I'm not crabby

For a long time, I have wanted an embroidery machine. I just didn't want to spend the money for one. For my birthday this month, my hubby gave me a brother pe770. I've only had it for a week and there has been a strong learning curve, but it has been so fun using it. I wish I had this when the kids were younger. Now, I have an 18 year old boy and a 20 year old girl who hates all things monogrammed so I am going to have to find others to make cute things for. Thankfully, I have tons of friends who love appliquéd and monogrammed items. I'm sure that my next few posts will be filled with some of my projects so far.

For my very first appliqué project, I made a cute little outfit for my friends's 20 month old daughter to wear to the beach next week.  A plain toddler tee from Walmart , a 1/2 yard of $2 polka dot fabric, and a couple hours and I created the cutest shorts set for just under $5.

After I appliquéd the top, I didn't like where I placed it on the shirt. It was centered top to bottom but it seemed too low.  Lesson learned!  I guess it's like the rule of thirds in photography. I added the ribbon trim to fill in the blank space above the design and I think it made it super girly and cute. Also, after using sew what pro and the true text fonts from Word, I decided I was going to have to buy some fonts. I like the shape of the letters of her name, but not the way they stitched out. Another lesson learned!

I also need some new clothing patterns. I had toddler and baby patterns years ago for my own kids but they are all gone now. I made these shorts from a free pattern on the web.  They were a little short in the stride. I guess I need to be watching for a .99 cent pattern sale at hancocks.

It's Twins!

So a couple weeks after the last baby shower, I went to another baby shower for a girl in our church.  She has twins--a boy and a girl. After my last project turned out so precious, I knew I was going to do something similar for these sweet little ones.  Who knew that finding just the right material was going to be so stressful?  I wanted fabrics that coordinated but were still girly and boyish.  It took forever for me to find just what I was looking for.  I made a striped john john for the little boy and a polka dot dress in the same colors for the girl.  I put a pocket on the front of each in the coordinating fabric and made a diaper cover in the stripes.

Look at the sweet ruffle on the bottom

 Of course I did have to make the dress reversible.  Once again, the fabric had owls and matched the other pieces.  I thought the dark brown would be great in the fall, if it still fits.

what cute little striped panties!
So much better than seeing an ugly diaper

"Whoo"s having a Baby?

It seems like this spring I have been to so many baby and wedding showers.  As my kids get older, I guess I am moving back into that phase of life.  In March I went to a baby shower for a friend's new grandbaby.  Since I don't really know her son or daughter-in-law, I looked at their registry and tried to pick fabric that went with the things they liked n the store.  It didn't hurt that I adored the colors and the owls in this fabric.  It turns out, the mom-to-be LOVES owls too.  She was quite tickled over this.

The project started out as just fancy burp cloths.....

 but after discovering such cute fabric I decided to do a little a-line dress too.

While not visible in the pictures, I made a diaper cover out of the orange fabric because who wants to see an ugly diaper under a dress.  This inspired me to make the dress reversible.  The dress reverses to the orange polka dot and I cut out one of the owls from the other fabric and machine appliqued it on.

Anchors Away!

Last summer I made the cutest nautical quilt for my niece's baby boy.  I've always liked nautical things, but I fell in love with the navy and white rugby striped quilt.  I foresee making this again in the future....perhaps for a little grand baby or on a bigger scale for the twin beds upstairs.

The Completed project

I saw the idea for this pillow online.
 I love the rope trip on the pillow and around the edge.
My mother pointed out that the rope around the edge was a possible
choking hazard so I had to re-design it.

Here is the redesigned pillow.
I un-stitched the ribbon holding the roping around the edge.
Safer for baby, but I like the original so much better.

The whole quilt. The red accent stripe near the top broke the monotony of the blue
and white and added some depth.  Can you see this bigger on a twin size bed?

I appliqued the anchor so that through time it will fray around the edges

Welcome!

This is a space for me to share my sewing and embroidery projects!  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope these projects inspire you to create some of your own.