It’s Official…

Posted by on May 28, 2012

Summer is here! Browder celebrated his 9th birthday on Friday while celebrating the last day of 2nd grade! It’s now officially summer around here. No more schedules, no more uniforms, and Browder and I happily threw his backpack away on Friday (which he has been using since Kindergarten). Closets are organized (and I even cleaned out the fridge last week). I’m suffering from a little sinus infection, “cold” in my left eye (gross), and today I can barely walk because I thought it was a good idea to try kneeboarding yesterday at the lake. But, it’s summer and we’re happy!

Our neighbors at the lake installed an old school pool slide for the summer, so B & G went down it at least 87 times over the past couple of days. I have to admit it did look fun! Mallory didn’t get to slide, as she is still “with sling” with her broken collar bone. Her 3 week checkup is Thursday, so we hope to be “free of the sling”. 

 

This was the scene 30 minutes ago. There’s nothing like running through the sprinklers on a hot summer day, with your clothes on. We did take off “the sling” for this fun.

 

 

G is the only one who put a swimsuit on. The boys are sporting new mirrored goggles we got today at Target.

 

 There is not much else to report. Last week was a happy and sad week, as we celebrated Browder turning 9 and the end of the school year. However, a week ago today Jeff lost a good friend after a 6 year battle with ALS. As his wife so eloquently posted, “he is finally free of a body that would no longer work for him”. We attended the memorial service for JT on Friday in between Browder’s Charlotte’s Web reading at school and celebrating his birthday Friday night. It was an emotional day! Jeff spent most of his Thursday lunch hours with JT over the past several years and will miss him dearly!

This coming weekend we will celebrate an addition to the Gulledge fam, as Jeff’s brother ties the knot with his bride to be! At our age weddings are few and far between (we are past that “era”), so we’re excited!

Given last week’s events, we took the week off from Applique Cafe, but hope to whip up some new designs this week. We are having a quick Memorial Day sale in case you missed our last sale…

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What’s new?

Posted by on May 16, 2012

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.

Filed Under: Applique Cafe, Family, How To, Misc, Products | Tagged:

Happy Easter!

Posted by on April 6, 2012

Long time no write (again)!! The past few weeks have been a blur! Last week was Spring Break. I started out the first weekend w/ a yard sale at a friend’s house (because sadly they don’t allow them in my ‘hood). I always love a good yard sale, and I sold all but 1 box of stuff junk. Feels good to get rid of random things you find around the house! It’a always amazing to see a) who comes to yard sales and b) what they actually pay money for. Always entertaining.

Wednesday we headed to the lake for a couple of days with 2 other families. This was our Spring Break on the cheap. The water was freezing but the kids had a blast! Thursday we all (13 of us) went to a place called Niffers at the Lake to eat lunch. The manager guy challenged us all to hula hooping for free *stuff*. It doesn’t take much for us to jump on the chance to get something for free. As I tell my kids, “if it’s free, it’s me”. Anyway, surprisingly enough I can still hula hoop. The guys got a free beer and the kids all got free jolly rancher popsicles!

 And look at my precious G! He had the hand going and his tongue hanging out. It was (and still is) so cute! When we got back to town he insisted on a trip to Walmart to buy our own hula hoops! The kids have had a blast with them and it has been cheap entertainment ($3/hoop). Maybe good exercise too?

 Following lunch we all took a tour of the Lake Martin Dam. Aside from the “dam tour” jokes, it was actually fun and very interesting! We got to walk across the dam and go down in the dam to see the “stuff” that makes power. Educational, fun and FREE!

The kids went back to school Monday for a short week and no school tomorrow, so we get a long weekend for Easter. Jeff & I are actually hosting Easter this year (even though I have no dining room, coffee table {sold in the yard sale} and the furniture we ordered from the den is not in yet). I’m trying to look past all that and not worry about it. I think we have 35 or more folks coming for lunch after church (and of course an egg hunt). I hope you all have a Happy Easter!

Changing subjects… There is a new blanks supplier in town ~ https://www.facebook.com/blanksboutique. Right now they are taking preorders, then fulfilling those orders (versus you being able to just go online and order). The owner sent me a couple to try out and I really like them! Very thick and soft!! Here is a new design from AC I sampled on the girl tee. This company is actually out of Birmingham and hopefully they will get to a point where it’s easier and faster to order. They are now working on their 2nd preorder so check out their FB page! You can also request a price list and from what I remember they are very inexpensive!

It has a cute little puff sleeve! I believe you can see in this photo too how THICK they are!

And a cute ruffle around the bottom of the shirt. The shirt is intentionally made long, and after washing it shrinks to the perfect length. Check out the Blanks Boutique Facebook page for more info on expected shrinkage.

 I also did a boys tee! Again, very thick and soft! It’s kind of hard to compare them w/ a photo, but you can maybe see that the BB tee on the left is thicker. The Kiddy Kats shirt on the right is a smidge see-through. These are both 5T/5/6’s w/ 5×7 designs.

Back to Easter… Yesterday I hosted Sissy’s class Easter egg hunt at my house. The kids were SO cute! We have a great yard for it, hence us getting to host Easter I guess. That is Sissy on the right running to get some eggs!

 

 I actually made her a shirt this year! Every time I go to Walmart I pick up their girl Garanimals blank tees (when I see her size). I have bought about 10 white ones, plus purple, yellow and today I found a hot pink!

Here are a couple more things I’ve done for her (which is a miracle b/c I never sew for my own kids). I got these shorts at an overstock sale last year for like $8. Not sure if they were meant for a boy (no ruffle), but I thought they were cute! This is the AC Fat Fish minus the little fin. Again, this is a Garanimals tee ($3.88 I think!) Thank you Garanimals for not putting a pocket on them this season! p.s. Another reason I bought the shorts is because I knew I had matching fabric, which is always a plus.

This is an outfit (2 pairs of bloomers were included w/ this A-line top) from the same overstock sale. I got it last year but it seems to run big so she never wore it. I added the AC Loopy Flower, which is one of my all time favorite designs! Love the Michael Miller Ocean Ta Dot fabric too!

 I think that is about all I have? Soccer has started (practice) and all 3 kids are playing. Jeff is coaching Mallory & G’s team (along w/ our niece) and Browder also plays (with Jeff as asst. coach). Needless to say our April calendar is jam packed.

Does anyone have a vinyl cutter? I actually do but have not learned how to use it yet. My niece has a Cricut and has recently started doing things, which made me get mine out and want to learn. It comes with software and a how-to CD so I hope to find some time to learn how to use it! It’s a Silhouette SD. Not sure if this is it (below) – mine is still in the box! I’ll let you know how it goes! I have had it for probably a year and 1/2 and am just now getting it out.

Have a wonderful weekend! HAPPY EASTER!

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