Are you there God? It's me, Fern.

So far I've made two things for my mom, who's extremely crafty (I never tire of bragging that one of her quilts won a blue ribbon at the Michigan State Fair, though part of the reason I like talking about it is that it makes it seem that I had a far more Charlotte's Web-style childhood than I did). She taught me how to sew ages ago and gave me a sewing machine for Christmas last year. Despite her generally critical nature and high standards for craftship, she's a good gift recipient and kindly overlooks all the flaws and mistakes.

I just finished making her this apron, which she hasn't received yet:



For an apron it's kind of pedantic, what with the letters and yardsticks and all. It's from reprodepot, but they're out of this fabric now. I like how clean and odd it is. The yardstick straps are from the trim that ran along each edge of the fabric for some reason.

For Mother's Day I made her the garden tote from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing book. The outside fabric comes from a vintage kimono and the yellow gingham lining is from Joann's. There's also a heavy white denim layer between the kimono and the gingham to make it stronger because I can't stand the feel of flimsy homemade bags. My dad took these photos:



I'm really happy with how the bag turned out (it was hard to think of the best ways to use the kimono pattern). I love searching flickr for photos tagged "jansdotter" because there are all sorts of photos of things people have made from her book (including some really lovely and humbling versions of this bag). I'm thinking of making the sunhat next, but I'm a bit afraid I'd look like a dowdy baby with accelerated decrepitude or like Laura Ingalls if she took up golf (it's kind of a modern bonnet).