Welcome Baby Chloe!!

Todd and Jenn have been waiting quite a while to adopt a child. They received good news a few weeks ago that they had been selected to adopt an expected baby girl. Chloe was born on Tuesday, which also happened to be Jenn's birthday!! What a blessing!

That same day Five Star Fonts released a Gift Box Applique Font. I immediately knew I had to purchase it to make something for baby Chloe. I monogrammed a onesie and added "Mommy best birthday gift ever" under it with Embird Alphabet #8.


I also stitched the Special Delivery Design from Sew Terific on another onesie for her.


I'm so excited for Jenn, and I just couldn't wait for her baby shower to give her the gift, so I gave it to her early. :)

Belated Baby Gifts

Two of my cousins each had a baby boy amidst my morning sickness and moving. I'm just now getting around to stitching a few items for them as baby gifts.
Since these boys aren't really newborns anymore, and I have no idea what size they are, I decided to stitch the Special Delivery design for each of them on a small bib.


What I think is really neat in comparing the two is seeing how this design can accommodate long names. Jeremy's full name has 3 more letters than Hunter's, and check out the cities! There's a huge difference between "Oklahoma City" and "Pratt"!


Then I also did a burp cloth for each of them. My cousin Shane enjoys hunting, so I did a stacked monogram with camo material and ribbon. The applique H is from Embroidery Boutique's Fun Applique Alphabet. I added Hunter with the Cooper font from 8 Claws and a Paw (I think...).

My cousin Jena picked a vehicle theme with a crimson, navy and denim color scheme, so I picked an applique dump truck design (Things That Go Applique set from Designs by JuJu). I added his name with Embird Alphabet #8.

Introducing Topper

Annaliese's preschool teacher, Mrs. Susie, has chosen a wild west/cowboy theme for the year. The students have a class companion that rotates spending the weekend with each family. We have the honor of bringing Topper the horse home with us today.

Annaliese thought his name was Cooper. I had gotten in my head that his name is Copper (I think that's because my Granddad's horse was named Copper). But his name is actually Topper! We decided we needed to monogram the back of his preschool t-shirt so we would remember. :)

The monogram is from the Rodeo Set available at Sew Crazie Designs. I thought it was quite appropriate for our horse!

Here is Topper modeling his shirt:


And it has worked!! As I sat here typing Annaliese hollered in asking me his name again. I told her to look at the shirt and sound it out -- she was able to read it! Woo-hoo!
You can read about our Adventures with Topper on our family blog.

Michelle's burp cloth order

Michelle ordered these two burp cloths for a co-worker that will soon be a grandma. The monogram on the first is from the Rhumba set available at Sew Crazie Designs.

For the second burp cloth, I did the text she requested with Embird Alphabet #18. The heart is from a design I got on Sew Forum.

My personal graphic designer

It's so nice to be married to someone who can do graphic design! Last night I asked Mr. Carlin Trammel to work on a gift certificate for me. As he worked on that, he created a new logo for me. I've purchased a new domain name and hope to restructure my websites in the near future.

Michelle has ordered several Special Delivery onesies in the past, but has requested a gift certificate for future orders. This will enable her to give the gift of the onesie at a baby shower before the baby arrives. The other great benefit is that it takes away the risk of getting the wrong stats about the baby's birth since mom and dad will be giving all the information to me directly.

I asked Carlin to work something up for me, sharing with him the three photos I wanted included. He created this postcard-like gift certificate, which is perfect for the Special Delivery design.

(Oh, and this gift certificate is available to anyone who wants to give a Special Delivery onesie as a gift!)

The TWENTIETH Special Delivery Onesie!

I can hardly believe it myself, but this week I stitched my TWENTIETH Special Delivery Onesie!
A fellow preschool mom recently gave birth to a baby boy, so I stitched this for her.

Happy Birthday, Kathy!

Today is Kathy's birthday, so instead of purchasing a card for our family to sign, I made one!

The "Happy Birthday" redwork design is from Designs Sew Fine. I stitched it with variegated thread on fabric. Then I attached that fabric to card stock (by stitching around the rectangle) and frayed the edges. It's a nice unique card that no one else in the world will send her! :)

Happy Birthday, Hudson!

Little Hudson also turns one today. When I asked his mommy if she had any requests, she mentioned wanting a travel pillow with a personalized pillowcase. I went on a quick hunt for a pillow and case... the two places I stopped were out (of course), so I bought a pillow form and headed home to make my own case! I knew I had great sports fabric in my stash, and thankfully I had enough coordinating fabrics to complete the pillowcase.

I embroidered his name using the Wiggles Alphabet from 8 Claws and a Paw.

To construct the pillowcase, I sort of followed the fantastic directions given on Crafty Chic. Obviously I had to make adjustments since this pillow is only 12"x16" instead of a standard size. This was my first pillowcase, and first time doing french seams. Overall I'm pretty pleased!

Happy Birthday, Tre!

A year ago our baby boom at church started, and now all these little tykes are turning ONE! Today was Tre's birthday party. I asked his mommy if she had any special request for a gift before coming up with my own thing. She thought it would be neat for him to have a special shirt for his party (sports theme), so this is what I came up with:

The design on the front is from Artistic Thread Works (Football-Sticks design set). I added the text with Embird Alphabet #18.

For the back, I used a Collegiate font for the "1" (I got it on Sew Forum, but I don't think it's still available), and I added his surname with Embird Alphabet #2.

And here are some action shots from the morning. It's super hard to catch a one-year old sitting/standing still! Isn't he precious?!?

Baby Girl Gift Set

Michelle requested a personalized gift set for a new baby girl.

The monogram on both the burp cloth and the bib is from the Rhumba set available at Sew Crazie Designs.


The monogram on the onesie is the Flower Power monogram from Julia's Needle Designs). I added her name with the Rhumba font mentioned above.

Hooded Towel Mania!

Over the weekend I made three hooded towels. Now that the surprise gift has been received, I can post pictures of all three.

First up is a VERY belated baby gift for friends of mine. Daryl and Rebecca had a baby boy May 1, the day after I found out I was expecting. Morning sickness, buying a house, moving, starting preschool... that all got in the way of a timely gift. Thankfully my MIL does embroidery and goes to church with them, so I knew she'd take care of all my typical baby gift items and bought me a little time. I decided to make little Lomond a hooded towel to coordinate with the towel his big sister got last year. I used Embird Alphabet #8.


Next, my Aunt Linda requested a towel for her granddaughter. We used brown/pink ribbon so it would coordinate with Ainsley's bathroom. I used Embird Alphabet #33 for hers.


Finally Shannon contacted me after receiving her hooded towel from Jan. She has a baby shower to attend and wanted to take one as a gift, too. She told me what nursery theme the mom-to-be had picked (Cherry Blossoms from BabiesRUs):

I found a cute cherry blossom design from Embroidery Library, picked thread colors to match the motif on the nursery set, and added her name with Embird Alphabet #8.

Another Casserole Cover for Me

Like I mentioned before, I have lots of place mats ready to go for casserole covers. I decided to make another one for myself as a sample of a less stitch-intensive design i.e. less expensive to duplicate. :)

This pretty applique monogram is from Embroidery Boutique. I added the text with Embird Alphabet #17.

I picked the fabric for the applique patch to match this button I had. I won't always be so fortunate, but I had bought a pair of buttons to coordinate with fabric for one of my rag bags last year, so I decided it was time to use the leftover button.