Popping in, Wearing Aprons

Tonight my youngest sister and I are trying a new-to-us recipe (thanks to Pinterest) using some all-natural bison that she bought. We both donned aprons and then it was my idea to get a picture to post for the blog. So yes, I really do wear aprons, not just make and sell them. :)

I'm wearing my favorite vintage original "Ethel" apron, and Molly is wearing a vintage original "Gracie" apron (same as the Grace style, but for ladies who wear an extra small/small).

Yay for sisters who like to cook with you and is catching onto the idea of wearing vintage aprons. ;)

Their Last Name is Rose

This year was the year for planting roses, thanks to my local greenhouse having fantastic sales and membercard savings. Having fallen in love with English-bred roses from David Austin, I chose different varieties and colors. They deserved to be properly introduced and I have two pictures of each variety with a link for each one for more details if you wish to know more about them.

"...She wanted a quiet place where she could be alone when she wanted to be; to listen to the wind telling her strange tales, or hold the big spotted shell that murmured of the sea to her ear, or talk to the roses in the garden.” ~ L.M. Montgomery

Scepter'd Isle

"Thou visitest the earth and waterest it…Thou makest it soft with showers: Thou blessest the springing thereof." ~Psalm 65:9,10

Graham Thomas

“Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps . . . perhaps . . . love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.” ~L. M. Montgomery

Lady of Shalott

This is my first David Austin rose that I bought last year, but I couldn't post pictures of all the others and leave this one out. :)

Carding Mill

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature." ~Anne Frank

Back in the Sewing Room (with some Humble Pie)

Now that the vegetable garden is in, the flower beds are finished, and three new English roses found their way into my bench garden, I've had some time for sewing. I finished up another apron this week and will hopefully finish up a dress for my mom before Sunday. Once that is completed, I'm anxious to start on some vintage dresses from patterns that I bought last year. The plan is to make them for the shop, but I sort of fell in love with the designs and fabrics as I was cutting them out. We'll see.

With being home for the summer, I've been looking around for a summer job and the other day a lady from church told me of the local bridal shop that she works for and how they were looking for another seamstress. It sounded a bit daunting, but I got brave and went in to talk to the store owner. The conversation went like this (after introductions):

Owner: You are going to have to be extremely OCD with sewing, because brides can be super finicky about seams that are unseen. Every seam you sew will have to be checked by me for awhile.
Church friend: Oh, Cheri is a better seamstress than me. (She boosted my confidence when it was beginning to melt)
Owner: Can you do a roll hem?
Me: As in on a serger?
Owner: No, like this. (And then showed an example of a 1/8" hem on the edge of a satin wedding gown)
Me: Oh. No, I don't know how to do that.
Owner: Well, it's the one thing a seamstress must do if they work for me.
Owner: Have you done a bustle before?
(Me thinking dryly: never needed one before…haha!)

And then she proceeded on with other things, but it became rather clear that I am not skilled in areas needed to be a bridal seamstress/alteration person. It was humbling for me since I thought I knew how to do most things. Even though I've been mostly self-taught, I've been sewing for others and running a small online etsy shop for several years and while not perfect, 99.99% of my customers have been happy and have returned.

But it's all good. Some seamstresses are cut out to work in a bridal shop and some are for working in a small basement sewing room pulling out vintage patterns, fabrics, and trims.

And I like it.

One of the vintage dresses that I intended to make last year.