Christmas came EARLY!!

Last week I found a package on my front door step. I got a little excited when I saw that it was from TJ's Fabric in Opp, AL!! It was full of quarter yards of FABRIC!!!!!! Lots and lots of precious Christmas fabric! Several fall fabrics too, but mostly super cute Christmas fabric. Thanks to Teresa for sending it to me! I'm excited to dive in and use some of it for my Christmas appliques!! TJ's is also on Facebook. If you are coming or going to the beach via 331, get your GPS out and find TJ's! They are expanding soon too and will be offering more fabric!!!!

Isn't it beautiful??

Red and Green!

Merry Christmas!

Ho Ho Ho!!

Happy Holidays!!

Today I rode to West Point, GA to meet Steve to work on my machine. I spent 2 1/2 hours and am glad to report that my machine is back in business! Sewingmachine.com is also on Facebook! (Who is not on Facebook??) I got a few spools of the 5000M Isacord thread also.

I have 5 new Applique Cafe designs to test! The sale is going great! Have a great rest of the weekend!! 

Fall Designs

I listed 3 new designs today at Applique Cafe! Candy Apple, Pumpkin BOO and School House (ECS not included of course - insert your school name or initials). These are all great FALL designs! We've also sent a much requested stethoscope and a cute Christmas tree to be converted yesterday so they will be available soon!

I regret to report that I'm still having some machine issues and am going to West Point again Saturday to spend some time with Steve! I've tried everything in the book and he is stumped as well. We think it's a tension issue having to do with the thread patch, and hopefully we can get it resolved and he can show me what to do in the future if it happens again! With that being said, I'm pretty much out of commission (AGAIN) until next week! I have a couple of things to monogram and may try those, but am pretty much staying away from applique until we get it figured out! I do have a hand full of items to do for people and luckily most of them are for Fall. I've also had to say no to a few people who have e-mailed me saying I am not taking on any NEW customers right now. I've been super stressed the past few days with my machine, trying to do samples, trying to get back in to the groove from vacation, and trying to do a little work with 3 demanding children! My house has been a WRECK, G has swimmer's ear and overall it's just been a stressful few days! Thanks for understanding and HOPEFULLY everything will be back to normal next week!

Sew What Pro

First and foremost... I just appliqued my first CHRISTMAS tee today! This customer is thinking ahead, which is a great thing!! It's also nice to think about SNOWMEN when it's 100 degrees outside! BTW, this shirt  brand is Girlfriends by Anitag!? Very cute and looks like Monag! I'm not sure where she got it but will ask - she also sent a pink one. OK... looks like it is Anita G??

It's no secret I LOVE Sew What Pro (and that they SHOULD be paying me a commission)! I thought I'd take a shot of "what it looks like" on my computer screen for those of you who have never seen or heard of it! www.sandscomputing.com is where you get it ~ download the 30 day trial and if you decide to purchase, it's $65! I use it EVERY SINGLE TIME I do ANYTHING! Even when I do Applique Cafe samples, I pull the design up first in SWP. Maybe it's habit? I just like to see it nice and big on my computer screen! Anyway... You OPEN the first design, and as you can see I MERGE-d in a name (which I did with Monogram Wizard Plus first and saved it on my computer). You can also buy the embroidery fonts off the internet and merge the letters together with SWP. On the right you see the thread chart and # of steps in this particular design. I ignore the thread colors and use what I want, but it's nice to see 12 steps (or however many your design is). 

Here is a shot of what you see when you click on the thread chart on the right. It shows you what THAT step is! You can also edit designs this way - just click on the scarf and delete it, for example!

Hope that helps a little! In my years of doing this, SWP is the cheapest program I've heard of that will do what it does! There are fancy designer programs out there and I'm sure they are fabulous, but this is what I use and recommend (especially for the price)!

*Regarding the comment, yes you can adjust the size of the design and add the name or whatever - it is all done on your computer before you finalize and send to your machine! I don't like to adjust the size too much, but you can! It will not only increase or decrease proportionately, you can also click on the 4 corners and 4 middle dots and drag the box to increase and decrease (see the snowman's scarf) or make the object wider or skinnier. Hope that makes sense! I've heard from one or two other people that the MWP extended features weren't that great, but I don't know anything about it!

Decorator Nursery Fabric

A friend of mine has this decorator nursery fabric for sale! E-mail me if you are interested and I will pass along her contact info - rosemarygulledge@knology.net

P. Kaufmann bunny print ~ 3 5/8 yards

Lime Green Dot by Ametex ~ 2 1/2 yards

Stripe ~ 4 5/8 yards

Lime and bunny shown together

Stock up!

I got an e-mail this morning that all SEWING NOTIONS are 50% off at Joann (in store only) this week. Our Joann just opened in the past year and they are great about sending you 25 coupons every week, but this was the first I've seen of a 50% off notions sale! Needless to say I loaded up the kids and headed to Joann! There weren't signs up on the Sulky/Heat N Bond aisle, so I did a price check to be sure these were all 1/2 off. Even lint brushes were on sale! Of course I got home and realized I have 6 rolls of the Sulky Cutaway Plus (medium cutaway). I used to use it all the time, but since I started getting the commercial stuff from www.sewingmachine.com, I mostly just use Sulky for my samples when I am not using a t-shirt. It is a nice white background for my applique sample pics. I'm also not using the Spray Adhesive nearly as much as I used to now that I use Heat N Bond Lite, but I do use a spray to stick my cutaway to the underside on my shirt. I also got some embroidery needles since I'm supposed to change them every so many hours of sewing time! Steve @ SM.com says that Schmetz is the best! Anyway, I am stocked up FOR A WHILE!! I think I now have 4 rolls of HNBL too!

Last night I posed the question on Facebook what to do with the jumbo spools of embroidery thread...

I looked at Joann today and saw a plastic cone organizer that is made for these jumbo cones (I THINK!!). I didn't have a coupon - it wasn't on sale - so I may go back and get it. I couldn't find a picture of it online to post either (they had the mini cone organizer but not the big one). Thread is taking over my sewing room! I saw lots of great suggestions but since I'm in my dining room, I can't exactly install a big peg board on the wall! 

Applique Cafe anniversary sale day 1 has been GREAT! We have not had a good sale in a while so I think people are stocking up! I have 2 more samples to do today and we'll get those 3 listed ASAP. We have LOTS more new designs to add this week and next!

*I use the spray adhesive only to make my medium cutaway stabilizer stick to my shirt so that I can hoop it! I do not use it in addition to the HNBL on my fabric (I used too, but on thicker nicer fabrics if you iron it well and put HNBL on it, it will lay flat and stay in place for the tackdown stitch).

Happy Anniversary!!

First off, here is a pic of my front planter today ~ SHE'S ALIVE!! We've lost a few leaves, but I think if I can keep her watered every single day, she may survive!!??

I got a surprise in the mail yesterday upon our return from the beach. Actually I had received an e-mail about it last week, but my memory is short. I was excited when I opened the box to find lots of huge spools of EMBROIDERY THREAD!! What a fun package! The lovely gals who sent me the thread (which they got from a closing store) have blogs on my blog list ~ K. K.'s Kreations and Get Personalized! Check out their blogs! Thanks ladies!!

I also received this fun surprise last week ~ a $25.00 gift certificate to Ken's Sewing Center! A sweet Facebook friend of mine sent it to me as a gift thanking me for sharing what embroidery knowledge I have with her! THANK YOU J.A.!!!! I'm making my shopping list right now! 

Lastly, it's our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY at Applique Cafe! As I stated on Facebook ~ 1 year, 171 designs (and many many more to come), 1425 Facebook Fans... how blessed are we?? I remember Jeff & I saying "if we can sell a few designs and make a little extra money, it'll be great!" We had no idea how fun it would be! It's been a great year and I hope we have many more to come! We're already working on new designs to list this week! Thanks to everyone who has bought 1 design, or 20 designs ~ we appreciate each and every one of you! 

I will post pics of the new AC designs soon! I will also work on my schedule for the upcoming week - it's back to reality tomorrow...

Fabric and Flowers!!

We got home from the beach today (picture me frowning) ~ we spend a week in Seagrove, FL each Summer with my family. We usually go in June but this year we went in July (= HOT). This is our 5th year I think? Browder had just turned 2 when we started the tradition!! For 4 years we stayed in the same house but this year upgraded to beach front. Good move!! We had a fabulous time, but it's good to be home and back to a routine! We did the Pirate Cruise in PCB (it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo...... HOT) and went to Destin one day as well. Other than that it was a lot of beach, pool, R & R and yummy tomato/chix salad/pimento cheese/honey-baked-ham sandwiches for lunch. What makes food at the beach SO GOOD?? 

Here are a few pictures of some things I did before I left! These are the super cute onesies from www.jiffyshirts.com (Apples & Oranges). They are sometimes out of stock so you have to try out all shipping options, and check back in a day or two if they are out of stock!

A couple of bibs ~ both Applique Cafe designs! Football Goal and Golf Ball both have the "raggy" looking grass. I use a layer of flannel underneath my fabric, trim as much or as little as you want and scrape the excess with your scissors. A lint brush comes in handy too!

A few burp cloths ~ the first is Mono Wiz Plus DECO "R" and tipsy "Robert". I get a lot of e-mails about Tipsy - it is a great font and I highly recommend you get the Alpha Pak if you have MWP (I think it's #12?). AC golf green of course, and AC doggy patch. 

En route to Seagrove, we made a pit stop in OPP, ALABAMA (not far off 331 if you travel to the coast that way)!! There is a GREAT little pharmacy/fabric store called T & C Pharmacy/TJ's Fabric. I could have spent daaaaayyyyyysssss (or maybe hours) in this store, BUT, the fam was waiting patiently in the car and I only had 30 minutes to shop before they closed for the day. MICHAEL MILLER fabric ta boot!! It was all $8.99 a yard too (that I saw/bought)! Most of what I got below was Michael Miller, with a little Riley Blake mixed in! I will be back!! They were so nice too (and knew who I was after we started chatting ~ from my blog!!)

AND..... we stopped at McDonald's going to and fro to get me a Mocha Frappe (I'm off Starbucks btw), and I took pictures of these lovely flowers to and fro. To, on Jeff's cell phone (for Facebook, of course). Fro, I got out of the car to take this lovely! Yes people, these are fake graveyard flowers!! I'm hoping this isn't an actual graveyard!!??

While I knock the Mickey D's flowers, they may have something? My sweet neighbor watered my front planters while we were away (I think), but I'm not sure if the upper-90's weather got the best of my poor flowers...

I gave them each a gallon of water when we got home, but it's not looking good friends... poor things...

On the way home today I made a short list of new designs for Applique Cafe, and Jeff has asked that I nail down 8 or so for him to work on ASAP. I also have some work to do this week, and have had lots of e-mails from people wanting to get on the ole schedule! I have thoroughly enjoyed my 2 months off of work, but it's time to get back to reality! HOWEVER, Jeff has already said that HE is in charge of my work and schedule (in hopes that we can cut back on the going-back-to-work-and-being-slammed stress). He rather enjoyed my time with no worries and being able to hang out with the family. SO.... we will work on my schedule tonight given what I have already and go from there! I will update where I stand asap!

We are headed to Tips and Nancy's for din din and dessert ~ our usuals ~ they have probably missed us this week!!

Fabric Addiction

So I already have 3 x 3 DRAWER CARTS full of fabric (plus a shopping bag full that someone gave me I have yet to sort). If you'll notice, the right cart is mostly polka dots in the bottom 2 drawers and tri-checks and plaids in the top. Mostly ginghams in the middle cart - top is my newest stuff - 

Fabric Finders ginghams, etc.

Left is seasonal (top drawer), boy fabric and mostly girly flowery stuff!

IT IS OUT OF CONTROL!!!!

And yet today I went up to Beth's Heirloom in Wetumpka and bought MORE!!

These are Fabric Finders - WAR EAGLE!! The right is just a good pima cotton orange (I think it's called pima cotton? sounds good huh?).

Some Bammer stuff - again, Fabric Finders tri-check and houndstooth.

The left fat check/gingham was $5.00 a yard! Hot pink polka dot and I got some denim. I'm not sure where I've seen it, but I've seen some applique designs done with denim and I thought it was cute - Kelly's Kids maybe?? Anyway I thought for Fall it might be cute on some sort of applique with orange or something!

Lime houndstooth, lime stripe and a kelly green polka dot - I love me some green!

 I thought some of these might work for CHRISTMAS!

I got these also only to come home and find out I already had the ocean and lime! 

Oh well! I also bought yellow microcheck gingham and had plenty at home! I lose all brain function when I'm surrounded by cute fabric!

I will never ever use all of this fabric, but I LOVE buying it! I also had a July 15% off coupon and bought 1/4 yards of all of these, so it wasn't too bad! I saw lots and lots of other cute prints, but as I have told many people ~ I MOSTLY use polka dots, ginghams, checks, stripes, etc. 

I also went to the Walmart in Wetumpka and got 2 Garanimals BOYS tees - red and orange for Garrison. They didn't have much of a selection! Back to work - I have a few things to do today and tomorrow!

New AC Designs!

I just listed these 3 new Applique Cafe designs! As you can see I tried out my new Etsy purchase (fabric)! We had a few people request a peacock last year and I never found the right picture. 

Balloons - it has been on my list for the past year!

We did the ice skates for Baby and Me Designs and this picture is hers ~ very cute!! 

This is a great girly winter design! I love it with the bow!

**Someone from my previous post asked where I got my orange Ta Dot ~ Fabric Worm. The red and ocean came from Etsy because Fabric Worm did not have those colors in stock! Love them all!!

All of the kids have school or other activities in the morning so I may drive up to Beth's Heirloom in Wetumpka! I have a 15% off coupon for July ~ what better excuse than to go fabric shopping!? I will report any findings....

Sewingmachine.com

It's so fun to open the mail and find new fabric you ordered!! I was low on my Michael Miller red Ta Dot and found this combo deal on Etsy ~ 1/2 yard of each! I got it at Sew Deerly Loved on Etsy. Middle is Ocean Ta Dot and the left is Quarter Dot (Ocean and Red?). Love them all.

Here is my collection of 5000M thread from www.sewingmachine.com! It's $6.99/spool, so when I find a color I like I get the big spool ~ it'll last forever! All by Isacord by the way! I still use the smaller spools but am trying to build up my collection of the big ones too. If you see a color you like, e-mail me and I can give you the # (rosemarygulledge@knology.net).

Here is where I PRAISE www.sewingmachine.com! I e-mailed Steve last week or so because I was having some uneven column stitches on my machine. He sent me a new bobbin case, but it wasn't the problem. We were going to the lake on Friday so we decided we'd take a detour and drop my machine off at their West Point, GA store. A truck was coming which would take it to their Atlanta store. I got a message on SATURDAY (like 24 hours later or less) that my machine was not only fixed, but it was back at the West Point store for me to pick up Monday on my way home from the lake! That, my friends, is SERVICE!! I have also been e-mailing with him about Fast Frames and we talked about HoopTech a little. He sent the Fast Frames for me to try! I hope to try something this week - I hear they are the best thing since sliced bread!?  I can't say enough about this store/website! I LOVE their commercial stabilizer - it is SO CHEAP! I like the 15" x 25 yard medium white cutaway 2.2 oz - $12.99. I also like the 8x8 precut squares - $16.95 - 2.5 oz and I think it's 250 pieces!! He also sent some sticky for me to use with the FF's so I'm anxious to try it all out!

I have 3 more designs to test for Applique Cafe and will post pictures soon!

New Designs

Here are 4 new Applique Designs just listed at www.appliquecafe.com! 

Bus - I'm having some machine issues but hope to get it fixed ASAP with a new bobbin case. Will re-do some samples when it's back to normal! 

Pumpkin - Shown with LOVE font, which is one of my favorites! I got it at www.embroideryfontshop.com! Loving the Michael Miller Ta Dot fabric too (in orange). I ordered more yesterday in Ocean, red and the ocean with red dots from www.etsy.com! Speaking of Etsy, I could spend a day on that site!!

Witch Pot - Halloween will be here before we know it!

Witch Boots - LOVE this with the bows! This is the cute striped Halloween fabric I got last week at Hancocks. I flip flopped the stripes too so that both legs weren't the same!

We are headed to the POOL!!

New Designs

Here is 1 new design coming to Applique Cafe this week. I have at least 4 more to sample (Halloween x 2, 1 back to school and 1 "other"). I used the cute striped fabric I got at Hancocks for the stockings!

Someone sent me her blog to post (and I've added it to my blog list below). She has some "team" Fabric Finders fabrics for sale if anyone is interested! Check her out: http://shirtssewcute.blogspot.com/. Contact her if interested!

So I took June off and it has been great! I had planned to come back to work in July, but didn't think ahead to July 4th weekend, plus a day trip to the lake today, plus a long weekend trip to the lake coming up, PLUS a week at the beach this month! Therefore, I'm doing A FEW things in July, but am honestly only home a total of about 8 days this whole month with all of the traveling, packing and unpacking! Hopefully I can get back on track in AUGUST!

I posted this on my Facebook page - Walmart long sleeve t-shirts are in SOME stores! I did not find the boys shirts in the Walmart I went to (we have 4), but they did have these girl tees. My question was: WHY??? Why did Garanimals feel the need to embellish a perfectly good PLAIN t-shirt with a glittery trim on the neck?? My Facebook fans were pretty fired up about it - I think I had 40+ comments under my picture! Target, we're all counting on you! Old Navy too!! I'm pretty sure the Walmart boy (toddler) tees are the same as last year (from what I've heard) in a variety of colors. Target boy toddler tees typically have pockets (which I was told are easy to remove with a seam ripper?). Old Navy's tees last year were my favorite (boys)!! Hopefully they will have the same this year! There are also online options, but it's nice to have a local option when you need that last minute tee! I will keep my eyes and ears open!

New Fabric and 2 New Designs!

I ventured over to Hancocks today and picked up a few new fabrics! I generally use ginghams and polka dots the most, but last year I saw a cute Halloween stripe used on some witch boots or something, so I got 1/4 yard of these:

A few Christmas fabrics. I like the middle one the best! 

I got this one at Hobby Lobby and I LOVE IT!! I only bought 1/4 yard because the background is cream, not white, but I love the colors! If I could sew I would definitely make something for Mallory out of this! 

Here are 2 new AC designs. You can also leave the collar off the cat and use a real bow. I think she is cute!!

And a PRINCESS CARRIAGE! I like this one too! This would be cute for a Disney trip too!

This week I have a sick 2 yr old! She threw up in Dillards Tuesday night in the purse section and was sick all Tues night. She battled fever most of the day yesterday. No fever or anything today but she is still puny! As a matter of fact as I type this she has her head laid on my chair taking a rest! Yep we've got the 2:30 Ped appointment for today. Last night I met some friends for dinner and we went to see Eclipse! It was great!! We bought our tickets 2 days early, got there a good 45 minutes early and still had to sit in line for a good 30 minutes to get in the theater! It was crazy but fun! Tonight I'm supposed to take the boys to see Toy Story 3! I may be more excited than they are!!

50% off Christmas and 4th of July designs through SUNDAY!! Happy 4th!

P.S. I HEARD WALMART HAS LONG SLEEVE TEES NOW IN THE TODDLER SECTION! I HAVEN'T BEEN YET, BUT HEARD DEFINITELY BOYS IN 12M-5T IN VARIOUS COLORS!!