A little about me and Speckled Lemon

I've always wanted to make things.  Even as a small child, I was always creating something.  If I wasn't painting or playing with yarn, I was crafting elaborate stories in my head.  Every summer my sisters and I raided my grandmother's craft closet for tapestry needles and plastic canvas, and her cabinets for acrylic paints.

Fast forward several years.  I ended up going to college for English (yes, I finished.  Why do people ask me that?) but I still had a love of creating and I always wanted to learn how to sew.  One day my husband and I were in a thrift store looking for I-don't-remember-what, when we found a vintage sewing machine in excellent condition.  We're talking 1950's or 60's, no cracks or separations in the casing, still had it's original feet and tiny screwdrivers for adjustments.  $20.  My husband snatched it up for me and set off to scour the internet for a user manual, since I had no idea of how to sew nor how to use a sewing machine.

It's a Montgomery-Ward, in case you're wondering.

My first projects were embarrassingly bad, but I got better.  I made clothes, diaper covers, and hand bags, but my favorite was aprons.  I'm not sure where it came from, but I had a definite love of aprons.  My mother didn't wear an apron.  As far as I know, my grandmothers didn't wear aprons.  There was, though, something so attractive about them.  Maybe it's because it appeals to my love of things that have a history and my love of creating.

As this summer was coming to an end, it looked like I was going to have some time on my hands.  I approached my husband about the idea of opening an Etsy shop.  After all, since I started making aprons, I'd had many people come to me to ask if I sold them and if they could request custom items.  I usually said no, since I barely had time for myself and family and didn't need an additional project.  But now, with some extra time...  He supported the idea of an Etsy shop and I set to work.  I'm looking at opening the shop at the end of August.  I'm still trying to finish up a few loose ends, like applying for sales tax collection and getting more projects done.  The shop will open with just a few items, and then the profit from those will go to get more materials and a better stocked shop (in theory).

But why "Speckled Lemon"?  It sounds good.  That's it.  Well, to be a bit more detailed, I read that people remember Etsy shops better if there is a concrete item in the name.  I chose lemon, because to me lemons are fresh and fun and colorful.  There's something about lemons that make me think of clean, but not in a lemony cleaner sort of way.  (Side note: I hate cleaners that smell like fake lemon.)  It's more like a sunshiny summer sort of feeling.  I know, I know, it sounds like I've got a pretty big emotional attachment to lemons.  And speckled because it's a nice adjective that sounds good with lemon.