Baby gift for Wilder

I recently made this gift set for friends of ours that had a second little boy:

I made matching shirts for Wilder and his big brother using I2S Box Font, and added their names with Girls Have Secrets. You know what my secret is? This font is great for boys! Ha!

I couldn't decide if I should outline the letter in red and do name in blue, or vice versa. Decided to do one of each!

For the burp cloth I used this little monster design (from The Applique Club) and added his name with Behind These Hazel Eyes:

and the bib... well like Shepherd's bib when he was a baby, it is a bit of an inside joke from one dad to another. Both my husband and Wilder's dad enjoy James Bond movies (they record a podcast together in fact). This came up as a joke and had to be made into a reality.

This project was one where BX files saved the day! Can you imagine merging all this letter by letter, especially when you weren't sure what font to use in the first place?! I typed the phrase in Embrilliance, scrolled through several different fonts to decide which one I wanted to use (Covered by Your Grace), then once I picked it, I save the design as a PES file. Then I opened in Embird to get it sized exactly as I wanted (kept height the same but squashed the width to fit on the bib) and adjusted the pull compensation to thicken up the letters to stitch better on the terry bib. So fast and came out perfect!

You can see the little cutie wearing the bib on Tumblr

Baby Gift for Twin Girls

My original primary role as an I2S assistant is customer service, but I do some test stitching on occasion, primarily 4x4 designs that I like to put on baby items. When the I2S released these two (oh... last fall), I knew I had an upcoming baby gift for expectant twins, so I used the same thread colors to make this set:

Aren't they cute? The first is I Love You to the Moon and Back

And the second is I Love You a Bushel and a Peck (the larger sizes have more text)

Once the babies were born, I made this bib set, using the I2S Whoo's Who design, adding their names with Behind These Hazel Eyes.

Baby Gifts

Here are a few baby gifts I haven't shared yet. First a set for baby Kylie:

 

Her grandma ordered this set requesting elephants and purple/aqua/gray color theme. Both elephants are from DBJJ's Roly Poly Elephant set.

For the hooded towel I used 8CP's Dancer to add her name. Her crib bedding has gray chevron so I was excited to find this ribbon!

and for the burp cloth I used EB's Chevron Circle Monogram, I thought it was a perfect pairing with the ribbon.

Here's burp cloth for Cruz:

I used I2S's Dino and Oscar font. I love this little wavy striped fabric :)

 And this burp cloth for Molly:

I used I2S's Jeremiah 29:11 add a name design, I added her name with Inspiration.

Sweet Monkey for Joshua

Here's a sweet little gift set I made for my friend who just had a baby boy:

The sweet monkey face design is one I got to test for my friend Amy who has just launched a new business! We've gotten to know each other through an applique group, and she also has been a tester for LP (which makes me confident she knows what makes a design excellent). But she graduated out of that to start digitizing herself! Both the 4x4 and 5x7 sizes of this face stitched beautifully. I expect great things from Amy in the future. For now you can find her on Etsy (her shop is Stitch Away Applique) an next week her site Stitch Away Applique should be active.
I added Joshua's name with I2S's Silly Monkey font.

For I know the plans I have for you

This is a 2-for-1 blog post! First the information about some special gifts:

A friend of mine recently had a baby. He is her fourth child and was a surprise :) I wanted to encourage my friend that even though little Luke wasn't planned by mom and dad, God certainly has plans for him! Isn't that great news we can rest in as parents?!

Another friend is expecting her third baby. They already have a boy and a girl, so they are keeping the gender of this one a surprise until delivery. But either way, they will name the baby Miller. Isn't that a neat concept?! So I made a similar set, using gender neutral colors.

Both sets use Itch 2 Stitch's Jeremiah 29:11 Add a Name design, and I added their names with I2S's Rockford.

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Now a little bit more behind the scenes story that might interest my embroidery friends.
We had an I2S customer struggling with her efforts to put this design on a burp cloth. Since at that moment I had not used the design yet, I decided to test it myself on a burp cloth. I'll be completely honest with you, when I opened the 4x4 design in my software I thought, hmmmm.... I would never choose to use this on a burp cloth. The text was simply too delicate for a thick item IMHO. But I did it anyway. I had no problems at all:

But when you compare the picture of the exact same design on a onesie, you can see what a difference there is between embroidering text on a thick burp cloth and knit onesie. I love the way this turned out with the blues and greens!

In relaying my thoughts to Cristy I told her this is a case where I as a customer would either opt to not use it on a burp cloth, or significantly fiddle with pull compensation in my software. Does that mean there is anything wrong with the original design? NO! I think sometimes we expect EVERY design to be perfect for EVERY situation. And that simply isn't always going to be the case. That's why I LOVE having software to manipulate designs to suit my particular situation.

BUT Cristy decided to go back and update this design, making the text bolder. :) So if you have previously purchased the Jeremiah 29:11 design, you can go back and download a new version! I tested it for her on Miller's set. This is the burp cloth:

and this is the onesie. Still a significant difference between the two items due to thickness, but maybe the design is a bit more versatile now.

Can I say how much I love this 2-for-1 deal?! I got to help trouble shoot with a customer getting her back on track for her own project, and I got to give a really special gift to two of my friends! Best of both worlds!! This huge baby boom going on in my world (FOURTEEN babies since March) has given me so many opportunities to play.

Why I love Embird, reason #919

I am not a digitizer. I've dabbled just enough to know I am going to leave that task in the hand of pros. So when a friend asks me to coordinate with a theme or fabric, I start hunting for good designs.
My friend initially asked what owl designs I had for a boy. I shared several of my favorite options. Then she showed me what fabric she was using. I knew I could piece together a really close match! What do you think?!

 I appliquéd the design on a large square of minky and shipped it off. My friend then pieced together the quilt top for her nephew:

The bulk of this design is from one owl, but I added wings from a second and feet from a third. I used so many Embird features... Splitting, rotating, removing stitches. I resized elements, adjusted pull compensation to make the width of all satin stitches the same. Then when I was done the whole thing was slightly too big. So, {gasp!} I did the unthinkable, I resized it all again! So pleased with how well Embird handled it, it turned out great.
(Also a quick shout out to technology. My friend is in Missouri. I was able to send screen shots of the embroidery design for approval, and then I snapped pics of different fabric combos messaging back and forth until we settled on a final decision. Sure, it would have been a bit easier in person, but technology makes it pretty easy to work together though separated by miles and miles!)

Then I worked through it all over again to create a smaller version for a burp cloth. Font is 8CP's Whoa Nelly.

I also put GG Designs' neck tie on a bib! Love this new chevron I bought at Appliqué Getaway!

Burp Cloths for Camden

Attended another baby shower today :) From April to December this year we have at least 14 friends expecting babies! It's been crazy!
Today we celebrated the upcoming arrival of little Camden. One of Camden's grandmothers has an embroidery machine so I asked his mommy point blank if she had any specific requests. She said burp cloths, and I aim to please! Little Camden got TONS of monogrammed things at the baby shower (great-grandma commented that he'll know his initial really early in life!) but I *think* these were the only burp cloths.
First a stacked monogram. Mommy is an Auburn alum, so picking a color scheme was easy. I'm sure you will recognize the font for the name as 8CP's Whoa Nelly, my favorite. But how about that applique C... can you guess what it is?!

Mommy teaches elementary school, and their mascot is a red fox, school color is green. She loved this!
The applique fox is from Embroidery Library, and I added the text with Embird Alphabet 4.

Michelle also gave a burp cloth to little Camden. She requested I2S's Baseball box. I added his name with 8CP's College Block Small, probably my second favorite font for boys. I LOVE how this turned out! :)

Welcoming baby Chloe

I made several things for a baby shower today. These items represent requests from others as well as my own gift. First up, a few burp cloths.

The nursery bedding they registered for is pink and black with butterflies, so for this one I used Applique Momma's butterfly design. The daddy has nicknamed the baby Lady V, so I added that with 8CP's Dancer.

For this burp cloth I used the Itch 2 Stitch's Megaphone House Divided design, adding the text myself with Embird alphabet #8. 

Katelyn's Kreative Stitches recently released an Elegant Script that I took for a test drive on this pretty set. (Thanks Kimberly!!)

I often forget about this particular monogram font because I don't like my own initials in it. But Chloe's monogram is so pretty!

And finally a pink and black name banner (using the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry).

Welcoming Baby Brent

900th blog post! And it's an appropriate post for a milestone number, showcasing one of my favorite things to stitch, gifts for a baby shower! Today we celebrated the expectant arrival of Brent:

When I learned that Lindsey was expecting, I knew right away I would use this design in some way, it's very appropriate! The "For This Child I Have Prayed" design is from Lynnie Pinnie.

 

Brent is being born into a family of Florida State fans, so I used garnet and gold to monogram this bib, using 8CP's Split Banner Appliqué.

And since they are sports fans, I carried that theme into this burp cloth. I used Applique Momma's Sports Patch (sans patch) and added his name with 8CP's College Block Small. 

Cherri and Elaine requested a name banner. I decided to go with five different colors of gingham to coordinate with his crib bedding (Carter's Forest Friends). I used the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry to create the banner.

Michelle requested a burp cloth. Since they are focusing on black bears with the decor, I picked LP's baby bear cub. I added Brent's name with 8CP's Sunday.

Burp Cloth Cuteness

Here are a few recent burp cloths I've made...
Isn't this a cute design? Michelle requested it from my design stash. The puppy is from DBJJ's Round Up the Critters set, and I used 8CP's Cherry to add his name. I had fun on the letter placement :)

She also picked the following two designs for her new granddaughter. I used I2S's Bunny Box Girl Face and added Reesa's name with 8CP's Janessa.

This is I2S's Monogram Owl with the smallest size of their Fancy Circle Monogram. This bright color scheme is unusual for me, but I really like how it turned out!

Remember that cheetah shirt I made Lomond? Well I also wanted to test a version with the spots, so I put it on a burp cloth for Kaz. Baby Cheetah design is from Lynnie Pinnie, and I added his name with 8CP's Misfit.

Michelle picked this design for a burp cloth, which is just perfect since Kaz's daddy competes in strongman competitions. The Tough Like My Daddy design is from All Things Appliqué.