Making My Products Look Good

A while back I made a nursery set for twin girls who were born in September. And, Mom has been kind enough to share some pictures of her girls making my products look really good! Mom is an incredible decorator and made the cutest nursery I've ever seen! Be sure to scroll all the way down to see finished nursery.

This is Halie and Kela, and they are just absolutely adorable!! They are five months old now.

Even though the girls are fraternal twins, I do not know which one is which. Look how cute she looks wearing her zebra outfit! She matches her bumper pads. I love the whole outfit!!

And, sister so pretty in pink!

In the picture below, the girls are showing off onesies I made for them before Mom and Dad knew if they were having boys or girls, or one of each. The designs for these onesies comes from the Whacky Zoo Pack from Sew Swell Designs.

Here's a picture of the entire nursery set I made. And, while I probably won't be making bumper pads anytime in the near future, I love the way they turned out! I personally would have never thought to put zebra with the polka dots, but this is what Mom requested. The combination is so fun and quirky, and I LOVE them together!

The set included two blankets, one with pink minky on back and Michael Miller Disco Dot in Flamingo on the front, trimmed with zebra ruffle. The other has orange minky on the back and Michael Miller Disco Dot in Flamingo on the front, trimmed with zebra ruffle. Also included were two sets of bumper pads, three valances and two book slings.

 Books slings on far wall.

Family tree done by Mom.

Thank you, Brooke, for sharing pictures of your little dolls with me and for making my products look so good!

1st Birthday Tutu Set

While most of what I have been doing lately is strictly applique/embroidery, I make other things as well. I love to make tutus, but I don't make that many anymore. They are just so cute! I love the color combination of this 1st BD tutu set. The tutu is made from hot pink, baby pink, turquoise and lavender tulle. On the shirt I combined two different designs and added personalization. The cupcake design is from That's SEW Grammie. She is a relatively new digitizer and while I've purchased a few of her designs, this is the first one I've actually stitched out, and it's just so cute!! The number one comes from the Chubby Wubby Numbers set from GG Designs Embroidery. This number set is great for boys and girls, and can be finished with four different stitch types. I chose to use the Vintage Style Double Chevron Stitch for my number 1. The font also comes from GG Designs and is called Casual Font. I love the way it stitches out and the nice, thick letters that show up really well.

All of my tutus are made with utmost care in my pet-free, smoke-free home, using tulle made in the USA from imported materials for apparel. This tulle is super soft and not scratchy. I make all of my tutus super full. There are different types of tulle - craft tulle and apparel tulle. The differences are HUGE! Craft tulle is very stiff and scratchy and also is highly flammable. The tulle I use is made for apparel and is flame retardant, and is also CPSIA compliant. Tutus are great for special occasions, birthdays, holidays, photo props, dance, any day!

For tulle color choices, go here - Kreations for Kids Tulle Colors.

Tutus can be sold separately or as part of a set and customized to your specifications.

Forever Home

This post is completely off topic from my business, except that I will be getting a new, larger sewing room! I want to share a very special happening in my life right now. My husband and I are building our "forever" home and we couldn't be more excited! Like two kids in a candy store. We are building just outside Grand Junction, Colorado, on 3.43 acres. We will have absolutely gorgeous views from both the front and the back! From our front porch we will have a great view of the Colorado National Monument and great views of sunrises (if I can get up that early). From the back porch we will have a great view of the Bookcliffs and gorgeous views of sunsets!

I got this shot one day while standing in what will be my husband's train room. He collects model trains and will be able to build an entire layout in his new room over the garage.This is the house across the road from us and in the background is the Colorado National Monument. Below is a picture of the Colorado National Monument viewed from our front porch.

Our house will be a country style home that is all one level except for the one room over the garage.

This is what the back of the house looks like.

Very open floor plan with split bedroom plan. This is the living/kitchen/dining area.

My son-in-law is doing all of the concrete for our house, and he can do phenomenal things with concrete. Here is the back porch he stained. I will post another blog showing the whole process of how he achieves this look. The back porch is not quite finished, though. He will come back after it has cured for a month or so and then chisel out to make the patio look like sandstone. Where it chisels out, it will look like it has been grouted.

Now, our front porch has ABSOLUTELY got to be the most awesome thing I've even seen done with concrete!!! You see, my son-in-law stamped the front porch to look like a wood sidewalk!! It looks so authentic people are amazed that it is not wood!

And, last but not least, a view of the Bookcliffs nearing sunset from the back porch. The mountain in the middle with the little peak sticking up is call Signal Rock.

Have a wonderful day!

Clippies, Clippies, Clippies

I love making these machine embroidered felt hair clips! Lately, I have been making a LOT of them. Here are some of the ones I've been making. I also will show some photos of what some very creative bow makers do with my machine embroidered felt centers. Some of the clips I make in bulk by merging, in Embird, as many of the design that will fit into my largest hoop size. I delete the placement stitch and use a full sheet (8-1/2 x 11) of felt to make the clips. In Embird, I rearrange the stitch order so that all of one color stitches out at once; for example, the eyes. This makes stitching the felt centers much quicker for me. I do not make all of the clippies in bulk, though. For those, I generally will  make a group of 4, still deleting the placement stitch and using a piece of felt large enough to cover the entire 4x4 hoop, rather than cutting felt pieces for each individual hair clip center.

The clips pictured above come from GG Designs, DigiStitches and Embroidery Boutique.

 These adorable bunnies can be worn year round, not just for Easter. This design is from GG Designs Embroidery. They are extremely simple to stitch out as they come with great step-by-step instructions.

Here, I have added bows and Swarovski crystals to make them oh-so-cute and attached to a felt-covered alligator clip. 

These very cute sunflower clips will brighten anyone's day. This design is also from GG Designs Embroidery, also with great step-by-step instructions. Here, Monica at Gia's Bowtique has used the felt center as the center of her Springtime Sunflower bow. And, look how beautiful it is! Be sure to find her on Facebook, too. 

These beautiful bows below were made by Monae at Graceful Girls. You can also find her gorgeous bows at Etsy.  In these bows, Monae uses a covered button for the center of her bow. The buttons are covered with an embroidered monogram button cover that I make. Be sure to visit her on Facebook and her Etsy shop for more of her fabulous bows. 

Everybody loves sock monkeys, and this wonderful deign comes from DigiStitches.  These are attached to felt-covered alligator clips. 

And, here is what Monica at Gia's Bowtique does with the sock monkey centers. Be sure to visit her Etsy shop and Facebook page for many more beautiful bows!

As you can see, there are many variations for the felt hair clips. You can order the hair clips attached to either felt-covered alligator or snap clips for everyday hair clips. Centers can be placed on the right, left or center of the covered clip. You can use them for bow centers for your over-the-top bows. You could even make a pin out of them. To see all of the designs I have available, check here - Machine Embroidery Hair Clip Designs. And while you are there, feel free to check all my other design albums for applique. 

More Testing: A Stitch For You

I have also been testing a few designs for A Stitch For You recently. Here the most recent ones:

String of pearls. This design would be adorable on a onesie, tee or dress. The pearls are all one piece of fabric and the necklace is a filled stitch. This comes in 4x4 and 5x7. 

I am not normally a big fan of skulls, but this one turned out really cute! It comes in 4x4 and 5x7 sizes. I used white flannel for the face and cross bones, and pink sequin fabric for the bow. 

 Bunny is my BBB. This design needed a little tweaking on the letters, but has been corrected and is now listed. This bunny is made out of brown minky. 

Tooth fairy is my BFF. I used white flannel for the tooth and blue sequin fabric for the wings. This also has been listed. 

I tested these two tie appliques a while back and they are so adorable on onesies and tees. I used camo fabric for each. What a great way for your child to show their support for Mom or Dad. 

One of the greatest things about applique is that you really have no limit to your imagination and the type of fabric you can use for applique. 

Check out A Stitch For You's Facebook page, link above, and all her cute designs. She has quite a few military ones as well. 

NEW HOME

This post has absolutely nothing to do with my business, well, except for I will be having a new, bigger room by summer time, as well as an entire new house!! My husband and I are building our "forever" house, and we are so excited! I have taken many pictures of the progress, and it's just amazing to me. I will share a few pictures here, but not all of them. We hope to have the house finished by May/June, or somewhere thereabouts.

 Looking from front to back

Framing started 12-17-11

 Front of house 1-31-12

View of Bookcliffs

And, this is the view we have out our back door at sunset! This is called the Bookcliffs. Our house will sit on 3.4 acres and we have this view out the back, and from the front we have a view of the Colorado National Monument. No one will ever be able to build behind us as that is BLM land. We go out at least once every day just to check the progress and take pictures. It's amazing at how much it changes just from day to day. Next week our roof trusses will go up, and our front and back porches will be poured.

We cannot wait to be able to move into our new home!

Testing Designs

I have been very busy with Valentine's Day orders, but I also have squeezed in some time to test some upcoming designs for Embroidery Boutique. Some of these designs have already been listed on her site, but not all of them have so be sure to check frequently for new listings.

This shamrock can be made by skipping the satin stitch for the top shamrock and making it a raggy design as I've done here. Or, if you don't like the raggy look, just stitch out all the stitches and the center shamrock will finish with a satin stitch. I don't know if you can tell in the picture or not, but the top fabric is a fun glittery rainbow fabric with scattered shamrocks that I got at Joann's. This design will be listed soon. 

This rainbow heart is adorable, and will come with 4 different stitch options for finishing - vintage as I've done here, satin, raggy or zig zag. I love this vintage stitch, so girly looking! There will also be a Shamrock Rainbow coming out soon as well, with all of the same stitch options and shamrocks in place of the hearts. This design will also be listed soon. 

This cement truck with hearts is absolutely adorable! This design is also already listed and also comes in a version without hearts.This one strikes a special spot in my heart as my son-in-law owns a concrete company, so I made these shirts for my 3 grandchildren. And, as you can see, it can be made for girls as well as the boys. Bailey is known as "The Boss," and she and Payson frequently go to work with dad (on days he's not pouring cement) and "help" out. My husband and I are building a new house, and my son-in-law will be doing all of the concrete for our new house. He does phenomenal things with concrete! Our front porch will be concrete, yet will look like a wood porch. Our back porch will look like sandstone with various colors in it. I will post pictures as soon as it is poured, which should be sometime next week. 

This cute little dump truck is perfect for boys, but can also be made for girls. This design is already listed, and also comes in a version without hearts. 

This digger is also available with and without hearts, and is already listed.