Goodwill to Good Lookin': Cross Stitch Table Cloth

Many of our aprons are up-cycled from vintage and re-purposed materials and we wanted to show you guys a little more insight into our process. Our latest apron started out as a sage green vintage table cloth with a hand cross-stitched floral design, in green and white, in the middle and at the corners of the table cloth. We cut the table cloth in half to use one half as the skirt of the apron.

The wavy table cloth edge adds a flirty touch to the hem.

From the remaining half we used one corner of the table cloth to make a pocket, with a folded down top that we embellished with a re-purposed button. The pocket is edged with a decorative stitch which compliments the original stitching of the fabric.

The flower shaped button is the cherry on top of this apron.

We finished the piece with a waistband of sage and cream polka dot cotton which is attached to the skirt with the same decorative stitch used on the pockets. The final result is a very cute, flirty apron that speaks to this springs farmhouse, shabby chic trends.

Garden Greens Cross-Stitched Apron

Go Team(s)!

This week we've been featured in a couple team lovin' treasuries that are just gorgeous. The first is made by our fellow Retro Handmade Team member, meaicp. Meaicp sells some awesome vintage style corsages, along with some downright stunning fabrics.

We were also featured in a treasury showcasing members of the EtsyRAIN Team by Andrea over at Beadmask. Andrea's shop is full of beautiful masks, jewelry and hair accessories.

And last but certainly not least we were featured in a treasury that isn't for a team, but celebrates our favorite accessory: the apron! This collection is by Etsy user 2TomorrowsTreaures who sells quilts, aprons and other crafts.

Mandy's Bytes: No Fry Crab Rangoons

I don't know about you guys, but whenever I attempt making fried food, I always end up getting oil burns and those aren't fun. So I was pretty excited when Cami and I found this great recipe on Allrecipes.com for baked Crab Rangoons. Not only is it a healthier option, it's also much safer for those of us with a fear of frying.

- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
- 1 (6 ounce) can crabmeat, drained and flaked
- 2 green onions with tops, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 48 wonton wrappers

Since these are baked instead of fried, the first step you can take is to preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Get out a decent sized bowl to mix the filling in and after you've drained the crab put it into your mixing bowl. You can use a fork to flake the crab into small bits.

Next you want to add to the mixing bowl the cream cheese, chopped green onions, minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce. Don't make the same mistake we did, adding 2 tsp soy sauce, and 1/2 tsp Worcestershire, ours came out a wee bit salty (but still delicious). We also had to substitute about a teaspoon of garlic powder for the fresh garlic, which worked just as well.

We tried mixing the filling together with a whisk, but it just ended up getting all stuck inside the whisk, so a fork or spoon is really all you need. Or if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, just squish it all together with your fingers.

When you're filling the wrappers, you can make them pretty much any shape you want, a purse or a triangle like the original recipe, we chose to do a wonton type pinched triangle shape. Drop about a heaping teaspoon of filling onto each wrapper, wet the edges with water and pinch together with a fork or your fingers. Make sure to get a really good seal or the filling can make quite a mess on the baking sheet.

Get a baking sheet ready and spray it with cooking spray, then you can line up your rangoons, they can be fairly close together on the sheet, and we managed to fit the whole batch on one sheet. The recipe calls for 48 wrapper, but we only ended up with 31 rangoons.

After you have them all on the sheet give them another good coating of cooking spray, and bake them for 12 to 15 minutes. Take them out when the edges of the wrappers are golden brown. You can serve these with any sauce you want, my personal favorite is a Sweet Chili Sauce, and they are shown here with Black Bean Garlic Sauce.

These were a delicious treat, and a healthier alternative to their greasy take-out counterparts.

Organization and Inspiration

To celebrate the end of Cami's perpetual busyness (Pharmacy rotations) we spent some time cleaning out our workspace and re-organizing our fabric stash to get some inspiration. Here are a few of the sets of fabric we paired together.

 

Vintage Floral Linens, Sage Polka Dot, and Yellow Floral Print

Violet Floral Print, Lavender and Yellow Up-Cycled Linens

Up-Cycled Linens in Circle Print, Yellow and Green

Vintage Floral Fabric, Yellow and Green Up-Cycled Linens

Green and Red Floral, Cream Linen-look Cotton, and Green Up-Cycled Linens

Jenny, who runs the Etsy shop A Bird in the Hand Art, has also used this fabric in some beautiful fabric decoupage jewelry. I guess great minds think alike at the fabric store.

Striped Canvas, Sage Polka Dot, and Up-Cycled Aqua Linens

Our Black and White Collection

Up-cycled Aqua and Lime Linens, and Yarn Skein Print Cotton

The last is what really caught our eye as the project to take on for the day. So we set to work with the help of Cami's cats Kermit, who watched over the work table, keeping us on task.

Kermit, Productivity Manager

We also had the assistance of Calypso, who makes sure our scraps and thread clippings are properly disposed of.

Calypso, Head of Waste Management

I managed to get photographs of the finished product today in a tiny window of good weather, before the rain started up again.

Knitter's Dream in Aqua and Green

We hope you enjoyed the sneak peak into our stash, which combination is your favorite?

Marie Antionette Meets Martha Stewart

This weeks inspiration item over at the Treasury NonTeam Challenge was a very cute cake stand, which got me thinking about cake, and how tasty it is, and the result is this fun treasury which is our entry for this weeks challenge.