Down By the Wild Blue Sea, How Happy We Could Be !

So the package from Arlene containing the apron she made me for our Canadian Chickies Mother of All Apron swaps came yesterday. I deliberately waited until David got home so he could take pictures of me opening the package. It was hard to wait !!!!

Here's me opening the envelop on the kitchen counter and starting my ooo's and ahhh's right away.

I put the beautiful creation over my head immediately, squealing with delight when I saw the mermaid-me on the top !

Even Chica and Azzy came to check out why I was making such and excited fuss !

Check this gorgeous, perfectly me, mermaid-a-riffic thing out !

Looking at it upside down, I started to notice all the little details Arlene has put into my sweet gift. Buttons, shells, pebbles, Spanish Loteria cards, beads, sequins...

This is my face when I read what was stamped in amazingly arty letters at the bottom of the apron.

These are the tears I cried when I explained to David how touched I was by what Arlene has inscribed on her mistress-piece of an apron.

It reads :

"Down By

The Wild

Blue Sea,

A

Mermaid

Came & Spoke

To Me."

Why did that make me cry ?

Because I felt really heard. Arlene knows I love mermaids and the ocean, but she also read and left a sweet comment on my blog post about meeting a mermaid on Hampton Beach. She heard me, she gets me, and she put all of that into a piece of art that she made just for me. All of this from a woman I have never seen in person. It just touched me so much that someone could see and hear my heart so well ! It made me feel so wonderfully loved.

I wiped off the tears and David and I headed outside to get a couple more shots on the back deck.

I am in love with every blue-green, gauzy, luscious, beaded, Arlene-a-fied thread of this apron!

I know I am a lucky, lucky Queen indeed !

Got up this fine Friday morning and put on my coziest sweat pants, my navy blue long sleeved t-shirt and my "Mer-Kim" Apron...oh and a big smile ! That's my uniform today and guess what ?

I feel BEAUTIFUL !

Thank you, my friend, Arlene ! Have a great weekend, all you Beauties !

The Mother of All Apron Swap !

Remember when I teased you all a while back with this :

Those were two detailed shots for the apron I was working on for the Canadian Chickies Mother of All Apron Swap. Each one of us in the group was to make an apron for a partner. My partner was the lovely, sweet, supportive, talented and kind, Arlene from ArtdeMe.

I am not much of a seamstress but I was super pleased with how my apron turned out. I hand-painted the background pieces with fabric paints, using hand-carved rubber stamps and a bunch of stencils. I then appliqued cotton quilting fabrics with crazy zigzag stitches to recreate the design from this "Hope" card I made recently for another Blogland friend.

Here is what the apron looked like before I finished sewing :

And here is what it looks like on my perfect apron model, Arlene in Edmonton, Alberta ! (Yes, that is a "Starry Night" chair beside her - painted by the talented Dawn Supina, who is our swap hostess extraordinaire !)

Arlene loves her apron ! She even thinks it has magical healing powers.

She called it the "Apron of Hope" in her email to me with the pictures. Maybe there was a little white witch magic in it from the Queen. ;-) There was a lot of love put into it, that is for sure ! I am so proud of how it turned out and so glad it made Arlene feel so good !

Arlene has created an apron for me too and it is winging its way to me as we speak ! Such a beautiful thing, sharing the creative joy and artist love all around !

This is wonderful bunch of women that I get to play with ! Lucky Queen, don't you think ?

Easter Sunday Soggy Doggy Adventures and Sneak Peak

So my pal Suzanne, the dogs and I had a lovely weekend together, with my sweet hubby popping in and out of the picture as he worked on a big project that will be named later in the basement. Saturday was supposed to be our "going to the beach day" but the weather was so raw, cold and rainy that we did what we do best instead...shopped, of course !

Easter Sunday was bright and sunny but still cold (30 DEGREES IN THE AM !) so it looked like we were going to miss out on the beach. Then I thought, you know what ? We are both Canadian chicks who have braved a lot worse cold than this and the dogs don't mind the cold. Let'd bundle up and go ! So go we did !

This was Sam's first trip to the ocean. Chica showed him how it is done !

After a little bit of trepidation,

he got the hang of things just fine !

And my girl kept us busy throwing that yellow ball into

the surf every ten seconds, like usual !

It was a nice adventure for all of us ! I feel really lucky to have the Hampton Beach just a half hour away from us. I am not into the summer time crowds there but the off-season allows for soggy doggy fun that I really love. It ended up to be not so cold either, as long as we were bundled up like the good Canadian Chicks we are ! I think we have a new Beach-lover convert in Sam now, too !

Besides the wonderful girlfriend time this weekend, I have been busily working on a very special project for a swap with my gang of Canadian Artist Chicks. We are about to exchange our aprons for "The Mother of All Aprons" exchange for this Mother's Day. We only had to make one apron (A good thing for slow sewer novice that I am!) for one partner in thie swap. I am paired up with the lovely Arlene from ArtdeMe who is my blogfriend that brought me into this great group of talented ladies !

I can't show you the whole apron yet as it is a surprise for Arlene ! I have some finishing sewing left and then it will be in the mail, on it's way to Arlene by Wednesday. Here is a cropped sneak peak from two different areas on the apron :

I am so excited about this exchange ! The apron is turning out a million times better than I ever could have imagined ! I know Arlene will love it. I want one for myself now but this one is one of a kind ! Plus, I am lucky enough to be receiving my very own Mother of All Aprons from Arlene in return. Such fun !

So off to do some sewing... Meditation class tonight too, which is turning out to be a great gift to myself ! Happy Monday, all, and remember to take the time to breathe...