Bridal Shower Gift

Today my home congregation had a bridal shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law. I'm 900 miles away and can't attend, but I wanted to send something for her to open from me!
My brother Brice is a US Marine. He proposed to Tiffany by giving her a set of dog tags with her first/middle initials and his last name on them -- isn't that clever??
I was so excited to rediscover this cute embroidery design in my files and knew I had to use it somehow for Tiffany. I opted for a tote bag:

The applique dog tags design is a freebie from Planet Applique. I added the text on the dog tag with Embird Alphabet #2 and used Alphabet #7 for "Proud Wife".

New Sibling Shirts

I recently discovered some neat sibling designs at Katelyn's Kreative Stitches that I've been anxious to try out. I love the simplicity of them, yet the ability to customize with fabric/thread choices and names. The other thing that really excited me was having a "middle" sibling option -- most design sets just come with big and little.
Katelyn's Kreative Stitches is currently having a sale, so I snatched up the designs as soon as possible. I wanted to try them right away, and I don't have a baby shower to attend in my immediate future, so I decided to make new shirts for my kids!



And here they are modeled by my little cuties!


FYI -- I have all six variations of this design (big brother/sister, middle brother/sister, little brother/sister) each in two different sizes. :)

Another side comment -- Three years ago I hated pink/brown and blue/brown combinations. But it was all the rage and so many friends asked me to stitch items in these colorways. I guess I've seen it enough that it has grown on me. Who would have thought I would actually CHOOSE to use these colors for my kids?? Just in time for it to go out of style, I'm sure...

Baby Girl Gift Set

Rebecca asked me to make this cute gift set for a friend who is expecting a baby girl:

The ruffle arm romper dress is from Dharma Trading. Rebecca picked the Empire font from Embroidery Arts for the monogram -- my favorite!

Baby Boy Gift Set

A friend of Michelle just had a baby boy, so she asked me to make a couple items. First this burp cloth:

The applique tractor design is from Designs by JuJu's Barnyard Buddies set. Michelle sent me a picture of the bedding set her friend is using:

None of the animals in the set quite matched up perfectly, so she picked the tractor. I tried to match the colors as best I could. I added "Jackson" with Whoa Nelly from 8 Claws and a Paw.

And baby Jackson will also receive Michelle's favorite baby gift, a Special Delivery onesie!

The original design is from Sew Terific Designs; I customized the design with baby's birthplace, birth date, time, weight and full name.

Happy Birthday, Maddie!

Today the kids and I went to Madison's first birthday party. We took this hooded towel as a gift:

I used the font Fat Cat from 8 Claws and a Paw. This fill-stitch font has great coverage on terry cloth!

First Birthday Shirt

Thanks to Facebook I have reconnected with a college friend. Her youngest daughter celebrated her first birthday ladybug style, and in preparation Jeni asked me to make a shirt for her. She had found one Etsy that she liked, so I tracked down the embroidery design and got to imitating! :)

The ladybug applique is from SWAK Embroidery. I used the Swirley font from 8 Claws and a Paw to add "I'm One!" (well, the punctuation is Embird alphabet #17).

Thanks a latte!

Last week I stitched a couple of the new coffee designs from 8 Claws and a Paw. I put them on kitchen towels, and added the text with Embird Alphabet #8.

Lion Pillows

Tonight VBS kicked off at our church, and I'm teaching the 3s and 4s class. As our craft to go along with the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den, we made these lion head pillows:

The idea/directions I was given involved felt and lots of glue or sewing, so I decided to tackle it from another direction. I kinda did my own thing and thought I'd share it here. No thread involved, so not technically "Stitched by Janay" but it is a fabric craft. :)

First I cut large circles out of two different colors of fleece (orange-yellow and tan). I used a template and rotary cutter which made it go so much faster. I used the largest option on this "Easy Circle Cut" so they were 10.5" circles.

Next I paired up one of each color fleece and fringed them. I made 24 cuts about 2.5" deep.

I put a little mark on my scissors so I was sure my cuts were long enough. The knots are difficult to tie if the fringe is too short.

I pre-tied most of the fringe, leaving four of them untied. I just did a single knot, simply for time reasons (ummmmm... I was doing this the night before...). The benefit is that the opposite color fringe appears around each side of the circle. But for longevity sake, it might be best to double knot them.

At this point, the kids got to make the face. Using Tacky Glue we added googly eyes and a felt nose. The mouth and whiskers were added with a Sharpie.

Then we stuffed them with polyfil and finished tying them off. They were a hit!

Monogramming around the house

Yesterday I stitched some of the new frames from 8 Claws and a Paw.
First I monogrammed some hand towels for my kids.

On Annaliese's towel I used the Swirl Five 4x4 Frame and the Elle font. I picked the colors to match the monkey accessories in their bathroom.

On Dashiell's towel I used the same font and a similar frame (Swirl Four 4x4 Frame), it just doesn't have the extra decorative satin stitching.

I also monogrammed a pillowcase for Annaliese:

I used the Applique Swirl Frame and added her name with the Chez font. She picked the fabric (not my first choice, as usual) and we negotiated on the thread colors. :)

Baby Girl Gift Set

Kelli asked me to make this set for her sister-in-law who just had a baby girl:

The monogram on the burp cloth is from the Dot Alphabet from Julia's Needle Designs, and I stitched "erica" with Swirley font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

We used the same monogram on the ruffle arm romper dress from Dharma Trading. Quick little plug for Dharma Trading -- I placed the order at 2:45pm Eastern on a Friday, it was shipped first class in California and arrived in Florida on Monday! Unbelievable.

For the bib, I used Embird alphabet #17 (Curlz) for the monogram with the dot frame around it:

Bibs up for grabs!

Today I tested a couple of applique designs. Up first is the final design in the picnic set from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Love this marble red fabric, looks like watermelon! I added the text with Embird Alphabet #14.

The second design is a rainbow snow cone from Lynnie Pinnie.

Believe it or not, I didn't add text to this. (gasp!) I love the jaggedy satin stitching on the ice!

I decided to stitch these on some bibs that Dashiell got as a baby gift and I never used. Well, they are from a 10-pack, I did use some, but not all. And at this point, I doubt I'll do many more bibs for him... So like the American Cutie onesie I shared last week, these were made without recipients in mind. Let me know if you are interested! I may end up with a big enough stash to start an Etsy store! :)

Picnic Time!

Remember how I am so excited about my new role? Well last week I test-stitched this set of picnic designs from 8 Claws and a Paw (now available for purchase). I stitched them out on individual squares, and then pieced it together to make a little picnic blanket for Annaliese to play with:

Here are close-up images of the eight designs:








In the center square I added "Picnic Time!" using the Swing font, also from 8CAP.

Mermaid Pillow

Kristen asked if I had any mermaid designs to make a cover for a throw pillow for Madison. I showed her Kenzie's shirt, which she said was perfect, so I got to work.

Madison's side of her new bedroom will be decorated with these adorable wall stickers:

Annaliese helped me pick the fabrics to match. She did a good job because Madison loved the hair! :) The mermaid applique design is from Embroidery Boutique. I added her name with Embird Alphabet #7.