Hot Peppers from the SW to the NW

This morning, shortly after finishing this, I talked with Tonia. (Is there anyone reading this who remembers "Talk With Tonia" and her blasted video camera?!)

T: What are you doing?
Me: Just finished making a surprise for you.
T: What is it?!
Me: If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise.
T: If I guess the color, will you at least tell me I'm right?
Me: OK.
T: Blue?
Me: Yes. (hehe...I know she's not thinking denim)
T: And white, right?! (those are the colors in her kitchen)
Me: No.
T: Oh?

We chatted a little while longer, and she actually might be close with her guess from off-the-wall clues/comments that I made. She's going to tell me what she thinks it is after she receives the package, as not to spoil the excitement of giving a gift. It really is more fun to sew for others. That must be why I've had drapery fabric and lining, still on the bolts, for over a year and and half.

A while back I came across this tutorial by Betz White and knew I had to make this apron. Rummaging through my stash, I found some Robert Kaufman fabric, a black print from "Salsa Picante." That's when I knew that this would become a gardening apron for my friend, Tonia. She's been having fun with her first garden this spring. These peppers are appropriate...a touch of the desert that she left years ago.


I loved the appliques in the tutorial, so I included peppers that I cut out of fabric scraps. I used an applique stitch from my machine, then a zigzag and another decorative stitch for the pepper stems. It really took more time deciding where to place the peppers than it did sewing them onto the apron.


I also lined the apron and used bias tape that I made out of the pepper fabric for finishing. Happy gardening, Tonia!