Dashiell's Keekey Quilt

Before Dashiell was born I bought several yards of a blue flannel with a cute monkey print, intending on making him a rag quilt similar to Annaliese's butterfly quilt. I never moved forward on it, though:
1. I couldn't find coordinating flannel in local stores that I liked.
2. My MIL had an Accuquilt Studio die cutter with the rag dies--the thought of sparing myself all the snipping by hand really encouraged me to wait.
3. Ummm... and I had a baby at home!

So a year later when we went to IL for Christmas I took my flannel with me, intending to go fabric shopping there and die cut the squares while at the Trammels.
Upon arriving I was delighted to discover that my MIL had sold her studio machine and purchased two GO! machines, giving me one!! She also had sets of the flannel receiving blankets from Dashiell's crib bedding, which just so happen to match the monkey flannel. I got started right away cutting squares. You may remember because I blogged about it... FIVE months ago... I got everything cut really quickly, and even started quilting and piecing, but got interrupted by gifts and orders... and time passed.
Finally last week I decided for my birthday I wanted to get his quilt done. I worked on it exclusively for two days, and it's complete!! Here it is displayed in Dashiell's room:

I love that it coordinates with his crib bedding. You can see we have lots of monkey items. That little monkey sitting in the corner of his crib is his favorite, he calls him Keekey. When Dashiell first saw the quilt he exclaimed, "Keekey!" Then when I laid it out to take this picture, he said, "WOW!" It was adorable. :)

It's about 45"x58", which will be a great size for his toddler bed when that time comes. This is a close-up of the back. It's easier to see the quilt pattern (four-patches alternating with large blocks) and fabric motifs without all the fraying in the way.

It was not difficult at all to piece the quilt with the blocks pre-fringed. And it was SO WONDERFUL to not have to sit and snip it for hours! The fringe is 3/4" long, so it's pretty raggy. Here's a close-up after just one washing. It will continue to fray and get softer as time goes by:

I'm so glad to have this project completed! Now if I could just return to the Churn Dash baby quilt I started for him... I may have to take a week off this summer from sewing for others and try to crank it out.

Happy Birthday, Kenzie!

Kenzie is my birthday buddy! She had a Little Mermaid themed party tonight. In anticipation of that I made this shirt:

After browsing the sites of my favorite applique designers, Kenzie picked the mermaid applique design is from Embroidery Boutique. I think the sequins material is perfect for this, don't you??

As we did for her big sister Kylie, we gave Kenzie her shirt early so she could wear it at her party. Not wanting to arrive empty-handed, Annaliese and I worked on a little tote bag for her, too.

The applique starfish is from Embroidery Library. I added her name with Embird Alphabet #14.

Happy Birthday, Amy!

For Christmas I stitched a couple holiday place mats for Amy, so for her birthday I decided to do a few more to carry her through the rest of the year:

For her birthday I used Embroidery Library's cupcake design from their Simple Treasures line. LOVE these designs!! I added the text with Embird Alphabet #14.

For summer I stitched Lynnie Pinnie's applique firecracker to celebrate Independence Day.

For fall I picked an applique pumpkin from Designs by JuJu. I replace the smiley face with her monogram using Apex Embroidery Font.

For Christmas I used Pegboard Crafts' applique stocking. I left off the toe and heel patches since my fabric was already patchwork-like. I used Embird Alphabet #7 to add her name.

So I think I hit all the holidays except for Easter... I'll have to figure that out before next spring. :)

Baby Girl Gift Set

Here are a couple items I stitched recently that were given as a baby gift. First a monogrammed burp cloth using Empire font from Embroidery Arts:

Also requested was a onesie that says "Daddy's Little Girl" with rosebuds (baby's middle name will be Rose, how sweet!) I use Embird Alphabet #38 for the text.

Crayon Pouch

Jason asked me to make a crayon holder for his son, but wanted something a little different than the crayon rolls I typically make. I followed his specifications and created something from scratch. :)
This pouch holds 8 large/jumbo crayons. The two sides are off-set from each other so when it folds in half, the crayons nest well. Velcro tabs hold it together when it's closed.

And this is what it looks like closed:

Torin is a wee one and will probably be using jumbo crayons for a while. But when he's ready to move up to regular-size crayons, this can hold 18! (Pardon the well-used crayons in these pictures, I didn't take the time to find new ones...)

Key Chain

Here is a quick key chain that Renee ordered as a gift for a high school graduate who will be attending University of New Haven. The "R" is Curlz (Embird alphabet #17).

Monogrammed Bloomers

Lil' Miss Audrey received some sweet bloomers from her grandma Elaine, and they just needed this monogram added! We used the same three-letter monogram as on her A-line dress, Empire font from Embroidery Arts.

Another Key Fob

This week was teacher appreciation week at Annaliese's school. Since Ms. Conti has only been teaching for the past three weeks (finishing out the year with the kids while Mrs. Corrigan is on maternity leave) she didn't have a key fob like the ones I made for staff members at Christmas. Well, she does now. :) I used turquoise and white (school colors) as before, but I decided to use the new style of key fobs from DigiStitches. I used Embird Alphabet #7 for her name, and the diagonal quilting pattern.

New Key Fobs!

Last week DigiStitches released Quilted Key Fobs 2. These are like the previous key fobs, but the edges are finished. I liked my first one so much, and knew I'd like the finished edge design even better, so I bought it and stitched one right away. While I was at it, I made one for Valerie, too. I used Embird alphabet #7 for our names.

I chose the wavy quilting lines (out of 8 different motifs).

Hey Susan, if you happen to be reading this, do you recognize the fabric?? I bought this material over TWO years ago to make myself a purse, and I still haven't done it. I thought if I used some material for a key chain it would serve as a daily reminder that I still need to make the purse. At least I still love the material!

Here's a comparison of the two different key fob styles. Both have their pros and cons. I suppose the biggest con to the finished style is having to turn it inside out. But truly, that was not a big deal at all, so I think the finished style is my favorite. The one with raw edges looks great with my rag bags though...

Casserole Carriers

Laura asked me to make casserole carriers for her mom and mother-in-law for Mother's Day.

For her mom's casserole carrier, we used the Resort font from 8 Claws and a Paw:



For her mother-in-law we used the Empire font from Embroidery Arts.

Baby Girl Gift Set

Kari's good friend is expecting a baby girl. She requested a couple bib/burp cloth sets, her only request was "pink and princess!"

For the first set I used Embroidery Boutique's Crown Applique. Kathy digitized "Aubrey" for me using the font Delightful.



For the second set I used the Empire font from Embroidery Arts to do her monogram.

Recent monogramming

Liz asked me to monogram these two tank tops similar to the ones I did for her daughter, but this time with an O:

For the turquoise tank top I used the Smiles font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

For the pink tank top I used Embird Alphabet #17, selecting the "strips" pattern for the fill stitch.

I also monogrammed a couple blankets she will give as baby gifts:

I used the Beanie font from 8 Claws and a Paw for Anabelle's blanket:


I used the Seventy font from 8 Claws and a Paw for this monogram:

Embroidering on Ribbon

One thing I've done a lot in the last three months but haven't blogged about is embroidering on ribbon. Liz of My Little Girl Custom Hair Bows approached me in February about monogramming ribbons that she would turn into adorable personalized hair bows. Instead of posting pictures of boring ribbon, I thought I'd share pictures of some final products! Again, all I did was the embroidery. Liz supplies the ribbon, picks the thread color and font, and then makes the bows.
Liz has made some school spirit bows:

These bows were personalized for little girls:

This is a bow holder:

Liz also sells ballerina bow holders (loops for headbands, rings for ponytail holders, and plenty of places to clip bows):







Aren't they all cute?? Liz is a local mom in Tallahassee. She sells the bows at Best Beginnings and Cookies & Tea for Me, or you can contact her through her facebook page. I'm sure she's willing to ship if you aren't local. Tell her I sent you!