Double click on photos to see trees close up!

This is our front room tree and we basically decorate it the same very year--the kids insist on it. (However, this year, T's green ornaments aren't on the tree because he wasn't interested in helping.) L and J helped quite a bit to decorate but eventually tired out. I finished. This tree is time-consuming to decorate because it is loaded with ornaments, picks, and other babbles--just the way I like a tree.

Thank heavens it is a pre-lit tree. Although we had the "100 strands of lights with 50 lights per strand" tree for two years and it was beautiful, I wouldn't do that again for love nor money. (It stayed up the whole year which is why we had the lights for two years! We didn't use the front room back then.)

Bryan's contribution is the cute train that runs around the bottom of the tree.

I think we have had these particular decorations for the front room tree for about nine or ten years and this the first year that I haven't purchased something to put on the tree to try to tweak the look of it. I'm not sure this photograph does the tree justice.

I usually put my wooden German ornaments on my front hall tree but I did not put them up last year or this year because I did not want the puppy to chew up any of those ornaments. We did not even put up this tree last year. This year, I decided that we would put up the tree but decorate it with things that I wouldn't worry about or that wouldn't entice the puppy. L jumped into the design project and later J joined us. We decided the ornaments had to be red or white, and then we searched through my stash selecting just the right things--white birds, red birds, crocheted snow flakes, red hearts, blown glass ornaments, little plate ornaments, and lots of others. Bryan and I bought the glass tree topper on our honeymoon and we haven't used it since we lived in St. George. I thought the tree turned out great. In fact, I have had the little white and red plate ornaments for years and this is the first year I used them. Yea!

As it turned out, the dog left the ornaments alone, but the cat did snatch one of the low-lying birds from the tree and was making her get-away when she was caught. I did buy some silvery glass picks that look great on the tree. I also used some red and white glittery picks I'd bought two years ago for the German tree but they'd clashed with the other reds, so it was great to use those since they're pretty.

For the past few years, when ever the after-Christmas sales start, I have wondered whether to get another tree or two because I have enough ornaments to decorate them or I think I'll start a completely new set of decorations! Every year, I want to do something different with the trees I have--I have some kind of primal creative Christmas tree decorating urge. The kids always veto messing with the front room tree (which is why I HAD to get the hall tree for my German ornaments) but the hall tree looked so good this year, I may need another tree for my German ornaments! :-)

And then here is our front room tree made interesting with photo shop witchery! I couldn't resist--its that decorating thing again!

Life is like . . .

Life is rather like a tin of sardines
--we're all of us looking for the key."
--Alan Bennett

Threads

Chains do not hold a marriage together.
It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads
which sew people together through the years.
--Simone Signoret

. . . bring your own sunshine.

"Wherever you go,

no matter the weather,

always bring your own sunshine."
--Anthony J. D'Angelo

Time passing . . . .

How is it that Christmas vacation

does not last as long now as it did when I was a kid?

Post-Christmas Post

Today was a good post-Christmas day. I was able to get a few of my gifts out and check them out.

I did get a calendar maker program and I spent the morning trying to get January through March 2009 typed on to calendars for Young Women. It was Broderbund's The Print Shop 23 and it did not work exactly like I had hoped but the calendars do look better than the plain (ugly) ones I'd found online a month ago.

And good news for any of "my" blog followers, if I have any :-), I did receive a new digital camera for Christmas. So now, there's no stopping me! (Well, I do need to figure out how to use it and charge the battery and start taking pictures and upload them, but it is my own camera and there is a new scan disk to fill! Yea!)

Tomorrow looks like more of the same pace (at least I hope so).

Christmas time is here and almost gone.

Christmas has come to our house and the day is nearly done. I think our Christmas was fine and dandy. It was a working vacation for me. However, the shutterfly book came a day earlier than expected and I think, over all, it turned out OK. My in-laws seemed pleased with it. I am hoping for MY Christmas "vacation" to be tomorrow. Wish me luck with that! It is time to go try to make up for missed sleep!

Book in, author kaput, don't know the results, yet.

Hello. The person at the desk (above) is yours truly--I'm totally given out. Pooped. Kaput. Fix und fertig. I was able to submit my photobook on Friday afternoon five minutes before the "delivery-guaranteed-by-Christmas" deadline. I am now in that limbo between (A) having worked as hard as I could for two weeks to (B) not knowing how the book will turn out until I see it on (hopefully, if Shutterfly keeps its word) Christmas Eve. It was a herculean effort--far more was involved than I ever guessed when I naively started out. I kind of wish I'd never started it. Once started and "knee-deep" in the project, I was committed to make as good a product as I could and I felt I had to finish ASAP because I would not come back to it later, particularly as I grew so sick of it by the second week. I hope that the book can be more than the sum of all its parts and can be a keepsake rather than error-filled junk.

Can the end be in sight?

Tomorrow, Friday, is the last day that I can submit this photobook (by 4 p.m. PST) and still have it arrive for Christmas--assuming I am understanding the website information. It is nearly 2 a.m. and I have not been able to be "finished" until I was "finished"--it was important to me to put in my best effort clear to the end, if I'm going to do this at all. I have finalized everything but about three loose ends (although they are not important). I'll try tying those up tomorrow. I have worked on this since Sunday evening, Dec. 7, until today, going all day and often late into the night. It has driven me crazy. I love this type of project but not in an insanely condensed period of time, at Christmas time and under great pressure. I feel welded to my computer chair. I hardly know what to do with myself if I'm not sitting here, so detached from reality have I become.
I started innocently on this project, not at all estimating its problems and time requirements.
It is so hard to proof read my own material when everything is so fresh. I like to let things sit and then proof when I've forgotten a bit about things that I've written. Plus, there is no way to see all the text without clicking on each little individual text box (probably about 72 x 3 text boxes if not more). I think this has redefined the word tedious. I was dismayed at the number of typos or "unsmooth" :-) sentences this last go-round. I even spell checked all the boxes BEFORE I proof read them tonight. But I can't do it again tonight. I'm getting a bit foggy-headed and I need to quit for the night. Say a prayer for me. I desperately want this to be a quality product.

Don't believe all you read in the last post.

I THOUGHT I had all the pictures scanned and in place, but I have probably scanned nearly 60 or 70 since I wrote that post--some I have scanned twice. I have also agreed to pick up some more pictures tomorrow. So, no, I'm not finished. I am still deep, deep, deep in this project. Perhaps there is no such thing as "finished." This reminds me of the Christmas when I wrapped each individual branch of the Christmas tree with lights--100 strands with 50 lights per strand--only this is far worse. I am trying desperately to finish. I am here all day and late into the night. I leave only for absolute necessities. If you hear plunking sounds, those are my marbles dropping to the ground.

If you don't hear from me for a while . . .

If you don't hear from me for a while, know that I am totally consumed with this photo book project, because I am trying to finish it, order it and, HOPEFULLY, get it back in time for Christmas. I now have all the photos that I will use--scanned [EGAD] and dropped into their now permenant slots. (Meine Gute!) I have the order of the pages and the order of the photographs established (these were not small tasks). I have tried to give all photos proper captions. I have added quotes in places too small for text or too disconnected from the main text to serve as anything but spots for quotes. I have added text in most places where text is required but, frankly, I need more text, so I will need to talk with my in-laws to get more stories from them. My ex-sister-in-law had written histories about them and their parents (bless her) and I have used every shred and I am now to the point that I am ready to MAKE THINGS UP so that I can fill the text boxes with something. I feel bad that I have to "tip my hand" at all so my in-laws will even have an idea I'm doing this but I don't see any other way. I have also switched text around--with a program where you can't cut and paste, mind you--and I have now lost track of some text in the merry-go-round-of-text that I've been on as I've arranged and rearranged the page order and picture order and text order. It is 2 a.m. I am not a night owl. I can't seem to get the task done any faster than I can get it done. It is happening just one key stroke at a time.

I'm trying something new.

I am trying my hand at a photo book through the site "shutterfly." I want to give it as a gift at Christmas to my in-laws. I spent yesterday evening scanning about forty old photographs and putting them into the format on the website. I have all of them inserted into the book format. I have passed the twenty page minimum and it is $1.05 per page after that.

Now I need to decide whether I need more photographs and what those photographs would be. Well, let me put that another way. In my opinion, I need more photographs but where I will get them and what they should be are still questions to be answered. I don't want to infringe copyrights and I'm not sure where I'll find enough photos of B's siblings and children--that's the kicker.

Then, when all the photos are in, I will enter the text. I was trying to enter the text as I went along but I kept changing the photos around--trying for perfection--so I decided I'd save the text until I'd set the photographs in their permenant spot.

I love doing stuff like this. I think I've missed my true calling in life all these years. :-) I'll keep you posted. The only downside is we're in a time crunch here, folks.

Photos in of graham cracker creations

Look at previous post for pictures of L & T's graham cracker creations under caption "Pictures are here."

Dog tired

I am dog tired. I worked so hard on my YW lesson for yesterday--"Choosing a Vocation." I worked harder on that lesson than on any other lesson I've ever given in my entire life--hours and hours and hours. I've taught Gospel Doctrine for nine years, Primary, Laurels when I was Laurel advisor, and Relief Society, and I don't recall EVER spending this much time on a lesson. Ever. I've never been more elated for a lesson to be behind me than I am about this lesson. I thought the lesson was just OK. I'm not allowing myself to be disappointed about it, that it wasn't EXCELLENT for all the time invested. Thank Heaven it is over. Thank Heaven I don't give a lesson for another three months and next time when it is my turn, I have a normal topic--thank goodness. In addition to all this, we had more young women in attendance than we have ever had in my experience. We had four visitors, fourteen young women from our rolls, two advisors, two other presidency members, and we met combined. If L hadn't been ill, we would have had fifteen! Wow. We had more interruptions that we have ever had before. We had to have interviews for baptisms for the dead during that time because we go this Friday, so about every two minutes, someone was coming into or leaving the room--for a total of about fourteen times--plus we had several people poke their heads in to ask something. I am finding that I spend so much more time in preparation for lessons and activities than it takes for the lesson or activity itself. What a calling. I think I will be living my life in dog years while I'm in this calling.

Deck the halls . . .

Today we're decking the halls! B & T are hanging iceicle lights around the house, adding to lights that are already there. I think they're nearly finished and then B will probably set up a few more Christmas yard decorations. L and I have been decorating inside. We have nearly all the decorations up but we don't have the tree(s) set up yet, so we've hit a stopping point. J is sick. He's miserable. We hope he feels well soon. L drew this picture several years ago.

True wisdom

"True wisdom lies in gathering the precious things out of each day as it goes by." E.S. Bouton

Choosing a vocation . . .

"Find purpose in your life. Choose the things you would like to do, and educate yourselves to be effective in their pursuit. For most it is very difficult to settle on a vocation. You are hopeful that you will marry and that all will be taken care of. In this day and time, a girl needs an education. She needs the means and skills by which to earn a living should she find herself in a situation where it becomes necessary to do so.
"Study your options. Pray to the Lord earnestly for direction. Then pursue your course with resolution.
"The whole gamut of human endeavor is now open to women. There is not anything that you cannot do if you will set your mind to it. You can include in the dream of the woman you would like to be a picture of one qualified to serve society and make a significant contribution to the world of which she will be a part."
President Gordon B. Hinkley, "How Can I Become the Woman of Whom I Dream?," Ensign, May 2001, 93.

From days of yore . . .

A blast from the past: SB, L, T, J & B on a fire truck in the 2006 Washington County Fair Parade. (I wasn't there because that was the year of my foot surgery.)

Desert floral display

As I was looking for a picture to match my mood, I came across this in B's photo stash. I always like red flowers and red plants and red things. I also need to get a new disc for my camera so I can add new images, but in the mean time, this is pretty, in a "deserty" sort of way. :-)

Pictures are here

I had to drive to Wal-mart in order to get reasonably priced "Meringue Powder." I made all seven pounds of powdered sugar into royal icing and it was just about right.

The gingerbread/graham cracker activity went well. I will need to become accustomed to teens preliminarily acting like an activity idea stinks but jumping in and enjoying the activity.

There were a lot of creative creations (T asked that I quit calling them "creations"). Some of the most memorable were the trojan horse dog, T's camp area, a train, and a vintage truck. Of course, there was also J's sheriff's car, and L & Ch's house, and B & ?'s house. All of the "creations" were interesting and imaginative, even the one that MJ head-butted into oblivion.

Frankly, I personally needed this to go well and I'm happy that it did go well.

Now I need to turn my attention to getting my Sunday lesson ready: "Choosing a Vocation." I've struggled with this lesson. On the one hand, it is good for me to have such a huge challenge. On the other hand, I'd prefer a different topic, particularly for my first lesson in YW.

Here's to edible royal icing!

This will be me tomorrow making edible royal icing and making edible royal icing and making edible royal icing. For the YM/YW combined activity, we are going to make gingerbread (aka graham cracker) houses and we need royal icing.

How much royal icing you ask? Well, I thought twenty cups with one cup per bag and two icing bags per station (we are planning 10 stations) but when I read that one pound of powdered sugar makes three cups of icing, it gave me pause. That's seven pounds of powdered sugar. Might I be overshooting the mark? I will need to contemplate this. One half cup of icing in a baggie hardly seems adequate, even if there are two per station. But realistically, how big can a graham cracker house be? I don't think any of them will be building Chartres cathedral ala graham crackers.

Do I have seven pounds of powdered sugar in my house? Short answer: no.

Why royal icing? Because it holds like cement and a good graham cracker/gingerbread house needs to be cemented in place.

Why edible royal icing? First, there is no doubt that the YM will eat the icing. And second, because there is also inedible royal icing made with egg whites. The edible kind requires meringue powder. Let's hope I can find meringue powder here in the local stores.

I had planned to buy icing from the bakery at the local market but I never did arrange for it and it will probably be cheaper to make it. (Don't those sound like famous last words?)

My good sister-in-law C helped me get the graham crackers and candy at Wal-mart on Saturday. We have gum drops, mini candy canes, mixed hard candy, Skittles, M&Ms, and mini marshmellows. Then we the candy horders at our house have contributed our ancient candy from the house--LOTS of Tootsie Rolls, and also suckers, caramel, packages of candy like red hots, Skittles, mini M&Ms, gummi Life Savers, Cracker Jacks, sour Skittles-- just about anything one might see in a trick-or-treat bag--and each group of house makers will get one STUFFED sandwich baggie full of these tooth-breaking delights.

"Let's go on with the show!"

We wish you a . . .

Today is Monday. Thanksgiving vacation is over. The Thanksgiving dinners have been eaten. The house is being restored to order (well, to its former chaos). We had a good holiday. We enjoyed visiting with lots of family members. We enjoyed the food. We are thankful.

Now we turn to Christmas. J said this morning that we have fourteen more days of school before Christmas vacation and T said we had twenty-five days until Christmas. We're on the countdown. Let's deck the halls!

Happy Thanksgiving!

L took some shots of the table decorations for our Thanksgiving dinner today. Misty, I think our theme was "pumpkins."

We were expecting 24 to 25 people. As it turned out, we had seventeen--a family of five had illness in the ranks, one person had been a question mark from the start, and two others did something else. See J & C, you folks could have fit right in here.

Overlook the motley collection of chairs. We gathered them up from all over the house and eight from B's parents. We'll have to work on acquiring more of the Costco (white folding) chairs.

We're going to have the G family here on Saturday with the same decorations. We're expecting nineteen.

Teeth

Mom's losing teeth. About a week and a half ago, she had a lower front tooth break off when she was eating a cookie. We don't even have the final cap on that and she had a crown fall out today. You know, teeth are taken for granted until you lose them.

Some people buy gold. I'll just hang on to my mother's gold caps she's losing and thereby hedge up against some financial crash.

The case of the dancing dog . . . .

"And for my next number, I will do an interpretive dance!"

What a great visual image!

OK, so I didn't take this picture but I thought it was great--I love heart shapes and I love the color red!

Today has been a good day.

• The antibiotics are WORKING and I'm getting over my crud. That is very good news because I need to get cracking on Thanksgiving dinner prep.
• I took my mother to her hair appointment and then she and I visited my aunt G and her daughter GL.
• I was able to rest a little today and not feel manic about all I have to do.
• I'm so close to finishing a Christmas project I've worked on for several months. Yea!
• We watched J play basketball tonight. He played well and he made a basket!
• I'm looking forward to a YW activity tomorrow. C's sister M is a professional caterer and M will be teaching us "How to throw a holiday party!" We've invited the stake YW presidency (that is how confident I am that this will be wonderful).
• We had rootbeer floats as our FHE treats (I'm not much on having treats for FHE so this is out of the ordinary!).
• It was our wedding anniversary today. I'm not sure where the years have gone.

The ghosts of happy times past. . . .

I went to my parents' house today to see if there were some Thanksgiving decorations I could borrow to decorate the tables at my house when we have the B family here for Thanksgiving--there will be twenty-three or twenty-five of us. I was all alone in the house with the ghosts of happy times past.

As I looked through all Mom's things that might be useful to borrow for the party (extra salt and pepper shakers, candles, decorations, etc.), I kept flashing back to times past when the house was happy and vibrant, full of people and love, and my parents were still themselves and living there. It was like I could hear the echo of all the happy family gatherings echoing in the silence of the house. It was very poignant. It is often difficult for me to go in the house but it was particularly emotional for me today.

My mother in her prime was such a great hostess and always made people feel so welcome that we often had a house full of visitors. For meals like Thanksgiving, I was always the assistant--setting the table, making a centerpiece, making sure there were salt and pepper shakers and butter on the table, and details like that. And all the "things" that I was looking through were so "my mother" that I was just transported back into the past to a time when she "owned" them. And yet, the "life" is out of all of them. They're just things. Just lifeless things. The hand that chose them, cared for them and used them is absent now and the life has gone out of them and the life has gone out of the house.

The clock is ticking . . .

It is already November 20th, if you can believe it, and Christmas is a little over a month away--YIKES--and Thanksgiving is just one week away. Additionally, this year, because Thanksgiving falls c...l...e...a...r at the end of November, Christmas is three weeks from Thanksgiving instead of four. So when you think to yourself, "Hey, it was just Thanksgiving and now it's Christmas--it seems like we lost a week," you'll be right. Happy Holidays.

Borrowing a photo from another blog

I loved this shot of L and friends at Lichfield's pond. Don't they look lovely? This photo was taken by N's sister TB and I borrowed this from her blog. (Is this considered second-hand sharing? Recycling? Borrowing? High-grading? Blog-napping? Kind, educational, advisory comments welcome.)

Arizona Strip Rock Art

This is an example of rock art on the Arizona Strip. L took this picture when we went to see the art during Spring Break last year. Many of the pictographs are in wonderful condition and I hope they stay that way for years to come.

Things kind of out of focus

This is about how I feel today--pretty fuzzy and out of focus--because I think I might be getting sick. Drats.

Can there be too many aprons? No, clearly not.

Here is another apron I made and it is just the right size for L. (I cropped this photo but it somehow didn't save as cropped. I'll need more practice.) This is the apron pattern from the company "Stitch Thru Time"--the same pattern I used for the Christmas apron that I posted a picture of about a month ago. I LOVE the fabric and I even have some left over. I'll need to make an apron for me, but from a different pattern since this fabric wasn't wide enough to make this pattern full sized.

The cutest dog ever . . .

Here is a recent picture of our dear dog "R"--we're all initials on this blog, so why not the dog? She's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the subgroup she's in is Blenheim. What a loving dog!

Water going uphill

This is a picture B liked from an email "forward" so he saved it. As usual, I was looking for a picture I already had on my computer that would capture my particular mood as I post to this blog tonight. Right now, my YW calling and all the untamed bits of that coupled with all I don't know about the calling, as well as the loose ends of my life, the looming holidays and all the things I will need and want to do during those holidays, make me feel like this uphill waterfall. I'm trying to get as much done as I possibly can in all areas before the holidays just descend on me and take over my life. O-[--<

Two families on the front porch

The house was built about 1915 or started about then. I would guess this picture was taken circa 1917, although the baby (inset) wasn't born for two more years. Inset: A. Back row: O, H, T, R, W. and R. Front: (starting with white dress) L, C, D. (My L said, "Do they have to be initials? They're nearly all dead?!" Well, yes, they all need to be initials here. However, they were all extremely talented and resourseful people--titans--I don't think people are made like that anymore.)

Here's another family on the house's front porch: E, P, EC, J & O. My guess is we'd only recently moved into the house when the photo was taken, so about 1969 or 1970. For parents with white hair (and young children), don't E & O look young?! Like my mother always said, "The only difference between a good picture and a bad picture is about ten years," or in this case, forty.

Whirling in my cup

This picture is indicative of my current feelings about my new calling as YW president--I'm in the cup whirling around and I haven't fallen out yet. However, even if I were to fall out, the cup would still keep whirling along. The youth program just moves along and it is my job to try to keep up, all the while trying to figure out what-in-the-world I'm supposed to do. So I'll keep whirling along.

Even earlier photograph of house

This is even an earlier photograph of the house than the one I posted a few posts ago. Look how new and crisp it looks, although there is not much planting around it and not even a side walk. Weren't we all newer and crisper than we are now?! I don't know who is sitting on the porch.

I've been looking online for a good Thanksgiving centerpiece craft idea for the third Tuesday of November so I'm in a Thanksgiving mood. This picture was drawn by T years ago and goes with the theme of my current search.

Last night on Channel 5 News, it talked about "posting at your own peril." It has given me pause.

Today is the day that I have to submit the application for having Mom's house recognized by the county as an historical house. Of course, although I've worked on this off and on for several months, here I am at crunch time trying to finish up.

A new chapter

I particularly like this artwork done by J for his birthday invitation a few years ago.

I was sustained as YW president yesterday. Now I need to figure out how things work and what to do. I was pleased to get all six people I asked for and pleased with that group of sisters. However, I think we're the only fully staffed auxillary in the ward so I feel guilty. The ward is strapped for people to take callings. Most active women have more than one calling.

Rosie

Here are pictures of our dog Rosie. She is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, one year old this past August. She came to live with our family a year ago this month.

Lunch

Today, I'm going to lunch with my friend PBV. We have been friends since we were small, small children. In fact, the earliest memory I have of playing with a friend is a memory of P and me. We wanted to know if you could make punch from the powder in Pixie Stix. You can't or at least you can't make punch that tastes good. One thing about "old" friends is that it takes a long time to make them.

Goodness, I've been tagged!

This is a "three things through the years" tag from PBV and I'm going to condense it a lot because I enjoy short posts. :-)

20 years ago--middle year of law school; Dad still alive; clerked at Snow, Nuffer.

10 years ago--two kids pre-school and T in Kindergarten; my mother was unraveling; gospel doctrine teacher.

5 years ago--started finishing basement; multiple lawsuits bogging me down; 2nd go-round being gospel doctrine teacher.

3 years ago--finishing basement and refreshing upstairs :-); into RS presidency for second time; bought van!

1 year ago--my mother very sick; six weeks post-surgery for me; I had shingles.

Yesterday--temple with former RS presidency; interview with bishop; ward Halloween party.

Today--visiting Mom; Swedish weaving; our family all at home with B cleaning carpets.

Tomorrow--attend church; my sister and I will visit our mother; home teachers will probably come.

Next year--hmmm. I hope I'm equal to whatever it holds; hope I go out walking regularly; should go on great vacation. :-)

I'm tagging Cori and Ann S. TTFN.

Ancestors' countries of origin

Thanks to L for this very timely bit of artwork. She drew it years ago but it still has seasonal appeal. :-)

In September, J worked on his communications merit badge. For his five-minute speech, he told his ancestors' countries of origin, showed the flags of those countries, told a fact about each flag, and told several bits of trivia about each country. (For example, Germany makes 1500 different types of sausage.) Here is a list of the countries:

1. Switzerland
2. Scotland
3. Germany
4. Denmark
5. England
6. Wales
7. Canada
8. Northern Ireland
9. France
10. Belguim
11. Netherlands
12. United States.

More aprons that I made

Here is an apron I made, adapted from a pattern in the book A is for Apron. The bright pinks and yellows are not coming across in this picture but it is a bright and cheerful apron. Because of my experience of having the Cosmopolitian apron turn out so small (compared to me), I undertook to enlarge this pattern. Enlarging it posed dilemmas that I finally and eventually resolved after much brainstorming, unpicking, trimming, and changing.

This is a border print apron made from the same pattern as the 4th apron pictured on today's post. I made another apron for a friend's birthday out of this border print (size medium, with two pockets) and had just enough to make a second apron (size small, with one pocket). For the apron pictured here, I made the one pocket a different shape, sewed a picture of a rooster from the border print onto the pocket and sewed the pocket to the bib of the apron.

This Christmas-print apron was made from a pattern by the company Stitch Thru Time. I have noticed on the Stitch Thru Time website that patterns are no longer being sold, but they were being sold at one time and I bought the pattern at a craft fair in St. George. This was my first experience with bias tape and I unpicked and threw away the first "batch" and started again with this sage green which worked perfectly (unlike the cream colored bias tape).
This is what I call the "prototype apron" that I made for the Super Saturday apron class that I taught. This is the apron pattern that was used for the class. Notice that the material is the opposite of the "clock apron with skirt" on the prior apron post.

L is a great model--these were all done in one take. :-)