Race Car shirt

Here's a project I've been anxious to share with you. I tested this adorable  Race Car applique alphabet for 8 Claws and a Paw Embroidery a while back, putting it on a shirt for Dashiell. But before they got the alphabet done, they got word that it was time to go pick up their adopted daughters from Ethiopia. Woo-hoo!! How they manage to run an amazing digitizing business with two new family members in the house is beyond me -- clearly by the grace of God! So excited for you Julie and Joe!
Anyway, Dashiell LOVES his shirt. When you ask him what's on his shirt he says, "There's a D, and a steering wheel, and a race car!" So cute!

 

Kindergarten Rocks!

This project is an example of the perfect convergence of events. Nicole had asked me to make her daughter a special shirt for the first day of kindergarten, but we hadn't nailed down a design idea yet. Last Wednesday night she was going to bring me a shirt and fabrics to use (to match a skirt she is making). Just a few minutes before leaving for church Embroidery Boutique posted a preview of upcoming designs on Facebook, including an adorable "Kindergarten ROCKS" design. I pulled it up on my phone at church and got both Nicole and Presley's approval. Since I've done some testing for EB in the past, on the spot I shot Rachel an email to see if she needed a tester. That night I got the design in my email inbox, and stitched it up the next day! Very rarely do projects come together that fast and easy!

 I'm anxious to see the final outfit when Nicole gets the skirt done -- Presley is going to be the most stylin' kindergartner at school!

Ribbon Flower

If you follow me on Facebook, you know of Applique Corner's recent promotion to get to 1000 fans, which resulted in a sale and some penny designs. Woo-hoo! One of the designs on sale is the Ribbon Flower, which I think looks beautiful and intriguing. So as soon as I got my son down for a nap after church today, I ran to my embroidery machine to give it a whirl. No real project in mind, so I put it on a kitchen towel for myself.

 I used the 4x4 design. It stitches very quickly, the time factor is twisting and positioning the ribbon. But that wasn't really a big deal. I tried very hard not to be precise about it. :) I like the way that it turned out. However I think it would look even better if I'd used wider ribbon (just picked satin ribbon from my stash that matches my kitchen). If you check out the sample picture on her site, you'll see what I mean. It might even look cool tacking down one wide ribbon, and then a narrow on top! Or two colors twisted together? Hmmmm... no time to try that today, I have a special birthday shirt to work on!

Ok, love it?? I'm pretty sure the design is 50% off until midnight tonight (7/10/11) so go snag it at Applique Corner!

Owl Shirt!

Annaliese attended a birthday party today of a friend from school... so it was easy to come up with a gift idea -- Meaghan needs a turquoise owl shirt to show school spirit! :)

Annaliese wanted it to be different from hers, so I spent some time searching through my owl designs (I've collected a lot!) and settled on Ollie Owl from GG Designs. LOVE this one, but I guess I haven't stitched it yet. I added her name with Embird Alphabet #7.

Baby Gift for Twins

Kathie asked me to help her create a custom shower gift. The McGlynn's are expecting twins, but keeping the gender (and therefore names) a surprise. So instead, Kathie suggested a play on their last name for bib and burp cloth sets:

Hee hee, isn't that clever? :)
Since we don't know the gender, Kathie suggested green and purple. I had these lime bibs in my stash, so I went to our new *Hobby Lobby* (♫ Hallelujah! ♫) and found this great gender-neutral ribbon. I used the Coffee Break font from 8 Claws and a Paw for "McBurp" and McBib".

Mini-version of a USA dress

As Annaliese was getting dressed this morning (trying to be as patriotic as possible) she discovered that Anna, her American Girl doll, didn't have a single red item in her wardrobe. Apparently blue jeans and a white shirt with a peachy-red watermelon just wasn't going to cut it, so I had to think fast.
The handful of you that have been around since the very beginning of Stitched by Janay might remember the USA pillowcase halter top dress I made for Annaliese FOUR years ago, when she was just three years old. Well, believe it or not, that dress still fits, but as a top now. And thankfully I have held on to the scraps of that material, so I was able to very quickly whip out a mini version of it for Anna.
But guess what. It didn't have "USA" on the bottom. Could that be fixed?? Sigh, the things we do for this girl and her doll...
I did a quick Google search to see if the font Lyndsie used for the applique alphabet happened to be a free ttf we could download. I found Salute Stars and asked Grandma Kathy if she had time for a quick favor for her favorite granddaughter. Kathy digitized it and emailed me the file. What a perfect little mini-version of the dress! I'm pretty pleased with our spur of the moment efforts. :)

Monogrammed Blanket

Karen brought me this blanket (which already had the stork and hospital name embroidered on it) and asked me to add her grandson's monogram:

I picked the Jane Doe font from 8 Claws and a Paw... it was the best I could do to match the text!

Stitching for Jenn

Jenn asked me to make a few things for some special people in her life. First, a sweet shirt for Lauren who just turned one:

Jenn loved the little giraffe I used for Riley's set, so I used the same design and font for Lauren. It's Lynnie Pinnie's fringe giraffe (a freebie on Sew Forum) and the Happy font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Jenn didn't want Lauren's big sister to feel left out, so Natalie got a little something special as well, a crayon purse:

The crayon purse design is from Sewing For Sarah, and I added her name with the Swirley font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

I used some fun Riley Blake fabric (that I won from Whimsical Fabrics) for the pockets on both sides. This shows the back pocket:

And this top view shows how a little pad of paper or sheets of stickers fit on the opposite side.

(I haven't made one of those in a LONG time. LOVE them. They are so cute, a great gift for a little girl!)

Next, a bib for a little boy. The "A" is from Embroidery Boutique's Fun Applique Alphabet, and I added "Asher" with Whoa Nelly from 8CP.

And finally, a couple stay-put towels for her mother-in-law:

(You can read more about my first one here).

The cherry design is from 8 Claws and a Paw (thanks Julie!!) and I added "Becky's Kitchen" with Embird alphabet #7.

Basket Liners

Valerie asked me to monogram these basket liners for her girls. I scanned through the over 500 fonts at 8 Claws and a Paw and picked the Swing font. I love how they turned out!