Quick Takes Volume 10: The Apron Edition*

1.

That Jennifer Fulwiler! Not only has she got me using a Template....this week I've gone Apron Mad!

2.

Do you remember Jen's article in the Register where she came up with the amazing invention of a garment to keep our clothes clean during our daily toil....and then realised that it had already been invented?. I laughed heartily at this, looked wistfully at the 2 functional, oversized and, let's face it, gender- neutral, aprons I had, and sighed.

3.

Did you know that I won one of those aprons in a Twitter competition hosted by the chef Jamie Oliver? Who also follows me on Twitter because I won the weekly competition? (Just sayin'.)

4.

Did you know that like us Jamie Oliver ALSO has two big girls close together in age, then a gap, then another girl, like we do (and has since gone on to have a baby boy, which may or not be on the cards for us, I have no way of knowing at this time!)

5.

Anyway, I digress. We're doing aprons. Now then, before I moved house, my dear mother-in-law tried to gift me with a recipe book she had purchased from a Marie Curie Cancer Care charity event. Ever ungrateful, I handed it back (I was moving house! I wanted to declutter, not spread out!) - so she thoughtfully wrapped it up for me to open on Christmas Day. The salient part here is the fascinating panel towards the end of the recipe book which contains the 'poem', "Grandma's Apron". And I quote:

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.. And when the weather was cold Grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the autumn, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron!

I see this has been reproduced on more than a few blogs over time and I'd be happy to copyright it if I knew where it originated from.  

6.

Inspired by the stuff Jen said, and the slices of loveliness served up by Hallie Lord and her personal shopping service, and the fact that finally, finally, I purchased some pieces of clothing for myself last week when the children weren't around, and I felt so good about them, I found this website and ordered myself a new apron.

7.

Ta-da!!! Yes, I am now a proud owner of one of these from The Apron Store, and it has made me very, very, happy! And can I just say - I had NO IDEA how many lovely aprons were available from just one shop (and they have not paid me to say any of this!)

* with thanks to Jen Fulwiler @ ConversionDiary.com for hosting - head over there now and read a whole load of other Quick Takes!