Misc Monogramming

Here are a random assortment of items I monogrammed simply with embroidery throughout the fall!
Barb contacted me wanting keyfobs for herself and her husband. I used LP's Taylor font for their names, and DS's keyfob design.

Marci asked me to monogram a couple robes for her:

I used I2S's Fancy Circle monogram

I monogrammed this towel for my friend Amy using EB's Striped Lexi Monogram Alphabet

I made a stay-put towel for Cherri using EB's Chandler Chevron Alphabet

 

I monogrammed Annaliese's apron (and her doll's apron too!) using 8CP's Satin Split Curlz font

Sabrina asked me to make a keychain for her niece to attach to a lunchbox. I used I2S's Behind These Hazel Eyes

This keychain was ordered for a new college student, we incorporated all three school colors by using 8CP's Two Color Script:

Tarika asked me to monogram a few baby items. Aren't these bibs elegant?

I used I2S's Covered By Your Grace for Joshua

and I2S's Nick for Damon III

and I2S's One Thing for Kendall

Misc. Monogramming

Recent random monogramming projects...
A pretty monogram on an apron. This was my first time using 8CP's Monogram 3. I have no idea why I waited so long, I really like it! It needs to get in my rotation! (oh, and it has, I monogrammed my swimsuit coverup after doing this apron.)

Monogrammed bib for Caden. I used 8CP's Pops.

Added a quick monogram to this shirt. Annaliese picked 8CP's Be Mine. Pardon the pic, the shirt has been worn and washed several times, but the "completeist" in me requires that it be posted. ha!

In celebration of our school's 25th anniversary, they had a "dress up like what you want to be in 25 years" day. Annaliese wants to be a movie director, so I used 8CP's Skinny to add DIRECTOR to this hat:

I made a new key fob for myself! DigiStitches Quilted Key Fob 2, Itch 2 Stitch Fancy Circle Monogram, Vera Bradley napkin to match my bag:

And my friend Rebecca mentioned wanting to get some Publix bags before she leaves the south. I still had a couple of these pretty blue ones in my stash, so like the previous ones I have done for teachers, I added her monogram with LP's Taylor font.

A quick key fob (and how I save stabilizer)

Yesterday late afternoon Annaliese exclaimed, "Oh Mom! My teacher's birthday is tomorrow!" I guess she had known for a few days but just at that moment remembered to tell me. At least it was better than last year when she said, "my teacher's birthday was today." So we are making progress... maybe next year I'll get even more notice!

I love DigiStitches Quilted Key Fobs! Such a fun, practical and quick gift. And check out this adorable fabric my MIL found for me -- the owls are so tiny!! Just perfect for a Springwood teacher.

 I shared in December how I like to mass produce key fobs -- it goes quickly and really reduces waste.  But what about when you only need to make one? To avoid wasting a whole piece of stabilizer cut to fit my 6x10 hoop, I do the following.
Cut a long piece of stabilizer and place hoop at left end.

Instead of stitching the key fob in the center of the center of the hoop, I positioned it as far left as possible. Note the excess stabilizer is rolled up on the right hand side.

The mark on the excess stabilizer shows where I would have cut the stabilizer for a traditional hooping:

I use my rotary cutter to precisely trim a 1/4" seam allowance.

Look how much stabilizer I saved by using this technique -- over 6 inches!!

That 6" strip would be in my trash can if I had cut a piece to fit and stitched the key fob in the center. But instead that 6 inches is still connected to a large piece of stabilizer, ready to use on my next project. It may not seem that significant, but it can add up fast! :)

Key Chains and Key fobs

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. :)

Teacher Gifts 2011: Key Fobs!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miscellaneous Stitching...

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. :)

My "new" machine!

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!