Banner for Miller

Another baby shower a few weeks ago meant another name banner!

This time though, I went straight to the momma for fabric. Miller's mom is a great seamstress and had made the crib bedding herself. So when I was commissioned to make the name banner (using the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry), I asked my friend Katie for scraps. I figured it would be better to use the exact same fabrics than guess at grays and oranges. And lucky me,  pregnancy brain prevented her from deducing why I asked for it. Ha!

My original plan was to alternate gray and orange, but then when I saw there were three gray/white patterns and one solid orange I decided to try something new. I used orange flannel (instead of white) and orange on the back with the gray prints on the top. I did the quilting in orange, and then when I trimmed, I trimmed the gray closer to the design, leaving an orange border around each letter. It was a bit more tedious, but I really like how it turned out! I tied them all together with the solid orange as well.

Here it is hanging above Miller's crib! The wall was just waiting for the banner :)

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).

More banners...

Last week I made a couple more name banners (using the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry). These are so fun!

For Madelyn's banner I had fun digging through my fabric stash to find seven different fabrics that coordinated well with her bedding set:

After seeing Brent's banner, their mommy requested an all gingham banner for Oliver in blues and greens:

I'm anxious to see pictures of them hanging in their new bedrooms!

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.

Name banner for Kenzie

I suppose she's getting used to it... since Kenzie's birthday falls 6 weeks after her sister's birthday, there really isn't much of a surprise when she unwraps her gift from us :)
Last year I made her an applique name pillow to match her bedding. This year I made a name banner using the same fabrics to match!

I used the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry to create the banner. I used the fabric from the back of her name pillow to attach all the letters together (and I shared how I tied the letters on here.)

Here it is hanging in her room! You can also check out Kylie's banner hanging in her newly decorated room here.

Name Banner for Kylie

Kylie's birthday gift this year turned out to be pretty easy and straight forward... I made a name banner using the same fabrics from the name pillow I made her last year! Now, that didn't stop her mommy and me from wasting time brainstorming all sorts of other possibilities though. ;) What can I say... it's what we do. :)

I used the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry to create the banner. (I shared how I tied the letters to the ribbon here.)

Kylie's big gift this year is a bedroom makeover. It's so pretty completed with aqua walls, new bedding, and her pillow/banner in place!

Name banners

In the spring Sue asked me to make a name banner for her newest granddaughter, and shortly after asked if I could make one for each of her other granddaughters for Christmas gifts. She requested the color schemes and (months later) I got to work!

I used the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry to create the banners. Addy got turquoise and lime, connected with a lime with blue dot ribbon (so excited to find that in my stash!!)

Megan got hot pink and zebra (again, found a zebra print ribbon in my stash)

Jessica got turquoise and soccer:

and Madison got hot pink and soccer:

To save myself some time at the embroidery machine, I spent some time with my software at the beginning. I made a list of what letters I needed in each fabric and then merged together letters in my 6x10 hoop. Often I could get 2 or 3 letters together.

 Instead of 23 separate hoopings with my 5x7 hoop, I completed all the letters in 12 hoopings. This saved time as well as fabric and stabilizer. Much more efficient!

In my past name banners I have used short strips of fabric/muslin to tie letters together. This time I did a different technique. I spread out one long piece of ribbon and laid the letters on top. Using a little wooden stick I poked the ribbon through the button hole, tied a contrasting strip of fabric to the ribbon, and tugged it flush with the letter again. I like the look of the extra pop of color! Having a piece of ribbon run across the back of letters like M and N also kept them from stretching and hanging goofy.

I loved how these turned out, and so did my daughter. Surprisingly she hasn't begged for one yet...

Falling FALL

I repinned something on Pinterest two days ago and actually made my "inspired by" project already!! It helps that it was a quick easy project. :)
This image popped up in my feed, and even though it's from a blog post about creating a pumpkin topiary for the front porch, I was drawn to the descending dangling letters hanging on the door in the background. I immediately thought of Hang To Dry's Frayed Block Letters and my living room shelf (which I bought for Christmas stockings, but most of the year it has hearts hanging on it). I unpacked my favorite fall decor to pick fabrics to match, and got to work!

Instead of using a pair of button holes and stringing the letters together (like in my name banners), I put both ends of a strip of fabric through one button hole and hung them on hooks.

The frayed block letters are a perfect pairing with the items my friend Cherri makes using old quilts. I LOVE her stuff and enjoy adding something new to my collection each fall. You can find Cherri's Cherrishables on Facebook and Ebay. Local friends -- she has a booth at Market Days! Aren't these precious?? I'll put the turkey and pilgrims away until November, but wanted to show them off to you. :)

Welcoming Baby Annabelle

Sue requested lots of neat custom items for her new granddaughter. I enjoy getting orders from Sue because it stretches me to be creative! This is going to be an imaged filled post, so I'm going to do my best not to be too wordy or you'll never make it to the end. And I'll never get it published... most of this was made at the very beginning of April!

Daddy is a big Nascar Fan, so I used this race car from Designs by JuJu's Speedy Race Cars set. I deleted the number it came with and inserted in the number of his favorite driver with Embird Alphabet #16, and added the text with #2 (skewed with an envelope function).

Mommy is a nurse and loves purple. Sue asked for a design like the baby doctor design I have used in the past. I found this one in my stash from Artistic Threadworks, and added the text with Embird Alphabet #7.

Big sister is quite the soccer player and loves green, so we created this. I used a design from DBJJ's "The Stix Kids Play Sports" set, and Embird Alphabet #8 for the text.

And this one requires a bit more explanation... Mommy is called "Aunt Pickle" by other kids in the family, so from the beginning of the pregnancy Sue's husband named the baby "Sweet Gherkin." The pickle applique is from Applique Alley and I used Embird Alphabet #17 for the text.

The next thing Sue wanted was a set of holiday bibs for Annabelle. I've gotten the first two done, but still have several to go. For Easter I used an egg from Lynnie Pinnie's Egg Trio and for the Fourth of July bib I used a freebie star from My Embroidery Haven's yahoo group. I used alpha #7 for all the text.

And finally I did a name banner (using the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry):

My goal was to coordinate with this bedding set, which is a challenge to do when I can't see the item in person, it was only available online:

I picked an assortment of purples and mauvy-pinks hoping that at least a few would match perfectly! :)

I'm pretty sure Annabelle is set for now, don't you think? :)