"Ugliest Damn Apron"

Well, I sent this apron to Marcel (Aunt Pitty Pat's). And it was hard to put it in the mail, 'cause I just wanted to keep it! When I wrote to her to say I had put it in the mail, she mumbled something about how she was sure she would like it. I wrote back and said "Well....ya know.....there's always the chance you will think it's the ugliest apron ever! It's possible! If that's the case, I'll want you to be sure to pack it right back up, let me know so I can send return postage, and mail it back to me. Actually, I'm pretty sure that's what's going to happen, yep. Dang, I should have included return postage in the package when I mailed it. Better yet, I probably should have just kept the ugly old thing right here with me and not assaulted your eyes with it :-)" Well, she received the apron today...and look at the e-mail she sent me:
"Nadine... the apron came and its the ugliest damn thing I have ever seen!!!" Of course, she followed that by saying that if I really thought she meant that, she was gonna come put a "pop knot" on my head for even thinking that, LOL! Now, I don't know what a "pop knot" is for sure, but it doesn't sound good, haha! Here's the apron:

Now, there's a story behind this apron. I had ORIGINALLY made her a DIFFERENT apron. It was a fine apron. Nothing wrong with it. Had pink ball fringe, two layers - it was the A Is For Apron "Cakeland" apron. Did I mention it was fine? Of course, "fine" is not GREAT, but "fine" is pretty good. So then for the extras. I've been making some kind of a bag to put the apron and other goodies in to mail out. So...what to make...what to make? I didn't have enough of the apron fabric leftover to really do justice to any kind of bag.

And then I thought - well, heck I guess it doesn't HAVE to be the same fabric, does it? And I had some really fun fabric that I'd gotten awhile back from our local quilt shop. Did anyone catch those "Moda Good to the Last Swatch Scrap Bag" things - they contain approximately "40 color coordinated selvage strips" in a little brown bag for $9.99. Each bag equals about 2 1/3 yards of fabric. They are what's left over from making the 5" squares for Charm Packs. So, they are 40+ one yard long strips, 2 to 4 inches in width, representing the "edges" on each side of the lengthwise portion of fabric, and include both selvages - the "plain" one and the one with the maker's marks on them. They are cuter than snot :-) And I know about snot, because I've had a nasty cold/flu bug for over a week now!

I had bought all five of the available assortments (five little brown bags) and one was Valentine fabrics - again, they are all coordinated so you can just toss 'em together. So I decided to make a bag from those strips (rather than hoarding them until they rot into the ground like I tend to do with some fabric - "Oh, but if I use them, then they'll be gone and I won't have them anymore!!!" hahaha). Well, the bag turned out soooo darned cute that the original apron just looked like poop to me. Soooooo THAT apron is languishing in a corner, and I made a totally NEW apron using the strips. Hubby actually helped with the "planning" because I didn't use a pattern and he had some good ideas. I got both the bag and an apron out of the little brown bag, and I STILL have some left over! I'm thinking that $9.99 was a pretty good deal! I added some elegant black chiffon ruffle to the hem. Notice the ties are made with the selvages showing:

And I used some of the selvages in collage for the pocket:

Here's the bag:

And a close-up of the fabric flower on the bag, with buttons-and-pearls stamens spilling out of it - heck, I just make this stuff up sometimes! Must be the two glasses of wine I had.....

I added one of my "Weads" necklaces in a ribbon bag, and also a copy of Apronology. Now, is that just the ugliest damned apron you've ever seen, or what?