LindaRuthie

Member since 2/2008

I have been sewing and crafting for almost 40 years. Needless to say, I have a lovely stash of supplies that I would enjoy swapping. At the moment, I am obsessed with aprons. I have made dozens, some for gifts, some for swaps, some I sold and some for me. I'm using lots of bias tape (most aprons use about 6 yards of single fold bias tape.), rick rack and cotton prints. I love the '30s feed sack type prints and I'm always looking for kitchen and food (cherries or any fruit, tea pots, coffee cups, cute chickens) print fabric. I collect vintage apron patterns. My favorites are the farmhouse, cover-up styles. I have collected a few vintage half aprons, mostly embroidered gingham, but I don't wear them. I also enjoy card making, scrapbooking, making beaded jewelry, embroidery (chicken scratch and redwork at the moment), knitting scarves and quilting.

I live in Western Massachusetts, in the town I was born in. I've been married to my sweet hubby since 1991and my son was born in 1996. I am lucky enough to be a stay at home Mom and even luckier to be homeschooling my son. He and I enjoy mysteries, studying nature, history and collecting things vintage. We like thrift shops, flea markets and yard sales. We all like to travel, but finances keep our trips close to home (New England area). That's OK because there's plenty to see and do in New England. We keep 2 aquariums at our house. One has fish and the other, a young Eastern Painted Turtle named Neville. He was rescued from my father's pool last Spring. For anyone with allergies, my swaps will come from a smoke-free, furry pet-free home.

Most of my reading at this time is whatever we are studying for homeschool. We all love reference books at my house. I enjoy books like "Weird New England" and local history and legends, including ghost stories. My son collects vintage 'Hardy boys' books. We would love to learn about where you live. In my younger days, I'd have to say my favorite book was 'The Once and Future King'.

All-time favorite show is 'The Andy Griffith Show'. I love to learn something watching TV, so History Channel, Food Network and Discovery Channel are usually what I watch. My hubby has me hooked on 'Grey's Anatomy','Kyle XY' and 'Ghost Whisperer'. I also love 'Monk'.

I have always loved old musicals from the '40s & '50s. One of my favorite musical is 'The Slipper and the Rose'. We enjoy watching family movies like Pixar stuff, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Night at the Museum, National Treasure. I do not enjoy watching horror (makes me giggle, which annoys everyone else trying to watch.) or violence.

I grew up listening to my parents music and I still love Big Band and '50s & '60s Rock and Roll. Absolutely my favorite singer is Ella Fitzgerald, with Nat King Cole a close second. My son is hooked on The Monkees right now (got to see Mickey Dolenz in concert on 9/08), so that's usually what we listen to in the car.

I can't say there are any colors I do not like, but I prefer bright, clear colors as opposed to muted colors. I had listed favorite colors here and quite a few partners sent me things in those colors. But I found I was wanting a lot of other colors too, so no favorites.

My favorite styles of apron are 40's and 50's styles of full apron. Or 30's and 60's. :o) Any style with a bib front or a smock/cobbler apron is great. I don't wear half aprons. I love scalloped edges, POCKETS, shabby chic roses, polka dots, rick rack and unusual details. I'm not much for ruffles or anything excessively girly. I do wear an extra large (size 20) and I find that the "one size" patterns are usually too small for me. I started swapping here just so I can get enough of a rating to join the apron swaps. But I am having a blast with all my swaps!

I love buttons and any vintage sewing or embroidery patterns.I enjoy gardening in my yard. I have 25-30 different Day Lilies that I love. My favorite flowers are violets. I enjoy bird watching and try to keep the feeders in the yard full. I like Sodoku puzzles, especially if they aren't too hard. We like cards and board games and jigsaw puzzles. I enjoy nature, whether it's in my yard or walking in the woods. My favorite season is Fall. I drink coffee and tea. I like most candy but better than candy are homemade cookies. I am a cookie monster!

• I would love DIY kits for most any little craft you make. One of the reasons I enjoy swap-bot is seeing what everyone else makes.
• Dotee Doll, when I first saw these I didn't really get it, but wouldn't a basket of Dotees look cute in my sewing room? (I have now made a few and joined some swaps, so this wish is on its way.)
• I've started seeing swaps for row houses. I think I would like to give these a try.
• Postcards from where you live. Especially would love U.S. state capitals. (It's a homeschool thing.)