Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Autumn Bliss Week: Tuesday

My Autumn Bliss note for today is my pleasure in a freshly-cleaned house. My heavy-duty fall cleaning is always scheduled for September because everything comes down on Oct. 1 for the Halloween decorations—no room is safe in my house from Halloween.



I strongly believe in trying to make something special out of something tedious. My fall cleaning checklist is a monster so I decided I needed a little something to give me pleasure as I clean. And so it was that my cleaning apron, cloth, and headband were created.



Here is the cleaning cloth I made—one side is the same floral fabric as my apron and the other is a wonderfully-soft cloth I found in the car cleaning section at Target. The loop is so that you can hang it from the button sewn on one of the two apron pockets. I sewed my logo on both the apron and cleaning cloth—but maybe I’m overdoing that a bit. Sometimes I don’t know when to quit.

All three patterns and instructions came from Romantic Home Sewing: Cottage-Style Projects to Stitch for the Home by Christina Strutt.



Natural Cleaning Products

Some of you know from my Flickr photos that I make all my own cleaning products. Here is a sample cleaning recipe I use. It’s super easy, inexpensive, and works beautifully.

Lemony Furniture Polish


  • 1 cup olive oil (you can also use jojoba oil)
  • ½ cup lemon juice
Mix the ingredients and you have furniture polish. Dab a soft rag with the solution and give love to your wood surfaces. Store indefinitely.

Loving Home

In my mind, home is a place of love—a sanctuary of the heart as well as the physical. When we clean, we perform an act of love for the place that shelters us. Cleaning is not fun per se, but approaching it with a little bit of romance makes the job much more pleasant for me.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who's so cute in her cleaning garb?
June is!
June is!

Anonymous said...

too cute! i am also a huge halloween fan and am already counting down the days until i can put up decorations!

Anonymous said...

How adorable and I so agree about making something special out of something tedious or mundane. You've inspired me so... inspired me to have you come to MY HOUSE!

Seriously June... you've inspired me!

Anonymous said...

Your blog is so lovely....I really think your apron is very practical and so pretty too...and thanks for sharing your furniture polish solution...I'm so glad to have found your blog through your finding mine :) Can't wait to read more!!

La Tea Dah said...

I love your post! Thank you for your furniture polish recipe --- I'm excited to find it! I'm so glad you participated in Clarice's Autumn Bliss event. It's such a lovely way to meet new friends! I'll be posting a little later this week. Enjoy a lovely day!

LaTeaDah

Anonymous said...

I love that you made yourself a whole uniform for the occasion, June, I really do. It makes me want to make myself a special apron just for cleaning. Maybe tomorrow -- today I clean. This was just the encouragement I needed, so thank you. :)

a pink-bee said...

Oh Junie, what a great post! You look so sweet in your cleaning uniform :) I have to get that book back out and sew some of those things!!! Thanks for the recipe for the polish- will make it. So neat ! Have a great Day!
crystalx

Anonymous said...

Lovely to see a great photo of you. I feel like we've been friends for years.
You go girls with all those labels. Nothing wrong with self praise or advertising.
Hope it made your cleaning day go fast. It is nice to see a clean house isn't it.
Can't wait to see your "Halloween" house. We don't get into that here although the shops try to see it all.

African Kelli said...

Wow! You even make housekeeping seem elegant. I'm telling you, you never cease to amaze me.

The Wooden Spool said...

How inspiring! I love your furniture polish recipe! How perfect! I am into the a la natural as well! :) So much healthier, right!

Home ec new Haven said...

OK June, I'm trying to find reasons to not hate you now...... Aren't you so stinkin' cute in your little cleaning suit and you actually make time to clean..... good thing you are so darn nice!
If you want to come east I'll grill pizza and pour drinks while you clean my pigsty, er, I mean house in the nice cool weather!

Unknown said...

Is that the trick to making cleaning the house fun :p? I will have to try your furniture polish... thanks for the recipe!

Unknown said...

I love that picture of you! Just darling! Love the the outfit! Too cute!

Mrs.Kwitty said...

JunieMoon--you are as adorable as you are sweet! I love the remark about how cleaning your home is loving it--a new perspective, maybe it will inspire me to not dislike doing housework so much!
Smiles, Karen

Anne said...

Well, if you aren't just the cutest little thing in your apron and scarf. I knew I wanted to get to know you!

Kelli said...

You are so cute!!! I love the way you look at cleaning...very inspiring! You house is going to be all ready for Halloween!
Kelli

Lena said...

You're looking pretty cute there Miz Junie Moon!
This is a nice post. This time of year always makes me feel like organizing, cleaning and painting inside my home. I think, in anticipation of making things cozy for the cooler seasons.

*BB* said...

Too cute!! I agree with your take on cleaning, making cleaning fun helps a lot!! And theres nothing like a freshly cleaned house!

carrster said...

You are simply amazing & very inspiring too. Thank you!

Priscilla said...

I love it! cleaning in style.........I feel I must don a beautiful apron to dust now! Thank you for sharing this cute apron

Priscilla x

Anonymous said...

You look so cute! I have made the same hair tie and really love it (actually, I have a few). I wish I had an apron to go with.

Rosie's Whimsy said...

I don't know how I missed this the first time around. You look so cute....all dressed up for a day of cleaning :-) And, I will use your recipe for the furniture polish!