Merry Christmas!

Posted by on December 24, 2011

It’s been a while since my last post ~ Christmas season busy-ness is to blame! Yesterday afternoon I got a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Frappaccino (yum) and inadvertently took 2 Excedrin (grabbed those instead of Ibuprofen). I was wired!! I don’t recommend that combo. This is a result….

Much better than a pile of Christmas cards sitting on the counter and the kids LOVE it! It’s just red ribbon I happened to have a spool of and a pack of clothes pins (wooden) from Publix. I’ve also used that raffia twine in the past but couldn’t find any around the house.

I have some progress to report on our sewing room slash office. We’re still trying to work with the white walls (emphasis on trying). Yesterday I went to Hobby Lobby and got Jeff a matching bulletin board. The open frame was 50% off and I used a 40% off coupon on the actual cork board (regularly like $16.99). AND… you may or may not notice that these are not our regular chairs, although they look identical. Ours, with armrests, are down in Spanish Fort, AL being refinished/painted black. Long story short I have a college sorority sister who refinishes furniture. I got a dresser from her for Mallory’s room this week and traded the dresser for the chairs when her husband came through town. I LOVE LOVE LOVE restored/refurbished/re-purposed furniture. I think I posted a while back that I had purchased liquid sander and 2 cans of spray paint to attempt to paint the chairs myself. Those items went back to Walmart and Home Depot today! I’ll be sure to post when I get them back, maybe as early as next week. My friend’s business is called Chic Restoration – her Facebook page is: Chic Restoration. I will post her pic of Mallory’s dresser below and will try to post a pic of it in her room later! LOVE IT! When I get the chairs back I’ll recover the cushions in something other than RED.

The dresser looks great in Mallory’s room! I’ll work on a picture for my next post!  

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I’m so thankful for family and healthy kids (AND family). I’ve read on Facebook today that a friend of a friend of a friend lost her husband last night after a long battle with cancer. He was younger than me with a young son and a daughter on the way. I think I have also posted about a little girl from Montgomery named Karlie who was put BACK in ICU tonight. She contracted HUS disease weeks ago (a month or longer ago) and is still battling all of the complications. She is around Mallory’s age. So we celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus and pray for these families who have lost a loved one and who are on their knees praying for healing for their precious daughter!! 

Mallory & I watched this flash mob video today – you may have seen it circulating Facebook ~  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnt7euRF5Pg I LOVED IT!!!! A) who doesn’t love a good flash mob and B) the songs and reactions of the people were wonderful!! If you have a few minutes watch it!

p.s. I did a guest blog post not too long ago on the Rock Bottom Tees blog ~ you can read the post HERE, which was published today!

another p.s….. While I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday waiting for them to put my bulletin board together, I saw this fabulous fabric (and bought a yard). The picture is not so great (I-phone), but the colors are GREAT!! It’s a good thick fabric too! $8.99/yard so catch it on sale or take a coupon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Applique Cafe!

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Embellishments

Posted by on November 17, 2011

First of all, go read yesterday’s post! Evidently when you copy and paste a download email, it carries over the download link! There is a freebie design on there ~ but it may expire after 7 days! 🙂

I’ve monogrammed a few of these “tabs” lately so I thought I’d take a picture. I use STICKY STABILIZER to do these and as you can obviously see I pin the tab in place (after I’ve marked my center starting point on the tab which you can’t see). I’m using FAST FRAMES for my 6 needle machine, but the same concept applies for any machine ~ hoop a piece of sticky stabilizer and pin the tab in place. This would also apply to RIBBON and anything you can’t hoop! I guess you COULD hoop ribbon, but this method is much easier. Once you’re done just peel the sticky away. 

On this pic you can barely see the center point ~ that’s where you line up your needle to begin sewing.

Now on to a great tip emailed to me by a reader, Jessica Tims. I’m going to quote below what she told me!

“After avoiding a major crisis this morning my sister suggested I write a blog post about how to get Heat n Bond out of fabric, but since I don’t have a blog I thought maybe it would be something you would be interested in sharing.  I accidently hit a piece of HBL  (Heat N Bond Lite) when iroing a hem for a layette gown and didn’t want my 1/2 yd piece of fabric to be ruined (especially since I already monogrammed to match the fabric).  I had my iron on medium and ironed a piece of freezer paper (see below photo ~ Reynolds) to the spot where I had goofed.  Shiny side down against ironing board, paper side touching HBL, and iron on the reverse of fabric.  When you pull the freezer paper away you can see the adhesive attaching to the paper side.  I repeated a few more times and the fabric was clean!  I even tested it to see if the adhesive was really gone by ironing the fabric to another piece of fabric and it didn’t stick.  Did that made any sense?  It was like getting wax out of something using a paper towel but freezer paper instead.  It just saved me a lot of time and frustration, not to mention a trip to the fabric store.  :)”

I had to ask what freezer paper was, but now that I know I might need to pick up a roll! Evidently it’s used in the sewing world a lot to reinforce fabric!? Check it out! Thank you Jessica for the tip!

Here are some bibs and burp cloths I’ve done this week. The bibs are from Embroider This as well as the burp cloths. The ladybug is an Applique Cafe design. Anyway…. I’m loving the ric rac ribbon trim ~ I’m not 100% sure what it’s truly called, but I have it in a few colors and it’s super easy to sew on the end of the burp cloth (easier than ribbon or fabric to me!).

These are the colors I have, and I picked this stuff up a year or two ago while shopping in a fabric store in Auburn or somewhere random. It’s usually sold by the yard.

I also did this onesie this week, and I used a small crochet applique from www.quiltware.com. This is actually on a mini petal patch, so I merged the petal patch w/ the name (in Sew What Pro) and sewed all of that with my embroidery machine at one time. I then sewed the duck on by hand. I don’t think we offer the mini petal patch, but we might consider it!

The crochet appliques really are sweet on little layette gowns or onesies! Some are also big, so they are cute on t-shirts ~ on a patch or alone.

I used these a lot when I first got started, and I still have these! They make TONS of them at Quiltware. Something different to consider! I do sew them on by hand with a needle and thread! Some ideas ~ the cow with “moo” underneath in a small simple font. Pig ~ oink. Etc…

Have a great week-before-Thanksgiving!

Filed Under: Applique Cafe, How To, Shopping | Tagged:

Sample Tees

Posted by on October 24, 2011

I did several tees for a local overstock sale a couple of weeks ago and we had a few left! They are all $14 ~ contact me if interested and about any personalization or shipping which would be a little extra! I know Halloween is Monday, but pumpkin tees go great through Thanksgiving!

Auburn Alabama game tee? Or House Divided! Contact me about adding any personalization (War Eagle or Roll Tide)!

Peace on Earth ~ this is a great Christmas tee for older boys who might be “over” any cutesy Santa tee!

Also, I was at Walmart this morning and noticed in the TODDLER section, the same Sherpa lined Hoodies like my previous post in girl colors ~ light pink, bright purple and black. I looked for them online but it would not let me save the photo of the pink one but here is the link: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Faded-Glory-Baby-Girls-Sherpa-Lined-Hoodie/16621969. The light pink one was cute and would be great with a monogram added. I think they were only $12.97. I didn’t look for them in the youth girls section and I didn’t notice if they had toddler boys, but check them out next time you are at Walmart!

I’m off to sample new CHRISTMAS designs for Applique Cafe!

p.s. While at the Holiday Market a week or so ago I met a girl there who is a friend of the girl I was shopping with. She has 2 daughters, one of which goes to Browder’s school. Anyway, last week one morning I got a text that her other 3 year old daughter, Karlie, had been airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham the night before because her kidneys were failing. Long story short she is still in Birmingham and in critical condition due to a rare disease/bacteria (called HUS) that attacked her kidneys and blood stream. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Karlie (even though I don’t know her) because I have my own 3 year old at home and couldn’t imagine her being this sick. I’ve been thinking of her and her parents, and praying for them every time I think about them and see a new post on Facebook. I also figured out today that Karlie’s mom was evidently a sorority sister of mine! I don’t remember her and I’m guessing she was younger than me. Anyway, please say a prayer for Karlie! I’ve seen her Facebook page grow from around 400 members the day I got the text to almost 3,000 today! Prayer is so powerful and you’ll be amazed at how strong her parents are being knowing Karlie is in God’s hands! Here is a link to her page ~ Praying for Karlie. THANKS!

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