Aprons for Little Treasures

I'm sure you've all been as busy with work and family as I have. It's as much as I can do to post a few comments on Facebook at the moment. One of the projects keeping me busy is making aprons. Two friends have just started their dream coffee shop. It's called "Little Treasures" and is a gorgeous cafe/bookshop. Craig and Nick have been open for over a month now and they're pulling 12 hour days, seven days a week. I decided to make an apron for Craig to do his cooking in - as a little cafe warming present you understand. I made ONE apron. Oh dear! He needs at least seven and he loves them. I'm very prone to flattery and people liking my work (sucker).The waitress needs one too! For the past three weeks I've been sewing up these aprons. I have to admit I had a lot of fun doing them but I'm over aprons now. DEFINITELY! I used raw edged applique for all eight aprons and they are washing well. I lined them all. Craig likes this because when he cooks his Jesus loaves (another story) he spills stuff on the aprons and so when he wants a clean one he just turns the apron to the lining side. Hope you enjoy the piccys of some of them.

OK OK I'll tell about the Jesus loaves. The loaves are baby ones that Craig serves with soup (remembering it is winter here). The savoury ones have feta, dried tomato, and basil. The sweet ones have berries etc in them. They were SO delicious I said to  him that I bet that's what the loaves tasted like when they handed out the loaves and fishes after the sermon the mount. He looked at me blankly. I told him he was a heathen and ever since then we've called them Jesus loaves ( absolutely no disrespect intended). AND they are heavenly.

Exquisite Japanese vintage silk

Here is my first finished piece of vintage silk from Japan. I bought the silk in Tokyo at Rogei. It was a case of letting the fabric do it's stuff. I couldn't bear to cut it because I thought it would destroy the exquisite pattern of the flowers. The colours are purely amazing. I would never have thought that purple, bright red, pink and eucalypt green would go together to make something so gorgeous. All I did was put the wadding and backing on, quilted it in thick red crochet cotton in large stitches outlining the flowers and then I put in a binding. I guess it's a table centre and it does look good on my coffee table. It was a way of highlighting he beauty of the fabric, that's all. I don't really care if it has a function.

What do you think the flowers are? I have guessed that they are rhododendrons. I know they are not waratahs (red Aussie native) but they do look a bit like them.

Myra's Retreat Project

My project for this retreat was to work on the top for a baby quilt. The mother of the baby boy to be borned (as Theo would say) in September loves a rainbow. I just have the corners to do now but got the bulk of the cot quilt done at the retreat. I will embroider the baby's name on the quilt.

MORE ABOUT MUG MATS

The top photo shows the seven finalists. The next two show the quality of the entries. I turned over the mug mat on the butterfly one to show how beautifully the fabrics matched. The Scrabble mug mat and matching mug are wonders indeed don't you reckon?

Jamberoo Quilting Retreat

Here is Georgina with the gorgeous "Pies and Tarts" quilt and Nina with the beautiful red black and white quilt.

Jamberoo relaxing and working

Here are some of us enjoying a pre-dinner drink at the quilting retreat. And here's the big room where we all work and yap and have scones and cream for morning tea.

Jamberoo Quilting Retreat Mug Mat Challenge

Every year several quilting groups (St Ives, Bathurst Flying Geese and Caroline Bay) get together and we have a retreat at Jamberoo south of Sydney. There's always a lot of yarning, sewing and informal teaching going on. Children and grandchildren are boasted about and problems nutted out. The food and drink are yummy and we all thoroughly enjoy ourselves.

 Last year it was decided we would have a challenge for this year. The task had to be something quick and simple but creative. A mug mat was the result. Everyone made a mat to match a favoured mug. Because I had organised it I was to be the judge. I did an entry anyway just in case someone had not done an entry and I could appoint them as judge. As it turned out Me and Glen were the judges so I had to withdraw my entry. Here is a picture of it. It's made from vintage kimono silk and bridal silk (from a wedding dress I bought in Vinnies). I called it ".East meets West". Judged first was the Owl mugmat - wonderful colour matching and handwork. Second came the teapot - great colour and pattern matching. Third came the cat mug for creativity and effective design simplicity. Well done everyone! All the  mats were interesting, creative and beautiful. It was a difficult job choosing them all.