Archives for November 2011

nothing…

Posted by on November 30, 2011

I have absolutely nothing to post, but I thought I should say I’m still alive! We had a great Thanksgiving ~ Wed through Sun in Orange Beach. It’s the most wonderful time to be at the beach and we’ve been doing it since Browder was like a toddler. Great family time and a slow pace ~ a little shopping and go kart races, a little indoor swimming and a couple of great puzzles. I read a book (Hunger Games [book 1 only]) which is a rare thing. Lots of yummy food too and quality time with cousins and in-laws (we go w/ Jeff’s fam)!

Here is a picture of my lovely little assistant. Monday we did a few fun things on Facebook for Cyber Monday ~ free designs, a couple of refunds and yesterday we drew for a winner of a $20 AC gift certificate. Sissy drew the name and the winner received a voucher code for $20 off! You had to utilize the $5 off $20 special on Monday to be entered. Dorcas Jones was our winner, so happy shopping!!

Not much to report on the home front. We haven’t brought out the first Christmas decoration yet, but plan to do so this week. Below is our neighbor’s house. How do you compete with life size toy soldiers and swans? Our across-the-street  neighbor has some massive huge wrought iron toy soldiers in front of their house too. Something tells me slapping a wreath on the front door ain’t gonna cut it!

I guess I can share that Jeff is getting braces today! He has never had them, so I’ve tried to gently forewarn him of the pain that is surely ahead of him. I have sharp memories of not being able to eat, brackets jabbing in to mouth ulcers, wires poking in the back of my gums, etc. One of the bloggers I read recently got braces on her bottom teeth and jokes about sucking on potato ships. I told Jeff that I am afraid she was probably NOT joking! At least for the first several (4-5?) days. You might ask why he is getting braces ~ he’s never had them, decided he wanted them and in actuality here where we live we have several adult friends who have them or have had them recently. I had them as a teen, but need them again! Anyway, this should be interesting!!

AC shoppers – designs are 30% off through tomorrow! Have a great day and stay warm!!

p.s. no updates on the sewing room. I’m convinced I may not be happy until I paint the room? I have not painted the chairs yet and have not got Jeff’s bulletin board yet. The paint stuff is sitting in the garage, but it has been too windy (and now cold) to attempt anything!

Filed Under: Applique Cafe, Family, Misc | Tagged:

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:

New Account Feature at Applique Cafe

Posted by on November 16, 2011

You may have noticed or heard about our NEW ACCOUNT FEATURE at Applique Cafe. This is my attempt to explain the ins and outs in more detail in case any of you have any questions. For those of you who “got it”, bare with me. First… you see the “My Account” link at the top of our home page. 

You can also access the “My Account” page under the INFO section on the left side.

When you click on the “My Account” link, you will see this page (below). There are 2 ways to log in, but first, notice it states that you can login below to access downloads you have purchased as of 11/8/2011. This is VERY IMPORTANT!! This new account feature was installed on November 8, 2011, so that is THE DATE when all of your purchases started being saved in our system. If you purchased some designs on November 6th, you will not be able to access those downloads! As it says, if you have questions about purchases prior to 11/8 you must contact me!

Basically, as of 11/8, when you order, our website remembers your purchases and they are stored UNDER YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS. That’s why it is super important that you spell your email address correctly. If you leave out an “n” in your email address, then it might make it hard to pull up your orders!

The first time you log in, you must enter in your email address on the bottom of this page. A temporary password will be issued and emailed to you. Go back to the “My Account” page, and when you enter your email address and temporary password, you are then able to create your own password which our website will remember. SO….. first time logging in – enter your email on the bottom of this page!

The second, and every other time you log in, you can enter your username (aka EMAIL ADDRESS on your order) and your password, click LOGIN and you will then see your downloads! If somewhere down the road you forget your password, then enter your email address on the bottom and it’ll send you an email with your password!

Moving on…. when you log in, you will see at the bottom a list of dates (in a strange order) and a list of your order numbers.

If you click the + icon on each order, your download links will drop down. Click on each to re-download the zip file!

Simple, eh?? I think the most confusing part will be that people may think they can look up their orders from the beginning of Applique Cafe. The magic date is 11/8/11!! I’m glad to look up older orders if I need to (computer crashed, virus, etc). I also ALWAYS recommend Carbonite to back up your design files!

FYI – the download links following checkout and in the email automatically sent to you STILL expire after 7 days. If you don’t feel like downloading them or forget, then you will need to log in to re-download. I recommend you downloading them immediately and then you’re done and ready to sew a design when needed!

After you totally complete the Paypal checkout process, you are redirected to the download page which will look like this (with instructions on logging in at the bottom):

Thank you for your order, Rosemary Gulledge. Your transaction ID is 2288421.

You will receive a receipt from Paypal by email.

To download Flower Cross Applique Design click the link below:
384 Flower Cross.zip (286 KB) ~ Download link will expire in 7 days ~

You can also access downloads by logging in to your account at

http://www.appliquecafe.com/pages/account.htm
Username: rosemarygulledge@appliquecafe.com

First time logging in? Enter your Username/Email on the bottom of the Account page, hit SUBMIT, and a temporary password will be emailed to you. When you log in with the temporary password, you will be given the chance to create your own password.

Returning customers, enter your Username/Email and Password on the top of the Account page.

You will also STILL receive this email with the download link (again, with instructions at the bottom on how to log in):

Thank you for your order, Rosemary Gulledge. Your transaction ID is 2288421.

To download Flower Cross Applique Design click the link below:
384 Flower Cross.zip (286 KB) ~ Download link will expire in 7 days ~

You can also access downloads by logging in to your account at

http://www.appliquecafe.com/pages/account.htm
Username: rosemarygulledge@appliquecafe.com

First time logging in? Enter your Username/Email on the bottom of the Account page, hit SUBMIT, and a temporary password will be emailed to you. When you log in with the temporary password, you will be given the chance to create your own password.

Returning customers, enter your Username/Email and Password on the top of the Account page.

__________________________________________________________________________

So what did we learn??

  • Downloads on 11/8/11 OR AFTER are the only downloads stored on our website!
  • Your USERNAME = YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, so be sure to spell it correctly!
  • One more thing… no need in trying to “create an account” until after you’ve made a purchase. Your email address is all you need to go from there!

Questions ~ rosemarygulledge@appliquecafe.com

We are super excited about this new feature and we hope it cuts down on all of the “my mom’s cousin’s dog is sick and my power went out last night and I have 12 kids and…. will you resend my order?” emails!! Sorry it took us 2+ years to get it, but now is better than never! Email me with any questions!

Filed Under: Applique Cafe, How To | Tagged:
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