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.