric placemats and napkins means they are washable, reusable and helping to save the earth one step at a time

These new placemat and napkin sets were just added to our store. You can find them at Creative Chics Home Store if you’re interested in having a set for yourself or for a friend.

One of our favorite things to do is get a request for a custom order and work with the customer to select their fabric and colors and styles that they would like to see. It’s fun to see their ideas come to life. This past week we had an order for a  mother daughter apron set for a lovely jewelry artisan and her daughter.

She loves teal blues and chocolate browns together. So after sharing several fabric swatches we narrowed it down to this.

I like that we can use the same fabrics for mother and daughter yet give both of them their very own unique style too!

Mom’s apron is feminine with ruffles and ties that will look great with a bow in the front or back of the apron.

Oh and the little girl’s apron is so “girly” with all those ruffles and the sweatheart neckline. I wish I could see her 4 year old receive this gift. I bet her face lights up with excitement knowing she is going to get to help Mommy in the kitchen and look just like her.

I think this is a wonderful gift our friend is giving herself and her daughter for Mother’s Day. If you are interested in your own custom aprons, just let us know. We love collaborating with you to get the exact look and style you are after.

Remember this stash of Heather Bailey fabric I showed you?

Well here are some of the results although I’m still making more things with it too

And these coasters out of the scraps left over.

I’m always so happy when I’ve used up a batch of fabric, a great sense of accomplishment and I can actually see my results. What I do is very rewarding and makes me very happy and I feel really blessed by that.

If you are interested in having any of these items for yourself, you can find them in our Etsy shop or click on the photos above and it’ll take you to that item in the store.

While in JoAnn’s I became enamoured with this sewing book (Making Children’s Clothes available on Amazon) on children’s clothing.

Now mind you my youngest is 16 and the smallest child I have happening around here is my 5 year old granddaughter. But so many ideas are in this book, oh and the patterns are included!

So my granddaughter just turned 5 and I made her up a few dresses as gifts, including one similar to the cover of the book. Ok, mine isn’t quite as cute.

I had a remnant just sitting around, kind of  a seersucker pink with white daisies. And yes, I love pom-pom fringe.

I also whipped up this one that is a bit more detailed and frilly with lace and princesses and castles and all things Aria loves!