Turkey Hair Clips

Our family celebrated Thanksgiving with dear friends today. Poor Dashiell was the only boy among lots of cute girls. Since I was not responsible for baking the turkey, Annaliese and I spent some time together this morning making turkeys of our own!

 The turkey felt stitchies are from GG Designs. I made eight hair clips. Even though Annaliese wanted some variety, I opted to make them all identical:

I made that decision because it would be much faster to produce them en masse.  I was able to stitch all 8 bodies in one hooping using my smaller hoop, as well as all 8 barrette covers, and all 8 feather pieces in my larger hoop (forgot to take a pic of that one). Annaliese was very helpful -- she helped trim threads and rip out the tearaway stabilizer. Plus she was good company!

Here are the little girls, just before they were ready to go outside and play all afternoon:

Last Round of Thanksgiving cards

Last week I needed to make a few more Thanksgiving cards to be sure I had enough to go around. I was so pleased with the Thanksgiving Pilgrim Hat Basket design from 8 Claws and a Paw that I used it a couple more times, each one with a different variegated thread:

I also used a couple of 8CP's Indian girl designs:

This is the Thanksgiving Indian Girl with Turkey:

And this is the Thanksgiving Indian Girl with Pumpkin:

Ornament Towels

Remember the Turkey Towels I stitched for myself? I have really enjoyed having those hanging on my oven door this month and how perfectly they match. Since I've only got a few more days to admire them, this weekend I made another pair, this time using a couple of 8 Claws and a Paw's new Christmas designs.

This is the Christmas Ornament Swirl design. I added "Merry Christmas" with 8CP's Ellie font.

And this one is is Christmas Ornament Swirl Two; I used the same font for "Happy Holidays."

Here they are hanging on my oven door!

Bible Bag

At the beginning of the school year Annaliese received a new Bible from church. I gave her a little denim tote bag for it (that I had gotten on clearance for 98 cents!!) and told her I'd embroider something on it for her.  I hunted around for a good design, but never did settle on something.
Then when my machine was in the shop, 8 Claws and a Paw released these adorable Religious Redwork Sunbonnet designs.  I showed them to Annaliese and we decided they were perfect! We finally worked on her bag yesterday.

For one side we used the the Sunbonnet on a Swing design, stitched in a variegated thread.  I added Psalm 119:11 with Embird alphabet #22.

For the other side we used the Sunbonnet Singing Praise design, and added Psalm 89:1.

Neither of us can decide which side is our favorite, I guess that's a good thing! :)

More Christmas Cards

These are some cards I made when testing some Elegant Ornament Applique designs from 8 Claws and a Paw:

These are very nice designs with a pretty motif stitched inside the ornament. The one that shows this the best is the blue ornament:

Unfortunately, the red and green ornaments were the first two I stitched... I thought the gold thread would be beautiful, and it is in person.  But there is very little contrast between the colors and it's hard to photograph the detail, especially on the red ornament.  Trust me, it's beautiful! :)

 

Here's an angled picture that kind of shows the detail...

 

Thanksgiving Shirt

Tracy asked me to make Miss A a shirt for Thanksgiving:

We picked Lynnie Pinnie's Swirly Girly Turkey Applique. Tracy wanted traditional fall colors with a touch of pink. This design and the shimmery fabrics were perfect!  I added her name with the Swirley font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Atomic Babies to Power

Hey, hey, hey, it's Janay's husband Carlin Trammel again back with another guest-blog post. You may remember that back in July I wrote a post about sending a couple of baby gifts up to Canada to one of The Atomic Geeks from THE ATOMIC GEEKS podcast. Well, not sure if there is something in the atomic water up there, but another Geek, Michael DiGiovanni (aka DiGio), has recently welcomed a new baby into his family as well.

Like Baby Nielsen, Li'l DiGio received an "Atomic Geek in Training" onesie. Also, like Baby Nielsen, Li'l DiGio received a colorful super hero-themed bib. This time, it was based on Green Lantern. It has the emblem and the phrase "No Morsel Shall Escape My Sight, Beware My Power Green Lantern's Bite" which is a riff on the Green Lantern oath from the comic book, cartoons, and upcoming movie. (And I have to confess, this fun little phrase was not my idea, but Janay's. Good nerd wife...)

All the stuff I said in my last post about Twitter bringing people together that otherwise would never have met holds true still. And even though he's hundreds of miles away and can't see it, there's hardly a day that goes by where DiGio doesn't bring a smile to my face. Thanks, buddy. And congrats on the new addition to your family.

Birthday shirt ( and some key fobs)

Sue contacted me about making her grandson a birthday shirt for his second birthday.  Seems like I just made his first birthday shirt... time sure does fly by!  She requested an applique 2 with a vehicle themed material:

The "2" is from Chubby Wubby Applique Numbers from GG Designs, and the font is Whoa Nelly from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Sue also asked me to make a few key fobs, requesting zebra fabric and red thread. The in-hoop key fobs are from DigiStitches. I used Embird Alphabet #7 for the names.

Christmas Card

I had some applique designs to test with no real projects in mind, so I stitched them on material and tacked them down to note cards, as I did for the redwork designs I tested recently. These are such pretty Christmas cards!! :)  For now I'll share one that was just released, and the other three later this week.

This card features Lynnie Pinnie's new Patchwork Zig-Zag Stocking Applique design. It took me FOREVER to pick my fabrics for this. I looked though all of my scraps, all of my greens and reds and blues, trying to pick a perfect combination.  The design itself is less than 2000 stitches, so technically should only take a few minutes to stitch. I made such a mess! :) But it was worth it, I love how it turned out!  I used the 4x4 size for this card, but may recreate it using the 5x7 size.

Holiday Apron

Last December when we got together with friends to bake cookies, Annaliese was sad that she didn't have a holiday apron like the other little girls. :(
So as soon as I saw this new design from Lynnie Pinnie, I ran out and bought an apron for Annaliese!

I used the 4x4 Mrs. Claus applique design... isn't she adorable?! I especially like the sparkle of the Michael Miller Fairy Frost fabrics.  I added the text with Embird alphabet #7.

Annaliese hasn't seen it yet, I'm saving it as a surprise when we decorate for Christmas. I better be ready to bake that day, too! I'll come back and add a picture of her in it later.

"I need a new Baby Jesus shirt!"

Long-time blog readers will remember my crazy, yet well executed, plan to stitch something special for each theme during Annaliese's preschool year. As a part of that I found a cute nativity design for "J is for Jesus" that Annaliese loved. She has outgrown that shirt and announced, "I need a new Baby Jesus shirt!"
No kidding, the next morning I found a Baby Jesus applique design sitting in my inbox waiting to be tested! When I showed it to her, Annaliese said, "It's perfect!" We went shopping for a new shirt, picked fabrics together and later that night I did the embroidery!

This is the new Baby Jesus in a Manger Applique design from Lynnie Pinnie.

She loves it, and is pretty miffed that I'm not letting her wear it until after Thanksgiving. In fact, she hasn't even tried it on because I don't think she'd let me take it off. :)  So I'll add a modeled picture later.

Thanksgiving Card, take two

Wow, this one turned out SO MUCH BETTER than the previous two Thanksgiving cards!

 I found the fabric I intended to use, and I changed my technique for stitching it to the card. I wish I could go back in time and start over on those first two...oh well! I used the Thanksgiving Pilgrim Hat Basket design from 8 Claws and a Paw.

I also stitched a couple of 8CP's new bluework designs and made cards out of those:

I took pictures along the way to explain my construction process. The blank cards I'm using are 5.5"x4", so I created a basting stitch that was 5"x3.5".  I centered my design inside that rectangle (making sure it was no bigger than 4.5"x3").  I hooped tearaway stabilizer, attached the fabric (a nice weight woven material) with spray adhesive and stitched it out.  I actually did two at one time in my bigger hoop.

Before removing stabilizer or basting stitches, I glued the design to the card, only putting glue in the center, not the edges. Then I took back to my machine and stitched the fabric directly to the card sewing a quarter-inch inside the basting line.

To finish it off I trimmed the material cutting along the basting stitch.  I removed the quarter-inch worth of tearaway stabilizer sticking out and frayed the edges by tugging on the loose threads.

Now I need to go shopping for more blank cards! :)

Pefectly coordinated butterfly shirt

I must say I'm rather pleased with myself on this project. :)
Michelle brought me this cute skirt and a blank shirt. She asked if I could do an applique butterfly, and add Madison's name as though it was the flutter path.  Here's what I did:

The butterfly is from Designs by JuJu's Spring Fever Applique set, I simply used one fabric instead of two. I added the hearts to match the the skirt.

 Pretty decent match, huh??

A dotted or dashed alphabet would have been perfect for making the name look like a flutter path, but I'm not sure that actually exists in the size I needed. So for the first time I experimented with using one of my Embird Alphabets in Studio to create outline text and converted it to a redwork design. I look forward to experimenting with this more in the future. I love projects that encourage me stretch beyond what I already know!

Thanksgiving Cards

Last night I FINALLY got to use my embroidery machine again!! Ahhhhh.... all is right in the world.

One thing I've been anxious to do over the last two weeks is stitch some of 8 Claws and a Paw's new redwork designs. I stitched a couple using variegated threads on a loosely woven fabric, then stitched them down on blank note cards and frayed the edges:

 

My execution on these wasn't quite as fabulous as the first time I made a card in this manner.  I need to go digging for the fabric I used on that one.  But the designs stitched well! This is the cornucopia design:

And the Thanksgiving dinner design:

I hope to do more before Thanksgiving gets here!

I'm One!

Less than one hour after I posted Amelia's birthday shirt Brenda asked if I could make one just like it for a little friend of hers, who would turn one in November. That time has arrived--if my notes are correct today is Allison's birthday!

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).

Personalized Christmas Decor

A couple weeks ago I tested this cute Christmas design. I decided to personalize it, turn it into a mini-wallhanging and give it to a dear friend.

The Holiday Fireplace Applique design is now available at Lynnie Pinnie and is on sale for 99 cents!! This is the 4x4" design before personalization:

And here it is after. I use Embird Alphabet #8 to add the name and monograms.

I had also planned to do the 5x7 design and personalize it for my family, but alas, I broke my machine and it still isn't fixed. :(  Hopefully soon...  Please pray for me, it has been a very long two weeks.