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:

The Kitchen

Posted by on August 29, 2011

Last post I showed a photo of my Coop veggies/fruits from last Monday. One day last week I actually cooked (and my sister/brother in law were quite shocked at that sight when they dropped by?). AND, last night some neighbors invited us over for dinner and I was able to whip up a quite tasty salad from my Coop veggies (all organic – romaine, roma tomatoes, cucumber and I even made ranch dressing). When you see the pictures of our kitchen below, you might be impressed that I was able to whip up anything. It was tricky cutting my tomatoes and cucumber with a butter knife but it worked. Anyway… last week I made Parmesan Zucchini Sticks which were served with Marinara. I got the recipe off Pinterest. I would post the recipe, but all in all they were OK, so I’m not going to post it. The point here is that I was COOKING!

I also blanched some green beans and cooked them in a skillet with a little Olive Oil and soy sauce (salt & pepper too). Now they were YUMMY!

 

Here is a pic of the zucchini sticks before they were cooked. I’m thinking I just might not be a huge zucchini person.

Oh, and I baked the organic potatoes. Here is a photo of my plate. The buns were Pork Tenderloin sliders I had purchased from a friend who has just started doing a little pick-up-meal business. Impressed? Don’t be. It was yummy though! My kids were THRILLED (NOT!!) with this meal!

Last week I did this Megaphone design on this orange gingham A-line dress. Instead of using flannel for this raggy design, I used an extra layer of fabric instead. In this case, gingham! I love how it turned out!

So my layers are:

bottom: navy gingham

next (going up): navy (actually the other side of the Fabric Finders navy w/ orange dots.

next: orange gingham

next: orange FF with navy dots

next: navy gingham

top: plain navy

Typically I say use flannel underneath each fabric layer for raggy designs, but I think I like the gingham! You can see 2 other posts on Raggy Designs under Helpful Posts up top!

So now the big story… tomorrow is DEMOLITION day! They are removing all of our kitchen, eating area and laundry room cabinets and the tile from our kitchen, eating area, pantry and laundry room. They will then lay tile again and then put new cabinets and countertops in. This process should take a couple of weeks. I’m super excited, but also super nervous about the amount of dust I’m going to be cleaning and inhaling. Did I mention they are tearing out part of a wall? There are also some funky arches in our foyer we hope to remove. Anywho… we’ve cleared out the kitchen completely and our kitchen is now located in our foyer and dining room. Our den furniture is in our bedroom (which I forgot to take a picture of)!

This should be a very interesting couple of weeks with 3 kids, who will all be going to and from school, and soccer, and…

Here are my BEFORES. I plan to take pics and document this process since we are not a go-in-and-renovate kind of family. I’ll also post a picture of the tile I have and cabinet samples.

The desk area will become a buffet type cabinet and the cabinets on the left will be gone completely and replaced with some piece of furniture (console table or something).

Bye Bye 1980s kitchen!! Actually the appliances are new. The cabinets are original I think!

Side note: I found these 2 lovelies at Highlands Antique Mall in Dothan, AL Saturday. Both of these were $40 $50 (after I paid for the little vase that Browder accidentally broke). Not sure where they are going? If we could redo our mantle using these I’d be thrilled!

Here is our lovely laundry room. If you read about when we bought this house, you’ll know that below the sheets piled on the cabinet is a lovely hair-washing sink. This wall will have cabinets all the way across with a utility cabinet on the right side, and a laundry tub in place of the hair-washing sink! The wire shelf will be gone too.

We’re 86’ing the built in ironing board and the top cabinets on this wall. The base cabinet will be bigger (for folding laundry).

Cubbies for the 3 kiddies will go here. This house has a great laundry room!

Here is another view of the kitchen, and all of the ceiling cabinets will be gone, and the sink cabinets will become an island!

 

I will post pics along the way with good Before/After pics when we’re done!

Tomorrow Jeff & I are going to Atlanta FOR THE DAY to go to Ikea! Our Mission, Expedit cubbies for my sewing room and also Mallory’s closet! I am SO excited!! I will post pics of all that too!

Filed Under: Family, How To, Misc | Tagged:
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