For all those who come to this happy place, Welcome!

I am hosting a giveaway on my other blog, The Secret Stitch Club. It is a double sided apron made by me. Follow this link to enter (Sorry entries on this site won't count)

Yeah!! I just joined the Secret Stitch Etsy site . I made 3 bath aprons, if your wondering what that is - basically an apparatus to keep you dry while your kids get clean & then use it to dry them off once they finish. You can see them if you look to the right ( red , blue , and cream towelish looking aprons) aren't they pretty? Okay so to celebrate I'm giving away this kids apron that I made o n the SSC site and Christie is giving away a lime colored apron she made adult sized. You can't enter the giveaway here - You have to go to the SSC page and leave a comment. I hope you win!!

"Who knew that sewing would make me ... feel happy, feel like myself , give me a sense of accomplishment and purpose, help me be more patient and content. Who knew some simple stitches could complete your life? :) Maybe that's how it is in life, you need to find your own "stitches" whether its cooking, sewing, writing, organizing, scrapbooking, it's something and its YOURS. So, I'm grateful today that I was able to enjoy some simple stitches last night that put a smile on my face." - Stacey Reed

We opened our Etsy shop today - and to celebrate we are giving away this apron. Just go over to the SSC site and leave a comment . In fact you can enter up to 3 times . Leave a comment on the SSC post, email a few of your friends to tell them about it, and or blog about it. So cool.  Here is a link to our Etsy site.   Christie & Jill have made a bunch of cute things! I haven't made anything for it yet. I have 4 half-finished aprons and I will post them once I finish up with school (I have to stay focused - as hard as it is sometimes)

this is the survey for my thesis, the first part is a disclaimer... yada, yada, yada  if you didn't email me but are interested in taking the survey perusing it over - I will love you forever & your childrens children - Please copy & paste it into an email and send it to: maren_buchanan at yahoo {dot} com Survey for SSC Thesis Paper Maren Buchanan 3/21/2009 Thank you for volunteering for this survey. Your answers will help me to get a better understanding/feel for the relationship that you have with blogs, online/offline relationships, and your creative outlet (ie sewing, scrapbooking, etc.). Any information that I obtain will be used for academic purposes. Please complete the survey as well as you can. If you have any comments, do not understand what I am getting at, or need further clarification, you can email me or respond to that effect on your survey. If there is anything you don’t want to answer just state that, please don’t leave any blanks. Completion of this surve...

So I just posted this on the SSC , but I'm posting it here as well. As many of you know, (or not know) I'm in my last semester of grad school at ASU. Right now I'm working on my thesis, the title is "Those who stitch together, stay together; the modern June Cleaver's Relationship with online group blogging and an offline social sewing community"...  So basically I'm examining a women's community's relationship between blogging online and offline social connections. I'm focusing on the SSC , but I'm also looking for some other outside perspectives. SO this is where you come in. I'm looking for willing blog readers, stalkers, lurkers, friends, or relatives (like they read my blog by choice) who will fill out a survey for me in the next few days and have it back to me in a week or so. You just need to be a wife, mother, grandmother with a creative outlet (sewing, scrapbooking, cleaning, etc.) and a blog. Are you up for it? If your in just ...

So we are hosting our first FREE giveaway on the SSC (Secret Stitch Club) site, which I am a proud member of. The author of the book featured below gave us a free copy to give away... (she's kind of a celeb in the apron blogosphere subculture). Anyway, what I'm more excited about is the stink'n cute apron I made to giveaway with the book. This is our first combined project and launching point for Christie, Jill & I, (we will hopefully be opening an Etsy site next month to sell these suckers for actual money)   Okay so one reason I love this apron is that it is green . Let me hug a tree for a minute and tell you how cool this apron is. The book is about vintage kitchen linens, and this apron is made from r epurposed household linens . The main white section came from a laundry room curtain , it has the sweetest white on white flowers along the bottom. The red gingham ties and bottom ruffle are a repurposed bed sheet . How cool is that? This apron has a generous fit (I...

Calling all apron lovers (aka dorks)! Get you Apron Pride t-shirts.  Aren't these t-shirts so much fun? My friend Christie designed them. And people have actually asked us if they could buy one (weird, I know. If you want one click on the link at the right side of this screen, if you can't find the link - you've spent too much time on the internet and should probably put down your mouse and go read a book)  I have to explain where the name ( Apron Dorks ) originated from: My sister-in-law invited me to a "come-buy-stuff-so-I-can-get-free-junk" kickback party at her house a couple years ago and I took my friend Rachel with me, when Ashley first saw Rachel she didn't offer the usual (Hi. Nice to meet you, bla , bla , bla ) - she said, "Are you one of those apron dorks?" Well, we embraced the term and if you've spent any late nights sewing with us, you would know we proudly own the term. It doesn't get much more slap happy or dorkier the...