Family | Applique Cafe Blog

What’s new?

Posted by Rosemary on May 16, 2012 3 Comments

As you all can imagine, life has been busy this Spring. We have LOTS going on each May and this year is no different. Jeff’s birthday was on the 8th, our triplet nieces/nephew’s birthday was on the 10th, Garrison’s birthday was on the 11th, our 11 year anniversary was on May 12th, Mother’s Day was on the 13th, Mallory’s very first dance recital was last night (14th), end of school program for the little ones is Friday the 18th (last day of school for them) and we close out the month next Friday (25th) with Browder’s birthday and also his last day of school. Then Memorial Day!! Is your head spinning? I actually finally feel like we are on the tail end of the craziness.

Here is Mallory last night with her flowers. Her costume was a cross between Russian princess and Christmas at Opryland! The girls were all precious and while I’ll never be a “Dance Mom”, I really enjoyed the (2 hour) recital and Mallory did great! If you missed the news on Facebook, she broke her collarbone last Tuesday night so yes, that is a brace on her shoulders. Sister fell out of the bed at about 4 AM. We got her back to sleep in our bed, but the next morning she was still complaining so I took her to the Pediatrician first thing. He sent us down the street for X-rays which revealed a broken collarbone. She gets to wear the brace for 3 weeks! Woo hoo!! Good times as we start summer ~~playing outside, going to the lake/pool~~….! All in all she is doing wonderful!!

In all the wacky-ness, I’ve managed to get a little bit of work done. Here’s a sample Snake tee I sold yesterday with the name added. It’s amazing how adding a name can add so much to a shirt!

I also sold this sample mini whale onesie and added the name. Mini embroidery designs are great for hats, polo (generic brand) shirts, onesies, etc.

Here is a new technique I tried this week upon recommendation from a customer (thanks LT). It’s a raggy version of our Shark, and I used a cut up turquoise t-shirt as my fabric. I applied Heat N Bond Lite to the fabric and trimmed closely when I was done. The red shark tee is actually in the wash, so once I dry it I’ll report on how it held up. The girl who suggested this said hers washed great! I’m super excited to try this on some other designs, and I think this type applique looks great for older kids (boys especially). I got a cheap t-shirt from Walmart. In hindsight I should have gotten a PLAIN t-shirt, as I would have had more “fabric” to use for other projects. I also looked at Joann yesterday and saw some knit (t-shirt material) fabric there ~ mostly solid colors. Old t-shirts work great too! It seems like Chez Ami also sells knit fabric? I don’t know what the difference is in all the types of knit though??

Here’s a closeup (duh). As you can see I trimmed pretty close. As I said, I used HNBL so it fused to the shirt and should NOT fray as much (raggy) since it has HNBL on it. If you ever pay attention at Walmart, Old Navy, (Boden?) etc. you probably notice this type design on their tees and onesies. Why I have not tried this before, I don’t know? Anyway, just something different to try! If my shark shirt dries OK, I’ll be listing this design and many others!

I also posted on Facebook a while back that I saw these adorable tea ribbons at a wedding party at my sister in law’s house. I got some black grosgrain ribbon (1.5″) from Hobby Lobby last week (50% off of course) and finally tried it out. It was super easy!

I’m using fast frames and sticky stabilizer, but you could also hoop sticky stabilizer. I did mark my center on the ribbon (but you can’t see the dot) and pinned the ribbon in place. I used Monogram Wizard Plus Bobo font and made each word (sweet tea and unsweet tea) .74″ tall. (SWEET TEA = .74″ tall X 4.74″ wide, UNSWEET TEA = .74″ tall x 5.87″ wide) I also wrote down how long I cut the ribbon, but there is no telling where that piece of paper is. I suggest getting out a pitcher and measuring it yourself depending on how you’d like to tie it on.

I did these for the Director of G & M’s preschool and she wanted white thread. I burned the edges of the ribbon with a lighter, but you could also use Fray Check.

I have some more of these to do so I’ll try to post more detailed instructions when I do them (length of ribbon, etc).

That’s about all we have been up to. We have been in our house a year July 4th weekend. If you came by you would think we moved in a month ago. My mission for summer is to get this house in shape. This is our DINING ROOM! We did finally get new den furniture, so the old got relocated to our dining room. It’s going to Birmingham hopefully in a few weeks. I’ve had this furniture since probably 1999, so it will be missed. Maybe one day we will get a dining room table…

This very bad picture is of part of our bedroom. All the things that one should hang on the wall when they move in a new house are piled here. The sad part is that I look at this every day, and every day it drives me CRAZY! And jest, it’s still there. I guess it’s not going to hang itself? No?

All this to say, I would love to get everything in order this summer! That’s is my goal!! You all know how long it took me to do the sewing room, so I need help and encouragement!! Or a double shot of espresso in my coffee! Have a great week!

Applique Cafe fans, we are currently having a SALE through Tuesday, May 22nd.

Filed Under: Applique Cafe, Family, How To, Misc, Products | Tagged:

Happy Easter!

Posted by Rosemary on April 6, 2012 Leave a Comment

Long time no write (again)!! The past few weeks have been a blur! Last week was Spring Break. I started out the first weekend w/ a yard sale at a friend’s house (because sadly they don’t allow them in my ‘hood). I always love a good yard sale, and I sold all but 1 box of ~~stuff~~ junk. Feels good to get rid of random things you find around the house! It’a always amazing to see a) who comes to yard sales and b) what they actually pay money for. Always entertaining.

Wednesday we headed to the lake for a couple of days with 2 other families. This was our Spring Break on the cheap. The water was freezing but the kids had a blast! Thursday we all (13 of us) went to a place called Niffers at the Lake to eat lunch. The manager guy challenged us all to hula hooping for free *stuff*. It doesn’t take much for us to jump on the chance to get something for free. As I tell my kids, “if it’s free, it’s me”. Anyway, surprisingly enough I can still hula hoop. The guys got a free beer and the kids all got free jolly rancher popsicles!

And look at my precious G! He had the hand going and his tongue hanging out. It was (and still is) so cute! When we got back to town he insisted on a trip to Walmart to buy our own hula hoops! The kids have had a blast with them and it has been cheap entertainment ($3/hoop). Maybe good exercise too?

Following lunch we all took a tour of the Lake Martin Dam. Aside from the “dam tour” jokes, it was actually fun and very interesting! We got to walk across the dam and go down in the dam to see the “stuff” that makes power. Educational, fun and FREE!

The kids went back to school Monday for a short week and no school tomorrow, so we get a long weekend for Easter. Jeff & I are actually hosting Easter this year (even though I have no dining room, coffee table {sold in the yard sale} and the furniture we ordered from the den is not in yet). I’m trying to look past all that and not worry about it. I think we have 35 or more folks coming for lunch after church (and of course an egg hunt). I hope you all have a Happy Easter!

Changing subjects… There is a new blanks supplier in town ~ https://www.facebook.com/blanksboutique. Right now they are taking preorders, then fulfilling those orders (versus you being able to just go online and order). The owner sent me a couple to try out and I really like them! Very thick and soft!! Here is a new design from AC I sampled on the girl tee. This company is actually out of Birmingham and hopefully they will get to a point where it’s easier and faster to order. They are now working on their 2nd preorder so check out their FB page! You can also request a price list and from what I remember they are very inexpensive!

It has a cute little puff sleeve! I believe you can see in this photo too how THICK they are!

And a cute ruffle around the bottom of the shirt. The shirt is intentionally made long, and after washing it shrinks to the perfect length. Check out the Blanks Boutique Facebook page for more info on expected shrinkage.

I also did a boys tee! Again, very thick and soft! It’s kind of hard to compare them w/ a photo, but you can maybe see that the BB tee on the left is thicker. The Kiddy Kats shirt on the right is a smidge see-through. These are both 5T/5/6′s w/ 5×7 designs.

Back to Easter… Yesterday I hosted Sissy’s class Easter egg hunt at my house. The kids were SO cute! We have a great yard for it, hence us getting to host Easter I guess. That is Sissy on the right running to get some eggs!

I actually made her a shirt this year! Every time I go to Walmart I pick up their girl Garanimals blank tees (when I see her size). I have bought about 10 white ones, plus purple, yellow and today I found a hot pink!

Here are a couple more things I’ve done for her (which is a miracle b/c I never sew for my own kids). I got these shorts at an overstock sale last year for like $8. Not sure if they were meant for a boy (no ruffle), but I thought they were cute! This is the AC Fat Fish minus the little fin. Again, this is a Garanimals tee ($3.88 I think!) Thank you Garanimals for not putting a pocket on them this season! p.s. Another reason I bought the shorts is because I knew I had matching fabric, which is always a plus.

This is an outfit (2 pairs of bloomers were included w/ this A-line top) from the same overstock sale. I got it last year but it seems to run big so she never wore it. I added the AC Loopy Flower, which is one of my all time favorite designs! Love the Michael Miller Ocean Ta Dot fabric too!

I think that is about all I have? Soccer has started (practice) and all 3 kids are playing. Jeff is coaching Mallory & G’s team (along w/ our niece) and Browder also plays (with Jeff as asst. coach). Needless to say our April calendar is jam packed.

Does anyone have a vinyl cutter? I actually do but have not learned how to use it yet. My niece has a Cricut and has recently started doing things, which made me get mine out and want to learn. It comes with software and a how-to CD so I hope to find some time to learn how to use it! It’s a Silhouette SD. Not sure if this is it (below) – mine is still in the box! I’ll let you know how it goes! I have had it for probably a year and 1/2 and am just now getting it out.

Have a wonderful weekend! HAPPY EASTER!

Filed Under: Applique Cafe, Family | Tagged:

9,000

Posted by Rosemary on March 22, 2012 1 Comment

First of all, we reached (and exceeded) 9,000 fans on Facebook this week! I do not know where the fans keep coming from, but I appreciate each and every one of them! We have never done paid advertising (yet!) and we don’t really believe in fan-drive contests. I guess it’s good old word of mouth, my blog, search engines, etc! Anyway, I love to see that number grow and we’re amazed every day that this is our JOB!! Now… here are a couple of cute Monag brand sleeveless dresses I did yesterday. Monag is a great source for blanks! It’s better if you can order wholesale, which means you have to order in bulk to get the best price. Here is the AC Mermaid.

The Flower Flip Flops:

I did quite a bit of work yesterday so that I could take a break over Spring Break and also get my machine serviced! I get asked quite a bit if I take orders. I have also been getting lots of calls and emails lately wanting me to do customer work. I have to say that I do a tiny bit right now. I would LOVE to do more, and I certainly enjoy it. The truth is with 3 kids I have ZERO time these days for much more than keeping up with email, laundry, cooking, errands, my household and 3 kiddies. It’s the season of my life right now which I’m sure you can all relate to!

I think I mentioned in my last post that we had our stairs painted last week as well as our OFFICE/SEWING ROOM (FINALLY!!!)! Here are our stairs “before”. Nothing really wrong with them, but I didn’t like *ALL* of the oak (trim, spindles, handrail, stairs…). The poor painters came to our house 3 mornings in a row at 7:00 AM to paint these stairs. The first time they painted them a stark white, which was TOO white. The 2nd time they painted them to match our trim, but didn’t cover all of the white too well. The 3rd time they did enough coats so that the stairs now match our trim. Before:

Here is “after”. Again, nothing over the top or mind blowing, but definitely BETTER! I wanted to get rid of as much of the oak as I could, so we painted the spindles and handrails and all! It looks a TON better! I think once I put something in the space beneath the stairs (and do our dining room which is to the left and pretty much EMPTY), it’ll look much better and I won’t obsess so much about the stairs.

We also had our office painted, again. We had it painted white when we moved in. If you have read my blog in the past 6 months you know the white drove me crazy.

You can’t tell too much in this photo, but this is the “after”. It’s a nice Benjamin Moore color called Elephant Tusk. The contrast with the white-ish trim is MUCH BETTER!! Again, not Pinterest worthy or anything extravagant but a huge improvement!

Here is my fabric and my valances are being made this week (and/or next). Mainly the floral with the checked in the pleats and maybe some trim. I think they’ll look great and tie in the green and black! I might also recover the chairs in the checked fabric – to be determined!

Lastly, I have to give a shout-out to my homeys! I spent Thurs-Sunday with these girls down in Mexico Beach, FL. We had the.best.time! It was roughly a 4 hour drive both ways given our stops for lunch, bathroom breaks, etc. We never turned the radio on and didn’t turn a TV on the entire trip! I met all of these girls in college and whenever we get together, we have the most fun! Last year we all went to Charleston and we’re already planning our trip for next year! A few of us are pledge sisters (1993 Phi Mu Troy University). I love these girls and cherish our friendships. We have a way with being *real* with each other and no one cares where you live, where your kids go to school or whether or not your dress came from Target (and not Banana Republic)! Anyway, I miss them and so enjoyed our weekend together. The weather at the beach was incredible too!!