Be my Valentine!

For Valentine's I used a ready made Monag empire waist dress in red.  I embroidered Olivia's initials on the top center.  The font is Curlz by 8 Claws and A Paw.  This was my first experiment with re-sizing letters in my software.  I resized the O and N so that they looked like a traditional monogram format.   Then I added Studio MCA's Tweet Heart design to the bottom right.  I went with this design because though it is cute for Valentine's it can really be worn anytime.

Isn't she precious?  We sure do think so!!  Olivia discovered Buddy's Halloween costume in the closet on Valentine's Day evening and was obsessed with putting it on!

Christmas Gifts

Here are some of the items I completed during the Christmas rush -

Added initial to two ready made scarves for relatives

Hooded Toddler Towel for a relative (made from 1/2 of a hand towel and one bath towel, strip of fabric and then embroidered) - 

And for my little girl, I added the adorable Studio MCA Designs Jingle Jungle Giraffes with Ornament applique.  I opted to use the fuzzy giraffe print fabric rather than plain fabric and the embroidered polka dots from the design.

My Future Business: Logo and Packaging Supplies

In planning for my future business one of the first things I did was have a logo designed.   Really, Shannon?  Who has a logo when they don't even have a business?  That's crazy talk, right?  No, actually I don't think it's crazy at all!

Having a logo reminds me constantly of what I am striving for and also helps me to think professionally about what I'm doing even though I'm such a newbie.  Through the wonderful and often spoke of Applique Forum I came in contact with Marie, owner of autumns creek designs .  As a sponsor she offered a discount to Applique Forum members on logo designs and since I already had a name and design in mind I was able to purchase a very affordable package from her.

Here is my logo which I adore

The other thing I just did recently was order some packaging supplies from Melissa at Studio MCA Designs.  I still am in the process of getting hang tags created to tie to my packages when I mail them out but here is an example of a recent mailing with Melissa's resealable bags and Divine Twine

School of T&E: Studio MCA Ski Chick

A few weeks back I bought this plain pink hoodie jacket for fall/early winter for Olivia with plans to add something special to it.  Over the past few months I have been a member of Applique Forum.  Through AF I met Studio MCA Designs owner, Melissa.  She has since become a favorite source for embroidery blanks and packing supplies.  I am just starting to stitch out some of her designs and expect to be doing a lot more because her Christmas line "Jingle Jungle" is adorable!!  

But back to that jacket....  After looking around quite a bit DH and I decided to go with Melissa's Ski Chick!  

As mentioned before I am very new to applique and learning by trial and error along with help from the wonderful members and sponsors at Applique Forum.  Part of the purpose of this blog is to serve as an outlet for documenting my learning process.  I think it will be fun to look back on these challenging times later on so I want to keep track of them!

My main error made with this design was wanting my chicken too fluffy.  I added flannel below the fabric to puff him up a bit.  Somehow that resulted in his body lifting up when the stitching was going down and a small hole occurring where that happened.  I went back and stitched by hand to secure him after the fact but I wish now that I had not added the flannel and I think it would have gone perfectly.  Either way the design is absolutely adorable.

First is my finished product and then following the chicken with hole and subsequent hand stitched chicken.