Gold Rush Kids

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I could be completely in error by using the Gold Rush name for Jordan. I don't really know anything about the San Francisco 49ers. You would not believe how many images of t-shirts and cheerleaders I looked at while trying to make these shirts. Are the cheerleaders the only ones to use the term "Gold Rush".

My daughter's friend was a cheerleader for the 49ers. Now she has two little ones. Lauren met Melanie when she first moved to NYC. Melanie was also a transplant and they became fast friends. I had been wanting to make Mikayla a little cheerleader shirt. I couldn't send Mikayla something and nothing for Jordan.

I drove this to the corner drugstore this afternoon when I was finished for shipping. I really, really wanted to keep this. I think it's one of the cutest things I've made in a while. You can't really tell by the picture but there are three different metallic threads in this design. The pom poms, the shoe ties and the bow. I was going to try using minkee fabric but decided to use a flannel along with the metallic thread. The applique is from Applique for Kids. The font is Kooks from 8 Claws and a Paw.

Mikayla was fortunate enough to be able to cheer last year at a game. I hope she likes the cheerleader.

I used this design before. For Jordan, I went down to a smaller design since Jordan is only three. I used a gold 49er color for the flames. Went I went on the hunt for ideas, I saw a tshirt that had the "9" and the "E" merged together. I decided I HAD to have that on his t-shirt. The applique is from AK Designs. The font is Whoa Nelly from 8CAAP.

Troubles in the Atelier

Sometimes things just don't go your way. Why does that happen? Last week, I had more than my share of mishaps. Mishaps in the sewing room usually cost money and certainly time. Very few of us have an overabundance of both.

Things began as a normal week. On day, I had a doctor's appt. I had some time between the appointment and work so I thought I would multi-task and get a little sewing done while I was getting ready for work. I usually don't leave my machine while it's running. But when you try to squeeze in a project you do what you can. Things were going well. I was working on a shirt for my nephew. I kept running into the sewing room to make sure there were no problems. I started getting more and more confident that I didn't need to babysit my machine. On my final check of the machine, I saw there was indeed a problem. The machine should have finished the design. I thought maybe the bobbin had run out or the embroidery thread broke. No a much bigger problem. My machine had eaten the t-shirt. With the vibration of the machine, the shirt fell in the way of the needle and all hell broke loose. The t-shirt was eventually pulled thru the embroidery foot and the needle broke. I shut the machine off since I was now not going to get this finished in time to go to work. When I had time to look at it, I knew there was no way to salvage the t-shirt. Between the hole that the broken needle made and having to take scissors to get the t-shirt out of the machine, the shirt wasn't wearable.
My camera doesn't take close up pictures so this is pretty blurry. Trust me, there are a couple of puncture holes in the shirt.

A couple of days later, the next great mishap occurred. For those of you who do machine embroidery, it's not a super quick process. Well, at least not for me. I have to find the perfect design, then find the perfect font. Some times it takes a lot of playing with the design and the font to make it work in your hoop. This little burp cloth took a lot of work getting this design to look like this. Pretty special, huh? Well it would be had I spelled the baby's name correctly. So once again, I had to go back to the drawing board and start all over. It was a challenge to get the misspelled name onto the cloth let alone the correct spelling. Live and learn.

Vrooooom!

My little nephew Connor is a car fiend. He's been this way since maybe crawling stage. I envision that this little guy will become an auto engineer. He has the brain of an engineer and the career runs in the family. The problem that I have with making things for Connor is that everything seems so babyish for him. Like I said, his brain is in engineering school right now even though he's only six. I hope he likes the shirt. The flame fabric for the helmet is the same that I used on his pillowcase. I need to make it a point when I go fabric shopping next to really make an effort to buy decent hair fabric. Connor has red hair. I can't just slap on red fabric and call it a day. I went with a light brown and that didn't quite do the trick. The applique is from Planet Applique.

This next shirt is a toile design from Embroidery Library. I just love all their toile designs. I purchased the shirt on clearance from Target. I was pretty sure I could find a design that would work with the stripe. I wish the design was a little bit larger but oh well. That's the largest it came in. The great thing about toile designs is that there is only one color so no constant thread changes.

I have been wanting to do a pillowcase for Connor for some time now. I figure it was hard to go wrong with that one. The fabric is from Alexander Henry, at least the giant car print was. I found that while shopping at Nancy's Notions one weekend. The black and white racing fabric came from Hobby Lobby. The font is Heavy Heap. I couldn't find a purchased font and I tried to do the auto digitize the font in my software but it didn't look very pretty. One of the gals over at Sew Forum was gracious enough to digitize it for me. Heavy Heap is the font used for Mattel's Hot Wheels products.

Is this a crazy mix of prints or what? I hope the little guy likes it.

Sweat Shop is Back in Business

The sweat shop has re-opened. It had been shut down for the weekend due to child regulators banning sewing equipment being in the same room as prom dinner guests. What I really need to do is to add my other two machines to the table. I usually have two machines at the table. I'm thinking that three would be better. Each machine having a special job. The baby items that I make call for different stitches and methods hence the different machines. The burps go back and forth between embroidery, serging, decorative stitches and regular sewing. My husband (the whole family for that matter) does not like how the sewing area keeps taking over the house. I've run out of room in my sewing/laundry room. I've run out of room in the guest bedroom. So now, I move into the dining room to sew because of the table space. My goal is to get several projects finished this summer. The task being more fabric out than fabric in. Can I do it?

Here's a look at what I've been working on. I've got a onsie that has "Diaper Diva" embroidered on it. I started making a little 6 inch tag toy. I embroidered the baby's initial and I now need to sew it into a little tag blanket. I still have several burp cloths to embroider and put together. At the machine, I'm embroidering a Weight Watchers Pocket Holder for one of our WW at Work leaders. She requested a pink and green holder. I still need to make a holder for Whitney and a couple more for work. The baby items will be shipped to NYC to my daughter. She has several friends who are expecting this year. Burps are a lot of work, but I love looking at them when they are finished and hope the parents enjoy them as much as I do. What you don't see is all the quilts in different stages of completion.