This year was my sister’s first Mother’s Day (as a mum).  As part of the celebrations I made her an Emmeline apron using fabric from Lizzy Houses’s Lizzy Dish collection.  I love Lizzy’s fabrics, they are so bright and vibrant.

When I first saw the Lizzy Dish collection I knew Kt would love it and that it would make a great Emmeline apron.  I’m really pleased with the way the apron turned out, it’s kitsch but easily wearable.

When I asked Kt if she wanted an apron she asked me to add a pocket to both sides.  I obliged happily.  I added darts into the pockets so that they have a similar shape as the skirt and it gives the pockets a gentle curve.

I love making this apron.  The pattern is so easy to do and the shape of the apron is so very flattering.

It was my mum’s birthday yesterday.  Happy birthday mum.  For her present she asked me to make her an Emmeline apron with a pocket added to each side.  I had oodles of fun choosing which fabrics to use and settled on three prints from Michelle Engel Bencsko’s Dogwood collection.

I think this Dogwood collection is beautiful and now that it is so very difficult to get hold of I wish I’d bought a bit more.  By odd chance I picked up the fabric from the post office on my way to hiring a car for a trip back home, so this fabric came all the way to my mum’s house and back only to be cut up, sewn together and posted back up north.

I added the requested pockets, which you can’t really see in these photos unfortunately, but the pockets have darts on the top edge to match the darts in the apron.

I love this apron pattern.  It’s easy to construct and very flattering to wear.  I was a little concerned that the accent fabric used for the waist straps etc. was a little too strong but in the end I think the three fabrics work well together.

Crumbs, I’m feeling very pleased with myself. This weekend, whilst watching the Olympic track cycling (Go Chris, Go Brad, Go Vicky), I made a new apron. I used Sew Liberated’s Emmeline Apron pattern and fabric from Makower’s Hungry Caterpillar range. I love the fabric and the pattern was lots of fun. I learnt how to make and used bias binding and how to make my ladder stitch neater.

Please note the strawberries, somehow the overall cuteness is helping me cope with their presence.

In other news, I skipped work and went to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC on Friday. Katie and Liz have both made eloquent posts about it. Surprisingly, considering my current reputation, I didn’t buy lots of fabric, just some very cute fat quarters. I did buy various bits of kit though, such as a small cutting mat and ruler, inkjet printer fabric and some iron on plastic called Lamifix, all of which I’m very eager to start playing with.

I think the favourite stall for most of us was The Button Company who were selling some very cute Japanese fabrics including the green version of the robot fabric I used to make my messenger bag. I got chatting about the fabric to one of the ladies running the stall and showed her my bag; oh crumbs, there was lots of fondling of the fabric and cooing at the bag. The lady was pleased with how the fabric had softened up. When we went back to the stall later in the day (to buy pretty ribbons and lovely wool felt) I was called the “robot bag lady” and the bag was shown about and fondled all over again, it was lots of fun. I was grinning from ear to ear.

At last year’s NEC Festival of Quilts I was overwhelmed by the vast range of fabric available. I snapped up some chilli fabric because I knew my friend N would love it and so planned to make a bag for her. Then I was naughty and decided to use it to make an apron for me. In the final hour Katie and I ran around the stalls hunting for a complimentary fabric so that I could make a reversible apron with a pocket.

Here is the finished apron and I love it. If I’m in the kitchen I’m wearing it. If I’m cleaning I wear it. I was teased at a tea party last weekend because I put it on to put pizzas in the oven.

Sorry for the horrid image, I’m a poor photographer but I am trying to get better.

R and I had a random papercraft day where we watched the first Indian Jones movie and all of Blackadder Third and made 3D paper animal models from the cannon website. As I was cooking at the same time of course I wore my apron. But I think this is the only picture I have that shows off the chillies.

Luckily I still had enough of the fabric left to make N her bookbag. I matched the chili fabric with plum coloured corduroy and gave it a green Rowan Fairtrade lining.