Let's talk about Homespun

Homespun is a loosely woven, slightly rough textured cotton cloth. It is named such as it was originally cloth that was spun at home using natural fibers and dyed using vegatable dyes. It was made from wool, cotton or flax. It was available in earth tones as that reflects the natural dyes found outside the home.

Today's commercially available Homespun is typically made of cotton. It is very comfortable and soft to wear. It is amazingly absorbant as it is the very fabric we love as dishtowels. The Homespun Apron will soak up a spill, hopefully, before any of it ever gets to your clothes. As an Apron, Homespun makes for a good protector.

Unlike printed fabric, with Homespun, the threads are dyed before the fabric is woven so the fabric looks the same on front and back. It is still available in subdued earth tone colors of mini stripes, plaids and solids. Perfect for the country home, the country kitchen or country woman.

Here is our list of Favorite Homespun traits.

• It will fade after seasons in the sun, looking beloved and useful.


• It will become softer with repeated washings, becoming even more comfy.


• It is very strong and can carry potatoes, lots of them.


• It washes out muddy dirt easily.


• It isn't afraid of mud, dirt, rain or sleet, like the Mailman.


• It does freeze when forgotten in a snowbank.


• It does defrost.


• It does recover.


• A Homespun Apron will live with you forever.

We love Homespun. Half our Aprons are made of Homespun.

Vermont Flower Show

  I am so ready for green grass, warm winds and splatters of color poised delightfully in clearly defined stoned-edged rows, and the chirps and clucks and buzzing sounds that fill the air in a soaring symphony in spring. Come spring, I will be a happy woman. But it is only March. Green is far away still.
   This is where The Vermont Flower Show saves my heart from sinking into a forlorn wintery slumber. For one long weekend, I get to sit amongst perfectly bloomed flowers poised confidently above a bed of the greenest grass. I may walk stone paths and step daintily across little wooden bridges, brought indoors to awaken our senses and remind us that Spring does lay upon the horizon.
   I may not hear birds or bees or see a harmful hornet, but my eyes will delight in what lays before me for this long weekend. Thank you Vermont Flower Show, for reminding my cold winter's heart that warm, spring breezes await me and that it is time to start the earliest seeds so that when my land thaws, I will have something from my hand to add to its awakened sleep.
   Do your heart some good, bring delight to your senses, Come visit The Vermont Flower Show this weekend. We hope to see you there!

I want to know more about The Vermont Flower Show!

Apron Ties

 We're keeping our Apron ties long and wide.

Simple strings won't serve their purpose, if what you carry in your apron has any weight. The strings will cut into the waist.  Our wide ties hold weight comfortably and evenly around the waist. They are also are soft and won't impede the movement of your body as you work.

The length of our ties gives you the opportunity to knot them in the back or front creating a place to tuck in a cleaning cloth, drying towels or apron corners. The added length also allows for a very generous fit for all sizes.

             

So, long, wide ties are a definate keeper for 2011.  They help hold weight evenly,

 they make the apron fit better and help you be more comfortable.

 And we want you to be able to have a happy, comfy day in your Apron.

Gardeners Apron - Ruffled

I designed the Gardener's Apron to hold seed packs neatly in place and also my trowel. I chose homespun as it's a good work-in-the-mud fabric. The design works well but some years my exuberance for gardening finds me with a lot, a very large lot of seed packs, then add, the trowel, popsicle sticks and marker, a water bottle and the cell. I needed more room. 

 And it would be nice to make it more feminine, if I could.

So here is where I am. The new pocket is twice the width and ruffled to make it easy to use. It is stitched to make it actually three pockets instead of one large one. It holds large things, like an apple for a snack, a bottle of water and all the seed packs so I don't have to leave the garden for hours, and isn't that a nice thing.

Keeping Stock

    Every year we take a fresh look at our product in order to grow and meet the needs of our customers. One element that does not change for us is our womens pocket. It is big enough to hold your stuff and we ruffled it to make it pretty.

     Women carry things, Women have always been the keeper and carrier of things. From mini-tissue packs to pacifiers to mints to someones crayons, the thermometer and medicine and todays cell phone, women are the keepers and the organizers of the day. Our two big pockets will remain on every womens apron.

Take our short half Apron shopping. The pockets will hold your wallet, coupons, keys and cell phone. Shop hands and pocketbook free.

    

   Just wear your apron and let it be your second set of hands.

After all, life is easier in an apron.

What's in your Apron?

This past summer spiders from all corners of New England decided to throw a party in our yard.  They were swinging from 2-5 feet long webs that were draped across trellis, bushes, trees and anything that stayed still long enough to be covered.  My neighbor’s gardens seemed to remain unscathed.  There is no doubt in my mind that our house was targeted. 

Beetles, of unprecedented size and verve, were rampant this year.  They’re known to be belligerent guests to begin with but I have to say they were particularly stubborn.  I assume they formed a pact when they took on the task of taking down an entire row of my roses.  At one point my climbing rose simply bent down submissively and surrendered! 

    We had tomato horn worms the size of my pinky finger-with poop almost as large.  Defecation in the bug world is not a graceful matter.  When you have animals and insects in your garden, you can usually count on the little critters to leave something unflattering behind. 

Every living thing needs shelter and food.  You can’t garden without gaining a respect for Mother Nature.

I do not begrudge the cottontails in my yard and we’ve worked out a very civilized system where I happily give a portion of my produce in return for the same respect.  I have always found rabbits to be quite reasonable. 

 This year it was not about the spiders, beetles or the rabbits.  It was a little bit about the tomato worm but I found a friend in a certain wasp that took care of that problem for me. 

This year we had our hands full with a family of chipmunks.  Take it from me-these are not easy creatures to get along with. 

I know what you are thinking. Like you, I always thought they were cute and relatively harmless.  That’s what they want you to believe.  They have a very good public relations persona. 

They ate about two dozens of our precious native tomatoes and burrowed in nearly all of our raised beds.  What is worse is when I first spotted their hole this past spring I actually worked around it…again, thinking they were cute.  Oh but I learned.  I vowed never to be so naïve again.

Two rolls of screen fencing, chipmunk-be-gone flakes (with fox urine), hot peppers, garlic, and moth balls and still they kept coming.

It is now the tail end of the season; so to speak. 

The pocket of my apron has a stench that could clear a man’s sinuses from twenty feet and what do I see as I round the corner to my front yard but two new, very large, chipmunk holes. 

I guess nature takes its course, but no matter what anyone tells me; I am absolutely certain that they gathering the troops in there for next year.