Happy Birthday, Nathan!

Dashiell's buddy Nathan had his third birthday party today -- a Rootin' Tootin' party out at a corral! I had the pleasure of making the birthday boy a special shirt to wear:

Pardon his squinty face -- in order to get a good shot of his shirt with my iPhone, he had to face the sun. I should have grabbed his cowboy hat! :) Oh, and while I'm at it, let me add that this was taken at the END of the party. After horse riding, hay riding and cake eating. Look at how clean that shirt is!! I'm totally impressed. :)

About the design...
Even though I own a ton of Planet Applique's specialty fonts, I do not own the one with the cowboy hat. So I just made up my own, and I'm thrilled with the results. I combined my three favorite things:
1. GG Design's Chubby Wubby Numbers
2. Applique designs from Lynnie Pinnie -- both the cowboy hat and boots are hers. They are designed to use two fabrics but for simplicity I just used one, a neat suede-like material.
3. Fonts from 8 Claws and a Paw -- this one is Hoedown.

Thank Heaven for little girls

Friends of mine are planning to adopt a baby girl, so exciting! They were given a glider from a family member that had... well, let's just say the tapestry cushions didn't really match anything. :) My friend asked if I could recover them. I have never done anything like that, so I said as long as she had really low expectations I could give it a shot. :) She bought this lovely fabric and I got to work:

(Obviously these are her cushions sitting in my glider for the purposes of photography. I didn't want to deliver them at 11pm last night and demand to take pictures. :)
Frankly, I'm pretty pleased! I traced the cushions to create a pattern, added about 1.5" all the way around to allow for the thickness and stitched them up. The seersucker nature of the material really helps hide imperfections. :)
I monogrammed the back cushion with their last initial, using the Love Lace font from 8 Claws and a Paw. It's LOVELY! I can't believe that I'm just now using this font for the first time! Although I suppose it's to be expected with over 575 font options...

As I worked on this project, I also received this adorable embroidery design to test for Lynnie Pinnie. I picked fabric/thread colors to match the cushion material and used scraps to make a matching decorative pillow:

I used the largest size of the "Thank Heaven for little girls" design. There is also a boy version and a gender-neutral version. They are all so cute!
Now, please pray for my friends -- for a safe delivery, a healthy baby girl, and that the adoption process goes smoothly!

Really Cool Applique Script!

A few days before Christmas a picture popped up in my Facebook feed that really intrigued me. I quickly purchased the Applique Script Alphabet once Hang To Dry Applique released it, and finally today I got around to using it!!

Cool, right? And how about that adorable model?? ;)

This alphabet is really neat. The letters are individually digitized with gaps so that when you merge them together in software it creates the appearance of a continuous stitch. Since it's a simple running stitch for placement and a triple bean stitch for tackdown, it can be resized. Dashiell has such a long name--I had to shrink it to 77% to get it to fit on his shirt, and it stitched just fine!
At the machine, this goes very fast. Run the placement stitch, lay down the fabric, then stitch the final color. All the trimming is done at the end, so I took the shirt off the hoop and trimmed it out while watching a movie with my daughter. Here's what it looks like right out of the hoop:

Lots of little jumps to trim, but when they are gone, it looks like one big continuous stitch. At first I thought about just trimming around the outside like this:

But I felt like the details needed to be trimmed more. The openings inside the letters are small (especially since I reduced it in size) so some of them are just tiny slits. But it makes it look more legible.

 And confessions of a cheap mom... I finally joined Applique Forum (which I'm really enjoying!) to get a coupon code for the design set, this shirt was a free hand-me-down, and I used a scrap of knit left over from making Dashiell's birthday shirt.

 I really like the look of this and I'm anxious to play with it more!

Matching Monogrammed Shirts for girl and doll :)

Annaliese attended a birthday party yesterday so I whipped up a little gift. Presley received an American Girl doll for her birthday, and we took matching monogram shirts!

I used Embroidery Boutique's Vintage Applique Alphabet since it comes in multiple sizes. The smallest size is perfect for a doll shirt! I chose some of my Riley Blake fabrics that I won from Whimsical Fabrics. I thought it worked really well using the large motif print on Presley's and the small motif print on Marisa Boa's shirt. (Cute name, right?! :)

I got the doll shirt at Michael's. Annaliese really wanted me to cut off the sleeves so the shirts would really match, but I didn't want to mess with hemming something so tiny. Especially since I finished it only 20 minutes before we needed to leave. Ha! Hopefully Presley won't mind. If she does, her momma can just chop those sleeves off. :)

Burp Cloths!!

I love making personalized burp cloths! Here are several that I made over the last three months and just haven't taken the time to share.
Cynthia ordered these for her new granddaughter. On the first burp cloth the "S" is from Embroidery Boutique's Vintage Applique Alphabet and I used Itty Bitty Alphabet from 8 Claws and a Paw for "Sierra". The second burp cloth is a phrase Cynthia requested--dual meaning because the baby's last name is Love :) I've had this ribbon in my stash forever, so I was excited to use it. The heart is from Designs By JuJu's Simply Hearts Applique set (I just didn't use fabric) and I added the text with Embird alphabet #7.

Andrea ordered this set for Kashton. I used one of my favorite combinations; the applique "K" is from Embroidery Boutique's Fun Applique Alphabet, and I added the name with Whoa Nelly From 8 Claws and a Paw.

 Laura ordered this pair for Brayden. The baseball monogram is from Five Star Fonts and I used Embird Alphabet #8 for all the text.

I made this for baby Charlotte. The elephant is from DBJJ's Roly Poly Elephants applique set, and I added her name with Itty Bitty Alphabet from 8CP. I love those elephants this ribbon!

Michelle ordered this for Parker. I used and applique circle and the Plain Jane font from 8CP.

Tracy ordered this for Rocco. The "R" is EB's Fun Applique Alphabet, and I added the name with Sally from 8CP.

And here's a burp cloth I made when testing Lynnie Pinnie's Happy Kawaii Ice Cream Cone. The word "sweet" is from the word balloon design included in the Happy Kawaii foods set. 

Baby Gifts for David

A friend of mine is expecting a little boy and we had a shower for her before Christmas. Due to the holiday rush and a sinus infection I didn't get her gift finished :( so sibling shirts are still to come. I did complete this burp cloth. This football applique alphabet is from Starbird Stock Designs, and I added his name with College Block Small from 8CP. It's designed to be used with two different fabrics (you can see my first stitch out of it here) but I was curious what it would look like using a tri-color check and two different thread colors for the outlines. Who better to test it out on than Auburn fans?

Michelle asked me to make a tie onesie for David. I had a navy onesie in my stash and this awesome orange striped fabric, so we thought it would make a great combination as well.

 The Neck Tie Applique from GG Designs.

 

Sibling Shirts

I attended a baby shower in November and wanted to do a big brother/little sister shirt set because I've been dying to use these Fabric Finders tri-checks. The only problem was that the mommy kept the baby girl's name a secret until after she was born. I did the exact same thing when expecting my two kids, so I had no beef with her! :)
My solution -- make the big brother shirt to be unwrapped at the shower, and include a blank onesie with design image and applique fabrics for baby sister. So first I made Maddox's shirt, and he was able to wear it to the hospital when visiting his new sister:

The Big Brother Design is from Applique Momma. I added his name with Embird Alphabet #8.

Then once little Maclain made her entrance, I made her onesie. She was tiny so this is a 0-3 months onesie:

Obviously the Little Sister Design is from AM, too.

So I don't have a picture of the shirts together, but I'm sure you'll agree that these pink/green and blue/green tri-checks make great coordinating sibling appliques! Anxious to see pictures of the kids together. :)

Casserole Carriers

Urenda ordered a couple casserole carriers for friends. The cupcake design is from Embroidery Library. I used Embird Alphabet #8 for the text. The border design came from Dee Giles.

The chef hat and utensils design is from Embroidery Library.

 

And Chandra ordered this one for Cathy. I just love the blues!

Key Chains and Key fobs

These are the remaining key chains and key fobs that I made over the last couple months. Sabrina wanted ribbon key chains to give to her parents. These use 1.5" grossgrain ribbon and D-rings. I used Embird Alphabets 16 and 7 for them.

Her sister Melanie got a DigiStitches key fob:

Earlier in the year Mrs. Janasiewicz received a key fob for teacher appreciation week and liked it so much she ordered one just like it for her daughter who also teaches. I used the school colors, Embird alphabet #14 for the name, and paw prints on the back.  (Sorry this pic is so over exposed, I don't know what happened!)

And finally I made this for my husband ("the plate spinner") to give to his boss ("the check signer"). It has the Onyx brand on one side, and her fun title on the other. :)