Drop Cloth Gardening Apron

Happy Mother's Day!!!

My mother-in-law got a greenhouse earlier this year.  She loves flowers and growing things and she's really excited about her greenhouse.  Tomorrow is Mother's Day and Monday is her birthday.  Mr. Inspiring got her some supplies for her 'Mother's Birthday'.  He got her a watering can, a spray nozzle for the hose, some gloves, seeds, some gardening tools and some starter trays.  Really personal, eh??  :-)   This morning, I decided to make her a Gardening Apron - nothing like waiting til the last minute!!  And - - I had NO pattern!!  (And did I mention that I have never taken a sewing class??)

I started out by sketching my idea out on paper.  I knew I wanted to use drop cloth (that has got to be the handiest fabric ever!).  I also knew that I wanted to double the fabric to give it some weight and durability.  I also wanted it to have deep pockets that held a lot.

First of all, I cut my drop cloth and trim according to my sketch.

I cut my main piece of drop cloth 22" x 31".  This will be folded in half to make the apron approximately
 22" x 15 1/2".

I cut the pocket piece at 29" x 21".  This will also be folded in half to make the pockets approximately 10" tall and will give me room to make it so that the pockets kind of pleat out.  (You'll get what I mean in a little bit).

I cut a piece of the trim fabric 60" long by 4" wide.  This will be the apron tie.  I also cut some yardage for the trim at 3" thick.  One piece needs to be at least 29" for the pocket tops, and then 2 pieces need to be at least 15 1/2" for the sides and the last piece needs to be at least 23" for the bottom.

I ironed the drop cloth and then folded it in half and pressed it to make sure it squared up ok.  I did that for the main part and for the pocket part. 

The first part I sewed was the trim to the pocket top.   I sewed the trim on the folded side, and then matched my cut edge of the pocket to the cut edges of the apron.   First I sewed the trim to the back by lining it up and pinning it.  I stitched it using approximately a 1/2" seam allowance.

I pressed it back and then folded the unsewn edge over, and then folded it over the pocket.  I don't think that the way I did it is in any learn how to sew book.  I just kind of eyeballed it and pinned it.  The finished trim ended up being approximately 3/4" on each side.  I did the trim similarly to how I've seen the binding done on quilts.  (I think.....)

I pinned the pocket to the apron on the sides only and stitched the sides.  Don't do the bottom yet, cuz they still need to have that pleated thing going.........



Now to make the pockets.  My plan was for the pockets to ......   well, crap.... how do I describe this one???

Ok - - Imagine the pockets as a box.  The back and the front will be approximately 7" each, and the sides will be approximately 1 " each.  The 'back' of the box is my apron, and the material that I just sewed the trim on and sewed the sides to the apron is what I will use to make the 2 sides and the front of the 3 'boxes'.  Therefore, each pocket needs 9" but the back just needs 7".  With the apron laying on the table, starting at the left side, I smoothed the pocket over.  I laid my ruler on the apron, with the edge of the ruler lined up with the edge of the apron.  I measured 9" of the pocket material.  I wanted an exact 'line' for the 9" mark from the top of the pocket to the bottom.  Since this is the front of the apron, I didn't want to use a pen or pencil to mark it and then have to figure out how to make it go away.  (I don't have any disappearing pencil things I've read about......)  So... I took my trusty blue painter's tape and taped it off.  Then I picked up the pocket piece, and moved the blue line to the 7" mark and pinned it.  I did the same thing from the right side.

I sewed right beside the tape, and I sewed from the top of the apron to the bottom.  I figured this would help the apron keep it's shape if my MIL ever wanted to wash it.

I removed the tape and laid the apron on the table again.  I made a pleat at each corner of each pocket.  However, for the end corner on each edge, I made the pleat about a 1/2 inch away from the edge to leave room for the trim.  I pinned it all in place and stitched it up.

The next step was adding the trim.  I put the trim on each side, just as I had done for the pocket top.  I did the same for the bottom, except I folded each end to give it more of a finished look.

I added the tie at the top the same way I did the rest of the trim.  (I guess I didn't take a close up of that.....)

I painted her initial on the middle pocket (it's SUPPOSED to be a "J" but Mr. Inspiring said it looks like a "T"........... dangit............   But do I get extra brownie points for painting it freehand?????)

The next picture shows what I mean about the 'box'. 

Here it is all finished!!  She's a quilter (does beautiful work!!) and I just hope she isn't too picky and examines my sewing (in)capabilities too closely.  But, if she doesn't like it, I'll have to take up gardening and change my name  "Ms. Jinspiring Creativeness"??   "Juz"???     Mr. Inspiring says she will love it!!

Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them for you!

Did you have a good Mother's Day???

Hugs ~~ Suz

I'm linking up to these parties!!

Meet The Furballs!

Debbie over at Debbie Doos has a cute little put named Lucy.  Lucy has decided to have a party, so I thought I'd let my furballs join, too!!

First, please meet Pooey........  Mr. Inspiring adopted her from a friend.  Seems Ms. Pooey didn't much care for the little kids at her first house that pulled her tail and ears.  She is about 13 years old, and still acts like a kitten most of the time.  She's crazy and has a huge personality!

Her favorite job is the clean sheet inspector.  Whenever you change the sheets on a bed, she has to jump up on the naked bed and wait for the clean sheets to come down on her.  Then she goes crazy!!  She runs around and checks the corners and makes sure the sheets are nice and tight.  It's so funny to watch!!

Next up is Bubby.  The Bubs.   Bub-a-tude....  We've got lots of nicknames for him.  He is a quiet cat - - mostly his meows are silent.  His purr is super loud, though.  My youngest son found him by the neighbors truck right before Christmas in 2007.  That was the year my daddy died, so I figured this was my Christmas present from him.  Bubby was soo cold and so hungry.  And so tiny. 

He just showed up and we won't let him leave.  He sleeps under the covers with me every night.  When I'm blogging, he lays down on my arms.  He loves to torment Pooey.  He is the mellow-est, most easy-going, laid back kind of guy!  He loves open windows and watching birds and playing with my pony tail bands.  Actually - he's addicted to my pony tail bands.  He can't NOT stay away from them.  One time, he even tried to get the whole bunch out of my drawer.  And once he gets one in his mouth, he WON'T let go.  And he runs to go hide them.  Cuz he can never have too many.

And last, but not least, meet our Lucy!  My oldest son got her for free from someone that had been breeding labs, but was tired of it, I guess.  Lucy was an outside dog till our ice storm early this year.  She has adapted quite well to being an inside dog and tries her hardest to keep the cats in line.  She ADORES Mr. Inspiring, and he's just now getting over his issues with dog slobber and drool.  Too funny!!

Lucy is a Chocolate Lab and she'll be 3 at the end of this month.  She's a sweetie and she loves sleeping on our couches...........  or our bed, when we're not home.  She thinks she's sly. 

She got spayed this week (5/16/11) and man o man.....  she was still a little groggy when she got home.  When we eat supper, she usually sits on the floor, between me and Mr. Inspiring and watches us....  well, Monday night she just couldn't stay awake, and kept falling asleep while sitting in her spot...........

Now, she's licking the daylights out of her stitches.........  So the vet told us to put stick deoderant on her belly.  well......... that's not stopping her.........  her breath just doesn't have odor.......... and probably won't for 12 hours.......  and apparently deoderant does stop wetness cuz........  she drinking water like crazy!! 

She loves camping, especially when it's close to water. 

And she thinks the grandbaby is delicious............  She licks and kisses him all the time!!

Those are our babies!! 

I'm linking up to Debbie Doos!! (and Funky Junk, too!!)

Hugs ~~ Suz

Monday Is A Milestone

Happy Thursday, All!!  I hope your week is going well and that you are safe and dry.  We've had CRAZY rain and thunderstorms and tornadoes in our area.  DAILY. 

This coming Monday is a milestone of sorts.  Mr. Inspiring turns 4-0!!  I was planning on a birthday party for him at my mom's with my family this weekend (on the surprise side of parties) and he up and decided he wanted to go camping for his birthday weekend!  Fine with me!! 

We camp at Cloud 9 Ranch about 4 hours from here.  You have to be a member.  There are 5 or 6 campgrounds, 6500 acres, 4-wheeler/ATV trails out the wazzou, laundry facilities, miniature golf, a couple of pools, horses and trails, a car wash, a small grocery store, a little cafe, and a spring-fed (river) stream that runs through it.  It is a magical place, if you're into camping and 4-wheeling and fishing.

 My daddy was the president of the Board of Directors for a few years before he passed away.  He LOVED Cloud 9.  And the other members  he worked with on the BOD loved him, too.  In fact, they named the main road after him.  When I go there, I feel closer to Daddy.  He passed in January of 2007, and I miss him so much.

I digressed............ so sorry - - back to my post!!

I wanted to do SOMETHING for Mr. Inspiring to commemorate his big birthday.  He's the kind of person that really doesn't like for someone to fuss over him, or so he SAYS!!  I've been wanting to try painting on glass, so I figured I'd make one for him.  (Disclaimer) This is my VERY FIRST attempt at this, and I'm not sure it turned out the way I had imagined in my head.  BUT - it is done and I'm sure he will LOVE it.   I've only really worked with acrylic paints when I craft, and this FolkArt Enamels paint, while it says it's acrylic paint for glass, it has a TOTALLY different texture and 'feel' and it.is.thick.  I wanted the paint to be a more solid color rather than opaque.  So I kind of 'globbed' it on to get the color I wanted, and that made the paint have a texture.  I really think I will like this paint after I play with it a few times.  I think the texture aspect will be fun to create and play with - who knows what I'll come up with?!

First of all, I drew on my 40 with a fine sharpie.  Then I stopped with the sharpie.....  the rest was done freehand. 

I put the tape on it for a 'line' to keep my 40 straight.  I filled in my numbers with purple paint, then wrote "happy birthday" with blue.  I used lime green to outline and dot my numbers and for Mr. Inspiring's name.  On the back, I used aqua. 

 After I had it the way I wanted it, I put it in my oven at 350 degrees for about a half hour.  Here's the finished product.

A couple of things I discovered while using this paint:
   -  My brushes cleaned up really well just using rubbing alcohol
   -  The paint gets a 'skin' on it after a few minutes, so if there was something
       small I wanted to remove, I used my xacto (is that how you spell it? it looks funny)
       knife, and scraped away what I didn't want.
   -  For bigger things I wanted to remove, I used a cotton pad with alcohol on it and
      wiped it away.
   -  When it first comes out of the oven, while hot/warm, the paint isn't quite set, and
      you can still remove and/or scrape with the knife.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that it's dry!!!  The ranch is expecting more rain this weekend, and the river/creek/stream is out of it's banks, so there's no place to cross to get to a bunch of the trails.  That's fine with me - - we're going to take our chain saw and help clean up.  I'm sure there are a bunch of trees down, blocking some of the paths.  And when we camp?  We ALWAYS eat very well!!

There goes the diet!! 

Hugs ~~ Suz


Have you tried the Enamels paint?  Have you painted anything on glass?  How did it turn out?  I'd LOVE to see your projects!!!        I'm thinking about using this paint on glass ball ornaments..........  What do you think??
    


I'm linking to these Wonderful Parties!!