The apron that started it all

Looking at a vintage apron pattern at another blog is what inspired me to start this blog. I knew I had the pattern, the apron and photos. Last night I found another photo of that apron when it was still getting heavy use for carving a turkey while wearing an ivory sweater and broomstick skirt, so popular in the early 90s.

The copyright date on the pattern is 1966 and it is suitable for cottons, sailcloth, gingham, denim, linen, blends, poplin, etc.
We bought this house in February 1968 and probably redecorated within a year. I'm guessing that Mother made this apron as a present for Christmas 1968, and that she knew the colors of the dining room and kitchen. The dishes on the table also have the color scheme, but I think it is an accident that I was wearing summer slacks, lime green (will appear in another story), because the photo was taken in February 1969. The coffee cups are full, so someone had stopped by to see me and the babies, because my husband doesn't drink coffee.

In this bottom photograph I seem to be cleaning up the kitchen at night because the clock says it's about 8 p.m. I wouldn't have waited that long to put meat away if it were Thanksgiving, so I'm thinking this was an evening meal trifecta--two birthdays and Thanksgiving combined. We were probably planning to drive to Indianapolis to do the holiday with my husband's family, so we had our own celebration before. The children's birthdays are one year and 3 days apart and always fall Thanksgiving week. The china was already in the dishwasher, because it usually was next to the stove.

Those are the original 1939 carpenter-built cabinets, but I had had them resurfaced in 1978. They weren't standard sizes like we have today. We lived there 34 years, and if you stay in a house long enough you'll go through several color schemes and remodelings. This is the fourth color scheme and wall paper grouping.

The watercolor on the wall of two small children fishing off a pier reminds me that I painted in the mid-70s and then quit for 25 years because I didn't get any better. Once I retired, I didn't care about that and took up painting again.

The new owners knocked out walls and made a huge professional kitchen, spending I'm guessing $50,000, and then got a divorce and sold the house. The three signs of a marriage in trouble are 1) a new sports car for the husband, 2) an expensive get-away vacation, and 3) a ridiculous remodeling project for the wife.