Quadruplets!!

When Rachel asked me to monogram some onesies for relatives of hers that were having quadruplets, I couldn't say no! :) The sweet tiny babies were born this week and have received their onesies:

Three identical girls and one boy (poor thing). I looked at every 8CP font and picked about 10 or so for Rachel to choose from. She picked the Super Star font from 8 Claws and a Paw. As I was stitching these out I thought of God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:5...

“Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” 

Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Special Delivery

Earlier this week I stitched a Special Delivery onesie, and I didn't make a mistake!! :)  This is a gift certificate redemption:

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

1/11/11 cool birthday, huh? The really neat thing is three years ago I stitched a SD onesie for Vanna's big sister, who was born on 1/08/08! Maybe I should get ready to do another one on 1/14/14! :)

Baby Boy Gift Set

Less than two weeks ago Kari contacted me about a baby gift set for a friend who was in labor --we were waiting until delivery to know the baby's name! I had an annoying head cold but was able to complete the items by the end of that week:

I struggled with inspiration for the burp cloth until Kari sent me the link to some awesome nursery decor the mom had created. Check out Lawson's name above the crib, isn't this amazing? You can see the entire room on her blog: Little Big Nest.

As soon as I saw the letters on the wall, I thought of Lynnie Pinnie's Taylor font. However, it's only lowercase, and the lowercase "L" looks too much like a one. So instead I used the Plain Jane font from 8 Claws and a Paw. I used the marble khaki material to imitate the stained book pages. Kari requested navy blue for the text and ribbon to coordinate with the bedding.

For the bib, Kari wanted his initials, so I used my new favorite masculine monogram font Circle Monogram Set 3 from Embroidery Arts.

 The last item is 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.

Now, look at that carefully. Notice anything wrong???

Lawson was born 13 days ago... and it's not 2010 anymore!!! AAAAHHHH!!! Of all the baby's stats, the YEAR is the one thing I know already. I'm blaming it on the head cold. Lawson is the first 2011 baby I have done a special delivery design for, and I hadn't changed my lettering file. That has now been rectified. Unfortunately it had already been shipped, but thankfully Kari noticed it in a picture before the package was received, sparing an awkward conversation. I stitched a corrected one and got it in the mail ASAP. Amazing how a little number only 5mm tall can cause such a problem! :)

Scripture on a blanket

Jenny was in charge of a recent women's retreat, and as a thank you gift for Melinda (who had done a ton of work) she asked me to embroider the theme scripture on a blanket. I used Embird alphabet #8, which produces such nice legible text, especially considering the amount of text and the fluffiness of the blanket!

 

Birthday shirt for Natalie

Amy asked me to make a birthday shirt for her daughter who was going to have a cookies and milk themed party. What an awesome theme, right?? :) I immediately thought of Lynnie Pinnie's Milk and Cookies Set. We finally settled on this design:

It's the Milk and Cookies Plate design. Natalie's age is represented rather subtly by the three cookies. :) We just couldn't think of a good way to make it more obvious without going overboard. I used the Swirley font from 8 Claws and a Paw to add her name.

Gifts for Baby Kendal

This afternoon I attended a baby shower for Brittany. I'll be honest, I had a hard time deciding what to do for a gift! Sometimes it's easier to tackle an order when someone tells me what to do than come up with an idea on my own. After looking over her registry, this is what I came up with:

I'm not confident in the crib bedding Brittany has picked, but she registered for these cute wall stickers, so I was on a mission to find a butterfly or floral design to match these:

I decided pretty quickly that I wanted to use the floral onesie. I looked high and low for a perfect butterfly (more challenging than you'd expect) and eventually settled on the Patriotic Butterfly applique from Lynnie Pinnie, minus the patriotic. :) I added Kendal's name with the Lindsay font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

The onesie had flowers, so to include flowers on the burp cloth and tie in the brown, I used this ribbon:

Michelle also wanted to take a special gift to the shower. Remembering the burp cloth I had made for the daughter of a lawyer and an officer, she requested something that would honor Brittany's husband David who is a cop. I remembered a free design on Sew Forum. Michelle loved it and requested one change... we used David's actual badge number. Cool, huh?

Tweet little towel :)

Here's a tweet little towel I stitched:

The Love Birds applique design is from Lynnie Pinnie, just released today! Go grab it while it's on sale for $1. A DOLLAR!! :)

Baby Boy Gift Set

Michelle requested this bib/burp cloth set for a recent baby shower:

The burp cloth design is from the Monkey Shines Applique Alphabet Uppercase set sold on OregonPatchWorks. I added "Easton" with Embird Alphabet #2.

The bib design is from the Monkey Shines Applique Alphabet Lowercase. However it is such a large design that I didn't use the applique "e", just the monkey and elephant. :)

Valentine's Day Shirt

Rebecca asked me to monogram a little shirt for Ms. Kate:

She picked the Vintage Double Heart Applique from GG Designs (a freebie, woo-hoo!) and I added the K with Embird Alphabet #38. We picked the Michael Miller Fairy Frost fabrics since the sparkle looked nice with the the glittery trim on the neckline of the shirt.

Baby Gifts for Riley

My #1 customer, who has ordered more baby gifts than anyone else, is about to be a grandmother! She requested a bib/burp cloth set that would coordinate with the crib bedding she is also giving, and this is what I came up with:

(Here's a picture of the crib bedding.)

I LOVE how this set turned out! I used Lynnie Pinnie's fringe giraffe (which I can't find on her site, but it's a freebie on Sew Forum). I used the Happy font from 8 Claws and a Paw to add Riley's name.

Today Michelle hosted an "around the clock" baby shower for Kasey, and I was assigned "bath time." That made it very easy to decide what to make... a hooded towel!

Because of the color scheme for the crib bedding, I picked this ribbon. I have been anxious to use the Two Colored Dots font from 8 Claws and a Paw... but of course I can't leave well enough alone! I love my embroidery software... I was easily able to separate and recolor the dots so I could incorporate more colors.

New Style of Hand Towel

A week ago my MIL sent me a link to an etsy store (The Spunky Diva) that had really cool Stay-Put hand towels for the kitchen. After thoroughly examining all of her pictures, I decided to attempt making one myself!

One corner is monogrammed. On the opposite corner and opposite side of the towel, I appliqued a fabric square and stitched an "L" shaped opening.

I digitized the "L" shaped opening, so that was done by embroidery machine. It's kind of like a big button hole... once it was done stitching I cut it open. Worked nicely!

For the monogram I picked the Heart A Plenty font from 8 Claws and a Paw.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! And it has already passed the Dashiell test. This afternoon he ran up to it, gave it a hug, called it "cute" and then yanked with all his might. It certainly lived up to it's name -- it stayed put! :) No more towels on the floor, woo-hoo! And amazingly enough, it stays put when I use it, too. I have a bad habit of taking a towel off of the rod and tossing it aside, then the next time I need to dry my hands, I'm hunting for a towel.

Before sharing pictures I searched through the Spunky Diva blog to see if she had posted a tutorial to direct you to. I also sent her a quick email to let her know I was going to be blogging about her fantastic towels, and she replied so quickly! Turns out she was inspired by the Topsy Towel tutorial on Embroidery Library. (Edited 1/21/13 to add: AND I just discovered that years ago someone else digitized the L-shaped buttonhole and posted it as a freebie on SewForum! I have not used that design, but check it out.)

Go check out her blog, lots of fun stuff! My favorite post is a tutorial for kitchen curtains I found back in September. Now, I've make valances before, but what I loved was the FABRIC! I've been searching for the perfect fabric to make curtains for my kitchen (we have now lived here 2.5 years, it's about time...) and I think this is it. I am proud to say I have finally ordered it and I'm anxious for it to arrive. So thank you, Kimberlee, for inspiring new decor in my kitchen, in two different ways!! :)  I'll post pictures once I make a curtain AND matching Stay-Put towels!