Getting in touch with my inner Domestic Goddess...

So, thanks to my good friend Emily, I've learned a couple of new skills lately, and I had to share my (really, our) handiwork. First, the ladies in our ward got together for Girls Night a couple of times to make aprons. The first night, I just went for the conversation--I've never really sewn before and didn't want to ruin someone else's evening by having them help me do basic sewing. However, Emily took me under her wing, and I got to do some of the sewing on her apron. Several other ladies needed more time to finish and decided to meet again later, so Emily told me to get material and she would help me make my own apron. I was excited, but nervous too.

So, the night came and I got all the pieces cut out for my apron but didn't have time to sew them together, so I went back to Emily's house the next day to finish. She showed me how to do each of the steps, and then I sewed it all together. And here is the finished product:

And, it's reversible too!

When Gracie saw Dave taking pictures of me, she had to try the apron on too, so we cinched (sp?) it up and it looked pretty darn cute!

I won't show any up-close photos, because the seams are really quite crooked, but I was very pleased overall with how my first sewing project turned out. :)

Our next project was making strawberry jam. I've always wanted to know how to can and preserve food, but haven't had much chance to learn, so I asked if I could "tag along" on any projects Emily had planned for the summer. (Since I'm a Young Women leader in our church, I'm working on the leader Personal Progress program and am doing canning/preserving as one of my 10-hour projects.) Well, there's a beautiful strawberry patch in town, and they sell the most delicious strawberries, so we decided to make strawberry jam. We each bought a full box of strawberries (which is 12 little baskets--I'm not sure how many pounds), pectin, lots of sugar, and got to work! In about 3 hours' time, I had 19 1/2 jars of jam, and was very excited! Here's a picture, just to prove it:

(I gave a few jars away, and two jars are in our fridge)

It felt really good to learn a new skill and add to our food storage at the same time. I'm very excited to do more projects as more fruits and vegetables become available. Thanks for being a great teacher, Emily!