My Mother's Day Aprons

My niece just got her first apartment, and I wanted to get her something for a housewarming. I know that she was able to outfit the apartment with most of the things they would need, so I wanted to do something fun. I decided to make an apron, searched pintrest for a pattern and found  this great pattern from Stop Staring and Start Sewing.  .

It worked out great, and I became a bit obsessed with aprons (I ended up making two for myself). With Mother’s day approaching, I thought I would make a few more for my Mom, Mother in Law, and Aunt. I wanted them to be a bit more ruffled and gathered, though. So I modified the instructions a bit.

They turned out great, and like I said, I made a few for myself as well. I think aprons may be a new obsession for me!

So this is what I did....

Instead of using a fat quarter, I used a quarter yard so it measured approximately 18 inches by 40 inches.

For the ties and bottom ruffle, I needed four 6 inch X 42 inch strips instead of three. You could really use three if you what to shorten the ties and tie in the back instead of the front, but you would end up with a seam in the middle of the front.

I put the bottom piece on just as the tutorial stated, using an entire 42-inch piece instead of 22 inches and finished the sides.

After sewing the remaining (tie) strips together, I found the center and marked it.  I then marked the center of the apron and pined the centers right sides together.

I laid them out on my work surface just below my quilting ruler. I wanted the apron to be 22 inches wide, so I placed the 11-inch (center) directly above my center pin. Next, I pined the end of each side of the apron at the 0 and 22 inch points of the ruler. This way, I knew the apron would be in the center of the ties and would also be 22 inches long.

I then began to pin the rest of the apron to the ties. You can just pin as you go so that the apron ruffles. I found the center between two of the pins, and then pined it to the tie between the last two points pined. I just kept doing that until the whole thing was pined on. I sewed the apron to the tie, and then followed the tutorial instructions to finish.

Look at the finished aprons modeled by my Mom, MIL, and my Sweetie Husband!

I was short of fabric when I made the one on the left (in brown) so I made a larger brown strip at the bottom.

All the ladies LOVED them, especially my niece. I wish I had a photo of her cute apron but I failed to get her to model it!  

Please let me introduce myself....

So a few days ago, I FINALLY made my first blog post. I had actually been talking about having a blog for months, been planning posts in my head for weeks, and even signed up for the free blog on blogger days ago. I was in my kitchen watching my kids on the computers and said to myself, “Now is a great time to get that first post done”. I finished it after bedtime and posted that puppy!

Now, I’m going to take a step back and tell you why I wanted this blog, and what I want to do. A year ago, I discovered pintrest, and became obsessed with all the projects that I was finding for my family and myself.  For Christmas, I made beanbag chairs and aprons for the Sweetie P’s, tried new recipes, and gave the Sweeties new art projects and activities to do. It was awesome.

But after awhile, I felt left out of some of the fun. I wanted others to see how MY projects turned out, how I tweaked them to work for us, and stuff I came up with all on my own. I wanted to brag about my work as I had read others doing. I wanted to be pined in pintrest!

So here I am, attempting to fill some blog pages with my own homespun creativity. I’d like to include my attempts to get the Sweets to eat better, my attempted quilting and sewing projects, cool stuff I do for the kids, and my obsession documenting our lives with Project Life. I hope others will enjoy some of it, but really, it is a place for me to brag a little about myself, and give me something to keep my brain busy.

Why did I call my blog “My Sweetie P Garden”?  Well, I have four children, and I lovingly call each of them “Sweetie P” all the time. Our first born (Big Sweetie P) is 5, the twins (Middle P’s) are 3, and our bonus baby (Littlest SP) is a year old. We are busy around here!  They are all growing, like a garden (get it, LOL).

Big Sweetie Eli with his little brother Declan

Delilah with her littlest P Campbell

We also have a Sweetie P Garden in the yard, but that is for another post. 

"Healthy" Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies

I found a recipe for "healthy oatmeal pumpkin cookies"  here. They sounded great, and I said to my self "maybe my Sweetie P's will love them, too!" So I baked up a batch, and they were gone in no time! 

I wouldn't really say the recipe is "healthy" ... not that I am a real expert or "into" health food. My Mom , on the other hand, has been in and out of health food since I can remember. She is always telling me about the great for you foods that she is finding out about. I have picked up a few habits from her (good and bad) over the years. I used some of them to make the cookies more "healthy" in my mind, anyway. 

I started out by using whole wheat flour instead of white, and cranberries for the chocolate chips. Don't get me wrong, I put chocolate chips in all kinds of foods to make them more fun for the kids so they ignore they have pumpkin or zucchini or beets in them. In this case, though, the cookies don't need the chocolate so all the better with cranberries! 

I also used coconut oil instead of margarine. Like I said, I'm not into health food, but I have heard some nasty things about margarine, so normally I use good old fashion butter.  My aunt was moving across country a few months ago and gave me her stash of coconut oil so I could give it a try. It is supposed to be better for you and I even heard that it can be helpful for memory. It worked out great in muffins I made with pineapple, (not to mention helped to clear up one of the Sweetie P's eczema when I slathered it on his knees) so I bought a big'ol tub at Costco. It also smells great when baking. 

Last but not least, I cut the sugar from 1 cup to 2/3 cup. With the sweet cranberries, the cookies don't need it and the Sweetie P's are sweet enough! 

So, this is what I did...

2 cups oats, uncooked (quick or old fashioned)                                                                                 1/2 cup coconut oil 

1 cup canned pumpkin   

1 egg   

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt                                              

1 cup dried cranberries

Note: The only reason I left out the O.J. is that I didn't have any on hand. 

Pre-heat oven to 350.

I started by mixing the pumpkin, coconut oil, egg, and sugar in the mixer.  Next, add the oats and mix. 

I mixed the flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in s small bowl, then dumped it and a mixed well. Stir in cranberries. 

I lightly sprayed the cookie sheet with Pam, but I'm not sure you need it. Using a small scoop, I plopped a dozen cookies onto the cookie sheet and baked for 12 min or so. They were soft, but I made sure they were cooked in the middle. 

You'll notice that some of the cookies are flat, others in the hump shape of the scoop. My biggest "SP" like to have them flattened, but sometimes I forget. 

I got about 2.5 dozen for the recipe, and half were gone before  I got the last batch out of the oven!