In my back yard, two mesquite trees stand apart from each other

.

and each has the end of a rope tied onto them .......

to make a clothesline. 

 Now I have a dryer and I use it......even in the summer.......

but I always love to use my clothesline 

for drying  bed linens and 

for drying aprons. 

There is nothing better than to  put on an apron that has that fresh "off of the line" smell.

Don't you think so?? 

Aprons have been an important attire to women..........

all women at any given point of time.

They have been worn to wipe away tears,

or to carry baby chicks or fresh vegetable from the garden.

They have been worn  in times of the hardest work we women know.

They have been worn to make us look our best....

.even when we already look our best.

and they have been worn to inspire all of us.

Some are beautifully  crocheted

some  are made out of lovely print fabric, with rick rack pockets

or embroidered ones

and some have embroidered embellishments .

I don't think I have found one vintage apron that looks like another.

They all have their own character.....just like the woman who once wore them.

And just like the woman who once wore them, 

each has performed it's task at hand while showing it's distinct beauty. 

I have been wanting to make hand embroidered place mats

to decorate the table in my vintage shop.

But it will take me weeks to  months to get them finished.

So I came up with a great solution to use until I do get them finished. 

I got out all of my vintage dresser scarves.......the really pretty and heavily embroidered ones........

like this..........

I pressed them............

then folded them in the middle to make them 

place mat size 

I put a pretty vintage tablecloth onto the table, and then the folded dresser scarves.......

and look!

Don't they look just like place mats?

I then placed vintage dishes onto the scarves......

some are sets 

some are mix and match.

I also placed vintage tea cups and saucers.......

vintage hand embroidered napkins and vintage silverware to accommodate the plates. 

To finish it all off, I placed a vintage bowl, candle holder, vase, relish dish , butter dish top, gravy bowl, and salt and pepper shakers in the middle. 

And now this is how the vintage table looks

in my vintage shop.

(click onto photo for a better view)

Also, I placed my vintage chairs with the hand cross stitched backs around the table. 

It all looks inviting.........just waiting for the food and guests to arrive!

Won't you come?

A dear friend asked me if I would teach an embroidery class

for a group of her nieces and great nieces. This is Beverlyn.

She owns and operates a sweet and charming antique shop!

Teaching embroidery classes is something that I have always wanted to do 

so I got everything  I could possibly think of to do hand embroidery and gathered it all together

and joined with this wonderful little group to introduce them to the wonderful world of stitching. 

They ranged in  ages from 6 on up.

There was also a sweet 3 year old, who picked out pink floss and took interest for a few moments and then was gone like a graceful butterfly, tiring of what we were doing. 

We covered how to iron on transfers, how to trace and make one's own embroidery designs and the basic embroidery stitches. 

I chose this design to start them all on because it is good design to incorporate the various stitches........

 like outline stitch, lazy daisy, french knot, satin stitch, chain stitch and straight stitch. 

Look at this little darling........only 6 and she kept up with everyone.

I love to see  how focused everyone is on their stitching!

This little genius on the left is only 8. She draws and designs dresses and makes her own clothes using her own sewing machine!

While most teens would rather text on their phones......this sweet 13 year old got seriously into her stitching and caught on so quickly!

The lady in the right is the gracious hostess who allowed us to take over her home for the afternoon. 

I was amazed and delighted at how quickly everyone understood the stitches and at how lovely their stitching was. I regret that I forgot to take a photo of their stitched pieces. They were very pretty. 

The day was full of laughter, stitching, and wonderful food prepared by the hostess. 

Even the young ones stayed until the very end........still stitching their projects. 

We plan to gather again and I can't wait to see what they have been stitching on 

since this first class!