Scoop Yourself Up Off the Floor, Annaliese Has Just Turned FOUR!

Thursday was Annaliese's fourth birthday, and her best buddy Kylie turned five the day before her. Valerie and I decided to throw a joint party this year since many of their friends overlap, and that was held this afternoon. We decided not to go with a character-based party and instead picked an ice cream theme. Carlin put together a great invitation for us. Valerie researched party games, recipes and bargain shopping. My goal was to make them matching shirts!

I found this adorable ice cream cone applique from Sew Terific. Actually it was originally a one scoop cone, but I modified the design to make it a two-scoop.

Here are the girls before the party began:

Valerie used the ice cream cone design throughout the party...
We played pin the cherry on the cone, and she did a great job reproducing the image. (And obviously Annaliese did not win this game, though in another blindfolded game she scooped cotton balls from one bowl to another like no one else!)

And Valerie decorated their personal cakes with two-scoop ice cream cones, too:

Despite rain that kept us indoors, things went well and it was a fun party!

Making a cute dress cuter!

As mentioned before, Kathy sent me several clothing items for Annaliese that I've been adding designs to. Today I worked on this super cute dress:

The flowers on the bodice are from the Bloomin' Applique set from Designs by JuJu. I separated the daisies from their leaves and rearranged them to make it fit my space.

The butterfly is also from Designs by JuJu, her Fun Spring Butterflies Applique.

Annaliese was dying to try it on before I even removed my marking lines!

Tiffany's order for new baby and big sister

Tiffany's good friends had a baby girl this week. In anticipation of this birth, she had placed an order a while back. First up, a hooded towel for the new big sister:

The magnolia is from Embroidery Library and the text was added with Embird Alphabet #38.

For the new baby girl, Tiffany requested two bibs. For one she chose the baseball monogram from Five Star Fonts, because the mommy played softball in college:

For the second bib, she requested the baby's first and middle name in a fancy font. As soon as Tiffany received a text message about Abygail's birth, she emailed me the full name, and I stitched it in a beautiful tone-on-tone bib with Embird Alphabet #38:

Two days later, as Tiffany was checking their family blog for pictures, she discovered that Abygail's middle name was not what she had been told! She called to see if I had stitched the bib yet. I was not home, but Carlin confirmed that I had. When I talked to her a bit later she told me not to worry about it - it would be a fun gift they would all laugh about.
However, I thought it was such a pretty bib, it just HAD to be correct. Tiffany's mistake was that she told Carlin the new middle name. Amazingly enough he remembered it, we did a quick google search and found the blog to confirm spelling. So the correct bib is MY gift to the new baby! :)

Baby Gift Set for Twins

Kristen ordered this cute set for a friend that recently had boy/girl twins.

The monograms are from the Dot Alphabet I originally got on Sew Forum (now available at Julia's Needle Designs), and the names were added with Five Star Font's Whimsy Alphabet.

Paige can match Grandma!

Jan, an EMT, asked me to make a shirt for her granddaughter. She requested an ambulance on one side and her name on the other so Paige's shirt would look similar to her uniform.

The ambulance design is from a Medical Minis set from Artistic Threadworks:

And her name was added with Embird Alphabet #2:

Tropical Attire

Before Easter Kathy sent a package of things for Annaliese, including several blank clothing items that she found on clearance. My goal for the next few days is to stitch on most of them as birthday gifts for Annaliese.
First up, an applique pineapple on this shirt. (I don't know if you can tell, but there are pineapples in the skirt pattern along with the tropical flowers.) She was really excited and couldn't wait to wear it!

Personalized Cup for Annaliese

The day after I made the insert for Jack's cup, I noticed in the Publix ad that they had all their Playtex cups on sale 20% off, including the Create-My-Own-Cups. I was pretty sure I hadn't seen them at the Publix I frequent, but I decided to check. Believe it or not, they had them! Not only did they have the sippy cup variety like Jack's, they also had straw cups, which are still good for Annaliese.
I bought all the cups that location had (Publix on Mahan Dr.). If anyone is interested in one, I have a small supply here, or if you live in Tallahassee, visit one of the other 50 Publix locations and pick out the color lid you want! $3.99 is a good price on these, through Wed 4/9.
Here is Annaliese's:


The applique A is from Five Star Font's Hipster. I added her name with Embird Alphabet #8.

Monogramming travel cups

Yesterday a friend called with an embroidery request. She had bought a personalized travel mug at a local boutique, but the gal that does their embroidery was out of town for a week. So I did it for her! I used Embird Alphabet #17 (Curlz).


This week is spring break and Annaliese and I had the pleasure of entertaining the son of one of Carlin's co-workers. Today the sippy cup he brought was one of Playtex's Create-my-own-cups. It was missing an insert and I just couldn't let him leave with it empty! :) I used Five Star Font's Baseball Monogram. Here's the insert:

And in the cup. If I had to do it over again, I would scoot "jack" more to the left so it is closer to the baseball. This monogram may be a touch too wide for this type of cup. But it's cute none the less and I whipped it out really quickly while we all were dancing and singing along with a CD.

Opening Day was a Success!

In early March I posted the shirts I embroidered for Kelli and Daisha's kids. Opening Day for baseball season was yesterday, and now I have modeled pictures to share of these precious kids!





I know nothing about the baseball season, whether or not the Orioles won, or even played for that matter. But in my mind Opening Day was a success! :)