Happy Summer!

Happy Summer! I hope you are all having a splendid laid back summer. When was the last time you used the word splendid? 1964? We survived VBS, have been enjoying some great pool time and are not about to strangle each other yet. I normally send at least 2 of my kids to summer school (2 days/week) but this year with bible school and beach trips and other goings-ons, I decided to keep them all at home. So far so good! I adore my kids, but we all know being with them 24/7 can be trying at times. Overall they are getting along great which helps my sanity! G just almost took Mallory’s eye out with a diving stick but other than that we are good.

Moving on…. here is an example of what fabric can do to an applique. This is an OOLLLLDDD sample of our Fat Fish design. It’s cute (and probably matched something), but…

not as cute as this!! I left the fin off and this Michael Miller fabric matches some shorts I got at an overstock sale for around 8 bucks. I need to replace my website photo BADLY! I really need to go through and redo LOTS of old designs.

My precious model. She just loves for me to take pics (not).

Here is a new Swirly Cupcake design we listed recently, and I did it on this Kas-Wear dress. The orange and hot pink fabric is Fabric Finders tri-check. I got it recently at Beth’s Heirloom Sewing. I love orange and hot pink or orange and any color. Anyway, you can find the Kas-Wear at Berlins Online! Mal’s head is cut off in this photo because I was trying to take her picture and she did not want me to (and was crying). She wore this as a swim coverup. We were probably headed to the pool and I stopped her for a photo shoot. Is there anything cuter than little 4 yr old knees??

Better! This dress makes a great swim coverup or it would even make a nice lightweight summer gown! Kas-Wear has some GREAT dresses, tees and other blanks in great colors! I’m monogramming a couple more for Mallory right now in lavender (w/ lime mono) and hot pink (also w/ lime mono).

I also appliqued this towel recently and the cute towel came from Costco! Who doesn’t love polka dots? The fabric I used is Michael Miller. I THINK it came from TJs Fabric.

Today is the last day for our 50% off sale ~ www.appliquecafe.com. I’ve seen a lot of fall designs come through the carts. As hot as it is, I know it’ll be football season before we know it! The font I used for SALE is Cheri from Jolsonsdesigns.com. I hope Jolsons has sold several of these alphabets because I have had a ton of people ask me what it was! We do not sell any fonts at this time, so most of the ones I use are like this one from Jolsons and I also have several from Embroidery Boutique!

 Have a great weekend! The sale will be “taken down” first thing in the morning!

Designs and Fabric

 Sorry I have been MIA for a bit. My oldest has started school, but my youngest 2 have.not.started.yet…. I love my kids, but we get up at about 6:40 to get ready to take B to school and I am with them until bedtime at like 8:30. It makes for a long day some days. I “need” that little preschool break and they love it too, so we’re counting down until they start later next week! Factor the summer heat (which I am SO OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in to the equation and being stuck inside so we don’t melt, or running errands with them in tow (in and out of the car 8 times. did I mention the 100+ degree heat?). You get the picture! 🙂 This was the scene yesterday as I tried to work on a couple of items (to help pay for all the bedding and “decor” for Mallory’s room I’m having made). My sewing room ain’t that big. 4 seconds after this photo were “I’m doing homework and they are being too loud!!!!”, “Mom she is ripping my book!!!!”, etc etc etc. Love them!!

I really haven’t been doing too much work, and said I wasn’t going to until they were all in school. I did some backpacks this weekend and a few things yesterday and today. Like I said, I got the total for Mallory’s room yesterday and I’m lacking a little in my “big girl room” fund! It’s going to be precious and I will post a pic when it’s all done! BUT, it’s a shame I can’t sew!!

Here is the AC Sleeping Owl done on this light blue gingham A-line dress.

And the AC Flower Purse done on this lime gingham A-line dress! I thought they turned out cute!

I also did a couple of bibs this morning, with the AC Airplane on one of them. The airplane is one of our very first designs! The C on the left one is from Embroidery-Boutique’s Chunky Alphabet. Font – both Library which is available for MWP users at Needleheads! It’s one of my favorite boy fonts (I also like Tipsy and Atilla – both MWP). Notice the cute fabric on the applique C – it’s Michael Miller and I just got it from TJ’s Fabrics! I love it for boys!

Speaking of fabric and TJ’s…. every now & then I get a surprise package from TJ and I got one last week! When the UPS man drops off from TJ’s, I get excited!! If you’ll remember I spent the day down at TJ’s in June and here is that post with more pictures from her store. Anyway…. LOVE THESE!! I tried to make a note of who they were from, and some of them don’t have the wording on the piece I have. Also, some are a designer “for Robert Kaufman” for example.

Oops I think this photo is upside down but I LOVE THESE!! I must sew something like an owl or something with these! I don’t think I have a lot of gray in my fabric collection, so these are great additions!

CUTE CUTE CUTE! The right hot pink dot is one of my FAVORITES!! I used it on a few of my AC Samples ~ it goes great with lime gingham!

These are pretty too ~ again with gray!

These are cool too! The pink & blue would make very pretty cross appliques!

Here are a few more, and a bigger piece of the Michael Miller plaid.

This is not even all the fabric they sent! If you buy fabric online, check out TJs! They are located in Opp, AL, and as I’ve said before if you travel to the Gulf (beach) via 331, you go right by it!

Here is my Coop produce for this week ~ I actually share a box with someone so I got 1/2 of this! I plan to make Parmesan Zucchini tonight and might do something with the potatoes as well (I’ve been craving a loaded baked potato). I’ll let you know how it goes ~ I got the zucchini recipe off of Pinterest!

On Monday the kitchen reno begins!! I’ll be sure to take pics and post along the way. Monday they begin with taking all the cabinets out (kitchen, eating area and laundry room), then they will take all of the tile out (700 sq feet of tile) of the kitchen, pantry, eating area and laundry room. Should be interesting!!?? Pray for me.

What is your Spring color?

Here are several new Applique Cafe designs we’ve done in the past few weeks….

First, School of Fish.

Second, Easter Train.

Third, Beach Truck.

Fourth, Add a Birthday Hat.

Lastly (and listed just this morning), Sailboat Patch. (BTW, I believe the fish fabric is called Snorkel? I bought it at InTown Quilters in Decatur, GA).

Do you see anything in common with all of them, besides the fact that they are all very much color coordinated? I am digging ORANGE for spring!! I’ve always been a green fanatic! I love everything green (I took after my Grandmother!). G has green walls (and B did too before he got ‘big’). Sissy’s room is pink & green. I like green clothes, M’s green crocs and the list goes on and on! But, I also love orange for spring and summer (and Auburn football) and especially for KIDS!

I’m not sure if you pay attention to the menu on top of my blog? One of the reasons I changed over to WordPress was so that I could have this menu. Home is home (duh!), about is about me (I need to add a photo), recommendations is my list of software recommendations (Sew What Pro, etc) and as you see below, LINKS is my list of online fabric resources and also clothing blanks (tees and fancier stuff). I get this question a lot and have found myself copying and pasting this link on Facebook a lot lately (mostly people looking for blanks), so I thought I’d point it out! This list is miniature I’m sure to what all is out there! If you have a favorite fabric website, please share it with me! Blanks too!

And case in point, my website and blog are both GREEN with a hint of ORANGE!!

Here is a precious cute outfit I had made for Sissy. I also have orange gingham ruffle pants  ~ both pants and shorts match another top I bought from someone for like $10 to cover the monogram on and use for M. Check out sewhappyblog.blogspot.com. I’m almost afraid to advertise her b/c she may get too busy for me! Carrie was also behind the cute Sailboat Patch design and I can’t wait to see how she does it (with 1 fabric for the boat I believe).

So here are some of my favorite fabrics to work with. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these Fabric Finders 1/8″ ginghams! They are so soft and thick and are great for appliques! I also have many many many other Michael Miller Ta Dots (red, pink, green, etc) but I love these colors for spring also! Again, the Ta Dots are super soft and thick and GREAT for applique!

Do you have a blog that you can’t go a day without reading? If so, share it with me! I love my little blog list, but some people don’t post as often as I need want so I find myself wanting more on my list to read and “gain inspiration” from! It doesn’t have to do with embroidery or monogramming or applique! As I keep seeing on Facebook, TIA (Thanks In Advance)!!