Stitched By Janay

Miscellaneous December Monogramming

2012-01-30T14:02:00.000-05:00

Random project share time... miscellaneous monogramming from December!
Blankets for Melissa to give to her sons and daughter-in-law. These were super soft and I was tempted to "accidentally" put my name on one!

I used Embird alphabet #7:

The Williams family grew by two this year when their adoption was finalized, so the younger boys needed stockings! This is a terrible picture, they looked so much prettier in person!

Again, I used Embird alphabet #7:

Susan asked me to monogram fleece which she then constructed into these cool pillows:

I used Embird alphabet #38 for these:

Urenda ordered this backpack for a little friend:

The Ballet Embroidery Font is from 8 Claws and a Paw:

And finally, a tie tee shirt. This is actually a men's shirt! I took GG Designs Neck Tie design (the 7" file), enlarged it to fill my 6x10 hoop, reduced the pull compensation so the satin stitches weren't huge, and stitched away! My original intention was to deliver this shirt as a gag gift in front of a whole group of people, but circumstances prevented that. The recipient love it anyway, and that's all that matters. :)

Welcoming Baby Sawyer

2012-01-29T14:46:00.000-05:00

I love making baby gifts. I especially love giving them to an expectant mom who genuinely appreciates what I do. Sewing for friends is such a joy! But the reality is I do not have enough time to make everything that I want to give. So it's an added blessing when mutual friends step in and place orders. :)
Baby Sawyer's arrival will make Audrey a big sister, so my gift to Tracy was sibling shirts. I asked if she had a vision or wanted to be surprised. She sent me links to a couple things she liked and I created my own version:

I have been dying to use these Riley Blake plaids for boy/girl sibling designs and jumped on the opportunity to do it now. I used Embroidery Boutique's Fun Applique Alphabet (capital A and lower case s), and added the text with Embird Alphabet #14.

Using the same fabric, I made this burp cloth (from Cherri and Cindy). I had already created the monogram for another Sawyer so no design work needed! It's not often that I get to reuse something. (I used the applique S from EB's Fun Applique Alphabet, and the Whoa Nelly font from 8 Claws and a Paw for "Sawyer".)

Melissa requested a burp cloth with his 3-letter monogram and a bib with his name. I used the Circle Monogram Set 3 from Embroidery Arts:

And Pea Pod from 8 Claws and a Paw:

Michelle is always coming up with clever ideas! Daddy Raymond owns his own lawn care company called "Grass Monkeys" and she wanted a burp cloth to reflect that. She created this idea herself -- she found the Lucky Monkey design on Lynnie Pinnie's site and suggested the change in text/font. It turned out so cute!!

And finally, something special for Sawyer's room from Cherri and Cindy. Cherri and I were brainstorming ideas when we thought to check out Tracy's Pinterest board, knowing she had pinned some name wall art and pennants. I showed Cherri the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry, and that sealed the deal. :) Of course we didn't decided this until two days before the shower AND we weren't 100% sure of her color scheme for the nursery, so I created a gift certificate and sample letter for her to unwrap:

Then we went fabric shopping together to find exactly what she wanted. She decided to alternate two fabrics -- the thought of picking out six coordinating fabrics was too overwhelming. ;) Here's the final banner (hanging in my bedroom... I will update with better nursery pictures later).

And a close up of a couple letters:

Cute, right?!?! Names, phrases, any color scheme... the possibilities are ENDLESS! Be on the look out for more of these in the near future. :)

Happy Birthday, Nathan!

2012-01-21T21:08:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-13T20:50:00.001-05:00

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!

2012-01-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

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 :)

2012-01-01T13:25:00.000-05:00

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!!

2011-12-31T21:01:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-31T09:09:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-30T17:14:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-30T13:26:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-29T19:18:00.000-05:00

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. :)

Quick little pajama shirt

2011-12-29T08:35:00.000-05:00

Annaliese got a pair of soft pajama pants from her besties for Christmas. As soon as she pulled them out she hugged them and wanted to try them on. I immediately knew I had a blank lavender shirt in my stash for her, and pretty quickly created a design in my head, knowing I had marble flannels in those colors in my stash. :)

The raggy stars are from Applique Market (although I can't find the design listed on the site now). I actually used the center star of the 4, 5 and 6 inch designs, rotating and arranging them this way. I laid down one big piece of white flannel first, ran the placement stitches, then tacked down my colored flannel scraps. I trimmed the colors closer than the white so it would look outlined, like on the pants.

It was a super quick project! And Annaliese loves the set.

Window Valances... ten months later

2011-12-28T21:29:00.000-05:00

I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but I'm so excited that I'll just push the embarrassment aside. :)
We moved into our house 3.5 years ago. Within the first year we (I mean, my husband) painted the kitchen and dining room. We selected a lovely deep blue for two of the four walls. I love it! However, apparently it isn't a very popular color because I have had the hardest time finding kitchen decor to match. Until today, we have had NO window treatments in the kitchen!
Back in February I purchased some lovely fabric online that I had discovered through Kimberlee at The Spunky Diva, who had posted a kitchen valance that looked perfect for my kitchen as well. I even posted pictures of my fabric on my Facebook page to see if anyone had suggestions for something other than simple valances. And then the fabric just hung there on a tension rod... for months. Until my husband said, "Um, is that fabric going to fade before you even do anything with it??" So I took it down, and set it aside.
I was determined to finally make some valances before the end of the year, and today was the day!! Here's the kitchen valance (hung on a tension rod between the cabinets):

And the dining room valance, which is on the opposite wall:

The dining room window already had the sheer curtain there; I simply attached it to the blue valance so I didn't have to get another curtain rod. :)
I really hate folding under fabric and making seams, so I lined both of these valances with solid fabrics. The ruffle above the rod pocket is about 2", and it hangs about 12" below the rod pocket. The width of the valance is 1.5 x the width of the window.
It feels really nice to have that project done. Now let's see if I can make a purse out of the fabric I bought for myself... FOUR years ago. Sheesh.

Birthday Shirts

2011-12-28T10:07:00.000-05:00

These are a couple birthday shirts I made in the fall, and busyness prevented me from blogging about them.
Sue asked me to make a third birthday shirt for her grandson who is really into trains:

I used Applique Cafe's Christmas train, but I removed the tree and added an applique 3 from Embroidery Boutique's Tiny Applique Alphabet.

I got an email from Kelly who had found a picture of Jillian in her birthday shirt on my friend's blog (Pirates-n-Princesses) about Jillian's Dora and Boots birthday party. Kelly asked if I could recreate the look, and I was happy to oblige!

The "3" is from Chubby Wubby Applique Numbers from GG Designs, and the font is Tinker Toy from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Some family gifts...

2011-12-27T20:29:00.000-05:00

Last year I went all out on gifts for family -- I did a bunch of embroidery for my parents' new bathroom, made a couple quilts... This year I kind of just reused some ideas for smaller gifts. Or bought them. I'll try to do better next year. :)
When I posted pictures of this burp cloth, my mom said she would love that design on something since my brother is a Marine. I locked that idea away for a Christmas gift, and made her a stay-put towel. (You can read more about my first one here.)

The Marine fabric was purchased at Hobby Lobby. I carefully placed it so the seal was in the corner.

I used Lynnie Pinnie's Dog Tags Heart Applique, and added the text with Embird Alphabets 8 and 2.

For my dad I bought a denim shirt and embroidered his brand that I digitized last December.

For Amy I took the easy way out and decided to make a set of kitchen towels to match the placemats I made for her two years ago. You can get all the design info here.

Owl Wristlets

2011-12-27T11:47:00.001-05:00

As soon as I posted pictures of the owl wristlet I made in August, Cherri asked me to make a couple for her girls for Christmas. Sally got orange and blue:

And Hannah got purple and green:

I failed to take pictures of the inside of them (you can see one here). These wristlets are made completely with the embroidery machine (with the exception of one small opening I had to whip stitch shut by hand). They have a zipper, and are completely lined with no exposed seams. Cool huh?? The design is from Embroidery Garden.

Winter Shirts

2011-12-26T20:26:00.000-05:00

I made these shirts for two of my favorite little pals. Both girls had holiday shirts from past years that still fit, so when they sat down to look at my favorite applique design sites with their mom, she directed them toward more wintery designs.
Kylie picked the Cute Penguin from Planet Applique...

...as well as the Hot Cocoa applique design from PA.

Kenzie picked the Valentine Puppy Applique from PA...

...as well as the Cutie Pie design from Lynnie Pinnie. She specifically asked for a grape pie. I've never eaten one (her grandma makes it) and now I'm intrigued!

A couple final Christmas clothing items

2011-12-26T15:55:00.000-05:00

Now that the holiday rush is over, it's time to catch up on my blog! WOW, I just made a list of the items I haven't shared, and it's massive. To get started, here are a couple more Christmas clothing items that I didn't take the time to share. A pretty holiday dress for my daughter:

This dress was one of my favorite December projects! First of all, I got the dress for... get this... TWO DOLLARS at the beginning of the year when it was on clearance at Walmart. I had planned on putting a monogram on it all year long, and waited until December to get it done. As I was trying to decide the specifics, Annaliese came in and said she had a vision for what she wanted and tried to describe it. I told her to go draw it out and then we'd search 8 Claws and a Paw Embroidery for a match. I think we did pretty well!

The font is Violet from 8CP. Honestly, it's one that I don't think I would have picked on my own, but it is LOVELY and I'm confident I will use it again.

Brittany asked me to make a First Christmas onesie for Kendal and this is what I came up with:

I used Applique Momma's Present2 design, and added the text with Embird Alphabet #8.

Alright, now I need to blog about a slew of baby gifts and Christmas presents!

For Unto Us a Child Is Born

2011-12-25T17:04:00.000-05:00

I love that for this day the world pauses to remember the birth of our Savior.

We are separated from our biological family this year, so we spent Christmas eve with the next best thing -- our dearest friends. My friend Valerie truly has the gift of hospitality and provided a wonderful meal. My only addition to the dinner table was rolls. AND because earlier in the week I hastily read the recipe and missed a key step (letting the dough rise overnight, OOPS) I had to make a quick run to the grocery store to buy rolls. :( So, I found myself with extra time yesterday afternoon and decided to do for her what I do best: sew, not bake. :) I used Lynnie Pinnie's Nativity Silhouette applique on this red/green plaid kitchen towel.

However you spent today, remember that little baby grew up. Jesus lived a perfect life, bore our sins on the cross, and rose victorious over death. He's preparing a home in heaven for those who accept him as their Savior. THAT is worth celebrating everyday! God bless you!

Teacher Gifts 2011: Key Fobs!

2011-12-21T17:01:00.000-05:00

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!

My Boy Wonder!

2011-12-19T15:47:00.000-05:00

It is time for TWO-PERMAN to retire... now introducing my Boy Wonder!!

I had the hardest time coming up with a birthday shirt idea for my son. I asked my husband for ideas. We loved what we came up with last year to celebrate Dashiell's 2nd birthday Superman style. And even though he still really loves Superman, I didn't want to create a "3" design using the same idea, that's boring. :) Unbeknownst to me, my husband was drawing while we chatted. He showed me his iPhone artwork and I was immediately sold!

Carlin and Dashiell pretend to be Batman and Robin all the time, so this was PERFECT.

I picked up three shirts at Hobby Lobby: a red for the shirt, a green for the sleeves and a yellow for the cape. I removed the sleeves of the red shirt and replaced them with the sleeves of the green shirt. Easier said than done when you have zero experience sewing with knit material, but it turned out well. :)

For the embroidery design I did three simple lines of satin stitches, an applique circle, and used the "3" from 8CP's Sk8 font.

Robin's cape (at least in the rendition that Carlin wanted me to emulate) has a collar. Again, I don't really do garment construction, so I decided to just use a tee shirt and make a cape out of it. I removed the sleeves, cut up the side seams, and cut off the front of the shirt just below the collar. I attempted a rolled hem on the sides (which looks terrible) and a more traditional hem around the neck (also terrible). Oh well, it gets the job done. Dashiell can take it off and put it on by himself, which is a HUGE bonus. And I don't have to worry about him getting strings knotted or choking. He certainly didn't complain about my sloppy workmanship, so I'm calling it a WIN!

I did all of this with a sinus infection, so his costume is still a bit incomplete. He noticed right away that he didn't have a mask, so we hunted down this little Incredibles mask. I still need some green pants and green gloves... We'll see what I can find. :)
Here's my Dynamic Duo, love them to pieces!!

Fantastic Ornament

2011-12-09T20:44:00.000-05:00

The FitzSimmons asked me to make their 2011 Christmas ornament. And since Jason declared me the "Ultimate Nerd Wife" in the comment section of my recent guest post on my husband's blog, how could I refuse?!? :)

Their younger son was born earlier in the year, so this ornament commemorates their becoming a family of four, and uses the same designs we used to announce their pregnancy last fall.

Rapunzel... let down your hair!

2011-12-07T15:17:00.001-05:00

I have a confession, but please don't tell Belle or Ariel. Tangled is my new favorite Disney Princess movie. I just love it!! I've been singing, "When Will My Life Begin?" for a week now thanks to this project:

Isn't this design adorable?!? It's part of a set of cutie princesses that Lynnie Pinnie just released. I knew right away I had to stitch Rapunzel on a shirt for Annaliese. She swooned when she saw the design. Then she told me that since Rapunzel's hair was 70 feet long, she wanted the hair on her shirt to be 7". Well, that meant I needed to do the 6x10 design. :) It's a big design, but worked well on this longer-than-normal shirt I had in my stash.
I really wanted to use the fairy frost fabric for Rapunzel's hair so it would "gleam and glow", but I only have 5" squares. I decided I was ok with a small seam in the middle instead of settling for just a boring yellow fabric. It's not too noticeable, right?

I had so much drama stitching this out -- NOT related to the design though! I had a major thread nest while tacking down the last piece of fabric and had to really wiggle my hoop to get the threads loose from the bobbin. My stabilizer loosened and I was terrified that I would have to scrap the whole project. But thankfully I was able to tug it back in place and everything lined up fine (so thankfully for LP's wide satin stitches which cover a multitude of user errors!). Then I had issues with the brown thread. I chose color over quality (none of my Marathon browns matched the fabric quite right) and quickly learned that my Brother machine does NOT like my Janome thread. It broke at least 6 times! I thought I would never get that section done! Then to top it all off, the power went out in the middle of the design!! AAAHHHH!!!! We lose power often, but that's the first time it has happened while sewing. So I had to go to bed in the dark and wait until later the next afternoon to finish. BUT it got done, we LOVE it, it was so worth the effort. :)

Christmas Shirts, Part 2

2011-11-30T14:05:00.000-05:00

These shirts are for four of my little buddies at church. Each mommy sent me their requests and I was happy to oblige! First up, a onesie for Brooks:

I used Lynnie Pinnie's Reindeer with Ornaments Applique, and added the text with Embird Alphabet #8.

Tracy supplied this adorable turtleneck for Audrey's shirt:

This is Lynnie Pinnie's Simple Tree. I used the 5x7 design, but had a hard time figuring out how to recolor the 6 dots to have a mix of white and red without it looking funny. So finally I decided to leave them all red and just merge the smaller dots from the 4x4 design and color them white. We picked Another Dot Alphabet from 8CP to add her name. The perfect little bow is from Hobby Lobby. :)

Kate's winter shirt will last beyond December:

This is Planet Applique's Let it Snow 2 Alphabet.

And for Peyton I used Applique Cafe's Rudolph 2, adding her name with Swirley from 8CP.

Anxious to see these shirts in action!

Completing a family set of stockings

2011-11-27T21:02:00.000-05:00

Last year, I'm pretty sure on December 26, Michele chatted me on Facebook to ask if I could make her daughter a stocking. Every other member of her family had a handmade stocking except for Katie, the youngest. I said, "Sure, I'll take a look, thanks for giving me a whole year's notice!" :)
Of course, when did I complete the stocking?? Not until the Saturday before Thanksgiving... ah well, I doubt Michele would have hung it up before then anyway.
Here's the final product:

And here's what I was trying to match:

The beauty of these handmade stockings is they were made over the course of several years. Harry and Michelle's were made at the same time -- they have the same green felt, same lining fabric and same size Aida cloth. Peyton and Colin's however have a slightly darker green velvet, a different sized Aida cloth, and one had a different trim around the edge. They all had different ribbon hangers and were slightly different shapes. When I saw that, I was relieved -- it alieviated the pressure to make something *exactly* the same.
I can do cross-stitch, but I am WAY out of practice and have extremely limited supplies, so I enlisted the help of my friend Michelle. I'm pretty sure the weekend after I asked her to help she had already picked a design and stitched it. That was back in February. :) She was really on the ball, and did a fabulous job! Thanks, Michelle!!
I found the same color velvet as the boys' stockings, lined it with something from my stash and added an eyelet ribbon similar to Michele's.

I was pretty pleased with the results, especially since I have never made a fully lined stocking before! I traced one of the stockings for my pattern and just made up the construction process. Here are the kids' stockings -- I think Katie's coordinates quite well!

One last turkey shirt...

2011-11-25T14:33:00.000-05:00

Even though I was super good and got Annaliese's turkey shirt made before November 1, I did end up stitching a turkey for her on Thanksgiving day...
Wednesday evening Annaliese was invited to bring her American Girl doll to Thanksgiving dinner. She asked me if Anna had a turkey shirt. Drat, I thought I had gotten away with not making one. :) I did end up with a bit of free time during nap time, so here's what I whipped up!

I took the 4x4 size of the applique turkey from the Harvest Patchwork set at Designs by JuJu and reduced it. I also deleted the satin stitches to save time. I had scraps from Annaliese's shirt which already had HNBL on it, so it went pretty quickly. The true creativity came in finding a blank. I knew I had a brown onesie in my stash, but discovered it was a short-sleeve 9-12 month size, which is HUGE for a doll. I decided to use it anyway. Chopped it off, did the applique, then took in the side seams/sleeves. I just laid an AG shirt on top of the onesie, drew in seam lines and stitched. Definitely NOT an exact science!

It fit Anna quite well, and bonus, it turned into a long sleeved shirt! Annaliese was quite pleased!

Now I'm hoping Annaliese's turkey shirt still fits her next Thanksgiving so they can match for another year!

Christmas Shirts, Part 1

2011-11-23T09:03:00.000-05:00

I still have a lot of holiday shirts in my line-up, but here are some of the ones I've completed so far. I started with the ones that had to be shipped the farthest, and this week I'm moving to all my little church buddies. :)

Amy ordered these for Jenn's boys:

Sean loves trains, so Amy selected Applique Cafe's Christmas Train. I used Whoa Nelly from 8 Claws and a Paw to add his name.

For Nathan we used Planet Applique's Gift Wagon. I love all of PA's little holiday wagon designs. I think I own them all, and this is the first time I've used one!

These are the shirts for Amy's girls:

She picked Applique Cafe's Rudolph 2, and Riley from 8 Claws and a Paw for their names. (The bows are from a little 3-pack at Hobby Lobby, so perfect!)

This sweet onesie is for tiny little Loralai:

I used Embroidery Boutique's Round Vintage ornament, and Sweet Tarts from 8 Claws and a Paw. LOVE this font! Only my second time using it, so it has to get into the rotation more often.

And finally, a shirt for Dashiell.

Lynnie Pinnie released another version of the Jesus is the Reason for the Season tree design.

Since I used the more girly version for Annaliese, I thought this would make a great coordinating set of shirts. Eh, this isn't the best picture but you get the gist. I'll take a picture of the kids together in front of our Christmas tree this weekend!

Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

2011-11-18T14:23:00.000-05:00

Sorry blog followers, I have been too busy to blog! I have TONS of baby items to share, and have done several Christmas shirts already with several more to go... I hope sometime soon I can sit down and get caught up. Today is just a real quick post to share my daughter's new Christmas shirt:

This Christmas tree design is one of the newest ones from Lynnie Pinnie. I put the 6x10 deco stitch design on Annaliese's shirt:

And the 4x4 deco stitch design on a chopped off newborn onesie for her American Girl doll:

Both stitched great and made such a cute pair! As do my girl and her doll. ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My to do list is very long, so I have moved my "closing date" to this Sunday November 20. I will no longer accept new orders for 2011 after that point. If you want something from me before mid-January, speak now or forever hold your peace... or at least until after January 5. :)

A few more turkeys...

2011-11-10T14:41:00.000-05:00

I know I said I was done with applique turkeys. And I am. But I did make a few more turkeys... that involved fabric... but they weren't appliqued on shirts. So I think I'm still in line with my declaration of being done with turkeys for 2011. :)
I recently saw an idea for making little lapel pins using felt, batting and hand stitching. I realized I could do something very similar using the Felt Stitchies from GG Designs virtually no hand stitching. :)

The original turkey design is from GG Designs. I made several barrettes last year using the design "as is". For the pins though, I used Embird to merge the body with the feathers so it was all one piece (much like her cupcake felt stitchies that I used for Annaliese's birthday). I tacked down batting and trimmed it out, then orange fabric, then brown fabric (and trimmed it), stitched the details, then floated a piece of felt on the bottom and stitched the final redwork outline around the feathers. To make it a pin, I simply whip stitched a safety pin on the back:

This set of turkey pins was given to our church's preschool staff on behalf of the preschool board. We are so thankful for all they do!

One more thanksgiving related project, coordinating shirts for a brother and sister:

The text was requested by my friend. I used Embird Alphabet #14. We selected the colors for the orange shirt to coordinate with a pair of leggings (which I forgot to photograph). And for obvious reasons we omitted the pink from the other shirt.

Anxious to see pictures of the turkey and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving day. :)

Baby Boy Gift Set

2011-11-07T16:01:00.000-05:00

This baby gift set was given at a baby shower this weekend:

I just love this striped fabric!! I ordered it specifically to use on tie onesies. Every time I stitch the Neck Tie Applique from GG Designs I fall in love with it all over again!

The applique "J" is from Embroidery Boutique's Fun Applique Alphabet, and I added "Jeremy" with Whoa Nelly From 8 Claws and a Paw. The little lovey blanket has minkee on one side and the striped fabric on the other side.

Turkeys, Turkeys, Turkeys!

2011-11-02T17:21:00.001-04:00

It's November, Gobble Gobble! My stitching has been exclusively applique turkeys over the last few days. WHEW! Turkey designs with multiple feathers are a LOT of work, but turn out so cute! I'm going to showcase them all here. First up, my daughter's shirt:

The applique turkey is from the Harvest Patchwork set at Designs by JuJu. I LOVE this turkey. The artwork is so cute and DBJJ designs always stitch so nicely. Annaliese and I had fun picking out fabrics together (which honestly is no easy task -- she has much looser guidelines for what colors go together than I do). We are both thrilled with the results. Per her request I added "Happy" on top and "Day" on bottom so it reads Happy Turkey Day. I used the Sweet Tarts font from 8 Claws and a Paw, which is just lovely!

When I showed Annaliese her shirt, my son (almost 3 years old) started jumping up and down and said, "I want one, I want one! I want a turkey shirt!" Fortunately for him I already had something ready to go:

This cute little boy turkey is a new design from Lynnie Pinnie. Since he's wearing a ball cap and sneakers I decided to make him real sporty by using my basketball and football texture fabrics (not vinyl, just regular cotton).

Dashiell loved it. He wanted to wear it immediately, and a few minutes later said to my husband, "See my new chicken shirt? It's cool, isn't it? Cock-da-do-da-do!" Hmmmmmm... seems I need to educate him more in the differences between farm animals. :)

Michelle asked for a "My First Turkey Day" onesie for her granddaughter. After looking through my turkey design Pinterest board, she selected this one:

The turkey applique is from Pink Frog Creations. It was my first purchase from this new-to-me digitizer, and it stitched great! (She has a cute owl I'll probably have to add to my stash.) I added the text with Embird Alphabet #18.

A few weeks back Laura had "liked" an etsy link that showed up in my Facebook feed... I told her I knew a gal who could make something like that. :) I used the same turkey as in the listing, but picked the fabrics from Riley's onesie since it turned out so cute.

This turkey is from Embroidery Boutique. I added "Brooks" with Whoa Nelly from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Speaking of 8CP, they have been releasing new designs like CRAZY recently! I decided to stitch this little guy on a bib because I thought it was such a sweet face.

There are three different text options, "My 1st Thanksgiving", "Eat More Chicken" and this one, "Gobble Til You Wobble." Now, normally I'm not one to promote gluttony, but let's face it, a baby is going to wobble whether they gobble or not! And considering how much effort we put into getting our son to consume food, I'd be THRILLED if he gobbled til he wobbled just once. :)

I took the following picture as I was stitching. 8CP's applique designs feature a blanket stitch for the tackdown step. It's really pretty! In fact, if I had used matching threads, I would have been tempted to skip the satin stitches all together and leave it as is -- gives a hand-stitched look. I will have to play with this on future projects...

I'm unusually on the ball this year for teacher gifts... I actually have Thanksgiving towels ready to give them at the beginning of November so they can use them all month long! This is only because I had the opportunity to test a new Lynnie Pinnie design, and I borrowed an idea from myself two years ago. :)

Dashiell gave his teacher the towel using the 4x4" Hand Turkey applique design from LP. The font is "Andy" and Kathy digitized it for me a couple years ago.

Annaliese gave her teacher the towel using the 5x7" design.

Whew! And with that, I think I'm done with turkeys for 2011!

Christmas orders have been pouring in since I announced that my last day for orders is November 30. Just a heads up -- I'll probably have to move that date up. So if you want something from me before mid-January, shoot me an email ASAP. :)

Gifts for Allie

2011-10-29T19:17:00.000-04:00

Brenda asked me to make a couple items for her little friend Allie who is turning two. First, a hooded towel:

I used the Elle alphabet from 8 Paws and a Claw to stitch her name. To coordinate with the ribbon, I swapped out the dot on the eye for a little flower (which I lifted from an Embroidery Library Design that I have).

Brenda has a Golden Retriever that Allie adores, so I also embellished this hoodie (didn't realize the photo was so terrible until after I shipped it!)

The puppy is from Planet Applique, and I used fleece for the applique - soft and fuzzy! Both of my kids (at separate times) grabbed it with delight and said, "Awwwwwww....!" I hope Allie enjoys it just as much!

Donated Quilt

2011-10-27T10:57:00.000-04:00

Several weeks back Annaliese came home from school all excited about an upcoming field trip/service project to the local animal shelter. Amidst her rambling I heard something about making a blanket for kitties but couldn't get many more details out of her, so I emailed her teacher to let her know I am an (out of practice) quilter and could lend a hand if need be. She took me up on that offer :) and put me in contact with another teacher who gave me all the specifics. Once the kids had drawn pictures of owls on fabric squares, she passed them on to me to put together into a small quilt. Yesterday the class visited the animal shelter, and along with lots of other donations of needed supplies, the class donated this quilt:

Here are closeup pictures of the students' artwork:

I picked blue, brown and tan fabrics from my stash to coordinate with the marker colors the children used. Simple patchwork with 4.5" squares, quilting lines across the diagonals of the blocks.
Before passing it off to the employees of the shelter, I did take a class picture:

The quilt was VERY well received. The kids were thanked a couple different times, which was pretty special. This lady was especially grateful and complimentary:

As we toured the animal shelter, we got to see several kitty quilts in use. Each cat that is up for adoption has a small quilt in it's crate. The purpose is to provide comfort and a sense of homeyness (plus maybe it makes the cat look more adoptable??). Some of the quilts were really pretty! Pardon my poor photography, I was in a hurry and the camera focused more on the bars than the quilt inside. But you get the gist...

Here are some other lovely quilts waiting to be used (I know nothing of their origins):

While I've done many rag quilts, I haven't made a traditional quilt in several years. It was nice to "practice" again on this project, especially since the recipients wouldn't judge my not-so-straight quilting lines and non-mitered binding. ;) Now maybe I can get my rear in gear to finish Dashiell's baby quilt... before his third birthday???

Sweet and simple baby designs

2011-10-26T14:59:00.000-04:00

Below are a couple new baby applique designs I tested for 8 Claws and a Paw a while back. I sampled them on bibs (which are still available if anyone is interested :) ).
Applique Baby Bodysuit:

This would be cute with a monogram inside. (And don't you love the stripe??)

Applique Baby Rattle:

I think this would be cute with a monogram inside, too, if you deleted the text.

Some other baby applique designs from 8CP to check out: baby bottle, diaper pin, and cute chick. These are all simple one-piece appliques that stitch out very quickly!

Ladybug Hair Clips

2011-10-25T10:11:00.002-04:00

This past Sunday our Homebuilders group at church participated in a service project -- filling wrapped shoe boxes with gifts for children to donate to Operation Christmas Child. We did it potluck style: everyone brought mulitples of the items they purchased (toys, games, books, crafts, candy, hygiene items, etc) and then we filled the boxes with various combinations.
I still had several crayon rolls left from when I mass produced them four years ago that we took. We also made these!

The Ladybug Felt Stitchies design is from GG Designs. Her little hair clip designs are so cute! I picked the ladybugs because they weren't seasonal and could be worn by the girls year round. I used tiny black ricrac for the antenna.

Mass producing these is quicker than doing a pair at a time. In Embird I put 20 leaf clips in my 6x10 hoop, color sorted, and deleted all the tackdown stitches. All I had to do was lay down one big piece of felt, do the detail stitching for all 20, then put a big piece of felt on the back and stitch the barrette outline for all 20. I was able to get 20 small ladybugs in my 5x7 hoop. What I didn't factor in to my production plan was:
20 ladybugs x 8 dots each = 160 jump stitches = 320 scissor snips. :)
Annaliese was very helpful on this project -- she pulled off all the tearaway stabilizer while I trimmed the pieces out. We enjoyed our time together, and I liked being able to donate homemade items.

Simply adding a name?

2011-10-24T09:54:00.000-04:00

This weekend was little Dawson's first birthday party. Nicole found an adorable outfit at Gymboree for him, but wanted his name added. I was happy to oblige, and thought I'd show you how I did it.
First I found a football design I already owned and resized it in Embird to be the exact measurements of the football already on the Gymboree bodysuit. That helped me determine the size and placement of the font (and provide Nicole with a reasonable estimation of what it might look like). This is especially helpful if you are curving text around a preexisting design (like I did on Katelyn's birthday dress made by her grandmother).

I printed the template, trimmed it out and laid it on top of the bodysuit, lining up the footballs:

Then I used my blue marking pen to mark the axes:

Hooped the bodysuit, lined up the center of the design with the center mark in the middle of the football, skipped over the football part of the embroidery design and simply stitched his name! Voila!

I used the College Block Small alphabet from 8 Claws and a Paw to add "Dawson". I am really enjoying this font!

Football Themed Baby Gift Set

2011-10-20T13:40:00.000-04:00

Renee requested a baby boy gift set and sent me a link to the bedding set the mommy-to-be had registered for (Pottery Barn Junior Varsity). Here's what I came up with:

Pretty cute right? I used the quilt from the set as my inspiration for fabric/ribbon choices. Daddy is a football coach, so I focused on that.

The Football Applique is from Lynnie Pinnie. I LOVE it. And this Sports Life Brown Texture fabric by Robert Kaufman is PERFECT. I used my favorite boy font Whoa Nelly from 8 Claws and a Paw to add his name. And I used my favorite ribbon for boys. All around awesome burp cloth, right?? :)

The ribbon blanket has a light blue cotton stripe fabric on the front and football fleece on the back. I was very excited to find all of the supplies for this already in my stash.

Go Noles!

2011-10-15T09:50:00.000-04:00

Last night my daughter and I attended a Women's Volleyball game. Since Annaliese has outgrown her FSU bandana dress, she needed some new Nole wear, and I whipped this out before going. Literally - I hit start on my machine at 5pm, we had to eat dinner and leave by 6:30. I'm never pushing it quite that close. :) But it turned out so cute!

The Spear applique design is from Applique Market:

Annaliese loves her shirt, and enjoyed cheering on the ladies to win!

Bridal accessory set

2011-10-13T10:24:00.000-04:00

A couple years ago I made a ring bearer pillow and embellished a couple flower girl baskets. Since sharing those on my blog I have received several inquiries via email about making custom bridal accessories. Today I share a new set... but only to say "look what I made" and not "look what I make". There is a subtle difference...more on that in a second. :)

Kerri contacted me with all her info and requests, then mailed me swatches of her wedding colors (LOVELY!). I went ribbon shopping and here's the final set:

First, the ring bearer pillow. I made this from scratch, the final size is about a 9" square. I used Embird Alphabet #38 for the monogram/text.

The flower girl basket was purchased from Jo-Ann. I removed the white bows that it came with and substituted them with monogrammed bows in Kerri's colors. Check out their awesome wedding date!! (Oops, just noticed some jump stitches I still need to trim. Glad I haven't packaged it up yet!)

And I made these garters! This was a first for me, and I completely winged it. :) Basically I stitched two layers of satin ribbon together, forming a casing for elastic. Threaded the elastic through, joined the ends and added a bow. The "toss" garter has 7/8" ribbon as it's base, and the "keep" garter uses 1.5" ribbon (I also stitched a tiny 3-letter monogram on the front and date on the back!)

It all turned out lovely, in reality it wasn't that complicated, and I'm very pleased with the results. But here's the deal -- I'm not that great at tying bows, and sewing with satin fabric/ribbon requires extra care, so constructing all of this took longer than I'd like. This isn't a market I want to get into, I prefer baby and children's items. So please don't be offended if you ask for a bridal accessory set and I say no. :)

Kerri, I pray that your wedding day is absolutely beautiful. May God grant you two a long and happy life together!

Whimsical Fabrics coupon code and giveaway!

2011-10-13T09:01:00.000-04:00

I've shared this month's coupon code on Facebook, but I don't think I have shared it here on my blog. If you make a purchase at http://www.whimsicaldesignsclothing.com/ please use the coupon code JANAY1011 at checkout to save an additional 5% off your entire purchase! It can be stacked on top of sale prices, one-time use code, good through 10/31/11.

Also, Whimsical Fabrics is having a huge giveaway on their new blog. Go check it out!

http://whimsicalfabricblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/its-giveaway-time.html

But really, I'd rather you not enter, because that reduces my chances for winning. Thanks. ;)

I ❤ 8 Claws and a Paw Embroidery

2011-10-08T13:23:00.002-04:00

I want to take a moment to give a quick shout-out to some very dear people, Joe and Julie of 8 Claws and a Paw Embroidery.
I still remember when "flipflopsindecember" gave away the Chunky Tinker Toy applique font on Sew Forum the summer of 2008, and it was at that point I was introduced to 8CP. They launched the amazing Claws and Paws Font Club where you could subscribe for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or a whole year, and during that time period you could download any of the fonts already on their site, as well as the future fonts released every MWF. As time goes on, this becomes an unbelievable bargain because now they have over 547 fonts digitized!!

By submitting pictures for their project showcase, I won a month subscription to the club in 2009, and started downloading like crazy. :) And if you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know I use their fonts on almost every project that includes text. I love the quality and variety.

Last summer I received the honor of become a design tester for 8CP as they were really expanding their embroidery design library beyond fonts to include applique and fill-stitched designs of all sorts. I have truly enjoyed working with Julie in this capacity (even though it hasn't been at the volume I wish I could do).

It's such a joy to find God-honoring people doing excellent business, and it's been a pleasure to learn just how God-honoring Joe and Julie are with their entire lives. They responded to the call of international adoption, and launched their digitizing business in early 2008 to cover the costs of adoption. Did you know that?? I wonder if all of us embroiderers would have the blessing of 8CP fonts if they had ignored God's prompting to adopt...

As things progressed in the adoption process, they stopped offering 1-year subscription offer. They take seriously their business commitment, and didn't want to promise a new font every MWF for a whole year, not knowing what the future would hold. I admired their forethought and openness with their customers. They have been faithful to offer a new font every MWF, even through travels back and forth to Ethiopia to meet and later bring home their girls.

Now that their family has expanded, their business is changing a bit, as announced in a newsletter earlier this week. The Claws and Paws Club will be ending in January. While this may be disappointing to some, I am impressed by their decision to honor their commitment to God by putting their family first. And hey, they aren't quitting immediately -- they are carrying out their commitment to customers who had purchased subscriptions that run through January 9, 2012.

What does this mean?? TOMORROW, Sunday October 9 is the last day you can purchase the 3-month subscription to the font club. They will still offer the 1-month subscription through December 9. So if you have considered a club membership, NOW IS THE TIME!! I promise, it is a purchase you will NOT regret.

Thank you Julie and Joe for blessing the embroidery community with your amazing fonts -- probably 575 different varieties by January! I for one am looking forward seeing what new things you create in your "free time" now that the burden of 3 fonts a week is lifted. APPLIQUE!! ;)

Pumpkin Shirt

2011-10-07T14:08:00.000-04:00

The danger of doing custom embroidery for friends is that when my daughter sees a new project (like Audrey's pumpkin shirt) she immediately wants something similar! Of course it would be too easy if she wanted the exact same pumpkin and font... so the only similarity to Audrey's shirt is the Ta Dot fabric. :)

We sat down together with my computer and looked at all the pumpkin designs I had, plus additional designs online. She selected Applique Market's Plump Pumpkin (of course one I didn't own yet). She wasn't a fan of the way her name looked in the Butterball font, so we scrolled through 8CP's font list and she picked Another Dot Alphabet.

She loves it, and insisted on wearing it to school this morning even though today's high is 88 degrees.
And notice that someone else got a new pumpkin shirt...

For Anna, I took one of Dashiell's old 0-3month Gerber onesies, chopped it off and appliqued the pumpkin/name on it. It's a little big, but that's ok, it's for a doll. ;) I may take it in a bit on both sides, but really, I doubt it. I used the 4x4 size and shrunk it down, probably to about 70%? Same with the font. And they both stitched remarkably well!

Monogrammed Bloomers

2011-10-03T09:46:00.000-04:00

I recently monogrammed a couple pair of bloomers. They are so sweet, it's just not something I do often... not sure why! Mem supplied these and picked two different monograms. This one is the Empire font from Embroidery Arts:

And this one is KK Mongram from 8 Claws and a Paw:

Before stitching these I did a quick Google image search on monogrammed bloomers to get an idea for design placement (I didn't want to stitch the monogram too low or too high). Here's the ironic thing... one particular image jumped out at me as being really pretty, and when I looked closer, it was my picture! HA! At that point I decided I should just do my own thing and not worry so much. :) Even though it happens all the time, it is still weird to see my own project images pop up on Google searches. And I love finding stuff from my blog being pinned on Pinterest. I find so much inspiration online, and it's an honor to know that I can sometimes return the favor.

Pumpkin Shirt for Audrey

2011-10-01T10:25:00.001-04:00

Happy Fall Y'all!
Tracy asked me to make a pumpkin shirt for Miss Audrey:

The pumpkin design is from Planet Applique's Double Pumpkin Alphabet (minus some details). I used the Butterball font from 8 Claws and a Paw for "Audrey". One aspect of this font that I like is that all the letters are the same height. Originally Tracy wanted something like Boyz Are Gross but the "d" was so tall and the "y" hung down so low that it just didn't look right under the pumpkin. Butterball was a perfect fix!

You know, this may be one of the first times I have added a bow to a shirt. I'm not an expert bow tier. But I remembered an awesome tutorial I had found via Pinterest. It utilizes a fork to tie a tiny bow (for wedding invitations and the like). I was using wider ribbon and needed a bigger bow, so I went hunting for something larger with four prongs, and found my potato masher. Glad I finally have a use for this thing! Ha! :)

EDITED TO ADD:

After Tracy's coworker saw Audrey's shirt, she needed a set for her daughters. :)

Football Monogram

2011-09-30T20:27:00.000-04:00

When I got done with Dashiell's tote bag using the sports ball vinyl, I did a google image search on sports balls applique designs -- just to see if there was something cool out there (that I didn't already have) that I could use on a shirt for him. And I stumbled upon this neat monogram!

This football applique alphabet is from Starbird Stock Designs. I had never been to this site before, and still need to explore it some more. But I was so intrigued by the design (and enticed by the amazing sale) that I decided to buy the letter D design and stitch it out to see if I wanted to purchase the whole alphabet. I really like the results!

For those of you that do machine applique, here's a bit of advice/info. I had to do a bit of editing in my software. The die line is only stitched once, and then the zigzag stitch came next. So I duplicated the die line to have a placement and tackdown stitch. It does the background color first, then the accent color, then the football, and then the white stitching last. The vinyl did very well on this design! You will want to use HNBL on the fabrics since it's a zigzag stitch. Actually this design kind of lends itself to felt -- may have to give that a whirl. And look at my pleased little boy!

The set comes with both the alphabet and numbers, which I think would make awesome birthday shirts. You can use whatever team colors you want, so it's super versatile, and you don't have to worry about any licensing issues! in our case GO NOLES!

Sports Bag

2011-09-29T20:16:00.001-04:00

Let's see... how many weeks have we been in school? Dashiell has been using one of Annaliese's old preschool bags, even though I bought a tote bag to stitch something on for him before school started. I just couldn't get inspired for what to put on it. My goal was a school themed applique, but I wasn't in love with anything (for a boy).
Then this week I decided it didn't have to be school themed, and I could use it as an opportunity to test out the new sports ball vinyl that my MIL bought for me!! Didn't this turn out cute?!?

I used the Sportsballs Applique design from Planet Applique, although I deleted out the soccer ball. No offense to soccer lovers, I just wanted to simplify a bit and have space to add his name. I used the College Block Small alphabet from 8 Claws and a Paw to add "Dashiell".

Ok, let me weigh in here on this vinyl. My MIL purchased a yard of each (as well as black) from 1st Impressions Designs and gave me half of it! It's pretty cool stuff! It cuts easier than I expected. I used these applique scissors and they did great. I had complete coverage with the satin stitches, no vinyl poking out.
While I love the looks of this design, I would not recommend using vinyl with it. They way the tackdowns are digitized the balls overlap by about 1/4", which is no big deal when using regular cotton material, but vinyl makes it pretty thick right where the satin stitches need to go. In fact I broke a needle, and there was about a 1" stretch on the football that my machine just would NOT do the satin stitches on, I had to do it manually with my sewing machine.
Here's a close up for two reasons... first, look at the awesome texture of this vinyl! Second, see the top of the baseball where the right red stitching lines come out... the white satin stitches there are very narrow. That's caused by three layers of vinyl and two layers of satin stitches BEFORE the white was stitched. YIKES! I was holding my breath with my finger on the stop button as it stitched across there!

So... I will stitch this design again, but with cotton fabric. And I will definitely use the vinyl again, but on a design that doesn't have the ball fabrics overlap.
My next project with the vinyl will be a shirt for Dashiell -- I want to experiment with laundering it!

Ballet Bag

2011-09-29T08:58:00.000-04:00

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook, but this project is a result of the "love" part. :) One feature I really enjoy is the fan album. It's great to peruse the pictures posted by other embroiderers showing how they've used designs from my favorite digitizers. About two weeks ago I found a great project picture on 8 Claws and a Paw's Facebook wall that had been posted by another fan. I really liked it (font and bag) so I decided to be a total copy cat! Annaliese recently started a ballet class, and was "in need" of a new bag. She was beyond thrilled with my little surprise for her:

The quilted back pack is from Hobby Lobby:

The Ballet Embroidery Font is from 8 Claws and a Paw:

Sister shirts

2011-09-27T17:04:00.000-04:00

Michelle asked me to make a set of sibling shirts using the designs from Applique Momma. I was happy to oblige! I used my new Fabric Finders gingham for these, inspired by a sample posted on AM's facebook page.

I used the zig zag 5" size of the Big Sister design for Kyleigh's shirt, adding her name with the Tinker Toy font from 8 Claws and a Paw. :

I used the zig zag 4" size of the Little Sister design for Elliana's shirt. We also experimented with switching the fabrics. I can't decide which I like better, but I definitely like the monochromatic look!

Me and My Doll aprons

2011-09-26T19:09:00.001-04:00

Ever since Annaliese got an American Girl doll, she has asked for the "Me and My Doll" kits whenever we see them at Walmart or Hobby Lobby. I've always told her no because frankly I haven't been thrilled with the colors/patterns I've seen on these printed panel kits for matching bags or doll dresses. But a couple weeks ago when I discovered that one of our Walmart locations is getting a fabric cutting counter back (YES!) they had the "Me and My Doll" items on clearance. I dug through and found one that looked decent... matching aprons. This weekend Annaliese and I worked on them together:

The kit was simply a fabric panel:

I cut out the pieces for Annaliese's apron, and she cut out the pieces for the doll apron -- and did a great job! After that, she just hung out of my bed playing while I sewed. :)
The fabric is very thin, and the directions called for serging edges, folding under 3/8" and top stitching. I was not thrilled with that idea, so I dug through my fabric stash and found something to line the entire apron. I'll be honest, I'm pretty proud of myself. :) I have very limited garment construction experience, and I definitely prefer to follow directions, so "winging it" isn't something I do often. I'm glad I had a tiny version to practice on first! The doll apron turned out well, so I was safe to proceed onto Annaliese's, and her's turned out to be completely reversible (although the other side is boring and I doubt she'll wear it that way).

This may shock you, but there is no embroidery on these... And I don't know if I'll monogram them. Probably not unless she asks me to.
Annaliese really likes her apron, and as soon as we were done she wanted to go to the kitchen to make something. Thankfully I had a package of pudding that was sufficient. :)

Custom shirts

2011-09-26T08:57:00.000-04:00

Jason asked me to make a couple custom shirts, one for each of his boys. I'm not exactly sure of the stories behind each shirt... just created what he asked for! :) This one is for the older son:

I searched high and low for a good embroidery design (applique or fill-stitch) of a sitting howling wolf. No luck! Found one, but it was on a site I had never purchased from, and it gave no info about the design (size, stitch count, thread changes) so I didn't really want to spend the money and discover it was not appropriate for this project. (Side note to digitizers -- please provide this info on your site!!!) Soooooo.... I asked Jason to send me an image of what he was visualizing, and I digitized the silhouette myself.

I added the text (front and back) with Embird Alphabet #2. The soccer balls are from a Band to Bow CD I have (it may be this design?)

For the younger son's shirt, I digitized this rounded rectangle to look like a playing card and added the text (front and back) with Embird Alphabet #14.

Happy Birthday, Chloe!

2011-09-25T13:34:00.000-04:00

Third year in a row for making Chloe a custom item to wear on her birthday! First birthday was a reversible A-line, 2nd was an appliqued shirt, and now year three:

Jenn made it really easy on me this year -- she wanted me to reproduce a shirt I made in July, all I did was swap the name and changed the thread color to match this adorable tutu skirt she had purchased. If you compare, I even got the fabric placement virtually identical -- so proud of myself! ;) I used the Chubby Wubby applique numbers from GG Designs for the 3, added the crown with Applique Cafe's Add a Crown design and stitched her name with the Swirley font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

I didn't get to celebrate with Chloe, but saw pictures... man is she adorable. :)

Sweet Burp Cloth

2011-09-22T13:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, I know I just posted a "miscellaneous projects" post and could have included this there, but I really like how this turned out and wanted to highlight it. :) Tracy asked me to make a burp cloth for her to give as a gift, requesting a lavender and light green color scheme. I acknowledge that this turned out to be more purple than lavender, but we both really liked the ribbon. I've had it in my stash for a long time, but I think this is the first time I've actually used it!
And I absolutely LOVE this monogram/font combination. The "E" is Lynnie Pinnie's Applique Swirl Font. I added Emma with Swirley from 8 Claws and a Paw.

I wonder how many times I have combined a LP applique with an 8CP font... probably about a million. :)

Miscellaneous Stitching...

2011-09-21T09:01:00.000-04:00

Eh, I'm trying to catch up. I have a bunch of little stuff that I've done over the past few months but haven't shared yet. So I'm going to throw them all at you in one big post.
Monogrammed Flower Flip Flops -- I put all the design and how-to details in a blog post earlier this year, you can find it here. I made three more pairs at the end of July:

Key Chains:
Sabrina asked me to make one for her niece, and Rebekah asked me to make a couple for her daughter... these are being used as name tags on back packs and lunch boxes, made from 1.5" ribbon and D-rings:

Key Fobs:
Last weekend our family attended a fun shindig, and what better gift do you take to a sweet sixteen party than a key fob?? It also makes an awesome gift for Annaliese's teacher, whose birthday was this week.

(Quick side note: if you make DigiStitches key fobs, or really any thing that requires a tube that needs to be turned, you MUST get this Quick Turn tool. WOW it makes it unbelievably easy and fast to turn something right side out!!)

And finally my big project of the week... 10 more aprons like the ones I made earlier in the summer.

This was an exciting and successful experiment in running both machines at the same time. What would have taken me over two and a half hours on one machine I got done in less than an hour and a half. Woo-hoo! I won't be able to do this very often, but 2-color embroidery-only designs on aprons was doable. And can only be done when I'm home alone. It's pretty loud, so I don't want to wake sleeping children, or not be able to hear what is going on outside of my room. Or be distracted, that could be disastrous. :)

Baby Gift set for Auburn fans

2011-09-20T21:31:00.000-04:00

Just a few short days after making Tre's birthday gift, I got an email that said, "would you have any time at all to make a burp cloth and medium onsie for a baby shower? Baby boy, Tre' with the accent over the E -- Auburn fans." I almost fell out of my chair. And here's the kicker -- she hadn't even seen my blog post about Tre's shirt! It was pretty easy to come up with an idea... :)

In this case (since it was an order and not a gift) I did not use the licensed fabric, but simply used orange and navy. I used Lynnie Pinnie's applique football helmet design, and added his name with Embird Alphabet #2.

Lucy's Luau

2011-09-14T09:27:00.001-04:00

Lucy turned one, and her parents threw her a luau! Natalie requested a "1" shirt with a hibiscus flower, and here's what I made (this picture is really dark for some reason...):

Initially I thought about using Planet Applique's Tiki Alphabet, but the 1 was so skinny that I didn't like it. So I used my fave Chubby Wubby Applique Numbers from GG Designs, and merged the hibiscus from the Tiki Alphabet onto GG's 1. I added the text with Embird Alphabet #8.

Natalie sent me a link to the hibiscus plates they purchased so I could use it to determine my color palette. Lucy coordinated with the decor quite well! :)

Simple little burp cloth

2011-09-05T06:46:00.004-04:00

Michelle requested this design and color scheme for a burp cloth as a baby gift. I love it when she does all the planning for me! The Taylor applique monogram is from Lynnie Pinnie.

Happy Birthday, Tre!

2011-09-03T14:19:00.000-04:00

A little buddy of mine turns four today! It's so hard to believe... seems like yesterday I made his first birthday shirt. His parents are big Auburn fans, so I decided to grab a bit of AU fabric and make this shirt to give to him as a gift:

I used Lynnie Pinnie's new applique football helmet design, and added his name with Embird Alphabet #8.

Quick comment -- Licensed fabric is for personal use only. Gifts are fine, but I can't sell items using licensed fabric... so don't ask. :)

My first wristlet!

2011-08-30T13:52:00.000-04:00

Having a 6x10 hoop has now thrown open the door to in-hoop designs. I know several exist for the 5x7 hoop, but I have done my best to ignore them thus far. But Embroidery Garden released a cute new Owl Wristlet last week that I just had to try. :)

This was made completely in my embroidery machine (with the exception of one small opening I had to whip stitch shut by hand). It has a zipper, and is completely lined with no exposed seams.

Reen is a genius to figure out how to create the embroidery file to do this, and her directions were flawless! I'm pleased with my first attempt at these little bags, and see more in my future. Especially since I know Annaliese will want one as soon as she sees it after school. :)

My "new" machine!

2011-08-28T16:14:00.001-04:00

There were multiple reasons I decided to take the month of August off (travel and back to school primarily) but another major factor was I knew I was getting another hand-me-down embroidery machine, so I had to spend quite a bit of time in my sewing area preparing for it's arrival and then setting it up!

I've been asked several times to show pictures of my sewing studio. I'm not sure a complete tour/reveal will ever happen. :) I do not have a dedicated room for my craft, just a section of our master bedroom, so there is a lot of stuff crammed into a small amount of space. And unfortunately it is usually a mess. I've worked quite a bit this month on reorganizing to make room for the new machine and make everything more user-friendly, but I still have a LONG way to go. Thanks to my husband giving up his table, I do have a nice sturdy surface to have both machines side by side. YAY! I really didn't think I'd be able to have both set up simultaneously. This is very exciting!

While the machine was still set up at my MIL's house, I did a quick one-fabric applique on a shirt to practice using the machine. (Although to be honest, that design was only about 1/2" wider than what I could already do on my Janome). Then I really put the 6x10 hoop to the test by making this shirt for my friend Carla (like the smaller versions I made for her kids):

I used Embroidery Boutique's Double Fun Alphabet (zigzag stitch). I just used the outside part of the letters, did some significant resizing, and adjusted the pull compensation to widen the zigzag. It stitched beautifully and it was so neat to make such a wide design -- perfect for an adult shirt!

We've been home for over 2 weeks, but life has been so crazy (with travel recovery and back to school) that I just got my new-to-me Brother ULT2003D set up this afternoon! I only had a two hour window during my son's nap to play, so I decided to make myself a new key fob, again using the full extend of the 6x10 hoop!

The in-hoop key fobs are from DigiStitches. I added my name with Embird Alphabet #7. The top one is the key fob I made myself in March, and the bottom is the one I made today! It's amazing what a difference a couple extra inches can make. Now it's big enough to slip around my wrist!

A work in progress...

2011-08-27T20:42:00.000-04:00

Last week I had the opportunity to test some of Lynnie Pinnie's new designs. While her new football set is A-DOR-A-BLE, I knew several of the other testers would jump all over those. :) I instead decided to test some of the Little Faces:

I had so much fun picking fabrics for hair and skin. I tried to create as diverse a set of faces as possible! I used 5 different skin fabrics, five different hair fabrics, and six different threads for eye color. I also decided to stitch them on my new gingham fabric (purchased from a pre-order from Whimsical Fabrics). Right now these are 9x9" squares... I hope to turn them into a quilted wall hanging... soonish.
The faces come in four sizes. I chose the 4x4 boys and the small 5x7 girls. Their faces are proportional to each other, but since the girls have ponytails, their overall size is bigger.
Boy 1:

Boy 2 with glasses:

Boy 3:

Girl 1 (I love using wood grain fabric for hair!):

Girl 2 with glasses:

Girl 3 (I love this brown swirl fabric, too!):

I'll keep you posted on my progress when it comes to combining them into a wall hanging. I'd love to include the lyrics, "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world." BUT that is a lot of text to embroider! Not sure... Any suggestions?!?

Jump rope anyone?

2011-08-26T09:24:00.000-04:00

I loved to jump rope when I was little. I remember doing "Jump Rope for Heart" events in elementary school. So when I saw this design, I just loved it. Thankfully Annaliese did, too, so we put it on a little sundress for her!

This is the 5x7 size of the Jump Rope Girl Applique from Lynnie Pinnie:

This dress had been sitting around for several weeks. We had another design picked out (fabrics selected and everything) but I had been busy filling orders and hadn't gotten to it yet. So glad I waited, this is precious. Annaliese loves it!

Ready for Preschool!

2011-08-24T13:06:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was Dashiell's first day of preschool!

As I was stitching Annaliese's back-to-school shirt, I received a design to test for 8 Claws and a Paw Embroidery. When I took a peek, it dawned on me that I hadn't given a single thought to poor Dashiell and what he would wear on his first day of preschool! I'm so thankful that this design was a PERFECT solution, and got it done the next day!

The Crayon Trio applique design and the Skinny font (which I used to add his initials) are both from 8 Claws and a Paw. Actually, I think the font is included with the design purchase, bonus!

The best part was when I showed it to him. He immediately hugged it and exclaimed, "You made this for me?!?" I then asked what was on his shirt and he said, "Red, Blue Green! D, V, T! 1, 2, 3! 3 Crayons!" I think he'll do pretty well in preschool. ;)

Like Annaliese, Dashiell had a few school supplies to take with him on his first day, so Ms Martha needed a monogrammed shopping bag, too. :)

I used the Taylor font from Lynnie Pinnie.

Dashiell will be attending our church's preschool two mornings a week. I will be aiding one of those days, so don't expect my monogramming volume to increase; 2.5 hours of alone time once a week doesn't really amount to too much... but I am looking forward to it! :)

And hey, 8 Claws and a Paw has released a lot of new applique designs recently -- go check them out!

Cool pencil bag

2011-08-23T14:06:00.000-04:00

I was a good little mommy and bought all my daughter's school supplies during FL's tax-free weekend. But at orientation the Friday before school we learned there was one item left off the supply list -- a pencil bag to go in a 3-ring binder. Eh, it could be worse. :)
So the Sunday before school started I actually braved Walmart at 12:30pm. Annaliese and I darted in hand-in-hand to get to the school supply aisle and get out. She had picked green (her new favorite color?!?) for all of her supplies and really wanted a green bag. I warned her ahead of time that it may be slim pickin's at this point and she couldn't be choosy. We saw one bag that had robots on it (uh, no) and headed to another aisle. I saw some white bags and figured that would have to do, and then noticed it said, "Color Me In".

I thought, "oh cool, grab a green sharpie and she can make it match. THEN I looked at it up close...

and exclaimed, "Annaliese! You can pick green fabric, I can monogram it and slip it in!!"
That sealed the deal so we grabbed one and headed for the registers. Here's where the real miracle occurred... the very first express lane had no line and we walked right up to check out. :)

Annaliese picked the fabric, and I created the monogram. I used the new Riddles font from 8 Claws and a Paw. I thought this was a good solution to get a very long name to fill the vertical space.

I slid the piece of fabric in between the two layers of clear vinyl:

And Voila! A monogrammed pencil pouch with no funky hooping. Cool, huh?

Second Grade!!

2011-08-22T08:59:00.000-04:00

Today is Annaliese's first day of Second Grade! Can you believe it?!? Shortly after getting my embroidery machine she headed off to preschool. A couple years later was kindergarten, then first grade... wow! Time flies. Sniff, sniff, I should NOT be looking at all these old posts right now; it's hard to type with misty eyes. Here's my girl, ready for second grade!

Neither Annaliese nor I had a clear vision for what should go on her shirt this year, so we sat down on the couch together with my lap top and browsed designs. We settled on the Pencil Frame from Applique Corner (which I snagged on sale a while back). I swapped out the text that it came with for "Second Grade" using Leon from 8 Claws and a Paw. LOVE this font!

We picked the colors of the pencils to coordinate with the capris we bought for her birthday. We love those capris, but she just doesn't wear her birthday shirt every week, so they needed a new matching top. :)

We had the capris and thankfully I already had a white tee in my stash, so no new expense putting together this outfit! We did however spend money on school supplies... not too horrible though. We decided that Annaliese would deliver her school supplies in a monogrammed shopping bag for her teacher. :)

I used the Taylor font from Lynnie Pinnie. *Hopefully* her teacher won't mind that I didn't capitalize her last name, I just really like this font and it only comes lower case. :)

And she's off! Annaliese is so ready for school to start. I'm just praying for another great year for my beautiful and intelligent growing girl!

Ready for Kindergarten

2011-08-21T13:53:00.000-04:00

Maddy is ready for her first day of kindergarten! Her elementary school's mascot is a bee, and school colors are blue and yellow. This is the first shirt her mom requested:

I used Lynnie Pinnie's Bumble Bee applique design, and added "Maddy is a Busy Bee" with Swirley from 8 Claws and a Paw. Love that font!

The second is a Kindergarten Rocks shirt. I used bee fabric and blue thread so that it's full of school spirit!

The original "Kindergarten ROCKS" design is from Embroidery Boutique. I used the stars and the word Kindergarten, but swapped out the applique word for the zig zag version of EB's Cade Applique Alphabet (with EB's blessing).

I thought I'd take a moment to give you a little extra insight into my creation process. Often when I'm using a fabric with a motif I want to be sure certain elements are visible withing the applique area. In the case of this bee fabric if I simply laid it down, it's quite possible that no bees would be visible (Like the "K" above). To avoid that I bring the fabric to my computer and lay it over the screen with the design image in the background. I slide it around and rotate it until I find the perfect position for the fabric, then use my water-soluble pen to mark how the fabric should align with the placement stitches. My goal was to get a bee in the wide parts of the R, O and C. I achieved that goal, and it's very close to my preview image!

I used that technique here to get a good color assortment of stars in the 2, here to get a full wand and shoe within the 3, here to be sure the orange dots were not beneath the orange name, here to minimize the number of stems showing, here to get the angle right and put the hot pink stripes in the middle, here to be sure the orange stripe was not under the monogram... etc. You can really use fabric effectively if you take some extra time to place it *just* right. :)

Monogramming for School

2011-08-15T08:57:00.000-04:00

I'm hesitant to show these off because as a rule, I don't monogram back packs and lunch boxes. Generally they are virtually impossible to do on my single-needle machine. But for good friends I'll entertain the idea -- if the item is relatively easy to hoop and not too thick. I don't commit to anything until I personally inspect each item. :)
Nicole found this cute set at a Children's Place Outlet store. I figured I could monogram the back pack and pencil pouch, but immediately said no to the lunch box -- it is very well insulated and I didn't think my machine would handle it well -- not worth the risk. Then I realized I could take it along with me to IL and monogram it on my MIL's 6-needle machine!

Presley wanted her three-letter monogram on the back pack and pencil case, and name on her lunch box. I used Tinker Toy from 8 Claws and a Paw for both.

I thought I'd share a couple pictures of how I hooped the pencil pouch. Inside out on sticky stabilizer:

Here's a close-up. See how close that zipper is to the needle if I'm not holding it back? This is why you have to hold your breath the whole time!

(If you are wondering about hooping a back pack, you can see my "tutorial" here.)

I also did a couple of lunch totes for Valerie. She grabbed these on clearance last year. I can't remember the name of material they are made out of, but it's a lot like a can koozie. Not too thick to stitch through and very flexible, so I said yes. :)

I used Swirley from 8 Claws and a Paw for their names.

Here's a pic of embroidery in progress. Sticky stabilizer makes it possible, but again, holding my breath! Can't really tell if it's centered and straight until it's done. Eep!

Ok, I think that does it for school bag monogramming this year. Thankfully Annaliese's backpack from kindergarten still looks fantastic even after 2 years of daily use, so we aren't shopping! YAY!

Fabric!!

2011-08-11T21:14:00.040-04:00

Yesterday we returned home from a trip to IL to visit family. As part of our journey back we stopped by Hancock's of Paducah. OH. MY. I felt completely overwhelmed when I walked in. I have never seen so much fabric in one place before! This picture was taken at the end of my visit, so I don't look quite so shell-shocked. Behind me is just a portion of the store, less than half!! (You can click each image for a much bigger view.)

Lovely inspiring quilts hang through this warehouse-type store:

Along the walls are hundreds of quilt patterns. And look at all those beautiful marbles!! The sheer amount of batiks (not pictured) was breathtaking. (SOMEDAY I'm making a queen-sized Storm at Sea quilt with batiks for myself. This will be after Dashiell graduates from college, I'm sure.)

Here's a funny quilt that hangs near the entrance. I thought about getting a picture of my husband next to it, but the reality is he didn't wait in the store for me. He dropped me off and took the kids to Toys R Us instead. :)

So this store isn't a fancy quilt shop, but it's not exactly a warehouse either. It has business hours and other shoppers were there. However, most of the "shoppers" were employees. They went around the store with printouts of web orders to fill carts with fabric, and headed to the cutting tables to get orders ready. When a bolt reaches remnant stage, they take it and toss it on this pile. It was HUGE! (Oh, and notice the husband sitting on the bench reading the newspaper? If you look carefully you'll actually see three gentlemen sitting back there waiting on their wives.)

The batik remnants were $6.98/yard, but the rest were $5.98 a yard. I could have spent an hour digging through all the tables. I did peruse it for quite a while and found some gems. Love getting fabric for $6/yard instead of $11-12/yard! Here's what I brought home, I thought I did a good job containing myself! It was all remnants except for the Christmas Dots, the pink w/dark pink dots, and the basketball print. I love dots, ginghams and stripes!

Won't this fabric look awesome in basketball appliques?!? It was pricey, but I could resist.

There were two things that helped me not go nuts in Hancock's of Paducah. First, their minimum cut is 1/2 yard. If I could have gotten 1/8 or 1/4 yard cuts, I might have gone a little crazy. But my budget just doesn't allow for $5.49 and up for half-yard purchases. The other thing that helped me tremendously was that I had gone fabric shopping in my MIL's sewing room the day before. :) Look what she shared with me! Fun textures, stripes, and more dots!

Look for these in upcoming projects. Now I should be good and prewash everything before adding it to my stash...

Burp Cloths for Cameron

2011-08-07T15:25:00.000-04:00

New mom Laura hosted a baby shower for another mom-to-be, and asked me to make a couple burp cloths for a gift. She picked these monograms:

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

The other burp cloth uses the baseball monogram from Five Star Fonts.

My first 6x10 design!!!

2011-08-06T14:34:00.001-04:00

Yippee! I'm getting a hand-me-down Brother embroidery machine that has a 6x10 stitch field!!
Before moving this machine to my sewing area, I wanted to do some projects with my MIL nearby for some hands on training. OF COURSE my first project needed to use the big hoop. :) I wanted something that would be quick and easy, so I put Applique Momma's Horse (which I recently picked up on sale) on a shirt for Annaliese. This was definitely a joint project -- Kathy supplied the shirts, fabric, thread, stabilizers and machine. It was convenient "shopping" in her studio. I just did the work. :)

I used the largest size of the horse on Annaliese's shirt... just because I could!

Notice that Anna has a matching shirt? Grandma Kathy has a stash of American Girl sized shirts that Annaliese doesn't know about. They should develop a nice matching wardrobe in the months to come. I started with the 4x4 size, shrunk it down and changed the pull compensation a bit. It worked well!

Ok, enough blogging. I need to go work on another project!

Welcome, Baby James!

2011-08-05T09:13:00.000-04:00

A dear friend of ours recently had a baby boy, so Valerie and I sent this gift to Jenny:

I loved the little set I made for Brooks a couple months ago, so I decided to do something similar again, this time using my new Riley Blake striped fabric. The applique Circle Monogram Alpha is from Planet Applique:

The Neck Tie Applique from GG Designs. (The monogram was a freebie on Sew Forum several years ago, but is no longer available.)

The bottle applique design is one I tested for 8 Claws and a Paw. I know this is probably a shocker -- I didn't add any custom text to it! :) I liked the simplicity of the design just the way it is.

And finally, a little something that Daddy will be proud to carry:

Though I have done it in the past, I have recently decided not to stitch NCAA and professional sports teams names/slogans. I've read enough accounts of other embroiderers getting "cease and desist" letters -- it is just not worth the risk. I can't afford the big bucks to be licensed for every team out there. So for this burp cloth, I just stuck with our Alma Mater's school colors: Orange and Blue!! However, now that Jenny is living in the south, this might be mistaken for Auburn. Since this was a gift, I used some licensed Illinois ribbon (thanks Kathy!) to be sure the proper sports team was identified. :) The applique football design is from 8CP , and I added the text with Embird Alphabet #8. Go Illini!!

Connect Women

2011-08-02T13:02:00.001-04:00

My friend Leslie is a member of a women's group at her church called "Connect Women." She sent me their logo and asked if I could embroider it on some aprons they had purchased for an upcoming meeting.

Here's the logo image:

Amazingly enough I already had the font Scriptina digitized (it's from "SewCrazie" and I got it either on SewForum or her yahoo group a long time ago, but can't find links to it now.) It resized really well since I needed it significantly bigger. And I added "women" with Embird alphabet #2. The only thing I had to digitize were the little petals around the "o". I was excited to figure out how to import an image into Embird Editor and position each individual letter exactly where it needed to go. I don't think I've ever used that feature before! I took all of my pink and purple threads and let Leslie choose what I should use since I couldn't decide. :)

I'm pretty impressed with the results! I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of this brand of apron (or tote bags for that matter). I can't remember the brand name off the top of my head, but I know it's sold at Michaels and Walmart. The canvas is very textured and it makes the embroidery look jagged, even using solvy on top. My test stitch on felt looked WAY better. Now that we have a Hobby Lobby (♫ Hallelujah! ♫) I will recommend their aprons, which appear to be more fabric-like (maybe a bottom-weight?) than canvas. Any other suggestions for local purchase aprons?

School Spirit times Three!

2011-08-01T22:01:00.000-04:00

A year ago today I shared some school spirit shirts I made for Carla's kids. Now that Ella is heading to first grade and Grant is starting kindergarten, it's time for new shirts! In addition to shirts that celebrate their grade, they will also have shirts to show school spirit at the local high school football games AND while watching UF football!

Ella's first grade shirt is a recreation of Annaliese's shirt last year, however Carla changed the color scheme to the school colors of purple and gold.

The design is Lynnie Pinnie's School Books applique with one modification -- instead of stitching "MATH" and "READING" on the spines as it comes, I changed it to "FIRST GRADE"

Grant's kindergarten shirt is like Presley's shirt, except a more masculine color scheme. :)

The "Kindergarten ROCKS" design is from Embroidery Boutique

Carla's family are huge UF Gators fans, so she really liked the gator designs I tested for Lynnie Pinnie a couple months ago and asked me to put them on shirts for the kids.

I used Lynnie Pinnie's Alligator Head for Grant, and used Whoa Nelly from 8 Claws and a Paw to add his name.

I used LP's Girl Alligator Head. She's ready for game day sporting a blue bow and orange lipstick. :)

The last two shirts were the most work. Carla wanted TIGERS in applique form. I have done only a couple of applique name shirts (hey, they were for her kids!) and the fonts I have collected for this purpose so far just weren't the right style of letter. We wanted something more varsity looking, and thanks to an amazing sale, I picked up Embroidery Boutique's Double Fun Alphabet since it included a zigzag stitch. The reality is, though, six letters in a span of about 7.5" are too small to do the double applique. So I just used the outside part of the letters, and had to do some significant resizing. I stitched Ella's first:

It's really pretty with this sparkly/glittery fabric that Carla bought:

I knew the zig zag stitching was going to be narrow, but it was REALLY narrow. So I did a bit of research to see if there was any way to make the stitches wider within Embird. Turns out there is... I adjusted the pull compensation and boom! Wider zig zag. Grant's shirt stitched out nicely:

His has solid purple fabric instead of sparkly. :)

Here's a close-up comparison:

So I learned something pretty neat on this project!
I have one more shirt to do... a Union County Tigers shirt for Carla. But I'm waiting a few more days... I will be getting a hand-me-down embroidery machine this week that has a 6x10 stitch field. WOO-HOO!

Her hero wears combat boots

2011-07-31T14:06:00.001-04:00

Ok, if this isn't my all time favorite burp cloth ever, it has got to rank up in the top five. I LOVE the way this turned out!
Brittany received the "Some heroes wear capes, My hero wears a badge" burp cloth from Michelle at her baby shower. Now Brittany's friend (whose husband is in the army) just had a baby girl, so she requested something similar to give as a gift.

Isn't it adorable?!?!
The applique dog tags design is from Planet Applique. I used Embird Alphabet #2 to personalize the dog tags, and #8 for the rest of the text. Brittany asked if I had some camo trim to put at the bottom, which I did. I decided to add the jumbo ric rac beneath it to make it girly. So cute! I also love the pink thread and shimmery pink fairy frost material for the dog tags.

WOW! She's Two!

2011-07-30T14:26:00.000-04:00

Jeni asked me to make a birthday shirt for her daughter who recently turned two. She sent me a couple pictures of the partyware she was using, and this is what we came up with:

The "2" is from GG's Chubby Wubby Numbers. I found a ttf that matched the font on the partyware, and Kathy digitized the text for me. I plucked the confetti from an Applique Corner design (which I happened to purchase for a penny the weekend I created the design - perfect timing). I like that the fabric pulls in the stars from the partyware, as well.

Kindergarten Rocks! (Take 2)

2011-07-29T09:04:00.000-04:00

Within about an hour of posting pictures of Presley's Kindergarten Rocks shirt, Kelli send me a message saying she just might need to order one for her daughter starting kindergarten in the fall. :)
If you recall my story for making Presley's, that all happened fast -- saw image, they liked it, emailed EB to see if I could test it, got design and stitched next day. What I hadn't thought through when I offered it to Nicole was the stitch count, which was HIGH. On my single needle it took me over an hour to do that design. So I proposed to Kelli a different version which would stitch quicker for me and be cheaper for her. :) I really like how it turned out!

The original "Kindergarten ROCKS" design is from Embroidery Boutique. I used the stars and the word Kindergarten, but swapped out the applique word. Instead I used the zig zag version of EB's Cade Applique Alphabet (with EB's blessing). Little Miss Rachel will be starting school this fall at the American School of Warsaw (her daddy is stationed in Poland). Their school colors are red and blue, so we went with a patriotic color scheme. I love how it turned out and think it will be adorable paired with a denim skirt!

Ok, I have two more Kindergarten Rocks shirts to do for little friends, and then that's all I can do for this school year! I can't believe how many requests I've gotten from folks who have stumbled upon my blog or Facebook page. It has been so hard to turn down business, but I am closed to new orders until Sept 1. I'm taking August off for travel, personal projects, design testing, and to avoid unnecessary stress as the school year begins. Thanks for understanding! If you've got projects for fall, or dare I say it, Christmas?? Feel free to contact me in September!

Kitchen Towels for the Bride and Groom

2011-07-28T09:54:00.000-04:00

A friend has two weddings to attend this fall and wanted my help in creating a gift. She had seen some bath hand towels which became the inspiration for my take on these Mr and Mrs kitchen towels:

I picked applique designs because, well, you know, I LOVE applique. That and I already had these designs! I've used GG's Bow Tie/Tuxedo design before on a black onesie. I did do a bit of editing on the design so I could use a different color for the crease stitches inside the bow.

The Necklace applique is from Lynnie Pinnie. I've owned this one for a while, but this is the first time I've used it. (I think it would look adorable along the neckline of a white onesie with a tutu for a baby girl, right?!?) Initially I regretted my choice because there are a lot of tiny little circles to trim out! But then when it was done, I decided it was totally worth the effort! It turned out especially pretty with the shimmery fairy frost fabric as the pearls.

Monogramming for Dorm Life

2011-07-24T21:02:00.000-04:00

Jordan will be heading off to college in a few weeks, so she has all new towels and sheets that need to be monogrammed! I had never monogrammed sheets and I really haven't done very many towels, so I relied heavily on this Embroidery Placement Guide. It was very helpful and I'm pleased with all the results. Towel set 1:

And towel set 2:

Maroon sheets with gold monogram -- school colors!!

These are bath mats. So excited that Jordan picked this neon green thread -- I've owned it for over four years and just now unwrapped it!

One of the most exciting things about this project is that I found a J I actually like!!! J is such a weird letter. (So is T for that matter, my initials are really annoying). In most beautiful script fonts, you can't tell the difference between the I and J (and often the T looks like a J, sigh...). And in fonts where J is recognizable, it looks incredibly boring. So imagine the delight I experienced finding a beautiful J... right under my nose!! This J is from Embird Alphabet #38, which I use a lot. Isn't it lovely? I used a fill stitch in four different sizes for the various items.

Butterfly Burp Cloth

2011-07-20T13:36:00.000-04:00

Michelle needed a shower gift for a baby girl whose nursery is decorated in butterflies and dragonflies, so she picked a design from the Fun Spring Butterflies Applique set from Designs by JuJu. The colors coordinate with the crib bedding. I added Maddie Ann with Tinker Toy from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Princess Birthday Shirt

2011-07-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

Presley attended a princess themed birthday party recently and needed to take a special gift:

I used the Chubby Wubby applique numbers from GG Designs for the 3, picking a fabric with scattered princessy things. I added the crown with Applique Cafe's Add a Crown design and stitched her name with the Swirley font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

I also monogrammed an insert for a little travel mug using the same fabric and font (sorry for the lousy picture):

Hooded Towel

2011-07-17T15:09:00.000-04:00

Here's a cute towel I made for a sweet little girl. Her nickname is Maddie Moo.

I used the cow face from Planet Applique, and Chachie from 8 Claws and a Paw for the text.

Race Car shirt

2011-07-15T08:50:00.000-04:00

Here's a project I've been anxious to share with you. I tested this adorable Race Car applique alphabet for 8 Claws and a Paw Embroidery a while back, putting it on a shirt for Dashiell. But before they got the alphabet done, they got word that it was time to go pick up their adopted daughters from Ethiopia. Woo-hoo!! How they manage to run an amazing digitizing business with two new family members in the house is beyond me -- clearly by the grace of God! So excited for you Julie and Joe!
Anyway, Dashiell LOVES his shirt. When you ask him what's on his shirt he says, "There's a D, and a steering wheel, and a race car!" So cute!

Kindergarten Rocks!

2011-07-14T15:15:00.000-04:00

This project is an example of the perfect convergence of events. Nicole had asked me to make her daughter a special shirt for the first day of kindergarten, but we hadn't nailed down a design idea yet. Last Wednesday night she was going to bring me a shirt and fabrics to use (to match a skirt she is making). Just a few minutes before leaving for church Embroidery Boutique posted a preview of upcoming designs on Facebook, including an adorable "Kindergarten ROCKS" design. I pulled it up on my phone at church and got both Nicole and Presley's approval. Since I've done some testing for EB in the past, on the spot I shot Rachel an email to see if she needed a tester. That night I got the design in my email inbox, and stitched it up the next day! Very rarely do projects come together that fast and easy!

I'm anxious to see the final outfit when Nicole gets the skirt done -- Presley is going to be the most stylin' kindergartner at school!

Ribbon Flower

2011-07-10T14:25:00.001-04:00

If you follow me on Facebook, you know of Applique Corner's recent promotion to get to 1000 fans, which resulted in a sale and some penny designs. Woo-hoo! One of the designs on sale is the Ribbon Flower, which I think looks beautiful and intriguing. So as soon as I got my son down for a nap after church today, I ran to my embroidery machine to give it a whirl. No real project in mind, so I put it on a kitchen towel for myself.

I used the 4x4 design. It stitches very quickly, the time factor is twisting and positioning the ribbon. But that wasn't really a big deal. I tried very hard not to be precise about it. :) I like the way that it turned out. However I think it would look even better if I'd used wider ribbon (just picked satin ribbon from my stash that matches my kitchen). If you check out the sample picture on her site, you'll see what I mean. It might even look cool tacking down one wide ribbon, and then a narrow on top! Or two colors twisted together? Hmmmm... no time to try that today, I have a special birthday shirt to work on!

Ok, love it?? I'm pretty sure the design is 50% off until midnight tonight (7/10/11) so go snag it at Applique Corner!

Owl Shirt!

2011-07-09T15:44:00.000-04:00

Annaliese attended a birthday party today of a friend from school... so it was easy to come up with a gift idea -- Meaghan needs a turquoise owl shirt to show school spirit! :)

Annaliese wanted it to be different from hers, so I spent some time searching through my owl designs (I've collected a lot!) and settled on Ollie Owl from GG Designs. LOVE this one, but I guess I haven't stitched it yet. I added her name with Embird Alphabet #7.

Baby Gift for Twins

2011-07-05T13:12:00.000-04:00

Kathie asked me to help her create a custom shower gift. The McGlynn's are expecting twins, but keeping the gender (and therefore names) a surprise. So instead, Kathie suggested a play on their last name for bib and burp cloth sets:

Hee hee, isn't that clever? :)
Since we don't know the gender, Kathie suggested green and purple. I had these lime bibs in my stash, so I went to our new *Hobby Lobby* (♫ Hallelujah! ♫) and found this great gender-neutral ribbon. I used the Coffee Break font from 8 Claws and a Paw for "McBurp" and McBib".

Mini-version of a USA dress

2011-07-04T16:46:00.000-04:00

As Annaliese was getting dressed this morning (trying to be as patriotic as possible) she discovered that Anna, her American Girl doll, didn't have a single red item in her wardrobe. Apparently blue jeans and a white shirt with a peachy-red watermelon just wasn't going to cut it, so I had to think fast.
The handful of you that have been around since the very beginning of Stitched by Janay might remember the USA pillowcase halter top dress I made for Annaliese FOUR years ago, when she was just three years old. Well, believe it or not, that dress still fits, but as a top now. And thankfully I have held on to the scraps of that material, so I was able to very quickly whip out a mini version of it for Anna.
But guess what. It didn't have "USA" on the bottom. Could that be fixed?? Sigh, the things we do for this girl and her doll...
I did a quick Google search to see if the font Lyndsie used for the applique alphabet happened to be a free ttf we could download. I found Salute Stars and asked Grandma Kathy if she had time for a quick favor for her favorite granddaughter. Kathy digitized it and emailed me the file. What a perfect little mini-version of the dress! I'm pretty pleased with our spur of the moment efforts. :)

Monogrammed Blanket

2011-07-03T14:42:00.000-04:00

Karen brought me this blanket (which already had the stork and hospital name embroidered on it) and asked me to add her grandson's monogram:

I picked the Jane Doe font from 8 Claws and a Paw... it was the best I could do to match the text!

Stitching for Jenn

2011-07-02T10:03:00.000-04:00

Jenn asked me to make a few things for some special people in her life. First, a sweet shirt for Lauren who just turned one:

Jenn loved the little giraffe I used for Riley's set, so I used the same design and font for Lauren. It's Lynnie Pinnie's fringe giraffe (a freebie on Sew Forum) and the Happy font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Jenn didn't want Lauren's big sister to feel left out, so Natalie got a little something special as well, a crayon purse:

The crayon purse design is from Sewing For Sarah, and I added her name with the Swirley font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

I used some fun Riley Blake fabric (that I won from Whimsical Fabrics) for the pockets on both sides. This shows the back pocket:

And this top view shows how a little pad of paper or sheets of stickers fit on the opposite side.

(I haven't made one of those in a LONG time. LOVE them. They are so cute, a great gift for a little girl!)

Next, a bib for a little boy. The "A" is from Embroidery Boutique's Fun Applique Alphabet, and I added "Asher" with Whoa Nelly from 8CP.

And finally, a couple stay-put towels for her mother-in-law:

(You can read more about my first one here).

The cherry design is from 8 Claws and a Paw (thanks Julie!!) and I added "Becky's Kitchen" with Embird alphabet #7.

Basket Liners

2011-07-01T14:36:00.000-04:00

Valerie asked me to monogram these basket liners for her girls. I scanned through the over 500 fonts at 8 Claws and a Paw and picked the Swing font. I love how they turned out!

Welcome, baby Adolai!

2011-06-29T13:36:00.000-04:00

The birth of baby Adolai makes Tre a big brother. Tre loves dinosaurs, so when Karen posted a BigBrothersaurus shirt on her blog, I just knew I had to do something similar for Tre. AND since I didn't get it done before Adolai arrived (I'm going to blame that on her early arrival and not my poor planning), I decided to make a sibling set!

The applique dinosaur (#3) design is from Lynnie Pinnie. I used the 5x7 size for Tre.

I added the text with Embird alphabet #14. Within Studio I was able to use the outline of the dinosaur as my baseline and curve the text around the dinosaur. Awesome, right? It can be tedious and time consuming to get it *just right*, but worth the effort in the end. (I learned this technique from Peggy, awesome list mom of the Embird 101 yahoo group; you can find the directions in message #4678.)
You know what took just as long as getting the text curved just right?? Finding the perfect-sized little bow to put on the 4x4 dinosaur to make it a bit more girly! :) I borrowed it from LP's 4x4 cheerleader.

Ok, so not the most feminine little sister shirt ever, but I think Bigbrothersaurus will like it, and that's what matters. Well, I hope he doesn't mind that I used a potential nickname ("Adolai" just didn't fit as neatly as "Tre"). He uses his sister's first AND middle name, and is offended when his parents simply call her Adolai. Isn't that sweet?!

To compensate, here's a girly burp cloth. :) I used Lynnie Pinnie's Applique Swirl font for the "A" and added Adolai with Swirley from 8 Claws and a Paw.

First Birthday a la Mode

2011-06-28T16:18:00.010-04:00

Amy contacted me about making her daughter's first birthday shirt. She already had a vision, so once I tracked down the right ice cream cone design, it was straightforward to put together!

The "1" is from GG Designs' Chubby Wubby Numbers. The triple scoop ice cream cone is from DigiStitches. I added "Lauren" with the Tinker Toy Font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Even though Amy is in Colorado and I'm in Florida, we were able to work as a team to get this shirt to match the party decor perfectly... She mailed me a napkin from the tableware she already purchased and I picked fabrics/threads to match! Cool, huh?

As for me and my house...

2011-06-28T13:15:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to test stitch this cute little Cottage House applique design from Lynnie Pinnie, so I decided to create a little in-hoop wall hanging for myself.

I attempted to match the colors in my kitchen, but as you can see, I must have grabbed the wrong green thread?? So actually it's hanging in our bedroom instead. :) I used Embird alphabet #8 to add the text of Joshua 24:15. I think the little cottage is cute. This is the 4x4 size:

The bigger sizes have even more applique pieces. I think it would be so cute in fun whimsical fabrics, maybe on a larger wall hanging for a quilt shop? Wouldn't that be adorable??

Cutie Pie

2011-06-27T20:20:00.000-04:00

Lynnie Pinnie has a new design that I think is so adorable I had to stitch it twice!
I put the largest size of the Cutie Pie applique design on a sleep shirt for my daughter:

What a cute way to showcase this scrap of cherry fabric!

I put the smallest size on this little bib. Thought I'd give blue a whirl. A cute blueberry pie... but is it too cutesy for a boy? What do you think?

Mmmmmmmm... now I'm hungry for pie!

Peacock Ribbon Blanket

2011-06-23T12:36:00.000-04:00

I think this is my new favorite ribbon blanket! Natalie asked me to make one for her daughter. She wanted purple and a peacock, and this is what I came up with:

I knew immediately I wanted to use Lynnie Pinnie's applique peacock design.

I picked a sparkly marble purple fabric for the front side. I used the vertical stripe ribbon as my color palette and selected fabrics, ribbon and thread to match. Then I used white minkee on the back. It should be a very special lovey!

Patriotic Designs

2011-06-17T16:24:00.000-04:00

This week I had the pleasure to stitch a couple of Lynnie Pinnie's new patriotic designs. First, this adorable little applique Bald Eagle.

I put it on a shirt for Dashiell. He LOVES it. He hasn't stopped screeching or flapping his arms since he put it on. I don't think he'll stand still long enough for me to take a picture, so check out a little video of him that I posted on Facebook.

Next I made myself another stay-put towel (You can read more about my first one here).

I used the Mixed Stripes Heart Flag Applique.

What's in a brand?

2011-06-16T09:35:00.000-04:00

It doesn't take a marketing expert to know how important a brand is for companies that sell products or provide services. However, just because I know it's important doesn't mean I have what it takes to create one! I'll leave that to the pros.

But I'd like to take a moment to weigh in on branding from an embroiderer's perspective. The marketing team at Onyx Creative Consulting Studio did an awesome job creating their own brand. First, even though the company title is long, their brand is only FOUR letters. They selected a nice bold font. It's not boring, but is free of serifs and curls, it uses very clean lines. Their icon is a simple dot. It has personality since it's not a perfect circle, but it's simple. The design is a grand total of TWO colors. No outlines, shadows, gradients, crazy color palette...
Ahhhhh... it's a recipe for an excellent embroidery design!!

I spent all of my sewing last weekend adding the brand to shirts and jacket for the girls at Onyx. Each item also has the dot on the back below the collar line (like on these shirts).

So if anyone reading this is in the process of creating a new brand for your own company -- before finalizing your design, ask yourself, "Will I ever want this embroidered on something??" If the answer is yes, my advice (for what it's worth) is go simple. :)