Teacher Gifts 2014

This year everyone got a kitchen towel!
I gave Annaliese's teachers a monogrammed Stay-Put towel:

I cranked out 14 of these! I like to give a token of appreciation to each of the special area teachers that Annaliese interacts with on a weekly basis.

 I used I2S's Intertwined Vine for their last initial.

(My Stay Put towel is loosely inspired by the Topsy Towel tutorial posted on Embroidery Library. In this case I did not applique a square of fabric, nor did I square up the towel. There is a free V-shaped buttonhole design posted on Sew Forum that goes with this tutorial. If you are not a member of SF, it is free to join.)

I also made a Nameflake ornament for her two classroom teachers:

 

For the preschool staff I gave out the various holiday towels I had stitched throughout the fall. (Full design details can be found here)

Nameflake Ornaments 2012

I haven't made nearly as many nameflake ornaments this year as in years past. Two I'll post in my Facebook album after Christmas since they were purchased as gifts. But these two have been received and I'm excited to share them, they just might be my favorite ones yet!

I used my AccuQuilt circle rag die to precut the fabric (a technique I tried for the first time last year, details here). I reused a decorative stitch circle I had created and used only one time four years ago for my mom's ornament; I was thrilled to discover it was the perfect size to use with the raggy circles!! Since both of my nieces were born this year, I put 2012 in the center. So pretty!!
Gabriella's nameflake:

And Ailynn's nameflake:

Nameflake Ornaments 2011 (plus tutorial!)

I acknowledge that it is January 31, so you probably aren't thinking about Christmas ornaments anymore. But it is still winter, and surely it's snowing somewhere in the US, right? So this post is not completely out of season... In December I made a handful of nameflake ornaments using a new style!

Back in May I got some Accuquilt GO! rag dies for my birthday and had been anxious to use them, particularly the circle rag die. I wanted to experiment with it to see if I could speed up the process of making the completed ornament. All my past nameflake ornaments have been like this one with satin stitches around the outside edge.

(This ornament was for Riley, the newest edition to the Connelly family, and she needed an ornament like everyone else!)
I like the look, but frankly it's time consuming to mass produce these -- carefully trimming out the circles on top and bottom, then waiting for the satin stitches to run, then carefully removing the stabilizer... I wanted a quicker method. And thankfully the rag die worked out to be the perfect solution!

I laid a piece of my sparkly white fabric on top of a layer of white flannel and cut out the rag circle. (I did this twice for each ornament.) Then I went to my embroidery machine. I ran a placement stitch the size of circle (4.75" wide), and then tacked down a ribbon hanger.

 Then I laid down the fabric/flannel on top, and ran the inside tackdown circle you see stitched here on the stabilizer (3.75" wide, which is just inside all of the slits). Next I stitched the nameflake. Then I removed the hoop from the machine, laid the other fabric/flannel circle on the back of the hoop, and finally stitched another pass at the inside circle to tack it all together. Just remove stabilizer and then I'm done!! SO MUCH FASTER! And I really like the raggy look. Here a close-ups of the ornaments I made for four special couples at church that are true servant leaders:

 In past years when I've shared pictures of my nameflake ornaments (you can see my gallery on Facebook) I got questions asking how to make them. I promised a tutorial on an Embird yahoo group, and finally delivered it this fall. The free tutorial is in pdf form, and outlines the process with lots of images for creating a nameflake in Embird. It doesn't not require Studio or Font Engine, although I do highly recommend using Alphabet #38 for the project. If you would like to have a copy of the tutorial, all you need to do is join the Embird101 yahoo group. Once accepted, you can find the pdf in Files -> Mini Lessons. If you use Embird, this group is a phenomenal resource. The list mom Peggy of Pegboard Crafts is an expert who graciously answers questions from installation to digitizing details. You will not be disappointed, and the group can offer more Embird support/troubleshooting than I am able to give. :) Enjoy!

Nameflake Ornaments

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I had stitched a ton of Nameflake ornaments in the last two months. Now that Christmas is past, I can share the first eleven that I made for Michelle:

I created each flake myself using Embird alphabet #38. I love how unique each name is!

Teacher Gifts 2010

This year I made Nameflake ornaments for all of Annaliese's teachers (classroom teacher, principals, librarian and special area teachers). Right at the end of the season I found this pretty sparkly silver and red ribbon, so I chose red thread for this set. I create these myself using Embird alphabet #38.

I love how unique each one is!

I have been volunteering at our church's preschool on Tuesdays, and while I help the teachers, Dashiell is in Ms. Martha's class.  He loves it and adores her! She just had to have a special Christmas gift:

While I would have loved to make one for all the rest of the teachers, I just didn't have the time! So I gave a snowman ornament to the other four wonderful women who are there on Tuesdays. The design is from Lynnie Pinnie

 While I'm sharing teachers gifts... Valerie requested a couple name flake ornaments for her girls to give their classroom teachers. These use the silver ribbon and thread that I used last year (as well as 11 other new ornaments I can't post until after Christmas. Whew, I've made a ton of these over the last 6 weeks!)

These turned out really pretty. We weren't sure if an 11-letter name would work, but it did!