Teacher Gifts 2011: Key Fobs!

I have made a TON of DigiStitches key fobs in the last few days. :) I just love mine so much and they are easy to make, so I decided to do them exclusively for teacher gifts this year. Eighteen total I think!

At the beginning of the month I gave these to Annaliese's ballet teachers. I love the extra detail of the embroidered ballet slippers (although I will say the key fobs are harder to invert when there is a filled design on it).

When Annaliese was in kindergarten I made key fobs for her teachers for Christmas. But in two year's time there are new faces and some name changes, so I decided to do them again. Only three people are repeats, but I decided a new style and longer size merited a new key fob. :) And only one of her teachers is male. I told him that my sinus infection prevented my creative juices from flowing, so if the key fob was too feminine for him, I would NOT be offended if he gave it to his wife/mom/daughter who might appreciate it more. :)
I used school colors and Embird alphabet #7.

Four years ago I made ribbon key chains for the staff at preschool. These wonderful women are ready for something new! Originally I had lofty goals of taking pictures of each of their purses and picking fabrics to match, but that didn't happen. :) Instead I picked this pretty Riley Blake fabric I won a while back from Whimsical Fabrics and used it for all of them.

I thought I would show you real quick how I mass produce the key fobs. When using the same fabric I can fit four key fobs in my 6x10 hoop. I merge four copies of the key fob together in Embird and do a color sort. So the first thing I do is lay a piece of batting down and run all four placement stitches:

Then I lay the fabric down and run all four quilting stitches:

Then I stitch the names. When I used white thread for all the elementary staff I did the names as one color stop. But since the Riley Blake fabric is rather busy, I didn't know what color thread would look best until I saw the placement of the motif. So I did each name as a separate color stop and decided on the spot whether I should use the light aqua or green thread for each key fob.

Then the last step at the machine is to tack down the back fabric:

Now I move to my cutting mat and use a rotary cutter to separate the key fobs. Four key fobs across my 6" hoop gives a perfect seam allowance between the key fobs!

Then I grabbed my handy-dandy Quick Turn tool to invert them. All that is left to do is add the hardware and they are done! So much fun and everyone loves them.
I am so thankful for all these wonderful people that teach, train, guide and protect my children when I am not with them. Just a small token of my appreciation. Merry Christmas to you all!