How to Jazz Up an Apron

A friend of mine got me a lovely apron as a thank-you gift a while back, and as i'm a believer of actually using aprons when i cook, i ended up having an unfortunate accident with said apron. So, instead of tossing it aside as it is so lovely, i decided i needed to just hide the oil stains that just can't come out.What better way to hide them but with some cupcake cross-stitch from the lovely book Sublime Stitching: Hundres of Hip Embroidery Patterns and How-to (coincidently also a gift from another lovely friend!). I am not an avid cross-stitcher but i do enjoy the process of it. It's quite relaxing and peaceful, so i hope to start doing it more. Of course, i did do the bulk of it while watching The Wire, so maybe anything that keeps me distracted from the violence seems peaceful?

So, now that i have discovered how to hide (somewhat) a stain, i'm going to look through my stash of other bits of clothing with marks and tears and see what i can stitch onto them!

Things to do with Aprons

As a collector of aprons, i finally found some good use for them, besides the usual wearing of them as i cook. Here are some ways i've found to incorporate my lovely aprons into everyday use.

Since i now own a house with multiple floors, i got inspired to hang up some aprons on the stair railings. I think i might try rotating them based on upcoming holidays (this set is for Valentine's Day) as well as season. I think they'll also bring some colour and quaintness to our hallway.
Another great use is to turn aprons into window coverings - especially for windows that are narrow enough. I used two vintage aprons as curtains in my craft room, and this lovely yellow one has a practical use - it holds up to 4 rolls of toilet paper in my tiny main bath!

Any of you have some great ways to display your aprons?

Weekend Road Trip Finds

a basket full of aprons!

We went home to visit family yesterday, and were grateful to rent a car that had air-conditioning! While the rain teased us a bit, we did make it to Guelph in time for our annual antique extravaganza called Aberfoyle Antique Fair. So good.

It's such a wonderful way to enjoy an afternoon, and you don't really 'need' to buy anything at all. Just looking at things and appreciating them for their story is so much fun.

As always, we left with a bit of things, but i did So Good to not buy more of what i wanted. Now that we're saving for our house, it's all relative i guess! We did want to find a new coffee table, and that's the only thing we didn't! But, my piece de resistence is this amazing apron set with matching bunny oven mitts! For $8!! I didn't even hesitate to get them. The woman selling believes a grandmother made them for her grand-daughter as a wedding present. They still had the original box, too. For picture of the oven mitts and the lovely robin embroidered linen, feel free to check some of my photos over at flickr. i want to use as little of plastics with food as possible, so these pyrex bowls with lids will be great for leftovers!