Cute Stuff!

Okay, I promised you cuteness and I'm about to deliver it! I've been cranking out kiddie oven mitts and hot pads! I have a couple more designs to go, but here is a sampling of the designs I've made so far:

Three sets of butterflies.

One set of ladybugs so far.

Four sets of piggies...2 on purple and 2 on lime.

(The colors are off. The piggie hot pad is a dark purple and the ladybugs are on a bright lime green.)

I'm going to make placemats and napkins to coordinate with them. Cassie and I are doing a craft show later this month...she's bringing play food and I'm bringing these things to go along with it.

I think just about ANY little girl would be delighted to find these in her Christmas stocking, don't you?

I'm glad you could stop by to visit! Come back soon, okay?

Quickie Pic

Here's a bib and burpie combo I made today for a little one named Matthew.
Hope his parents like them! This is not a great pic...

I'm working on something SUPER cute! You definitely need to stop by tomorrow to see my latest creations! Here's a hint...they go with play (pretend) food.

Thanks for coming by and see you soon!

A Day Late

And a dollar short...the story of my life! We held evening conferences last night and I was really exhausted after I got home. I talked to 13 sets of parents...went over the same material (testing, reading levels, year-end K expectations) 13 times. At least all the conferences were positive and I don't seem to have any hostile parents. Yay!

So anyway, here are a couple more pics of my weekend output. I made 3 sets of bibs and burpies for a co-worker:

Isn't that turtle just the cutest thing?! Here's a closeup so you can see the edge detail under his shell:

Alright, off to school. And in a classic case of bad planning on our part, we have a field trip to a farm/pumpkin patch today. Bad timing...the teachers are all exhausted and there is the threat of a torrential downpour.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon, okay? And keep your fingers crossed for no rain!

Tooting My Own Horn

'Cause after all, if I don't, who will? Well, my family will...but then, they don't have blogs, so you won't know.

First, the CUTE QUOTIENT for the day. Brace yourself, they are really, REALLY cute. Okay, here you go!

Seriously cute, right? These little clippies are tiny - they use a 2" snap clip, so you know the little gingerbread and especially the reindeer are tiny. And Rudolph has a TINY POM-POM NOSE!! I can hardly stand the cuteness of it all!! (I'll be listing them in my Etsy store in the next day or so.)

Now, for the horn-tooting! My Achievers "R" Leaders installation ceremony was last Thursday. In this, the fourth year of the program I created, I have 140+ students that applied for jobs. I read EVERY application and EVERY essay and placed EVERY kid in a job. Oh, and I made them all an ID badge, too - that's what we're handing out at the ceremony. A film crew came out and shot this little blurb, which will run on a local TV station all week!

So CLICK HERE, because I'm semi-famous! I'm the short one in black (with longish hair - not the one with spiky hair, that's our superintendent). On the stage, I'm holding the mike and standing on the far side of my friend "Martha", the tall one in pink.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back again tomorrow, because I have more embroidered items to show you!

Tote-ally Awesome

Okay, corny, but I had to. The first two are for the nieces of a co-worker. Dora is four years old, girly, "princess-y" and loves to dance. The colors are off in this picture...the pinks all actually look GOOD together, LOL:

Fofi (a nickname) is eleven-going-on-twenty, tomboy-ish, likes to ice skate and loves "cerulean, you know, that REALLY BRIGHT blue" (a quote by her aunt). I thought this revved-up bag might appeal to her preteen sensibilities. I think I nailed the blue color. It's actually much brighter in person!

I bought the blue fabric first, and I just couldn't believe it when I found that awesome ribbon in the EXACT shade of blue!

These next two pictures should look familiar - the bag is almost an exact replica of Addison's BOO bag. Would you believe it took a total of 23 emails between me and the lady who bought it (in my Etsy store) before we were sure MY mental vision for her daughter's tote matched HERS? Hope she likes it!

I'm glad you could stop by to visit! Come back tomorrow - I'll have more to show you!

Aaaaacck!!!

That's me, hacking away. I have a TERRIBLE head cold. Despite that, I have lots of finishes this weekend to show you. The only problem is that I'm too tired and hack-y to mess with pictures. Stop by tomorrow and I promise I'll have SOMETHING to show. After all, I finished THREE totes and THREE sets of bibs-and-burpies.

Just didn't want you to think I'd fallen off the face of the earth. Tune in tomorrow, okay?

Another Proud Nannie Interlude

No sewn items to show, but can you stand just two more baby pics?
Well, one baby pic and one baby-to-be.

Zoey

Looking at that innocent face makes me want to cry,
thinking of all the babies in this world who are just as innocent as Zoey,
but who are neglected or go UNloved.

Avery (well, Rachel, Avery's mom...you know)

I just think it's so fabulous that we're gonna have VERY LOVED grandchildren from A(very) to Z(oey)!!

And while I'm at it, happy birthday to Avery's daddy...our son, Travis, who is THIRTY today. Wow. Thirty.

Thanks for stopping by!

YeeeeOWWWWW

Well, once again, I'm disappointing you as far as having pictures of finished things to show. However, I have a REALLY GOOD reason for my lack of productivity this time. Ready?? If you're faint of heart, look away!

I SEWED THROUGH MY FINGER LAST NIGHT.
WITH MY SEWING MACHINE.

I'll pause while that sinks in.

I really don't know how it happened. I know it has NEVER happened before in all my years of sewing. One moment of distraction and WHAM, the needle had punctured my fingernail, shot through the tip of my finger and emerged from the pad of my fingertip.

YES, it hurt. But even more...it was pretty horrifying. I had the 'needle down' function activated, so when the needle stopped, it stopped...DOWN.

My husband was home and I guess I could have called him to help me, but the sight of the needle all the way through my finger just propelled me into immediate action.

It was the middle finger of my right hand that was skewered, so I had to stretch my left arm all the way across my body to the right side of the machine to crank the handwheel and raise the needle. (I was scared to hit the 'needle up' button...I wasn't sure if I could hold my finger still enough while the machine jerked the needle out!)

So...it was shocking and horrifying to watch the needle creep back upwards through my finger. As I was turning the handwheel, the needle moved up to the max and then started to descend again, so I wound up having to let go of the handwheel and slide my finger down the rest of the way off the needle.

I actually did sew some more last night and sewed today, too, but my finger hurts and I was just sort of jittery around the machine and didn't get anything actually completed.

Hey, come to think of it, if my camera had been "handy" (okay, bad pun), I could have snapped a pic before I unskewered myself and I'd have had THAT pic to show you tonight. I'm thinking you're not disappointed about that!

Cute Little Frou-Frou Tote

For Addison. Mom wanted a ribbon closure...

That closeup is one bad pic. Even Picnik couldn't help. But you get the idea, anyway.

Come back tomorrow...I should have LOTS to show you! Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Look. How. Cute!

And now we interrupt our regularly-scheduled prattle for a
Proud Nannie Moment:

Zoey's expression on this last one just cracks me up. The child is hilarious!

On the sewing/embroidering front, we have a half-day at school today, so I'm hoping to get a good start on my weekend. I have several orders to complete. The secretary at our school has been waiting OH so patiently for a tote and some hairbows for her own little granddaughter...

Glad you stopped by and hope you enjoyed our Baby Interlude!

How I Almost Went to Jail

LOL, NOW you're interested, aren't you!? Well, I guess that if I had not ceased and desisted, maybe I really could have gone to the slammer. What I'm talking about is this - do you notice the difference between these first two pics (which you've seen before):

And the second two pics? Other than the fabrics and monogram, of course.

You don't see it, do you? WELL, YOU'D BETTER SEE IT, BECAUSE THE DIFFERENCE IS WHAT ALMOST SENT ME TO JAIL.

See, I made Zoey's lovie (the first two pics) with LOOPS of ribbon. And when I advertised that style of lovie on Etsy, I called it a Ta_ _ ie Lovie (replace both blanks with G.) Turns out that what I called it is COPYRIGHTED. Etsy sent me an email and told me they had removed my listing for COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT and that I should not re-list it! Or else.

Hmmm, they can't keep me down...not for long, anyway. Avery's lovie has TABS (with a B, not a G) of ribbon. Heat-treated (to keep from fraying) flat chunks of ribbon. No LOOPS. Nothing tag-y about it. So of course, it's not a Ta_ _ie Lovie. I'm calling it a TABBIE LOVIE. TaBBie, I say. And that's NOT copyrighted.

I'm pretty sure it's not.

I can just see the headlines now...

KINDERGARTEN TEACHER LED FROM SCHOOL IN SHACKLES - REPORTS INDICATE SALE OF CONTRABAND ITEMS!!

They won't mention that the contraband is blankets with LOOPS of ribbon!

Thanks for stopping by. If you don't hear from me for a while, check the booking photos at our local precinct!

A Happy Accident

So I promised to tell you the story about the banner from yesterday's post. Did you ever have a project that just WOULD NOT end? Would not EVER end? The banner was like that.

I knew that I wanted to change the design of the banner by adding a pocket to the back of each letter. I wanted the pockets to be embroidered on (done "in the hoop"), rather than sewn on with a sewing machine. I wanted the pockets to be lined and to be made out of fabric, which is less stretchy than the wool felt that I used to make the banner pieces themselves. It took some trial and error to achieve the look I wanted without having the banner pieces become puffy or too stiff from so many extra layers. (We are using the trial-and-error-products as hot pads. Waste not, want not!)

Once I finally came up with a design I liked, I started embroidering. All was fine until I started on the letter O. The center (cutout) part of the O shifted and did not stitch out correctly. (And thus, another hot pad was born.)

I thought it was operator error, so I tried again; when it stitched out YET AGAIN incorrectly (ANOTHER hot pad) in the exact same way, I knew it must be a problem with the design itself. Of course I intended to contact the vendor...the ladies where I bought the design are very nice to work with, so I was sure it would be resolved without a problem.

However, I was in a frenzy (who, ME?) and I wanted the banner done and out of my hair. I pondered the issue, thinking I could just sew the O without the center cutout...but then it looked kind of like an inexplicable oval instead of an O. It finally dawned on me that I could prevent the embroidery machine from stitching out the center of the O and instead, put a design there. But what design?? Then I remembered a Santa face design I had, and the rest is history!

So look again, now knowing what you know about how the Santa-O came to be. Isn't Santa what just MAKES the banner?

See?! Lemons out of lemonade! A happy accident! AND NO MORE HOT PADS!

Thanks for visiting!

Ta-Daaaa!

LEMONADE!

Tune in tomorrow to find out why this Better-Than-a-Stocking Banner should really be called Lemonade! Here's a hint...it involves this guy:

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Heeere We Go

What a whirlwind week it's been! I knew Avery's mommy and daddy would be stopping here overnight on Thursday and I've been embroidering like a fiend all week (till the wee hours each night) to get some things finished for them. You know that we're Steelers fans, right? After all, the child's middle name is going to be Hines!

Here's a bib that took a deceptively large amount of work:

And here's another bib...sporting a lyric from the Steelers' jingle:

I guess this last one might need a little bit of explanation. Avery's daddy was in a Steelers frenzy and jokingly (I HOPE) told Avery's mommy that he wanted to name their baby Hines McHineserson (phonetically: Mc Hines-er-son). Thank goodness Avery's mommy has more sense and vetoed that idea.

And here it is immortalized on a bib!

That's all for today, but I'm working on something really awesome (and Christmas-y!) and hope to show you it tomorrow! Thanks for visiting!

OOPS!

No, it's not a mistake, it's the name of my latest creation...part of my "OOPS!" collection! I'll show you what I'm talking about in a second. First, the pic of the girly bib I told you about yesterday:

And now some Steelers flannel shaped burpies I made. In the interest of fairness, I made one for Zoey, too. Who says little girls can't be die hard Steelers fans!? I made Avery's with diamond topstitching to kind of match the "sparkles" in the Steelers logo and I made Zoey's with heart topstitching, just to soften it up a little. You might be able to see it if you click on the pic.

And now, for my OOPS! I'd wanted to use these cute stick figures playing sports and I got a sudden inspiration to do a visual pun. I think they're my favorite bibs so far! Let's not talk about how long they take to stitch out...they have like a million thread color changes. Here they are!

In the first one, you can see that the batter has hit a home run with both the ball and with Avery's name. Ideally, I could have flipped the batter so that he is batting lefty (like Avery's daddy), but I wanted to have the batter "hit" the last letters of Avery's name...not the first letters. Here's a closeup:

And in this one, Avery's name has been "stiff-armed" by the football player.

You may notice that the stick figure is wearing Steelers colors. I had no control over the jersey number...apparently, he is Dennis Dixon.

Not sure how much stiff-arming quarterbacks do, but there you have it.

That's it for today. I hope to have more to show you tomorrow night! For one thing, I do need to make burp cloths to match the OOPS bibs...

Thanks for stopping by!

100!

I just noticed that this is my 100th post! How time flies, huh?

I have LOTS to show you, since I finished up a bunch of things tonight. Unfortunately, I have not taken any pics yet and I REALLY need to get to bed, since I have to be up in a little over 5 hours.

I'll post the pics tomorrow. I have a cute girly bib and more. MUCH MORE, trust me!

Come back tomorrow, okay?

What I've Been Up To

Unfortunately, much of what I worked on today can't be shown, since the items are surprises for various people. One thing I can show is another bib/burpie set I made for our grandson-to-be, Avery.

The ribbon says it all!

I also made these.

They're breast pads for a breastfeeding mom. Why are there FIVE, then?! They really do come in pairs...this is an 'in production' photo.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend! See you tomorrow!

What's In A Name?!

First, hippos doing ballet.

These were ordered for a mom-to-be who is keeping her baby girl's name a secret until she's born. Or for as long as the mom can stand it! That's the reason there is no name on the bib or burpie. No matter - the hippos are cute enough!

And now for the monkeys! On a bib and a shaped burpie I designed:

As you can see, the mom-to-be of this baby boy is NOT keeping his name a secret. And good thing, too, because I was about to bust a gut with waiting!! YES, it's our grandson-to-be...Avery!!!!

And his middle name is...

HINES!!!!

Was that big thud I just heard the sound of our great friends in Cleveland (who happen to be Cleveland Browns fans) keeling over at the thought of a Steeler middle name? It's just a name, right??

I am PROMISING to be back tomorrow with more cute stuff - I'm halfway through another set of bib-and-burpies and have another project I also hope to be able to show you tomorrow. Thanks for visiting!