Catching up on the 4th!

I haven't sewn or appliqued anything since April that is until this 4th of July weekend. One of our best friends' came up with their daughter Ansley and I decided to make her and Addison a few things at my in-laws lake house... So I packed up a two totes full of stuff (fabric, shirts, thread, stabilizer, heat-n-bond lite, etc...) and we headed to the lake. We took turns cooking so I actually had time to sew... Originally I had planned to just make them two things each - a total of four appliqued shirts. But I got on a roll and it was a good thing I brought enough shirts and outfits to applique along with plenty of good fabrics & designs to choose from... I ended up making 10 appliqued items for the two girls and I will say my daughter did end up with the most but bless her heart... she has been so-oooo deprived. LOL! She actually hasn't had one new Spring/Summer applique because the last time I appliqued wasn't even for her, it was for baby gifts. Good thing I made a few things last Summer that she can still wear because they were almost too big then. To highlight the appliques - I made two doll silhouettes (from EB), tulip (AC), new AC purse without the raggy flower, triple tulips, triple popsicles (AC), lollipop (EB), simple Tiara (AC) and a flower (which I've had for so long I couldn't tell you where I got it). :) I took a snap shot of the whole group and think they turned out really cute!

Some of my favorites I took quick pics of but they are not centered in the pictures very well but I thought you might want to see them closeup. The girls loved getting to have coordinating appliques (like the tiara & the purse) as well as the same triple tulip applique.  

I will say I am planning to sew again soon as I have a friend's baby shower coming up but after that I will be even more out of commission than normal because I will be taking care of my Mom after her hip replacement surgery in the middle of July. The good news is that she is having a less invasive surgery called SuperPATH and it's only a 2 inch incision compared to the traditional 10-12 inch incision plus other really cool techniques that will allow her to heal so quickly. The bad news is that she still has to have surgery and that I'm an only child and somehow have to manage taking care of my family, my Dad (who has Parkinson's) and some working from home (when I can squeeze it in). So the moral of this story is.... have more than one kid! LOL! Just kidding. :) Hope everyone had a fabulous 4th and I'll hopefully be posting pics from the baby shower for my friend Kelly who gets to use my second favorite boy name of all time - JACKSON! Obviously my favorite was Austin. :)

Have I mentioned...

that I really love babies? And what I love even more is when they are wearing something that I made for them - it can't get much better than that... LOL!

A birthday cupcake, some bibs, burps & onesies...

It's been a while since I've had the time to post a few gifts I've made recently including a 1st birthday cupcake, some bibs, burp cloths & some onesies... I thought they turned out really cute!

Another diaper cake

I'm still crazy busy but when one of my friends at work had a baby shower for his new baby boy... it was time for a diaper cake. So I monogrammed a bib & burp cloth set and also appliqued Monogram Momma's cute monkey on a bib for the other side of the diaper cake. And I will say that this diaper cake was much easier than the first time I made, so easy in fact that my friend Hayley and I even assembled the diaper cake together on our lunch break.  I thought it turned out really cute and highly recommend using the tutorial I posted here on my first diaper cake:

http://www.bibstobows.com/2010/07/long-time-no-postfinally-my-first.html

  

Princess Minnie

I made a cute Minnie Mouse tiara shirt for a sweet little girl recovering from surgery (she has casts on both legs up to her thighs - bless her heart!). I am still not taking orders but every now and then I do try to squeeze in gifts for people when I can and this was definitely something I wanted to do to brighten little Victoria's day. I made this shirt to match the cutest little skirt a friend bought at TJ MAX. I so need to see if they have another one because Addison loved the skirt and the shirt. :) And Victoria's Mom said she loved her outfit and had to wear it immediately. Yeah! :) 

Long over due post...

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since November. Wow! I'm so sorry that I haven't posted anything in so long. I've actually done a few things (no orders still) including things I've done things for my daughter (sewing & appliques), presents for cousins, Christmas presents and a National Championship outfit as well so this will be the longest post. :) I'll just put a quick caption before each picture.

Here's Applique Momma's simple turkey in my favorite boy tri-check fabric.

This was actually my 3rd dress I made for Addison (I apparently didn't take a picture of the 2nd one - although I thought it was cute too!) and the matching ruffle pants. It's made out of one of my favorite Michael Miller corduroy fabrics. 

This was actually what we put on our Christmas card and I made this dress as well and modified it a little so that I could applique the simple Christmas tree (Applique Cafe) on it. I really liked the hot pink & lime green houndstooth coordinating fabrics too. 

I used Sew What Pro to add a bow (Applique Cafe) onto Applique Momma's adorable snowman.

Addison loved pointing out to everyone that she had a "snowgirl" and not a snowman. :) 

Loved getting to try out Applique Cafe's Christmas train for cousin Alex. I really like using Fabric Finders tri-checks. 

Just some of the many (I think my Mom & I did close to 20) Christmas towels. We used Applique Momma's vintage ornament and I used Embroidery Boutique's Lexi monogram. 

Addison with her elf Abigail in her Christmas pajamas I made her. 

Addison & Austin in their coordinating Christmas pajamas. Austin was so funny about not wanting polka dots but I did manage to find some lime green solid flannel for him. Although he wasn't thrilled with the fact that it was lime green - he said he wanted forest green. Oh well at least he let me do the tree applique on his shirt. :)

I decided to put the cute snowgirl in a patch. So once again I used Sew what pro and used the megaphone patch (took out the megaphone out of course) to put the snowgirl in. I love the zebra & pink combination of fabrics too. I ended up making this snowgirl patch for Maddie & for baby Lauren.   

I also made a coordinating skirt for Lauren to go with her snowgirl. 

Love the coordinating Alabama outfits for Grey, Lauren & Britt! Design wise Applique Cafe's megaphone patch and Applique Momma's elephant paw print. 

Applique Cafe's megaphone patch plus I put an Alabama A in the megaphone.

Applique Momma's elephant paw print with Alabama A.

Now for those of you who know me I am a HUGE ALABAMA FAN! I went to Alabama, my parents went to Alabama, my family is from Northport (right outside of Tuscaloosa), etc... But I married an Auburn engineer and our son chose Auburn but I've been holding on to our daughter. Alabama won the National Championship last year and I made Addison a "National Championship" outfit. Right after that happened my husband asked me if Auburn ever won the National Championship would I make Addison an Auburn outfit? I said "sure sweetie" thinking when will that happen... Well it happened so here's her megaphone patch (Applique Cafe) and I did make her coordinating skirt. At least I tried to make the orange cuter with polka dots. I have to say it was pretty hard to make an Auburn outfit for her but I had promised so I kept my promise. And Congratulations Auburn on the National Championship...

Addison's a cutie even in her Auburn outfit. :)

And here's a picture of my husband with our kids dressed in their Auburn attire. :) Maybe if Alabama wins another one I can get both of my kids dressed in Alabama attire to get a picture with me. ROLL TIDE! 

Catching up for Fall

The weather has just been so weird so far this Fall - today it's 68 degrees and gorgeous! And with only one weekend of chilly weather (last weekend) it makes it really hard to get in the mood to make anything for the Fall/Winter! But I finally made a few things otherwise I would have a daughter with only short sleeve shirts to wear. I made her an Embroidery Boutique purse, the Lynnie Pinnie Taylor applique, and two new Fall appliques from Planet Applique - the leaf alphabet and the acorn alphabet. My favorite is the acorn - I love how the fabrics make it so different than the other ones out there with the pink, green & brown...  Still have more to do but unfortunately I'm sick with strep so it won't be this weekend.

Finally I made a dress

I want to go on record that I am not a seamstress... I have managed to get through making a couple pair of pants (with lots of help originally) and some skirts but finally decided that surely I could try to make a dress. So I decided to go for it, but only after some encouragement from one of my friends who said, "try the "Handmade dress - Miss Madeline" pattern - it's really easy." So I found two cute fabrics that coordinated from Hobby Lobby (not too expensive - around $6.00 a yard with 30% off) with one fabric being the main body of the dress and the other was the band around the waist. Then I bought the pattern (for those in Birmingham, I bought it at Thimbles) then traced the pattern onto some sheer interfacing, cut it out and I was ready to piece the dress together and get to sewing. My sweet Mother decided to give me my Christmas present early - a brand new serger! So nice but kind of wasted on someone who doesn't sew right? Well that's why I decided to not let that gift go to waste... She had actually bought it for herself but due to my Dad's health problems she had never taken it out of the box and had never even had any training on it either. So (perhaps overly ambitious in hindsight) I thought if I can just get it threaded surely I can figure this out... Right? Well the key was to getting it threaded. I took it in to the sewing shop and the sweet, patient ladies at Thimbles got it threaded (now I will say neither one of them had the same serger so it did take them a while to figure it out - it actually took the two of them 7 times to get it to actually work but they were so nice during the process) and when I left the shop - it was working! I was so excited! Then I got home and I took it out of the box and plugged it in and guess what? Sigh... It wasn't working anymore. So since I had watched them (7 times) I tried to re-thread it and I thought I had it but the serger didn't stitch anything, it just passed the fabric right on through with needle holes. :( So then my sweet husband, who is an Engineer and thought he could easily thread this thing - afterall it couldn't be that hard, right? Well he tried and eventually got it threaded but then it just wadded up my sample fabric so I just turned off the serger and put it back in the box. Oh well... I will be making an appointment for my training (in lieu of my Mom). So then I got out the sewing machine and just used a zig zag stitch for the inside stitches but let me tell you I was so sad that I couldn't get the serger to work. Maybe one day... But I did manage to get the dress sewn with the help of my Mom who came and pointed me in the right direction.Which is not to say that I didn't have to take out the sleeve that I sewed together on accident... And after she left I was quite concerned about how the dress was looking prior to putting the elastic in - at the neck particularly. I kept trying the dress on Addison and when the neck just gaped open almost to her stomach it was quite funny to see the looks on my husband's face. :) I really should have taken a picture - it's pretty funny looking! He was so glad when I put the elastic in and it gathered up quite nicely and let me tell you I was relieved as well. I did also make a straight hem instead of the curved bottom that the pattern suggests because I was afraid I would mess it up and after accomplishing inserting the elastic - I just wanted the dress to be done! And for those of you who sew you probably know the feeling of accomplishment I felt when I actually had finished my first dress - it was so awesome!  I am so excited and feel like I can do it again. I do think I have gained a lot of confidence and for now I'll just stick to this dress, ruffled pants and skirts - those are my favorite to do because they are so easy!

So here's my 1st dress:

Since I am not taking applique orders right now I am definitely enjoying the opportunity to work on developing my sewing talents. Who knows maybe by the time my husband finishes law school I will not only have more time but I might even be able to do entire outfits. We'll see... For now I definitely do not have time to add sewing for others to my list and wouldn't feel comfortable yet anyway. But if you are new to sewing - I highly recommend sewing this dress. It's so cute and the next dress that I make Addison I will be extending the sleeves to be 3/4 length(there is a tutorial online that tells you how to do that) and I may even use the waistband fabric for the sleeves too or you could even use three coordinating fabrics - one for the body, one for the sleeves, and one for the waistband. I love this pattern! And if you wondered - Addison loves her dress! She wore it to church Sunday and then had to even take a nap in it... She was so proud and you know I was so proud that I actually made it. I definitely encourage you Mommies out there to try - you can do this!

Halloween tutu

Since the weather was still in the mid-80's I decided not to make Addison the corduroy skirt or pants that I was going to make her to match her corduroy witch's hat. Who knew that it was going to be that hot at end of October? She's taking ballet & tap and so many of the little girls are coming in beautiful tutus and she is enthralled with them - she literally just wants to watch the little girls twirl in them. While she has various costumes at home and a ballet skirt, I've never made her a tutu... So realizing that I have deprived my 3 year old I set out to make her a Halloween tutu to wear with her witch's hat. It wasn't really hard to do although my first attempt was definitely not perfect - she loves it and isn't that what really matters? And since it's plenty long she will hopefully be able to wear it for dress up and next year at Halloween. I will say it was rather tedious cutting the tulle strips and tying them on but it's definitely something that I can do while watching tv or a movie that's not as distracting or loud as sewing an applique. Although when I finished it my husband said - what is she going to wear under the tutu since it's see-through? Hilarious! I let him know that she was going to wear a pair of leggings since I obviously didn't want her underwear peeking through under the tutu. :) But if you haven't tried making one for your little princess, it really is an easy project that didn't take too long. The the next morning when Addison woke up she said - Did you finish my tutu? When I said yes, she squealed and said Can I go try it on right now? So of course she did and let me tell you - she twirled and twirled until I finally convinced her it was time for pre-school and that she could wear it to her pre-school party the next day. Whew... that was a close one. She's still asking to wear it even after Halloween. I'm ready to move on to Thanksgiving, but is it ok if we still wear the Halloween outfits? I'm thinking I'll just have to make some more tutus. LOL!

This picture was taken at her Halloween pre-school party - don't you just love the pose? She said she looked "sassy!" :)

Halloween is coming...

While it's still in the mid-80's temperature wise in our part of Alabama, it's actually mid-October! I kept debating with the temperatures still in the 80's should I make Addison's Halloween t-shirts in short sleeve or long sleeve? We did have that one (boy it was brief!) cold snap so I decided on long sleeve for the two designs I decided to make her this year. So far she has complained that she doesn't want to wear them because they are too hot. Sigh. Well I'm hoping for just a tad cooler temperatures - not Arctic Winter temperatures mind you, just a nice Fall temperature. Today it's going to be 84 so no long sleeve today... :)

I ended up making her the ghost from Applique Cafe but I used Sew What Pro and put it in the oval megaphone patch (obviously without the megaphone) using black & white polka dot fabric to coordinate with a pair of black & white leggings. I used a swing top with very little room to applique at the top so I put the ghost patch on the right side toward the bottom. My husband didn't like it and thought I should have put the patch in the center but I was like no - it shouldn't be right over her stomach. Any thoughts? It actually doesn't look just right in the picture below but I think it looks ok so I guess that's all that matters. :)

   

And the other design I made was the Witches Hat from Applique Frenzy. It has an option to stitch out a slot for a bow to be tied on it but I didn't try it this time. Maybe another time. I intended to make a skirt or a pair of pants out of the corduroy zebra fabric but I just haven't gotten to it yet. But oh it would be so cute! I may eventually make some and then I'll have to make another design to coordinate with them since I just love corduroy! Oh and I finally got to use the "Twilight" font for Addison's name. Can anyone tell? I guess I really should have found the Harry Potter font (if there is one) since it's a witches hat and not a vampire design. Oh well. I like it!