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.

We are so excited to announce the Grand Opening of our new store “Creative Chics Home Store”.

We want you and your friends to CELEBRATE with us so we are offering “Free Shipping” on any single towel, any set of 4-6 napkins or a set of placemats for the entire month of April. (Continental USA First Class Parcel Post)

Our new store “Creative Chics Home Store” opened March 31st and had the honor yesterday of appearing on the front page of Etsy.  We have moved all of the towels and clearance items and are moving the last of the napkins over this week.

Here are just a few examples of items you will find in the “Creative Chics Home Store so please drop by and check us out.

Deb Newest Napkins                    Lizzy Dish Napkins               Red Robin Spring Towel

Stacked Animal Towel            Red Tulip Placemats             Momma Owl & Babies

Deb and I never imagined having our business (actually it’s an expensive hobby) grow so rapidly.  We have almost 200 items in our store and nearly 50% of the items are aprons.  We are both determined to have an inventory ready to ship for Christmas this year so we are not sewing 16 hours a day for the entire month of November.

So while this winter’s cold winds blew we have been at our tasks of cutting, sewing, pressing, taking photos and listing new items .

We have split the products in our store leaving Creative Chics with our entire apron inventory and we continue to add almost daily to keep up with demand and keep it growing for the holiday season of 2010.

Thank you so much for helping us along the way, we feel very blessed to do what we love and love what we do!

Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.  Many of you may be aware Deb and I have an online store at CreativeChics.com. Recently she had finished up several new napkins patterns and brought them over for a photo shoot utilizing some of my dinnerware that would help pick up the colors of the napkin fabrics.

So today I don’t have a tablescape for a meal but thought you might feel a touch of spring from some of these beautiful new designs and photos.

The beautiful flower pot in these photos is another story…take an old clay pot glue some moss to the outside of the pot for a beautiful old aged look…fill it with flowers, in this case pink anemone’s and you have a marvelous arrangement that just keeps getting prettier with age.

Surely these are giving you spring fever, they sure did me….

Here are just a few others, she did a super job of getting wonderful spring colors and I can’t wait to use some of them, after all they match my dishes:)

Orange the new “hot” color…is too retro for me…. but these are beautiful.

Spring Fever, yes I have it.

How about you?

Check out all of the beautiful tablescapes at Susan’s it is time well spent.  If you like Deb’s napkins there are more at CreativeChics.com.

No, not a man’s tie!  An apron tie… I decided to try some new patterns out the first of the year.  I took a pattern idea out of a book and threw a few of my ideas into it and I am in the process of sewing it up after a day of figuring out the cutting…

The ties to the apron are 96″, yes that is ninety-six inches, long…why, because it wraps around and ties in the front.  I have observed the ties wrapped around to the front is a new look that is catching on and I wanted a shot at doing it.

This morning I put the ties together, two fabrics, one front and one on the reverse side.  Then it was time to turn them.  The ties are 3″ across but it still took me forever to get those long girls turned right side out and almost as long to get them to lay flat under the iron.

In the picture to the left the ties are folded in eighths.

The next picture on the right is in fourths.

And this picture on my 3 foot by 4 foot styroboard I use for photography!!

Big!!

And the one in the center of the board; that is the one I have left to turn and press. I was hoping someone might want to come help me

I hope the new apron is worthy of the price I will be putting on it to account for all of my labor not to mention the three yards of fabric!!  And I can already say, “I won’t be making it again, at least not this pattern!”

As Deb would say, “Go Sew Girl” and quit your whining, it’s a joke between us!

Remember the book I mentioned I needed to read “A is for Apron” by Nathalie Mornu?  I loved the material in it, not to mention the 17 patterns that were included.  The patterns are on 8″ x 8″  pages and require you to increase them by 400%.  First thought is a photocopier but the pattern is too big for that idea.

I remember watching my Mother cutting patterns out of newspaper so I decided it shouldn’t be too difficult for me to accomplish the same and began to gather my tools.  The most important one is the calculator!  Tissue paper leftover from a Christmas gift was perfect as it measured 24″ x 24″.  The tissue  paper  became the perfect element to draw the pattern on as the widest width measurement I would need was 18″.  I used transparent tape to put two sheets together giving me plenty of room for the entire project.

First step, measure the fold line length of the apron body as shown in the diagram and take it times 400%.  That calculation told me the length of the apron from neckline to hem would be 29″ at the center fold line.  Once I had this measurement I continued around the page as shown above  making notes of measurements at specific points, every 4″ to 9″ getting width measurements, etc.  I then was able to transfer those measurements to my tissue, making dots that later would be connected by free hand.  End result….a book that cost me $15.00 will reward me with 17 patterns if I elect to use them.  If you have purchased a pattern recently you know the savings using this method is big!  The project took me less than an hour and most of that time was spent on my calculations and measuring the dots on the tissue.

Notice how wrinkled my tissue paper is; my Mother would frown at me over that, she pressed the paper before she cut her patterns…  I have fabric in mind for the new pattern so keep coming back and I will show it off

Note:  Visit www.creativechcis.com to see all the new aprons added online this week…that is how I spent my cold vacation days, doing what I love most, creating.

Recently I had an inquiry asking what are sack towels, what is the fabric like, do they wash easily?  It made me decide a little Sack Towel History might be enjoyable for everyone. Here are comments from AnnTheGram website in September, 2008.

“Flour sacks are originally from the old flour sacks and feed sacks.  Back in the 30s, women started utilizing the empty sacks and made clothing from them, dish towels, pillowcases, clothespin bags, etc.  Times were bad with the depression.  “Sack dresses” originated during this time period.  They came back in the 60s again too.  The women begged the manufacturers of chicken feed, horse feed, flour and sugar to please make the sacks softer to the touch and try to add some color to them.  Hence, the feedsack quilts of the 30s originated with beautiful colorful prints.  Win/win situation.  Chickens ate well and you had a purty new dress.

The sizing on these towels are irregular today because they are still holding true to what a grain sack was back when.  The grain sack was sewn on one side and bottom and then, the ladies removed the stitching and viola, 30 x 29 inches, etc.  In fact, if the stitching was left in place, it was a perfect, already made pillowcase.  Also, in the 30s, they saved the thread from the side seam and later used to hem any of the items.”

Think how many trees were saved with sack towels…guess that is another subject!  We love sack towels at Creative Chics, check out just a few of the new designs Deb and I have online at www.creativechics.com.

We hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday season and send our very best wishes for a 2010 full of love, joy and peace…

I am not sure I am ready for the holiday to end but reality tells me it is time to get some blog posts up for the month and let everyone know we are back in action.

Creative Chics had a phenomenal holiday online considering it was only six months into our venture.  I have only one designer fabric apron left in my inventory and have not taken time to count how many I made between November 1st and Christmas.  Deb sold Christmas bags like candy to kids.  We certainly appreciate everyone’s support and look forward to 2010 and showing off some new projects and designs.

These photos are sack towel embroidery designs that will be posted online today.  These vintage animals are adorable and towels can be personalized.

We made gifts for Christmas for family members that were so appreciated we decided to offer them online.

Here is an example of dog towels I made for my families pets.

Deb embroidered family initials on large spa sized bath towels that were a huge hit. 

We want to thank everyone again, family, friends and all the new friends we have made and look forward to a fun, fulfilling and very creative 2010.

Deb and I are attending a Christmas charity event with a few of our homemade items today.  We will be at the Shawnee Presbyterian Church, 6837 Nieman Rd, Shawnee, KS 66203 between the hours of 10:00 and 4:00.  If your out doing some shopping and can take time we would love for you to stop by and say hello.

Here are a couple pictures of the busy sewing room of Deb this week, busy, busy, busy…orders everywhere

I missed getting a blog posted today….so this post will suffice for two days!

I got up at 5:09 a.m., very, very, very early for me!  It was grandparent’s day at my two grandson’s school.  It was a very important matter to them that I be present for the breakfast, music, tour of their school.  I arrived on time at 7:00 after a one hour and 10 minute drive to their school, right they don’t live close by

I left there at shortly after 8:00 to go to a meeting with my former employer that lasted over two and one half hours….While in my former city of residence I ran by the drug store to get a scrip filled that I knew would be easy to do without that changing locations hassle.

Next I am headed back to meet Deb so we can travel to Lawrence to replenish some fabrics we have sold out and have orders for that need filled, good thing   I was supposed to stop on my way back to get 2 yards of fabric we were needing in Independence but I forgot so I made an emergency call to Deb who happened to be in the immediate area of the the fabric store in Kansas so she stopped for the fabric . Quick pit stop at the bank and for bite of lunch, then….

I pressed on to Deb’s house where we piled into her car, headed to Lawrence, spent an hour in the fabric shop, back to Deb’s, load up the card table and chairs to take to my son’s for Thanksgiving Day.  Next stop the grocery store so I have what I need to start cooking tomorrow.  Heading home now, I arrive back at 5:00 p.m., just in time to unlock the door and answer the ringing off the wall phone.

Have I worn you out yet?   Do you see now why I didn’t get a blog posted?  I would have posted pictures of all of these events but I am just too tired to do another thing and decided my smiley’s would just be my pictures today    I think sewing and cooking will have to wait until tomorrow, a good old movie that I can hopefully stay awake to the end and of course some munchies are calling me to my big recliner

I was invited to participate at Fave Crafts in their presentation of sewing tutorials for the holiday.

I took an apron already in my supply of inventory and here is the result.  Click on the link to view:

http://www.favecrafts.com/Holiday-Sewing/Holiday-Apron-Tutorial