Oh, Baby!

I LOVE baby stuff! EVERYTHING is cuter when it's teeny tiny! I often find myself wandering through the rows of super-soft minature clothing...even when I have absolutely NO reason to buy any of it. However, as I mom I also fully appreciate a practical baby gift. Having a hundred precious pink dresses all hanging in the nursery is fun, but they won't help me one bit at mealtime, bathtime, bedtime, or travel time. When it comes down to it, I really NEED those baby essentials that I will use everyday!

Burp cloths are a great practical gift that can be personalized, turning a boring baby necessity into an adorable keepsake. My babies turned spitting up into an extreme sport, so I went through those bad boys by the dozens...I actually switched to using heavy duty cloth diapers and hand towels for burp cloths and still their clothes (and mine) were wet practically all the time.

When I found out that a friend was going to become a mom at the end of June, I finally had an excuse to try my hand at burp cloths. She has chosen not to find out the sex of the baby, so I got my creative juices flowing and came up with a couple of gender-nuetral designs.

 I think the key to giving an embroidered gift is to make it as personalized as possible. Using the recipient's name is always a great idea, but it's also important to think about the person's interests, favorite sports teams, favorite colors, etc. Anything you can do to make the item one-of-a-kind will make it even more special. In this case, I didn't know the baby's name - or even gender - so that added an additional challenge when designing a unique gift. I do know mom and dad are Pirate fans, so I couldn't go wrong with a little ECU flair! :)

The family's last name is Morgan, so I used an "M" firecracker applique as well...now baby will be set for all his/her 4th of July festivities.

The nursery is themed after Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit, so I am working through one more design that may turn into a blanket or something. Stay tuned!!!

Birthday Surprises

I've been working on some birthday gifts for a couple of Cassidy's Kindergarten pals.

A Princess Barbie for Olivia...according to Cassidy, their favorite game is Barbie Mariposa. She insisted on the hot pink/yellow color combination...I probably wouldn't have chosen those exact colors myself, but it turned out really cute! :)

A Fairy Princess for Aislin...she loves all things princess.

I absolutely LOVE this design! I mean, what little girl wouldn't want one of these?!?!

School Spirit

My brother-in-law is coaching the men's tennis team at SBHS this year. Joey - my husband - is uber excited because he has been coaching our high school tennis team for the past 12 years AND the two teams have an annual weekend scrimmage that will be all the more fun since the competition is now twin against twin. (Yes, the brothers are identical twins.)

What does this have to do with embroidery? Well, my BIL wanted to order a team shirt for his 3-year-old son, but could not order a screen print in his size. So instead he asked if I could try to duplicate the shirts they were ordering. I jumped at the opportunity and below are the results. (Joey is now asking when the tennis shirts for OUR 3 children will be ready!)



 The team t-shirt design ended up being something I could not duplicate, so I came up with a couple of alternatives and this is the one my BIL chose.

 LOVE the cougar paw!!!

This was another one of my favorite designs. We didn't end up using this one for anything, but I am on a mission to find the perfect project for this funky font! :)

 The hoodie (pictured here) is a pretty close match to the team's hoodie. In addition to the team logo, John asked me to add Connor's name on the front...

...and "Assistant Coach" on the back. Too cute!!!

My First Customer

A childhood friend - who is now a Facebook friend - contacted me and asked if I would be interested in embroidering a towel for her daughter's birthday. I was REALLY excited...AND nervous...like I had a big solo in the school play, only instead of singing I would be holding up my work for the world to judge. This would be my first sale and I wanted it to be perfect.

The design was simple, cute, and girlie. I held my breath, prayed, and anxiously watched as each stitch was made...and heaved a sign of relief when the machine behaved itself (every once in awhile it decides to do something weird). The design looks adorable. I hope Miss F and her mom love it as much as I do!

 Miss F loves pigs and her mom wanted script letters in girlie pink.

I think the pig is absolutely precious!

Sooooo, even though I hadn't intended to go down this road so soon, it looks like I'm open for business! I am excited about where we might be going. Thank you to Miss F and her mom for being my FIRST CUSTOMERS!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Jackson!

I just finished this shirt as a gift for a friend's little boy...his birthday is this month!

Love, Love, LOVE the dalmation...maybe it's because we stayed in the 101 Dalmations building at the All-Star Movie Resort. The girls lit up when they saw the design...and then they started asking when we could go back! :)

Finding Nemo

When I was originally publishing pictures, I could not locate a photo of my favorite towel. Here it is.

I made this Nemo and Crush towel for Finn as a Christmas gift. Can you guess where I hid a mistake?

My First Christmas

Well, not actually my FIRST Christmas, but my first one with my embroidery machine. I set out this year to make everyone's Christmas gifts. I figured it would be fun, good practice, and a way to save some money but still give everyone special personalized gifts.

I began working in earnest in October and when all was said and done I had produced 36 pieces...not including some extra non-Christmas projects along the way. When I started, I was proud of myself for getting an early jump on the Christmas season. LESSON LEARNED: When you have 3 small children and a full load of other responsibilities, October is NOT early enough! Start in January!...OK, well maybe not THAT early, but at least by summer, if you want to avoid a stitching frenzy that takes you right up to Christmas Eve. :)

In the end, I was pleased overall with my work. There were a few projects that had gone awry, but for the most part I had been able to get things back on track or at least hide the mistake. I learned some tricks along the way and definitely got faster at hooping my blank (article of clothing, towel, etc. on which you will stitch your embroidery design) and setting up my machine. Here are just a few of my favorites from the holiday season:

 Hand towels for teachers and family

 ECU Pirate shirts for my parents

 Prince and Princess-wear for our trip to see the Disney Princes and Princesses

 Pirate Mickey and Princess Minnie

I am already mentally planning for next Christmas. I would have liked to do more for our extended family and by starting earlier I hope to be able to complete some of the pieces currently swirling around in my head.

I'm taking a brief hiatus from my machine to recover from all the holiday fun and to get our house reorganized and back in order. After that, I am looking towards projects for our annual Sunset Beach trip, birthdays, and maybe some special surprises along the way. More to come...