Dino-mite Birthday Shirt

Sue requested a birthday shirt for her grandson, suggesting a dinosaur holding a "3". I immediately thought of Original Stitches' Apatosaurus design and ran to her site. She only had the "1" design listed, so I asked on her Facebook page if she had plans to do additional numbers. She quickly responded that she'd be happy to do the 3 design, and within a couple days had a design ready for me before I was even ready to stitch it! It turned out so cute!! Thanks again, Erin!

Here's the link to her #3 design. Go check out her stitch out picture -- it looks so cute with girly pastels! It's amazing how fabric choices can completely change the look of an applique design. I LOVE APPLIQUE! :)
I added "JIMMIE-REX" with Embird Alphabet #8.

Welcoming Baby Shepherd

A co-worker of my husband is a brand new daddy, so I made the following items for my husband to take to the shower at work today. (It was supposed to be last week, but Shepherd decided to make his grand entrance the day before the shower, so it got postponed.)
Daddy got his degree at FSU film school, so my husband's first request was to bring this clapboard idea back out of my archives. :) I used Lynnie Pinnie's Movie Marker design, deleting out the text it comes with and inserting my own with Embird Alphabet #2. Isn't this ribbon perfect? Makes me think of film!

Both Mommy and Daddy are big Nebraska fans, so I was thrilled to get to use this football applique alphabet from Starbird Stock Designs. At the time I made this, Shepherd's name was a secret, so I went with "N" for Nix, and hey, Nebraska as well! ;)

I was going to stop there, but since we now know the baby's name, I decided I just *had* to personalize something else, and chose a bib. I had a sweet design all ready to go when my husband said it would be hilarious if I could incorporate some sort of delivery truck. He and the daddy have some running gag going on at work about delivery trucks... so here you go. Odd, yes, but if it makes Daddy laugh, I suppose that's what's important. :) And it turned out to be a big hit! I used Applique Momma's Ambulance design, deleting out several elements to make it a plain truck. I added the text with Embird Alphabet #2, and used my favorite Whoa Nelly font from 8 Claws and a Paw for Shepherd.

Ok, I'm sure that makes you think my husband works for UPS, but he doesn't. In fact, he works for Onyx, and the company gave Shepherd a little onesie with their brand on it. This year for "Take Your Lil Dot to Work Day" Shepherd can join in the fun!

Oh how I love making truly one-of-kind custom gifts!!

Two sets of Sibling Shirts

One of the benefits to giving a gift certificate at a baby shower is that big brother can have a say in his special shirt. In this case, big brother was VERY concerned that his little brother didn't have any camo yet, so Miss Janay remedied that. ;)

I used the Cooper Applique font from 8 Claws and a Paw for their first initials, and added the text with Embird Alphabet #8

This set was another shower gift that Nicole requested. At the time of the shower the mom wasn't 100% sure of the baby's name, so we just did big sister's shirt, and included swatches of the fabrics with a gift certificate for baby brother:

The sibling designs are from Applique Momma. This is the zig zag 5" size of the Big Sister design. I added Peyton's name with Embird alphabet #8.

 And now that little brother has a name, I have completed his onesie -- put this on a newborn size without ripping out the side seam! Yes, I'm crazy.

This is the zig zag 4" size of the Little Brother design.

Such a sweet set, I love these Fabric Finders Tri-checks!!

Recent baby items

I stumbled across some pictures I never posted! In January Rebecca asked me to make a few items. She bought the ribbon and picked the font herself -- I love doing projects like that! :) First a hooded towel using the Two Colored Dots font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

and a burp cloth using the Empire font from Embroidery Arts:

Michelle requested this burp cloth for a recent baby shower. She found the Heaven Sent design on Applique Market, but since I already have the Itty Bitty font from 8 Claws and a Paw and a mini baby feet design from Lynnie Pinnie, I just made my own. :)

Another cute applique owl!

Do you have any friends that you've never met? Thanks to the internet and social media, I have several! What a weird and fun world we live in....
I can't really remember how I first came to know Mary. Blog, facebook page, groups and forums... there have been several ways we have interacted. Mary does phenomenal applique work (check out her etsy page Banana Bear Boutique) and we have very similar tastes in designs. She has been digitizing designs and very recently launched her own site, Applique Whimsy!
In the fall she asked me to test stitch an owl design (since she knows I have a thing for owls) and I was happy to oblige! Isn't this so cute?!

It's the 6x10 size of the Vintage Owl Applique and I stitched it on an apron. Unfortunately I failed to take an overall picture of the apron! I used turquoise in the design for my daughter's school colors, and I'm glad I did because it made a perfect Christmas gift for her teacher this year! :)

So go check out my friend Mary! Here's where you can find her:
http://www.appliquewhimsy.com/
https://www.facebook.com/appliquewhimsy
http://www.etsy.com/shop/bananabearboutique
https://www.facebook.com/bananabear

Monag!

Ok peeps, true confession time. I'm coming up on five years of doing custom embroidery, and until last month I had never used a Monag item. Embarrassing, right?? I have a tax ID number and could apply for a wholesale account, but I don't have the upfront money or storage space to buy in bulk, so I just don't. Until my friend Nicole put in a request for an empire waist knit dress and I started doing research. I found someone destashing dresses on Applique Forum for a decent price and decided to buy a few. Then I found a matching long sleeved shirt at Studio MCA and got to work!
Nicole wanted applique name items for her kids. I used the Cade Applique Alphabet from Embroidery Boutique. I had to do some resizing to get the names to fit in my hoop, but that's why zig zag fonts are perfect for these projects!

The kids looked so cute together a couple weeks ago at church!

I also got a pink dress for my daughter. I really wanted to do an applique name for her, but she just wanted an A. I should be grateful instead of disappointed -- one letter is easier than nine! :) We picked Lynnie Pinnie's Applique Swirl font.

So after working on these three items, I'm "sold". Monag is a fantastic brand for embroidery work. Someday when I go big time :) I will use them exclusively. Until then, I've got four red long sleeved empire dresses in my stash (size 2, 4, 6, 8) and will order from resellers like Studio MCA. Top notch customer service!!

Easter appliques!

Lynnie Pinnie released some adorable new Easter Applique designs over the weekend, and has more in the works! Here are few that I tested for her. First, these lovely Patchwork Cross Easter Eggs:

I didn't have specific projects in mind for these, so I stitched them on a nice woven fabric, sewed them onto blank cards and frayed the edges. The design comes in two styles, satin stitch

and deco stitch (which is my favorite).

I thought this Little Bunny with Easter Egg design was so cute, I decided to put it on a onesie and add the text. The timing was perfect since I had a baby shower to attend a couple days later. :)

These little chick faces are intended to be stitched on yellow items, so since I had a yellow 9-12 month onesie and a yellow bib in my stash, I tested them, too! (Neither of these items have a home yet...)
Little Chick Face Applique:

and Girly Little Chick Face Applique:

 

UPDATE:
A year later... I have two little nieces that received the bib and onesie. I added a raggy flower to the bib to girly it up. Aren't they sweet?

Welcoming Baby Grayson

Another baby shower at church means more fun stitching!!! Again, thanks to great friends who shop with me I got to create several fun things to coordinate with baby Grayson's bedding set.
First, Cherri and Elaine gave a name banner (using the Frayed Block Letters from Hang To Dry):

I picked the fabrics to coordinate with the Hayley Nursery Bedding that Maggie registered for at Pottery Barn Kids:

I love the color palette! I spent a lot of time zooming in on these fabrics and then going through my stash to find as close as a match as possible. I knew I had a sage green with dots, a sage gingham, yellow with dots, and blue floral. I used the brown pin dot to tie the letters together since it's used throughout the bedding as the piping. The only fabric I bought for the project was this pink (because it was so pretty!)

Michelle requested an owl burp cloth inspired by the owl on the pillow sham:

After looking at all the owls on my pinterest board we settled on this owl from Applique Market and used the blue/purple fabrics from the banner. I used Miss Kitty from 8 Claws and a Paw to add her name.

For my gift I wanted to use a little bird that coordinated as much as possible. I love this birdie from GG Designs, and I'm so glad I finally had an excuse to get it! :)

I wanted to match the green/pink bird pictured above, but I was limited by my ribbon stash, so I went with the lighter pink fabric from the banner instead of hot pink. I used Tilly from 8 Claws and a Paw to add "Graysie" which will be her nickname.

For the bib I decided to reverse the fabrics, just to be different. :)

And finally, grandmother-to-be Martha bought these sweet, TINY bloomers for me to monogram. I used Embird Alphabet #38:

Testing Holiday designs

I guess since I'm done blogging about Christmas, it's time to move on to upcoming holidays, right? :)

This is a beautiful cross design I tested for 8 Claws and a Paw over the weekend. I stitched the Easter Cross design on a nice woven fabric, and then stitched it down to a blank card (if you want more details on how I did it, read this post). Very pretty design, right?

As I hung this towel up in my kitchen I realized I hadn't shared pictures of this cute Valentine's day design I tested for Lynnie Pinnie. The towel has been used and washed a few times before I remembered to take this (lousy) picture a few minutes ago:

 And a close up of the Olive You design. Perfect for a kitchen towel, right? :)