Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

My son's little buddy Jonathan had his birthday party today; the decor was Lego City Police. A real policeman came and let the kids crawl through his car! I made this coordinating shirt for him to wear:

The police car applique is from Planet Applique. I substituted the word "POLICE" for the number 4 -- his age. I used 8CP's Serif font to add his name.

Signs of Fall

According to the calendar, fall is here! Although honestly, the recent Florida heat is making it hard to believe. I have to rely on requested projects to help me know what season it is. :)
Primary sign of fall? PUMPKINS! I've stitched a variety recently:

This pumpkin is from Applique Cafe. I have admired it for three years I think, and FINALLY used it. I love how it turned out with the chevron. :)  I added Cadence's name with the Dancer font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Riley is going to be the Cutest Pumpkin in the Patch!

This design is from Planet Applique:

Maggie bought this adorable blank dress that desperately needed an applique design on it:

The pumpkin is from Planet Applique and I added the G using Embird alphabet #17.

Isn't it neat how different each of the pumpkin designs turned out depending on fabric selection and style of design?
Another sign of fall around here for us is spiders -- MAN we have spiderwebs all over the place, a new one forms from my car door to the fence every night!

If I ever saw a cute spider, this is it, Lynnie Pinnie's Cute Girly Spider. The jagged satin stitch is such a clever design element to make the spider look fuzzy. I added Graysie's name with 8CP's Dorthy.

And you know Thanksgiving is coming when you start stitching turkeys!!

The Baby Turkey Girl applique is from Lynnie Pinnie. This is actually Cadence's second Thanksgiving, so I couldn't use the text "My First Gobble". Instead we changed it to Lil Gobble.

My first attempt at Reverse Applique

Back in April I participated in a challenge where we were supposed to do a design two ways: first using our usual methods/materials/techniques that we are comfortable with, and then a second time thinking outside the box. I chose Planet Applique's Baby Bunny design, I think it's the sweetest little bunny! A couple years ago I made this shirt for my daughter's friend--A pink girl's shirt, using minky for the applique patch. Sweet and soft and just the way the design was meant to be stitched, right?
For my second stitch out, I took the instructions "Do something you haven't ever tried before" seriously! I attempted reverse applique for the first time!

I apologize for not taking pictures of the steps, that's very unlike me. So let me quickly describe what I did:
I hooped stabilizer, applied spray adhesive and laid down a rectangle of the plaid fabric. I ran the placement stitch on top of that, then jumped to all the detail stitching (ears, eyes, nose, pawprint). Then I removed the hoop from my machine and attached the onesie, pinning it in place. Then I went back to my machine and ran the tackdown stitch line 3 times (to kind of give a triple bean stitch look). I completely skipped the satin stitches. I took the onesie out of the hoop, trimmed away the inside of the knit exposing my little blue bunny.

This is a technique I'll have to practice a bit more, but my initial reaction is that it makes doing onesies so much easier! All the detail work is done first, all trimming is done afterwards out of the hoop, and no satin stitches means FAST. It would really only work on one fabric design though... I think...
And in this case some of the detail is lost, like outlining the arms and around the paws, etc. It really gives it a simplistic look which I'm fine with, but something to consider when converting a tradition applique to a reverse applique.
I see more experiments in my future!

Custom burp cloths

Both of my brothers (well, their wives) are expecting first born girls this summer. And they both had baby showers on the same day, on opposite sides of the country!  I was unable to attend either one, but wanted to send a little something from me...

Dustin and Miranda both graduated from the University of Illinois, so I created this monogram using Five Star Font's Diploma~Graduation Monogram Font. Even though I graduated from The U of I with a math degree, I did that simple addition problem over and over again... 2034 sounds so far away!! :)

 For the second one I used one of my favorite ribbon/fabric combos. I picked Embroidery Boutique's new Cute Applique font for the "G" and added Gabriella with 8CP's Swirley font.

Brice and Tiffany plan to name their daughter Ailynn Rose, so I used this long stem rose applique I found in my stash from Newfound Appliqué, adding her name with 8CP's Sweet Tarts font.

Brice is a Marine. When my friend Brittany requested this burp cloth, I knew someday I would make it again. :) It's one of my all-time favorites! 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.

Kendal is One!

Kendal is turning one, and is blessed to have TWO celebrations coming up! The one this weekend is a luau theme. As soon as I heard that I showed her mommy the onesie I made Lucy last year, and we decided to use that same design, just change a few colors:

I used my fave Chubby Wubby Applique Numbers from GG Designs and merged the hibiscus from Planet Applique's Tiki Alphabet on top of the "1". I added the text with Embird Alphabet #8.

Winter Shirts

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!

Christmas Shirts, Part 2

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!

Christmas Shirts, Part 1

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!

Gifts for Allie

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!