The Shoe Bag Day ...

Today was the shoe-bag day! I took photos and posted my sets of shoe bags on my Etsy page. And I also mailed out an apron to Vermont .... It was ordered by a really nice lady from Florida who was buying it for a girlfriend of hers in Vermont for her birthday. I do so hope she likes it.

On Tuesday I also made a new airplane travel bag for myself. It always seems that I'm making for others and just occasionally the worm turns and I need to make something for myself!

So a wonderful purple bag was created .... I also made myself a pillowcase for my small feather travel pillow. I need to be comfortable when flying! And overnight flights to Europe are hard enough anyway so you have to make sure you have something soft to rest your head on. The photo makes it look sort of blue, but it is an amazing rich purple. I am very fond of purple.

Have a great day!

Why the Aprons and Why "My Grandmother's Apron" ...

A little bit of history ...

I was lucky enough to have the most wonderful grandmother. We all (even our friends) called her Grandma, my mother's mother. She lived in a beautiful stone house in the wilds of the Peak District - a region in the northern part of England. It is lonely and lovely all times of the year, and my sister and I would visit my Grandma and Grandad several times a year. But we always went for two weeks during the summer holidays. My memories of her are almost always of her wearing an apron. In fact I think the only times she didn't was on her weekly visit to the local town on market day and when she was at my sister's wedding! In the house she was always, and I mean always, in an apron. She had the most incredible gift for making perfect pastry and most fortunately I have to some extent inherited it - not quite as perfect, but even if I do say so myself, pretty darned good.

The most wonderful thing about her, though, was her amazing gift of hospitality. She always had time for people and for sharing her baked goods. When the milkman or the postman called she always invited them in for a cup of tea and a scone, or a piece of shortbread, a teacake, a piece of sponge or something that was waiting in the tin, ready baked. "Hello Mrs Ball" they would say as they came through the ever-unlocked door and she would reply "Come in - the kettle's on ..."

She was endlessly interested in people and about them and their lives - not in a gossipy unkind fashion - but in a caring and loving way and she genuinely wanted people to be happy and content. It was a busy country life looking after her family, her children and later her grandchildren. My cousins and I so often share memories of our Grandma and they are always incredibly fond ones - particularly her legendary meat and potato pie with the shortest of short crust pastry lids on top.

So my shop is called "My Grandmother's Apron" in honour of her and the values she stood for - family, friends and the spirit of welcome. The creation of aprons seemed to me to honour her memory in the most fundamental way - and wearing an apron in my home connects me to her through the generations.

I invite you to share a part of her when you wear one of my aprons.

Our First Craft Show!

L-R - Maika, Julia and Chantal


The three of us were preparing for weeks for our first craft show.  We were nervous - would people come - and anxious - would people buy our products?  We needn't have worried ..... The people came and the people bought!


We were really pleased with our first try at a craft show.  We'd been given pocket money to buy lunch by one of our husbands so, armed with food, drinks and, most importantly, our crafts, we headed to Mississauga early on Saturday 20th November.  We set up our stall and tweaked and adjusted to make it all look lovely, and we were delighted with how it looked. We had lots of compliments as we arranged it all, and even more compliments when we put on our uniforms!  We all had dressed in cream turtlenecks and jeans and we had matching aprons to complete the look.  


There were some other nice stalls there - and a super bakery from Etobicoke called "More than Pies" who kindly gave us some of their products to try.  Their ginger cookies and butter tart squares were amazing!


Since our first experience is now behind us we are looking forward to planning to participate at more shows and have already started work on replenishing our stock.