A special announcement!

[dreamflower]

Shire Kitchen Recipe!Fic Challenge 2010

This will be the SIXTH Annual Shire Kitchen Recipe!Fic Challenge! And this year there will be something different!

I will be announcing the Challenge shortly. But I want to let everyone know ahead of time, this year there will be an incentive to enter the challenge.

I have made a special Shire Kitchen apron. This apron is a unique piece of wearable art! Every participant in the Challenge will get an opportunity to win the apron! A name will be chosen at random from among all the writers who enter a story in the Challenge, and that person will win the apron!

Pictures of the apron are behind the cut:

	Shire Kitchen Recipe!Fic Apron Front view of apron. I used a combination of fabric collage, fabric paint, calligraphy, and both hand and machine embroidery to embellish the apron, which is reversible, and has a large double front pocket and yellow grosgrain ribbon ties at the neck and waist.
	Shire kitchen apron-- reversed side The reversed side is only embellished on the double pocket, with hand and machine embroidery, and fabric collage.
	Here's the front, laid flat. Here it is laid flat. The recipe, which I calligraphed directly onto the fabric with a permanent fabric pen, is ruby_nye's recipe for Apple Syrup Cake, which may be found with her delightful story "Cakes and Apples" from the 2005 Shire Kitchen Recipe!Fic Challenge, and used with her kind permission.
	Lower left front The screencap of Bilbo and Gandalf in the kitchen is the one used as the shire_kitchen icon! The pot of Rosemary is hand-embroidered, and the fabric-print of the hobbit hole is a photo of one of my painted rocks. Both pictures have been embellished with hand embroidery.
	Close up of upper apron You can see that one of the ribbon ties is embellished with a small fabric yo-yo and two little buttons-- a carrot and a beet. The collaged photo, printed on fabric is of Bag Eng's pantry. The image is from obelia_medusa's Tiny Bag End, and is used with her permission. The apple is fabric paint. You can also see the three little apple buttons at the top of the pocket.
	Right side The Thyme is hand-embroidered. (the patterns for both the Thyme and the Rosemary were from "Aunt Martha's Transfers"). On the pocket, the photo of Bag End's dining room are from obelia_medusa's Tiny Bag End, and used with her permission. The mushrooms are fabric paint. You can also see at the waist tie, a small fabric yo-yo, embellished with a tiny corn-cob button.
	Front pocket close-up Here you can see the pocket more clearly.

I hope that this will inspire a number of you out there to participate in the coming challenge! Keep an eye out for the announcement of the theme, rules and deadline!