Mama D's Pizza Apron

I love food. I love Mexican food. I love, love Greek and Lebanese food. I love, love, love Thai food. I love, love, love... well, you get the idea. I love to eat good food from all over the globe. It's even more enjoyable when it comes straight from our own kitchen, as I've mentioned before.

I'm really grateful to my parents for not allowing my brother and me to be picky eaters, and instead nurturing in us an appreciation for a variety of foods. I have pet-peeves aplenty, and a picky eater is somewhere very close to the top of that list. Parents today just don't get it, and I have a very low tolerance for guests who allow their children to pick over food and waste what, by God's provision, our blood, sweat and tears have brought to the table. I once thought these parents were terribly lazy; but on closer inspection, I realized that they exert far more effort in succumbing to their child's every whimsical craving than if they were to just take a bit of time to insist on the consumption of balanced meals.

I've had my share of battles with one of our children, in particular. But to this day, the boy knows that once he's enjoyed his meal his way, he'll be consuming that gargantuan pile of tomatoes he cast aside on his plate. And he does.

But I digress. The point of this post is to show off my new pizza apron. Never mind that it says "Basmati Rice" and "Produce of Pakistan" on the front. When I examined the rice bag in my hand as I approached the trash can, I thought, "Recycle. Vintage. Italian." I had this vintage-looking red floral fabric that I scored rather cheaply last year at a huge one-day fabric sale in Pittsburgh. (Sue, was it the Salvation Army?) It came to mind immediately. (It reminds me of a quilt that I've kept from my childhood, only in a different color.)

The girls and I like to make homemade pizza and calzones, so I decided that this would make a perfect pizza-making apron. It brought to mind an old Italian cookbook my dad still has. The title says something about "Mama D", although I don't remember the full title. Well, my name starts with "D", and I'm a mama who loves to cook Italian food...

SIDEBAR NOTE: I was going to type "Voila!" Then I thought that I should use Italian, so I checked the translator on my computer. From French to Italian, the translation is "Ecco". I checked this against English, and all it means is "here". That just doesn't have quite the passion I intended to convey. No wonder we English speakers have adopted so many French words. They say it better.

I included a loop for a hand towel, since I wash my hands more often than a surgeon when I cook. I get so upset when someone mistakes my yucky hand towel for a dish towel during clean-up (which is on-going). I find myself looking for the towel all over the kitchen. It's a mess. You know, dead skin and all...

I'm just going to swallow my pride and confess that I bailed on a much more ambitious pocket idea. The fabric kept puckering when I'd try to insert a between-layers pocket. Ugh! I must conquer it, but I had to give up. That one detail was stretching this hour-or-so project into something much longer and less fun.

Anyway, I suppose if I'm old enough for fabric from my childhood era to be considered "vintage", I'm old enough to be called Mama D. This isn't exactly a "diva" project, but I like the "mama" feel it has to it. Sadly, we're planning to order pizza tonight, rather than make it ourselves. Soon, though.

This is my only finished project this week, other than mending a skirt for Morgan (finally -- that patient darling) and a pair of jeans for Craig Grayson. I've nearly finished a pair of shorts for Gabriela, but I'll post those when they're all done (hopefully next week). I may even have a bonus item to share that Gab's been working on. She's been so diligent.

Don't forget to visit Amy and see what others have sewn this week.