I'm Back!

Where does a year go? Actually it's been about fourteen months since I last posted. I've been around. I've been busy but honestly not as busy as I've been in the past. What's happened to me? Well, I may have posted quite a while ago about some of my health issues. They are not serious and my issues are minor compared to what others have to endure in life. About five years ago, I started having sleep issues. This was caused by low ferritin levels. At my worst, I was down to two hours of sleep each night. I gained about 75 pounds the year I was at my worst. I was at sheer exhaustion pretty much every single day. I would come home and just sit. Even on the weekends. Eventually I would be diagnosed with sleep apnea. Fast forward now five years, I'm doing better but I told my doctor that I'm not the old me. I'm far from it. I've lost my motivation and my ambition. I've lost my desire to be busy after I get home from work. I've lost the desire to create. I've lost the desire to keep my house tidy.

I am going to try hard this year to shake off the bad of the last five years. No matter what, I need to move forward. I need to find from within the desire to create. I can't get the time back. I can no longer waste it. I have to push away the "I'm tired" mentality and just deal with it. I have rooms full of fabric, a computer full of embroidery designs and PDF patterns. I have machines. I have threads and notions. I gained a seven year old granddaughter last year and we are expecting a new granddaughter in June. I'm the luckiest person on earth. I need to celebrate. I need to not waste time. I need to overcome.

Sock Monkey Fun

Maybe this title should be reworded to "What not to make for a craft fair". Let me tell you what I would do differently. For starters, no pockets on the pants. Yes cute detail but adds too much time. The applique is cute but also too much detail. There are way to many pieces on that applique. Finally, using corduroy for the pant ruffle. The fabric choice takes a little bit longer to sew. I priced this outfit at $35 which was very reasonable for the amount of time that was put into it. It did sell. I need to find time to stitch up the rest of the sock monkey corduroy then rework the outfit to make it more profitable.

 I sold this little sock monkey outfit at my first craft show. Last summer, I saw the cute sock monkey corduroy for sale at Hancock Fabrics. So I picked up a couple of yards. I really need to make another outfit and put it in my non-existent Etsy shop.

The sock monkey applique is from Designs by JuJu. 

The pant pattern is Britches and Bloomers. It's a great easy pattern. I just wish the sizing went higher than a size four. It can be used for both boys and girls.

Owl Baby Gifts

 I thought I had posted these baby gifts but I can't find it so I guess I need to finally post the pictures. This gift was for my coworker Sam and her partner Sarah. I found out they were doing an owl theme for the baby's room. So the challenge was to find some not so cutesy owls for a baby boy.

 The pacifier holder is from Digistitches. I've had this file forever and finally was able to stitch it out.

 The Big Sis and Lil Bro designs are from MCA Applique. The owl add-ons are from Just Peachy Applique.

 This sweet little owl is from Savvy Stitches.

The owl design used is from Five Star Fonts. I love that is has a completely different look from most of the owls on the market. I think it's a great design for a boy.

A T-Shirt Quilt for Taylor

 I started this quilt before Christmas last year. I had enough shirts for two of the girls. I completed Whitney's quilt and then proceeded to work on Taylor's. I was finished with the quilting and started to serge the squares together when my serger started to give me all sorts of issues. I was breaking needles left and right. So Taylor's quilt was put off to the side for a few months. When I finally got my serger back from repair, I devoted a day to get it finished.

 As with Whitney's quilt, I tried to quilt a couple of little surprises. Here you can see I quilted her nickname.

Lemon Bleaching

I'm back! Wow, last year was a ride. My mother's dementia caused her swallowing reflexes to quit working. My sister took her to the ER and she died two weeks later. My mother-in-law was diagnosed in November with lung cancer and passed two days after Thanksgiving. Two weeks later, my oldest daughter gets engaged. That's the major events in a nutshell then combine that with everyday life. I need to get back on track stitching and writing.

This was an experiment that I did over the summer. I wanted a faded, worn-out, shirt for my Kayla. I did some research and first soaked the shirt in a salt bath for three days to soften the t-shirt. The t-shirt was a high quality shirt that I purchased at the Jansport outlet store here in town. After soaking in the salt mixture, I then soaked the shirt in a lemon-water bath. I laid it out in the driveway for a couple of hours. You can see in the picture that the shirt did fade, just not as much as I had wished. Another interesting detail is that I used old t-shirts for the soccer ball applique. The shirts were soccer shirts of two of my girls, Kayla's cousins.

The design is from a friend of mine. It's East Coast Applique and Cassie has some great things over on her Facebook shop. When I saw her split sports ball designs, I knew I had to get the soccer design for my niece. I believe the applique font is from Hang to Dry.

 

Kayla's name was balanced however with the last letter, the 'A', it looks off center. What I should have done was too move her name over a smidge to the rights. It would have been off-center but visually, it would have looked better. 

Kayla Couture Soccer Wear

I thought I'd take Kayla's brand and use it for some soccer clothing for her. I was so excited about the soccer shirts. I'm really happy with how the pink soccer ball turned out. The soccer ball design is from Applique Cafe. The font that I use for her brand is Just Another Serif from 8 Claws and a Paw.

This soccer stick girl is from Designs by Juju. I love the stick figures. I don't use them as much as I used to. I need to change that. They are such cute designs. 

Crayola Kayla

 I've had this design on my to-do list for a year now. I worked it up in my software but when I finished putting it together in the computer, I came to a halt. This design has maybe 45 thread changes. That is a lot. For me, that's about a two hour commitment at the machine. But there was a challenge over at Applique Forum to use a design that is at least six months old that you purchased but haven't stitched out. Well now was the time to cross it off my list.

 I hope that Kayla likes wearing it since I was excited to finally have finished it. The Crayola Alpha is by Planet Applique.