Ginger Hendrix, Writer

Apron as Super Hero Cape

I think they might have super powers in them. Aprons, I mean. At least I think this one might. 

I found it day before yesterday at my favorite thrift shop, put it on, overhauled my sons' room (stealthily dragging out 6 bags of God Knows What, moving all the furniture, sucking up all the dust, re-hanging the pics--you know: overhauling). I also, in a matter of three days, dissected my closet, purged and re-libraried my books, and tackled my kitchen--even the silverware drawer and the weird shelves of china. Please. This Saturday it's Garage Time.

I have powers that are immeasurable. I fly over things. I throw things away. Fast.

I am Super House Girl and I will not be defeated by the powers of entropy and/or grime/slime/neglect/distraction or employment!

Okay, so it was the apron/cape + having just read this article, "Organizing For Your Personality," in July's REAL SIMPLE--which I hastily grabbed off the checkout line rack just like they wanted me to because of this very article (full text here),

which I'm happy to tell you is the first article about organizing your life that's ever done anything for me besides make me feel angry at the people who will actually do what it suggests. I tend to read magazines with a sort of not-so-veiled hostility. I won't lie: all those people with their quickly-perfected lives give me a sort of emotional rash. So I was very, very happy to find this article about organizing for your personality type. It actually made sense to me. I know: impossible. 

Maybe it was the powers of my apron allowing me to integrate otherwise impossible-to-believe information. (Or maybe it was the fact that it explained to me--based on my SCIENTIFIC PERSONALITY TYPE why I NATURALLY clump things in piles. It's because I'm Left-Brained and Visual. I can't help it. I'm just Visual.)

Baby Pumpkinhead was mesmerized by my speed and threw herself into the fray (wearing her own surging-with-power half apron.)

 

She is, as you can imagine, sooooo helllllllpppppful. Her personality type is, apparently, All-Brained and Kinetic since her job was to throw china cups and steal raisins and chocolate chips out of the pantry while I was otherwise Improving Our Family's Living Environment. 

Just another day in the life of the immeasurably powerful and apron-clad. You might want to think about putting one on the morning. . . 

One For Me.

 Dramatically lit garage-floor photo of new apron in stain-removal moment

I have made approximately 8200 aprons to date. For my friends. And my family. And friends of friends. And such, etc. etc. 

I have, to date, made one sad little un-lined apron for myself--one that crinkles into a mass of ugly whenever I wash it. It's shrivelyy, actually. Very sad. (Oh--and I made another for myself with my little sister at thanksgivingtime that's a sassy little vintage half-style number.) But no good full coverage aprons. And nothing that is Quite It yet for me.

So as a means of calming my inner wiener dog on the day that about 20 former writing students were coming to dinner, I made myself one.

It is a lovely little standard-white-duck-ish full apron that I traced from a crummy, stained one in my drawer. It has a sparkly (emotionally sparkly, not gold-flecked) yellow fat-squared gingham lining; a pocket from a potholder I found more than a year ago and have been hoarding, waiting for the right moment; 

a piece of polyester binding on the pocket from the same swatch I made Baby Pumpkinhead's first polyester dress from; and black and white gingham lining for the big pocket.

 See below for explanation of monster spaghetti sauce stains on said brand new apron

High five to myself.

This photo, apparently blurred by my lame-ish camera for ultimate dramatic effect. So effective.

And also, high five to my students who showed up and ate a truckload of spaghetti and were gracious and smiley and all-around wonderful and who made me want to have them to dinner every sunday and fill them up and send them out the door groaning-ly full. High five to them too.

 Pioneer Woman's Artichoke Dip foregrounded; Students lounging backgrounded. 

 Riley is finally full.

 Aldo isn't. Yet. (I believe he had to be carried to the car later, though, from over-consumption of spaghetti.)  

Apron for Baby Pumpkinhead

This is what I made today--just what every almost-two-year-old needs:

 

P.S. Love your responses to my call for Regulars. And you can throw your name up into those comments any time and I'll put you on the Regulars list. Because that's how we ROLL [embarassing grown-up lady airquotes] around here.
 

Right When I Shouda Been Sewing Christmas Gifts

I had a wedding to go to. And when I go to a wedding, I haul along HIS & HERS APRONS. I've made them before, but they keep getting cuter. Not lying. Wish I could quit all my jobs and open up a HIS & HERS APRONS shop. (Hey--the SOCK STORE is still in business, so why wouldn't I have a shot?)

Anyway, anybody marrying gets pyrex with lids and HIS & HERS APRONS. That's how I roll. No, I don't care what you registered for. Because I don't feel like buying you one fork. Or half a shower curtain. You get pyrex with lids (because EVERYBODY needs pyrex with lids). And you get these:

 

Normally I would have hidden a little of that fruit print inside of the HIS apron, but I didn't think this particular groom could swing any amount of, um, fruit--so I used the dark plaid to make the HERS ties two-sided. Here's the best part of these:

 

Oh, and I finished the christmas garland for myself. And it's making me incredibly Christmas Happy.

 

Just spent two hours alone in a coffee shop and--when I could have been writing the country's next great contemporary american poem by a western woman with children and a convoluted protestant family background--instead, I studied my christmas list. I wrote it. I rewrote it. I made arrows. I crossed things out. I added them back. I crossed them out again. I made a timeline. And an ordered projects list. And a--very short--To Buy list. And then I cross referenced it with my calendar.

I didn't do this because I am a stellar gift giver. I did this because I have no Making Self-Control naturally, and without extreme measures of concentration, self-fortification, goal-setting and values reassertion, I will tackle too many things for too many people. 

And, like I already said, I don't want to. Because for Christmas this year, I'm working hard to give the gift of Mom With Her Personality Intact.  And I'm finding it quite tricky. 

Best of luck to you as you work to hold on to yours.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

The Rescued Fabric Apron Kits go to . . .

#47 Cayce said:

oh my, what cuteness!!!

 

#138  Sue Cahill said:

I love the idea of an apron kit. I love using kits the first time I make something, that way I have just what I need. Very helpful.

Congrats, bloggish friends. Hope you enjoy these kits. I can't wait to dig through the list now of all your comments and check out your blogs. This giveaway is such a hoot for find like-minded nutbags. (And I mean that with all the respect due a fellow sewing nutbag.)

For those of you who didn't win, do watch for updates. I'm doing my best to get a handful up on my etsy site before Christmas arrives like a guest at 5:30 for a 6:30 dinner.