I signed up for a Celebrate Summer Swap that was on Inspired Mama Musings blog. We had to send a summer decoration, a recipe and share how we celebrate summer.

I made this apron from the Bend-the-Rules Sewing book (Another project from that book!) The fabric is some fabric I won from Sew, Mama, Sew. I'd been holding on to it waiting for the perfect project and this was it.

I also made my swap partner these appliqued tea towels. I used my flip-flop template from for one tea towel. For the other one I had some fabric that had various sized flowers on it and I cut out a bunch of the flowers and figured out placement. Then I sewed a line on the towel for each stem and appliqued the flowers on the towel. I decided I needed leaves for some of the stems and found some green paisley scraps in my scrap stash. I just drew up a leaf shape and cut the shapes out of the fabric and appliqued on the towel. I love these how these towels turned out. Now I need to make some for myself!

My partner for this swap made me the most beautiful cards. They are so pretty I just want keep them to look at! She also sent me some gorgeous fabric and a recipe for Eggplant Parmesan. It sounds yummy - now to trick the family into thinking it's something else so they will at least try it!

I really enjoyed this swap and there will be an Autumn round of this swap too.

Free Applique Pattern

This is the appliqued t-shirt made for my daughter for Easter by me (t-shirt is purchased and the applique is done by me). She loves flip-flops and is starting to love other shoes too. The fabric is from some scraps left over from a beach bag I made a few years ago. The ribbon is from my stash/collection.

This t-shirt I wanted to give my daughter for Easter, but ran out of time to get it done. Last year for Easter she got a t-shirt with a guitar appliqued on it (by me), but it's too small now. She had hinted around that she would love another guitar t-shirt. The fabric is also from my scraps.

I have a pattern for both of these appliques that you can download here. For the flip-flops I appliqued the shoes to the t-shirt and then added the ribbon. There is a great tutorial over at the Sew, Mama, Sew blog if you are new to applique or need some tips and pointers.