Burp Cloths for Cameron

New mom Laura hosted a baby shower for another mom-to-be, and asked me to make a couple burp cloths for a gift. She picked these monograms:

I used the applique C from Embroidery Boutique's Fun Applique Alphabet. I used the Whoa Nelly font from 8 Claws and a Paw for "Cameron".

The other burp cloth uses the baseball monogram from Five Star Fonts.

My first 6x10 design!!!

Yippee! I'm getting a hand-me-down Brother embroidery machine that has a 6x10 stitch field!!
Before moving this machine to my sewing area, I wanted to do some projects with my MIL nearby for some hands on training. OF COURSE my first project needed to use the big hoop. :) I wanted something that would be quick and easy, so I put Applique Momma's Horse (which I recently picked up on sale) on a shirt for Annaliese. This was definitely a joint project -- Kathy supplied the shirts, fabric, thread, stabilizers and machine. It was convenient "shopping" in her studio. I just did the work. :)

I used the largest size of the horse on Annaliese's shirt... just because I could!

Notice that Anna has a matching shirt? Grandma Kathy has a stash of American Girl sized shirts that Annaliese doesn't know about. They should develop a nice matching wardrobe in the months to come. I started with the 4x4 size, shrunk it down and changed the pull compensation a bit. It worked well!

Ok, enough blogging. I need to go work on another project!

Welcome, Baby James!

A dear friend of ours recently had a baby boy, so Valerie and I sent this gift to Jenny:

I loved the little set I made for Brooks a couple months ago, so I decided to do something similar again, this time using my new Riley Blake striped fabric. The applique Circle Monogram Alpha is from Planet Applique:

The Neck Tie Applique from GG Designs. (The monogram was a freebie on Sew Forum several years ago, but is no longer available.)

The bottle applique design is one I tested for 8 Claws and a Paw. I know this is probably a shocker -- I didn't add any custom text to it! :) I liked the simplicity of the design just the way it is.

And finally, a little something that Daddy will be proud to carry:

Though I have done it in the past, I have recently decided not to stitch NCAA and professional sports teams names/slogans. I've read enough accounts of other embroiderers getting "cease and desist" letters -- it is just not worth the risk. I can't afford the big bucks to be licensed for every team out there. So for this burp cloth, I just stuck with our Alma Mater's school colors: Orange and Blue!! However, now that Jenny is living in the south, this might be mistaken for Auburn. Since this was a gift, I used some licensed Illinois ribbon (thanks Kathy!) to be sure the proper sports team was identified. :) The applique football design is from 8CP , and I added the text with Embird Alphabet #8. Go Illini!!

Connect Women

My friend Leslie is a member of a women's group at her church called "Connect Women." She sent me their logo and asked if I could embroider it on some aprons they had purchased for an upcoming meeting.

Here's the logo image:

Amazingly enough I already had the font Scriptina digitized (it's from "SewCrazie" and I got it either on SewForum or her yahoo group a long time ago, but can't find links to it now.) It resized really well since I needed it significantly bigger. And I added "women" with Embird alphabet #2. The only thing I had to digitize were the little petals around the "o". I was excited to figure out how to import an image into Embird Editor and position each individual letter exactly where it needed to go. I don't think I've ever used that feature before! I took all of my pink and purple threads and let Leslie choose what I should use since I couldn't decide. :)

I'm pretty impressed with the results! I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of this brand of apron (or tote bags for that matter). I can't remember the brand name off the top of my head, but I know it's sold at Michaels and Walmart. The canvas is very textured and it makes the embroidery look jagged, even using solvy on top. My test stitch on felt looked WAY better. Now that we have a Hobby Lobby (♫ Hallelujah! ♫) I will recommend their aprons, which appear to be more fabric-like (maybe a bottom-weight?) than canvas. Any other suggestions for local purchase aprons?

School Spirit times Three!

A year ago today I shared some school spirit shirts I made for Carla's kids. Now that Ella is heading to first grade and Grant is starting kindergarten, it's time for new shirts! In addition to shirts that celebrate their grade, they will also have shirts to show school spirit at the local high school football games AND while watching UF football!

Ella's first grade shirt is a recreation of Annaliese's shirt last year, however Carla changed the color scheme to the school colors of purple and gold.

 The design is Lynnie Pinnie's School Books applique with one modification -- instead of stitching "MATH" and "READING" on the spines as it comes, I changed it to "FIRST GRADE"

Grant's kindergarten shirt is like Presley's shirt, except a more masculine color scheme. :)

The "Kindergarten ROCKS" design is from Embroidery Boutique

Carla's family are huge UF Gators fans, so she really liked the gator designs I tested for Lynnie Pinnie a couple months ago and asked me to put them on shirts for the kids.

I used Lynnie Pinnie's Alligator Head for Grant, and used Whoa Nelly from 8 Claws and a Paw to add his name.

 I used LP's Girl Alligator Head. She's ready for game day sporting a blue bow and orange lipstick. :)

 The last two shirts were the most work. Carla wanted TIGERS in applique form. I have done only a couple of applique name shirts (hey, they were for her kids!) and the fonts I have collected for this purpose so far just weren't the right style of letter. We wanted something more varsity looking, and thanks to an amazing sale, I picked up Embroidery Boutique's Double Fun Alphabet since it included a zigzag stitch.  The reality is, though, six letters in a span of about 7.5" are too small to do the double applique. So I just used the outside part of the letters, and had to do some significant resizing. I stitched Ella's first:

It's really pretty with this sparkly/glittery fabric that Carla bought:

I knew the zig zag stitching was going to be narrow, but it was REALLY narrow. So I did a bit of research to see if there was any way to make the stitches wider within Embird. Turns out there is... I adjusted the pull compensation and boom! Wider zig zag. Grant's shirt stitched out nicely:

His has solid purple fabric instead of sparkly. :)

Here's a close-up comparison:

 So I learned something pretty neat on this project!
I have one more shirt to do... a Union County Tigers shirt for Carla. But I'm waiting a few more days... I will be getting a hand-me-down embroidery machine this week that has a 6x10 stitch field. WOO-HOO!

Her hero wears combat boots

Ok, if this isn't my all time favorite burp cloth ever, it has got to rank up in the top five. I LOVE the way this turned out!
Brittany received the "Some heroes wear capes, My hero wears a badge" burp cloth from Michelle at her baby shower. Now Brittany's friend (whose husband is in the army) just had a baby girl, so she requested something similar to give as a gift.

Isn't it adorable?!?!
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. Brittany asked if I had some camo trim to put at the bottom, which I did. I decided to add the jumbo ric rac beneath it to make it girly. So cute! I also love the pink thread and shimmery pink fairy frost material for the dog tags.

WOW! She's Two!

Jeni asked me to make a birthday shirt for her daughter who recently turned two. She sent me a couple pictures of the partyware she was using, and this is what we came up with:

The "2" is from GG's Chubby Wubby Numbers. I found a ttf that matched the font on the partyware, and Kathy digitized the text for me. I plucked the confetti from an Applique Corner design (which I happened to purchase for a penny the weekend I created the design - perfect timing). I like that the fabric pulls in the stars from the partyware, as well.

Kindergarten Rocks! (Take 2)

Within about an hour of posting pictures of Presley's Kindergarten Rocks shirt, Kelli send me a message saying she just might need to order one for her daughter starting kindergarten in the fall. :)
If you recall my story for making Presley's, that all happened fast -- saw image, they liked it, emailed EB to see if I could test it, got design and stitched next day. What I hadn't thought through when I offered it to Nicole was the stitch count, which was HIGH. On my single needle it took me over an hour to do that design. So I proposed to Kelli a different version which would stitch quicker for me and be cheaper for her. :) I really like how it turned out!

The original "Kindergarten ROCKS" design is from Embroidery Boutique. I used the stars and the word Kindergarten, but swapped out the applique word. Instead I used the zig zag version of EB's Cade Applique Alphabet (with EB's blessing). Little Miss Rachel will be starting school this fall at the American School of Warsaw (her daddy is stationed in Poland). Their school colors are red and blue, so we went with a patriotic color scheme. I love how it turned out and think it will be adorable paired with a denim skirt!

Ok, I have two more Kindergarten Rocks shirts to do for little friends, and then that's all I can do for this school year! I can't believe how many requests I've gotten from folks who have stumbled upon my blog or Facebook page. It has been so hard to turn down business, but I am closed to new orders until Sept 1. I'm taking August off for travel, personal projects, design testing, and to avoid unnecessary stress as the school year begins. Thanks for understanding! If you've got projects for fall, or dare I say it, Christmas?? Feel free to contact me in September!

Kitchen Towels for the Bride and Groom

A friend has two weddings to attend this fall and wanted my help in creating a gift. She had seen some bath hand towels which became the inspiration for my take on these Mr and Mrs kitchen towels:

 I picked applique designs because, well, you know, I LOVE applique. That and I already had these designs! I've used GG's Bow Tie/Tuxedo design before on a black onesie. I did do a bit of editing on the design so I could use a different color for the crease stitches inside the bow.

The Necklace applique is from Lynnie Pinnie. I've owned this one for a while, but this is the first time I've used it. (I think it would look adorable along the neckline of a white onesie with a tutu for a baby girl, right?!?) Initially I regretted my choice because there are a lot of tiny little circles to trim out! But then when it was done, I decided it was totally worth the effort! It turned out especially pretty with the shimmery fairy frost fabric as the pearls.

 

UPDATED TO ADD:
Two years later, Sabrina asked for another set, this time for her sister!