Our Little Sparkler and Firecracker

When I made Amy's Fourth of July place mat, I knew at that point I was going to use Lynnie Pinnie's applique firecracker on shirts for the kids -- it stitched quick and is really cute.
Well, before I could get them made, I was shopping in the baby dept at Walmart with the kids. Annaliese saw an adorable baby girl outfit that said "Daddy's Little Sparkler" and thought it was precious. Believing I can replicate anything (insert rolling eyes), she asked for one. I was pretty sure Lynnie Pinnie had a similar design, so I said I would give it a try:

Sigh... the things we do for our kids. Dashiell's shirt took all of 15 minutes to stitch; Annaliese's took about an hour. But it was all worth it -- her reaction when she saw it was priceless. She loves it and said it was even cuter than the one in the store! :)
I used LP's Applique Patriotic Sparkler Girl, and added the "Daddy's Little Sparkler" with Whimsey from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Dashiell's was much less complicated, but I love it! I used LP's applique firecracker. Daddy thought the Whimsey font was a bit to girly, so I used Embird Alphabet #14 for adding "Mommy's Little Firecracker".

Have a Happy Independence Day!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!

The past two Fridays were very exciting days for me! All of this blogging has paid off in a new way!
First, Lyndsie of Lynnie Pinnie asked on Facebook if anyone was interested in being a tester for her applique designs. Thankfully I happened to be on Facebook at that time and was able to respond -- and I was selected! This means I get a sneak peek at upcoming designs and have the opportunity to stitch them out for free, in return for nice photographs of my work. (That's no problem since I'm obviously already in the habit of that!) I was giddy as I could be! I have tested designs already (more on that in a sec).

Then a couple days ago Julie of 8 Claws and a Paw contacted me personally about doing test stitching for her as well! I was blown away! If you've read any of my blog posts, you know that I use 8CAP's fonts on virtually all of my projects. In return for testing her designs and providing photos, she's giving me a free subscription to her Claws and Paws Font Club! As if I don't have enough font options already, now I have access to over 350 fonts! I know it's crazy, but each week she releases something new that is just adorable, so I'm very excited. :) I received my first set of designs to test this morning and will work on that this week.

The designs I tested for Lyndsie are now available on her site for purchase, so I can share pictures of them with you now. First I tested this applique grill. I put it on a towel and plan to send it to my dad. I had fun picking fabrics for this -- love the marble gray/black on the inside of the grill and the brown swirls for the burgers.

The other design I tested last week was LP's American Cutie Applique (it's a freebie so go grab it!) I already had plans for Annaliese's Fourth of July shirt (that will be another blog post tomorrow), so I stitched this on a onesie. I do not have a recipient in mind for it -- that may be a first for me! So I have this 3-6 month onesie available if anyone wants it. :)



So there you have it, my news! I've been on cloud nine and I'm glad I finally took the time to share it with you. :)

Special Deliveries

I think I've stitched five Special Delivery onesies in the last two months that I haven't posted. I'll highlight this first one and then just show close-up images of the rest.
...So my favorite pink and blue onesies that I use to stitch this design on have been discontinued. Actually they were discontinued quite a while back. I've purchased as many as I can find on ebay, and I am just about out. This has stressed me a bit, because the other options available online are much more expensive and I'd have to deal with shipping. But last week I discovered a possible new replacement. Before going hog wild and buying a ton of onesies, I decided to purchase one and put it to the test. I stitched Annaliese's birth information on one, then ran it through the washer/drier. It worked beautifully! I'm so relieved!! Now I need to stock up before they are gone. :)

I really like the scalloped neckline and lettuce-edge sleeves. Nice and girly. :)
The original design is from Sew Terific Designs; I customized the design with baby's birthplace, birth date, time, weight and full name.

Here are the other four I haven't posted yet.
Paige ordered this for a family member:

My brother ordered this for a co-worker:

Susan ordered this for a co-worker:

Michelle ordered this one for a mutual friend of ours--it was my 50th Special Delivery Design!!

Shower gift

Michelle and I gave this set as a gift at a baby shower tonight. The monogram is Vintage Chloe alphabet from Embroidery Boutique.

Baby Girl Gift Set

Melissa ordered this bib/burp cloth set for our mutual friend Glenda who recently had a baby girl. I used the Empire font from Embroidery Arts:

Ready for the Pool!

Last week I found towels (only $4 at Walmart) that match my kids' swimsuits perfectly! Annaliese picked the thread colors and font (Action from 8 Claws and a Paw), I did the stitching.



I surprised Annaliese by embellishing a pair of her flip flops with these monogrammed flowers:

The idea came from Embroidery Garden. You can download a free pdf with directions there. If you join her AD list yahoo group, you can also download the embroidery files for the fringe covered buttons!

Poppy's Pit Crew/Daddy's Angels

Danielle asked me to make shirts for her dad and her husband for Father's Day.

"Poppy" is really into cars, so we opted for the text "Poppy's Pit Crew". I used Embird Alphabet #8 for the text. The faces are from Embroidery Library's Stick Figure Faces.

She selected "Daddy's Little Angels" for her husband. Same faces as Poppy's, I just added little halos above the faces.

Shirts for Sisters-to-be

After seeing Emeline and Nolan's sibling shirts, Melissa asked me to make a set for her family. She is expecting a baby girl in September, making Quinn a big sister! Since they are both girls she requested pink shirts, and we kept the pink/green color scheme.

The BIG SIS/LIL SIS designs are from Five Star Fonts. I added their names using the Montana font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Precious in His Sight

Ok, confession time... this order really stumped me, I'm embarrassed to say.

Carlin's sweet grandmother called a while back to order a few baby gift sets. She doesn't know the gender of the expected babies, so she needs something generic. Since I am all about personalization and customization, I was left totally blank. Even in the rare cases that I make a gift without knowing the baby's name, I usually do something career, hobby or sports team related that would be meaningful to the family. But I don't know these families at all! There are so many cute, generic things in the stores (selling for less than can make them) that I wanted it to be unique and special, worth the effort!

Mama Bailey is a wonderful, godly woman and I thought she'd enjoy giving a gift with a Christian theme. Except for online or maybe at a Bible book store, you can't find Christian baby items very easily, so I decided to go that route.

The lamb design is from Designs by JuJu. I added "Precious in His Sight" with Embird Alphabet #8. It was a fun challenge to pick a gender-neutral color scheme, too!

One of the families she's giving a gift set to has picked out a name for their son, so he's getting a personalized set:

I used the applique G from Embroidery Boutique's Fun Applique Alphabet. I used the Whoa Nelly font from 8 Claws and a Paw for "Graham".

Sibling Shirts

My friend Glenda was expecting a baby girl, but they chose to keep her name a secret until after she was born. I asked if she wanted a generic gift at her shower, or wait until later to get personalized stuff. She opted for waiting. It was weird to go to a shower empty-handed... but worth it! Glenda chose matching sibling shirts similar to the ones I made for Emeline and Nolan a few months ago. I got to deliver them today and meet little Madelyn! How precious!

The BIG SIS/LIL BRO designs are from Five Star Fonts. I added their names using the Montana font from 8 Claws and a Paw. I started with Oliver's shirt, picking two fabrics from my stash that I liked:

Madelyn's is a filled design. I kept the navy blue but swapped out the light blue for pink:

Hooping a back pack

Someone asked me today how I hooped a back pack, and instead of just typing it up for her, I decided to put it on my blog to share with many. I searched for a tutorial online and couldn't quickly find one. So here we go!

First of all, since I have a single needle home embroidery machine, I often have to tell people no when they ask me to monogram a bag. Usually it is near impossible or too difficult to be worth the stress. But if the embroidery spot is easily accessible, I'm willing to give it a go. For example, here is Annaliese's backpack from this past school year, purchased at Old Navy:

Obviously it is already monogrammed... I'm going to quickly run through how I did it. See how this front pocket unzips and pulls down quite a ways? This makes it possible to lay on my hoop.

I use a hoopless embroidery method. I hooped tearaway stabilizer and used spray adhesive. (If I were to do it again today, I would use sticky stabilizer, but I didn't own any at that point.)

Then I placed the pocket of the backpack on the hoop. (I had used a marking pen to note where the center of my design should be and was sure the bag was straight on my hoop.) The stickiness of the stabilizer will hold the vinyl down flat, but it's good to pin the bag to the stabilizer outside of the stitching area just as an extra measure.

Now I move the hoop to the machine and stitch away!

Side view:

Front view. This is the tricky part... the bag blocks my view of the machine. And I need to hold the bag the whole time so the weight of it doesn't drag the hoop and distort the embroidery. You wouldn't want to do an extensive design on a bag hooped like this, just a name or three-letter monogram. (OH, and now I see how dirty her bag is, need to go wash it. insert blush)

This is my view as I stand over the bag. I can peak and hit the stop button if needed. :)

So there you go. Is that helpful??

"Barbie" shirt for Katie

When Michele saw my post about Annaliese's "Barbie" shirt, she immediately asked for one for her daughter, who is getting a Barbie house for her birthday. The "Paris Pretty Bella Applique" is from Planet Applique.