Burp Cloths

Last week I talked about a baby shower we had a while back for my nephew Baby T.  Here are some burp cloths I made for him.

A puppy made to look like one of his dogs, Sammy.

 An Aggie burp cloth for his daddy who graduated from Texas A&M.  Just in case you don't know, t.u. is what Aggies call that little school in Austin, known to some as the University of Texas.

 A burp cloth with the letter T on it.

 And one with his name.

 I knew I had made another onesie and I finally found this picture.  An Aggie onesie to match his Aggie burp cloth.

Onesies

Almost 2 years ago, Super D's sister was pregnant with her first baby.  We were excited to have a new little nephew.  Super D comes from a big, Polish family and they love to celebrate.  So, as usual, his aunts planned a big baby shower for new little Baby T.  I offered to make some onesies that we would use to decorate the hall with.  Here's what I came up with:

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law LOVE dogs so I knew I had to incorporate dogs into the mix.  This is made to look like one of their dogs, Sammy.

 My brother-in-law graduated from Texas A&M and loves college football, so I thought a football would be good.

 My father-in-law, Baby T's Poppy, has a farm where we all like to go four-wheeling and other fun outdoorsy stuff.

 And then this one is made to look like Charlie, their other dog.

I am pretty sure that I made him an Aggie onesie also, but for some reason I can't find a picture of it.
This was a fun project to work on - to find things that fit my sister-in-law and brother-in-law and their family.  Hmm, Baby T is now 18 months old.  Maybe I should make him some new shirts.  I'm guessing he's outgrown these. :)

Teacher Gifts

Summer is coming and with the beginning of summer comes the end of the school year.   

I struggle each year with what I'm going to get my kids' teachers.  They invest so much time into teaching their students.  

 I always want to give them something personal, but also something that they will actually use.  I figure most of them have enough mugs and apple figurines.

 These key chains make great teacher gifts.  They can be personalized with the teacher's first name, last name, or even a school mascot.

Each of these key chains were given as teacher gifts at Christmas time but I think they'd make great end of year gifts also.

Embroidery on Stockings

I had a customer who found these cute stockings on Black Friday last year. 

 She got them for a ridiculously good price and then wanted them embroidered.

 I love this font, especially on these stockings.  I think it really stands out and is nice and bold looking.

 I'm sure these looked very cute hanging on the fireplace at Christmas time.

Ring Bearer

Being in the embroidery business is lots of fun.  I love making things for people that are unique and different than what they can go buy at Wal Mart or Target.  

I got a call from a customer whose daughter was getting married.  They found themselves just a few days before the wedding having trouble finding gifts for the two ring bearers.  The boys are brothers and have every toy and fun thing they could possibly want.  The boys were very into super heroes so the bride had the idea to get them capes.  They bought two vampire capes which I modified slightly and then embroidered ring bearer on the back.

I spoke to the mother of the bride the next week and she said the boys loved the capes and had already worn them a bunch. It's a blessing for me to be able to help people find special gifts for important people in their lives.

Boys, Boys, Boys

I have a customer who has 5 boys!  She is one of the most patient, laid back moms I have ever known.  I guess when God gives you that many boys, the only hope for sanity is to relax and enjoy the blessings.  She asked me to embroider towels for the family.  She wanted the parents' towels in one color and the boys' towels in a different color.  I chose the darker colors for the boys because I thought their towels might get a little bit dirtier. ;)

 Here they are all lined up - Dad, Mom, and the boys in age order from oldest to youngest.

I need to get another one made up pretty soon, because they are getting ready to have another boy!  God has amazing plans for these guys!

Owl Backpack

This past August I had a customer bring me this cute owl backpack and lunch box.  She had found it at our local grocery store and wanted it embroidered for a friend who was starting preschool.  It's always fun for me to try new things and get to embroider on fun stuff like this.  

I love this font with the dots and I think it looks really cute with the polka dots on the backpack and lunch box.  And such a cute name.  We have several people in my family with Campbell as their middle name.

Go Chargers!!

Precious S just graduated from her teacher certification program, which means this past semester she was doing student teaching.  It was very fun because part of her timewas spent as a student teacher at my alma mater.  She really enjoyed her time there, especially helping coach the girls' basketball teams.  She asked me to embroider a shirt for her to wear while she was working with the girls.

We had fun visiting her at the school and getting to cheer on the Chargers at a game.  The school has grown, but it's still fun to go back.  I have lots of great memories there.

Although they definitely are not memories on the basketball team.  :)  I was not an athlete.  I spent most of my time hanging out in the music area with the orchestra and band people.  Too bad they didn't have an embroidery club. :)

Pillowcase Dress

Pillowcase Dresses are fun to make.  And when I get to add a cute little bear applique onto it, it's even more fun.

 This was made for a customer who was looking for a birthday present.  She wanted something for a little girl who loves dresses.

 The customer wanted a cute little bear on the dress with the little girl's nickname, Claire Bear.

I love working with customers to create something special for their needs.  If you have something special you're looking for, let me know.  I would love to work with you to create a one-of-a-kind product.

I Love Candy Corn

I'm not sure why, but I love candy corn.  I like to eat them, but I love to sew them and decorate with them even more.  They're cute, bright, and fun.  

Every year at Sweet Pea's school they celebrate Red Ribbon Week close to Halloween.  I actually think this is a nationwide celebration of saying no to drugs.  Good stuff.  For the week her school has different themes for each day and they're supposed to dress up according to the theme.  One of the days this past year was something along the lines of "good friends help you stay drug free" and they were supposed to dress up like a friend.  Now, we could make this easy and have Sweet Pea wear her school shirt and match many of the other kids in her class, but I always like an excuse to sew something up at the last minute. :)  Since it was close to Halloween I decided on this adorable candy corn alphabet applique design.  I made one for Sweet Pea and one for one of her friends.  

And because I love candy corn and fun ribbon and cute Halloween stuff, I decided we should make bows.  If you know Sweet Pea at all, you know she's not a bow girl.  She chooses comfy sweatpants over cute skirts, hair down over fun hairstyles, and stuffed animals over dolls.  But, I saw this as an opportunity that maybe I could talk her into wearing a bow if her friend was wearing one.  Her friend is also not a bow girl (probably why they get along so well), but they both agreed to wear one.  I love the way it turned out.    

And the whole ensemble:  If you like bows, enjoy this picture.  It is one of the few times you will see a bow on my blog. :) 

T-Shirts

If you haven't noticed, I've gotten really excited about doing applique on my embroidery machine lately.  I found some fun websites that have such cute applique designs and now I want to put them on everything. :)

This past June I decided I would make Bubbo a shirt for his birthday.  I let him look through one of the websites and pick out a design.  He found a drum set that he really liked.  So, we went to the fabric store and picked out fabric together.  His favorite color is green so it was only natural that we gravitated toward some green fabric.  We found what you see below on the drum set and decided we liked it.  But, he also found some maroon camo fabric that he really liked.  I just couldn't put the lime green fabric with maroon, so I told him I would make him a football helmet shirt with the maroon fabric for Aggie football season.  

 When you have a boy that's this cute, you kinda want to make him whatever he wants. :)

 Here's the football helmet applique that I did on his shirt.

 I think I'll keep him.

Sock Monkey Applique

Several years ago I saw this super cute sock monkey applique tutorial shirt on Angela's blog.  I fell in love with it and filed it away in my "to make someday" folder.  Then along came time to plan MM's first birthday party (last May, I'm posting a little late).  Hmm, what kind of theme should I go with?  I have kind of become a huge sock monkey fan in the last couple of years and thought it would make a fun theme.  Plus it's perfect because one of MM's nicknames is Monkey Man.

So, I made a little sock monkey bunting to hang on the wall...

Made a monkey birthday cake...

 Made a sock monkey for the birthday boy...

And finally made the sock monkey applique shirt that I had bookmarked years before...

I think the shirt is so cute, but even cuter when worn by this little guy...

A Look Back at 2012

Even though I wasn't very active on my blog, I was pretty active in my sewing room. Here is a sampling of what I worked on in 2012:

Did some appliques on shirts and other things.

 Did much more customer orders in 2012 than in 2011.  I'm finally getting my name out there a little bit. :)

 Embroidered different items including capes, shirts, and stockings.

 Improved my digitizing skills, including an actual customer logo that I digitized.

 Made quite a few key chains.  Gave some away and actually sold some too.

 Embroidered on quite a few towels - hooded and just plain towels.

Overall it was a good year.  I enjoyed most of the work I did and I love being able to do more things for customers.  I'm hoping 2013 allows me even more time in my sewing room and more opportunities to sell my work.