Albuquerque High

Traveling to Albuquerque for the American Sewing Guild’s 2009 convention, the back of the car was layered with dozens of freshly ironed aprons and household cloth goods for my booth and a mini-exhibit to be displayed within the Exhibitor’s Hall. However, parking incovenient to the convention center’s front doors, the aprons and dishtoweling and fabric and hot pads and hankies and all else were less than delicately folded into one large mass by Tote Boy, my normally helpful and happy PC, and hauled several blocks with only one concern – that he reach air conditioning post haste. Alas, the collectibles I’d ironed to crispness summarily melted into wrinkles. Call it a heated moment in the extreme heat that is summer in New Mexico.
Once inside, one of us re-energized with a nappy.
Faced with transforming the booth and six portables all by my lonesome, I fortified first with a Coke; then, with hundreds of push pins, I attempted to create a flow of cloth. Within a half hour, I realized that having a drawn out plan of what went where would have been a huge help. Instead, I raced about rearranging or altogether pulling down what I’d just put into place.
Finally, I just stopped. Whatever was up and however it looked was good enough. Lesson learned. Here is a photo collage of the booth (the center picture) and the six displays.

I thought this collage would be a great way to share the display, but now I’m not so sure. Perhaps I need to post the pictures individually, so they are better viewed.

One delight of returning to ASG’s yearly convention was catching up with the wonderful women I’d met two years ago in Sacramento. And then there is the surprise meeting up, like this fabulous smiley moment with Ellen March, editor in chief of Sew News and Creative Embroidery magazines, and new sponsor of National Tie One On Day!

And the winner of my favorite pie book, Humble Pie by Anne Dimmock, is Bonniesline. A new Sunday giveaway is coming up. Only subscribers to the Apron Memories newsletter are eligible, so if you’re reading this and not subscribing… do give it a go!
xxea
Tie One On…an apron, of course!

A Little Something

I’d been saving my cute new botanical print dress to wear to a July 4th party, so when the late afternoon sun disappeared behind treacherous looking dark clouds, and the temperature dropped in ten-degree increments, I nonetheless zipped up, did a twirl, admired myself in the mirror, and promptly forgot to snatch a shawl “just in case.” Following the storm, the clouds blew to the east, and the temperature went south. Atop our hosts’ roof, PC and I posed for a snap. My smile isn’t the only thing frozen.

Blog_July 4_Denver_us (Medium) Overlooking the Denver skyline, I held up 2 toothpicks adorned with little flags, and with fireworks going off in the background, took this picture, which blurred because I was shaking so in the cold night air. But hey, I got to wear that dress!

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As we rode the elevator down, I asked a fellow passenger to pick a number at random. 313 he said. And that’s how the winner of the first Sunday giveaway was chosen. #313 Apron Memories newsletter subscriber is ginaloya. Congratulations! You’ll be receiving a personalized copy of my exhibit’s catalogue, Apron Chronicles. I’ll be emailing you for shipping details!

AC cover (Medium)

The second Sunday drawing celebrating-features-in-Cooking with Paula Deen-and-Romantic Homes-magazines will be for a set of these: Apron Memories notecards

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plus this one – the latest notecard design!

AM_Tie One On notecard (Medium)

To be eligible for the July 12th (and upcoming July/August giveaways), just sign up to receive the Apron Memories newsletter!

Wherever you celebrated America’s birthday, I hope the fireworks didn’t fizzle and you dazzled in a pretty little something,

xxea

Tie One On…an apron, of course!

Sunday Excitement!

I wasn’t the only one making an early run to the grocery store this morning. Not that I had to fight for the last ears of corn of anything, but when it came time to check out, I was three carts back from my turn to unload groceries onto the conveyor belt. I used the idling time to look through the magazines, and when I saw the July/August issue of Cooking with Paula Deen

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I shrieked, decibel-wise a bit less than if I’d just been stung by a bee, BECAUSE I am the featured Woman of Note!!! Three pages worth yet!!! And this, on the heels of a beautiful spread featuring The Kitchen Linens Book in the latest Romantic Homes.

It’s taking me forever to write this blog, because I keep staring at the covers and rereading the articles, which, of course, I knew about, but to actually see the magazines and hold them is a whole other thang!

So, to celebrate that a Sunday grocery store excursion turned into an icing on the cake moment, I’m holding a giveaway drawing each Sunday during the months of July and August. On July 5th, the first present is a personalized copy of my Apron Chronicles exhibit catalogue. Apron Chronicles represents 4 years of my apron journey, and it truly is a most stunning presentation of the American experience as examined through photography, storytelling and the fabric of the apron. I love this exhibit.AC cover (Medium)

Each Sunday, the winner of the week’s giveaway will be selected from the list of subscribers to my Apron Memories newsletter. So, to be eligible, just sign up!

Every day should have a little icing on the cake!

xxea

Tie One On…an apron, of course!