Quilting and Chocolate and Aprons–Oh My!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Quick! Make these before the new year and the subsequent new year’s resolutions start!

These delish cupcakes are just one of the dozen recipes that Jacquelynne Steves includes alongside project instructions in her recent book, Fruitful Hands. Published by Kansas City Star Quilts/Pickle Dish, the book is a collection of sewing projects and recipes, including her Sew Sweet apron and accompanying cupcakes.

Steves uses both quilting and applique to give the apron its own unique look. In fact, many of the projects she includes use more than one technique–painting, embroidery, quilting, sewing and applique. The apron has the patchwork panel and sweet cupcake appliqued to the pockets.

With some thoughtful additions of Insul-Bright or other heat-resistant fabric and a couple layers of batting, you could make the corners of the apron into potholders. Kathy from Merriment has a great tutorial on making an apron with built-in potholders.

For more creative ideas and some yummy recipes, check out Fruitful Hands. You can find out more information about the book and its author on her website. Steves also designs fabric for Henry Glass; her current collection is A Beautiful Day, full of dragonflies and kites and singing birds.

Celebrate National Tie One On Day

Apron-iCity is a proud sponsor of National Tie One On Day. Celebrated on November 25, 2009, Tie One On Day is an opportunity for people throughout the country to put the “give” back in Thanksgiving.

Here  EllynAnee Geisel shares about putting the “give” back in Thanksgiving and National Tie One Day:

Four years ago, EllynAnne Geisel was rolling dough for “one more pie” for her Thanksgiving feast, “When I suddenly took stock of the amount of food I’d prepared for the next-day’s holiday meal.” For a dozen guests, Geisel recalls, “there was just too much!” Deciding that her company “absolutely did not need another dessert choice,” she spontaneously wrapped a sweet in a handy piece of cloth…an apron. “Then I wrote Thinking of You on a notecard, and still wearing my own apron, walked out the front door.” Within a block, Geisel was presenting the wrapped treat to a very surprised neighbor, “who I’d heard was experiencing a difficult time.”

Turns out, Geisel was in for a surprise herself. “I hadn’t anticipated that acknowledging my neighbor with a baked good would have me feeling positively buoyant.”

It is that win-win for participant and receiver that Geisel is promoting through her National Tie One On Day^TM..  Celebrated on November 25, 2009, Tie One On Day is an opportunity for people throughout the country to put the “give” back in Thanksgiving.

According to Geisel, a store-bought item is as easily wrapped as homemade, “and the cloth can be anything from an apron to a napkin.”

EllynAnne’s recipe for a Lovely Lemon Bread would be perfect to wrap in your apron for a lovely gift.

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