Welcome Back!

Happy SPRING and Happy April! It’s been a minute since I’ve done a blog post. Even though we’ve been quiet around here, we are still here! Checking email 5 times a day, posting on social media here and there, and even listing new designs every once in a while. I wanted to share a few new ones and also tell you we’re having a DESIGN SALE through Monday (4/22/19). All of our designs are 40% off!

QUICK STITCH is the the name of the game. While the below BEEHIVE is applique (meaning with fabric), the satin stitch is replaced with a bean or redwork stitch which cuts your sewing time down quite a bit. I did use Heat N Bond Lite on my fabrics. Ironing the design after I’m done will ensure the fabric fuses to the shirt and doesn’t come loose. This would be cute with a name underneath in RED to match the beehive “door”.

Along with our DESIGN SALE, I also marked down our Embroidery Order Notepads as well. I LOVE these for jotting down my embroidery orders and they are now on sale for a limited time, while supplies last! Each pad has 50 sheets! The smaller ones are perfect for simple monogram orders, while the bigger pads (see left) are great for applique or more complex embroidery orders where more information is needed.

We’ve recently come out with several new EMBROIDERY designs (meaning thread only/no fabric). I call this a “light fill (light filled-in)” stitch. It’s not super dense like most embroidery designs and it sews very quickly! I did a baby gift set yesterday and my goal was “what is the fastest stitching design I can do?” When you are doing a set like a bib, burp cloth and onesie, fast is good! All thread is good! The stitching of these designs resembles seersucker!

Our BUNNIES

Of course our popular “Stitch” lab design!

I L.O.V.E this Popsicle Trio design which is a must for summer! The color possibilities are endless and you can easily match any shorts!

Lastly our Sheep design which is adorable for baby. Would be cute also in baby blue, soft green or yellow.

If you are reading this, thanks for stopping by!

New Year… New Designs!

Happy 2019! We finally did a few new designs which have been listed on the website. Applique Cafe was put on the back burner for the latter part of last year, but we hope to put out more new designs this year. I have continued to check email 10 times a day, ship notepads, run sales, etc. but the design part has fallen to the wayside. Here’s to 2019 GOALS!!

Love the “blanket stitch” finish!

My 10 year old LOVES Unicorns! I love this color combo with the gold and pink and seafoam green!

This Heart Trio has a redwork finishing stitch. I did use Heat N Bond Lite on my fabric to bond it to the “shirt”!

Have a great rest of the week! Check out the new designs, our notepads, etc at Applique Cafe!

You NEED this lamp in your life!!

I get a lot of emails! Customer emails, your-website-needs-attention emails, restaurant emails…. because Applique CAFE and all. Well a few weeks ago I got an email that caught my attention. It was from a company called Brightech asking me if I was interested in trying out one of their magnifier lamps. I turned 38 46 this year, and to be honest, I can’t see much of anything close up without readers. Like my food is blurry on my plate in front of me. I can see far away just fine, but anything close up is a struggle. The whole turning-40 and needing readers thing is legit. So YES, MAGNIFIER LAMP?? Sign me up!! I chose the LightView Flex Clamp Lamp because I liked the idea of it having a clamp to clamp on to my desk, and I liked that it seemed small and easy to maneuver around my sewing room. It has 175% magnification so I’ve found it wonderful to use in a variety of ways without straining my eyes. Plus I can use it with or without my readers. The neck of the lamp is flexible and you can maneuver it however you like.

First up, clipping those tiny threads from an all-thread embroidery design I was testing for a project the other day! I used my lamp and could easily see a few of the tiny jump stitches and was able to trim them closely and easily because I could SEE!!

Photo creds: my 10 year old

Who else strains to see the TEENY TINY numbers on your spools of thread? Even with readers on, I have a hard time telling a 3 from an 8.

I’ve used it to see the water soluble stabilizer left in my letters after I’ve pulled the stabilizer away. Water soluble is pretty clear and sometimes hard to see. Magnifier Lamp….. I am able to see even the tiny spots in the loop-ty loops and get rid of them!

Cleaning my bobbin area…. you can literally see every stray piece of thread and a million specs of dust!

I, of course, have used my lamp all over my sewing room the past couple of weeks doing embroidery and machine maintenance. My daughter borrowed it also to do a little crafting with her perler beads. It clamped on to our kitchen counter easily and the lamp is small enough that it’s easy to move around the house.

There are other magnifier lamps available and several come in white or black. There is a Table Flex that has an interchangeable base and clamp so you can use it as a table lamp OR attach the clamp wherever you’d like. They also have bigger magnifier lamps with rolling bases and floor magnifier lamps. Brightech also sells the popular string lights you see on patios and at restaurants as well as regular decorative floor and cool table lamps if you are looking for something for your home. They offer free shipping with US orders over $50 and their prices are great too! Click on any of the links or HERE to check them out!

I have to admit I have also used the lamp with my kids and have decided I would love to be an Aesthetician in my next life. We’ve had ear clean-out sessions (EWWW!!! – using a safe wax removal kit of course) and I’ve also used it to check out my 15 year old’s complexion. It’s AMAZING what all you can see with this lamp! Unfortunately I got to see his bad shaving job too. 15 year old mustaches are no joke.

Please email me if you have any questions! Again, click on any of the links or HERE to check them out for yourself! I’ve only had mine for a couple of weeks so I’m just scratching the surface of what all I can use it for in and around my sewing room and around the house!

Happy Anni to us!

It’s Back to School time! My kids started last week and so far so good! My oldest is driving (w/ his permit – eeeek!) and I’ve got all of the school covered this year – lower school, middle school and upper school! My sister in law has triplets, and they are all headed to college this fall. The girls left Friday and their son leaves tomorrow – all going to Auburn (War Eagle). It’s made me realize how fast this is happening and I only have 4 more years with my oldest. The cliche “time slow down” drives me crazy, but it really does go by so quickly! 🙁 Trying to enjoy it all and embrace the crazy schedules.

We have been turrible at new designs this summer. I mean turrible! Jeff took a promotion at work and with the aforementioned crazy schedules of 3 kids, we haven’t had a lot of time. Now that school is back in sesh, hopefully we can do better. Here are a few new ones we added this summer!

Don’t forget our order-taking NOTEPADS!! Several shipments went out this week and we appreciate every single order! With our lack of designs lately, it’s fun to have something else available to our customers!

Lastly, we don’t do 50% off often, but when we do, we do it to celebrate our 9 years in business (+ Back to School)!! 9 YEARS!! I saw this picture the other day in my Facebook memories. This was where it all began! I had a desk in the corner of our bedroom in our old house and that’s where it all started. We had no clue what we were doing, but 1,042 designs and 9 years later here we are! And this girl is now 10, has braces and is in the 5th grade!

Shop our SALE through Monday, August 20th! www.appliquecafe.com

Embroidery Supplies For Days!

In my last post I reported that my machine had died and I took her in last Monday to get repaired and serviced. Hooray she is alive! I rode back over to Sewingmachine.com this morning to pick her up. They are located in Atlanta, GA but also have a store in downtown West Point, GA which is about an hour and 10 minutes from my house. I’m listening to Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis via Audible, so it made the drive go by fast. AWESOME book by the way! I still have about 10 chapters left. Anyway, they fixed the rotate error and also serviced her so she’s running like a champ!

Back in the day, I taught a class at Sewingmachine.com but had not been over there in a couple of years. The ladies there are so nice and helpful and I always enjoy going, even if it’s to get my machine fixed! Here are a few photos from today!

They sell more thread that you can ever imagine! Lots of the big 5000M spools, but also some of the 1000M spools. I mainly use Isacord brand which they sell in both sizes.

Here is the Floriani wall… again, more colors than you can ever imagine! Beautiful drool-worthy colors!!

Here is the Isacord 5000M spool wall! Thread for DAYS!! 5000M spools last for a really long time too, so your black and white and colors you will use a lot of, it’s worth it to get the big spool.

Commercial stabilizer = less expensive! Cutaway, tearaway, water soluble, comfort cover (the stuff that you iron on the back of your monogram/embroidery/applique design), and HEAT N BOND LITE by the roll or bolt. They also sell some name brand stabilizers like Floriani, but I mostly use the commercial stuff! Any and every kind of stabilizer….

Pre-cut stabilizers are da bomb!! I know it only takes a second or two to cut off a roll, but grab a pre-cut sheet, hoop and go! I use their waffle weave tearaway AND medium cutaway pre-cut squares. Again, super affordable too!

OK so I don’t do vinyl. I honestly barely understand how it works. BUT… they have racks and racks and racks of vinyl for sale! Look at all the colors! This is just a fraction of what they have!

Stabilizers, thread and all the other stuff you need + HOOPS, hoop and more HOOPS. These are the Mighty (magnetic) Hoops and also the Durkee Hoops. They come in all shapes and sizes! I have the 9×9 and 6×6 Durkee hoops plus the Durkee Cap Hoop. I also have 2 of the Mighty Hoops which I LOVE!

I have a Brother PR650 6-needle in case you are new! I’ve had it for about 7 years, but I keep it serviced and CLEAN so it still has a lot of life left in it! If you are in the Alabama/Georgia line or Atlanta area, check out Sewingmachine.com OR order online! If you have any questions about what I use, just email me at rosemarygulledge@appliquecafe.com!

May is Cray

May is BANANAS!! Amiright? My kids have just over a week left of school. This week we celebrate birthdays of 5 immediate family members + Jeff and I will celebrate 17 years of marital bliss on Saturday. When I flip the calendar to May 1, I feel actual tension in my spine because I know what’s to come. 2 out of my 3 kids have pretty much tapped out on school. Luckily the oldest is still with the program, I think… He turns 15 on the 25th I might add! Anywho….

We have not done any new designs in a loooooonnnngggg time. Mostly because we are in a busy season of life and my digitizer husband is working more than usual. B) I drove to West Point, GA Monday to take my machine to Sewingmachine.com after it threw a rotate-something error after doing 20 graduation towels last week. Basically it died. I’m praying I get it back tomorrow or Saturday so I can finish more graduation gifts and 200 “Felties” I promised someone by May 20th.

With that being said, we are having a design sale!  It lasts through Tuesday so don’t let it pass you by!

Did you hear about our new *Embroidery Order Notepads*? They are selling like hotcakes! People have commented that they are loving them and using them for craft shows, in stores and for just plain old orders too. I have to say that they have sold just about the exact same amount (small vs. large) and I just did a re-order today. Lots of people buy 1 of each size, but we’ve also sold twosies of the small pad, or 2 of the big pad. We’ve also sold a mix of a few big ones and a couple of small ones. I’d love to hear how everyone is using them!!

It’s a little more work packaging the notepads and printing packing lists, stamping them with my cute THANK YOU stamps and stickers, weighing them and getting them ready for shipping, BUT, it has been SO MUCH FUN to be excited about something and I’m happy to do the extra work for you! I may be a little bit of a perfectionist about how they are packaged too! This whole stack went out one day this week…

You can check them out here: Applique Cafe Embroidery Notepads.

AND don’t forget that all DESIGNS are on sale through Tuesday! Now, let’s all say a little prayer that I get my machine back this weekend….

Get Organized!!

Happy Almost-May! How did we get here? School will be out in a matter of weeks and it’ll be SUMMER! So I had an idea several months ago about something new to offer my Applique Cafe-ers. I LOVE a notepad. I have a list going for things to do today as a matter of fact (return dress I bought to Target, Bank, B-day gift, Grocery Store, etc) and I love to cross through what I’ve done. So I love a notepad, but am sometimes not so good at using one when someone brings me something to monogram. Or I can’t find one and end up using a sticky note that falls off. I think I can remember what they want. It’s easy… bubblegum pink thread, initials mGr in the Fun House font. 17 minutes later I usually will have forgotten what color [Did she say bubblegum pink or hot pink?] or which order the initials were in. Did she say Fun House or Party Time? Hence…..

Why not create a notepad for embroidery orders {monogram orders + applique orders}… so that’s what I did. It’s been a long process of trying to find the right company to print them, then figuring out exactly what information I would want to include. It took me probably 2 weeks just to decide which sizes I wanted to offer. What’s the best backing for the notepads? So many options!! Then another month finding the other pieces of the puzzle. I need Thank You stickers. I need poly bags to ship them in. What about mailers? What’s the best way to do postage? How do I even charge shipping on 2 items when everything else on my website is a digital file? Several months later…. I think I finally figured it all out and the notepads went “live” on my site yesterday. I had my first 2 orders in a matter of minutes so I wanted to share here too!

I decided to offer 2 sizes since some people do only monogramming and would only need the 4 x 5 pad. For applique and/or embroidery design orders, the bigger 5.5 x 8.5 pad with space for more information is perfect. Each pad has 50 sheets!

When you do the math, being organized and keeping up with your orders only costs you cents per order. Fill it out and pin it to the item! If I charge $10 to monogram a towel, then it’s worth 15 cents to know exactly what goes on that towel!

You can check them out on my website ~ our Embr”order”y Notepads are featured on our home page at Applique Cafe. Cheers to being more organized!

Merry Christmas 2017!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Applique Cafe! All designs are on sale through Monday, November 27!

Still here…..

I got an email from my husband today. He noticed recently that I had not posted anything here since May.
Then he typed up a few paragraphs for me to post!! Yay! I also just approved a few recent comments and one was “I don’t even know if you still have this blog….” LOL
I AM STILL HERE…
When school started over a month ago I was thinking ‘we finally get to slow down from being on the go all summer’.  I am now realizing I had completely forgotten about all the activities that come with school and fall!  I never considered football practice, Monday night football games, weekly soccer clinic, Wednesday night church activities, volleyball practice, Saturday morning volleyball games, homework or helping kids study. Sigh. Throw all of this in with the normal work week (still have my side hustle 3 days a week) and it is no wonder I feel like a walking Zombie by Wednesday. While it is a lot of fun watching my kids in each of their activities, it is by no means a “slow down”. Did I mention I was down for the count Saturday with a stomach virus? I’m still recovering from that one.
First day of school 2017: Garrison 5th, Mallory 4th and Browder 8th
My oldest made his debut as a kicker last night at his 2nd middle school football game.  This is a big deal because he is the first Gulledge in multiple generations to strap on the gear and get on the field.  Neither Jeff or his dad ever played football.  Browder has been a soccer player since the age of 4 and has been working very hard on his football kicking, so it was great to see him get the opportunity to play {for 3 seconds}! He has mastered the “hands on hip” stance. p.s. How is he this big? Photo creds to my friend Karen who actually brought a real camera to football. 
 
We lost the game but it was fun seeing him finally play!
In Applique Cafe news…
Halloween will be here before you know it so be sure to check out our fall Halloween and Thanksgiving designs. We have listed a bunch of new Vintage Stitch (aka Bean Stitch aka Redwork Stitch) designs which are super easy and require no fabric. I always use a water soluble stabilizer on top when doing these designs. It helps the shirt not to pucker. Check out a blog post I did a while back on Vintage or Simple Stitch Designs – click HERE. Here are some pics of our recent designs:
The above is a shirt I did for a precious little sister who’s big brother plays with Browder. He’s #13. How cute is that!
Have a great week!