Another stack of shirts... check!

I finally finished my stack of 19 shirts today and am now working on the 4 that are due by tomorrow! Tonight I'm working at the Overstock Sale from 7-9 if you're in Montgomery! I still have 6 more things due by Friday among other various items I've had FOREVER and hope to work on by the end of the week as well! In the morning from 7:10 until 1:00 I'll be shuttling kids to school and helping with Easter parties from one school to the skating rink to the neighborhood playground and back! Should be a fun morning!!

Target Target Target

I was at Target today and found these precious shorts!! They reminded me of the super cute Garanimals shorts circa 2007 or 2008?! They also had a teal/turquoise-y check and they have the adjustable waist. Target has tons of cute girl stuff right now - very funky stuff - neat dresses & things. I got a pink tee and a white tee to do for Mal for the summer! I haven't tried them on her yet but hopefully they'll be cute!

Italian Ice

Today was a great day! We had soccer at 10 and 11 (little G is playing now too), followed by lunch with part of my family I don't see too often, followed by the Grand Opening of Nancy's Italian Ice at 5:00. It was fabulous!!! My family LOVES Nancy's! A) It's dangerously close to my house and B) It's just a fun place to go for dessert! A family from our church opened it in February so going in for some Italian ice or some soft serve (Jeff's favorite) means you're bound to see a bunch of people you know. We love it!! My favorite is the Fancy Nancy, which is layered soft serve and Italian ice! I usually go with mango but today I tried banana and it was delish!!!

I'm loving my new machine!! I refer to it sometimes as "set it and forget it"!! Right now it's stitching the EB Octopus while I do a quick blog post and I'm not having to sit there and hold t-shirt out of the way! Priceless!!

I added 4 new designs tonight to Applique Cafe (see top 4 newest pics on the right side). The seahorse, speedboat & fat fish are all great "towel" designs - turn a regular towel in to a kid's beach towel! While in Orlando we ate somewhere with an electric guitar hanging on the wall, so Jeff took a pic and an electric guitar design is born! All four are simple which we love!

I may need to apologize for my mini-breakdown on my last post! Sometimes I just get extremely freaked out when I have gobs of stuff lined up to applique/monogram. I am so blessed to be busy, but at the same time I wish I could control better how much stuff accumulates in my "bins". When I get in to the 60s+ I tend to panic a little!! Here's the latest...

19 16 shirts - deadline Tuesday

4 shirts - deadline Wednesday

1 Jon Jon - deadline - mail way before April 20

(I say "deadline" loosely! I work better under pressure sometimes!!)

40 other various shirts - some are way past due, some are not!

HOPEFULLY I can knock some of this out in the upcoming week! Our calendar is a little lighter than last week, so if I can get quite a bit accomplished, then I will lift the ban on bringing me more stuff! Thanks for understanding and thanks to everyone for their patience!! I really appreciate it! Now... maybe one more shirt before I hit the sack??!!

I will survive!!

Someone recommended a Craftsman tool chest to use as a stand for my 6 needle. We found this one at www.sears.com for $80 so we thought we'd try it out (versus $400 for a Brother stand)! I picked it up from my local Sears last night (it shipped there for free) and Jeff & I got it all set up and I feel a little more organized! We took the leaf out of my dining room table and positioned the machine at the end angled towards me. The nice thing about this stand is that it has 4 nice sized drawers and is very heavy and sturdy! It's definitely cut down on the vibration in my dining room! I understand the purpose for having the Brother stand is having space for excess "stuff" (bags, etc) to hang down! I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. In the meantime I think this is going to work just great!

Because of the dimensions it does have to sit on the tool chest sideways, but it works fine for me! I have 4 nice drawers for out of the way storage! The chest also has a "lip"around the top edge, so the machine isn't going anywhere! 

Here are the softball visors we did this week. This was supposed to be Jeff's project but I ended up doing them all on the 6 needle because it clips the thread underneath which was a lot faster (than my little Brother). All we did was add the numbers to the side, 1-12! This was a special project for a friend!!! Meaning I'm not getting in to the visor business!! :)

Here are 20 of the 26 shirts I have been doing for what seems like the past 3 months! I already shipped the first 6 and will ship these hopefully tomorrow, or whenever I receive payment in the mail. Whoooo this was a job! This mom sent me fabric to use and the instructions were GREAT, but tackling 26 t-shirts (all appliques) has been quite the challenge! 

Here they are (again, 20 out of 26). The mom (I think) is making LOTS of shorts to coordinate with all these tees! You may notice a few new designs - I bought the EB ladybug and butterfly and also the jeep is from Ms Monogram Momma (blog list below). She has some designs on Etsy and is also in the process of setting up her website! 

This morning I had a mini nervous breakdown! By 10:00 I was about to scream! Trying to get work done with the kids at home!!!!!! Mallory is FINALLY walking (limping) around and is cutting 2 teeth, so she is a bit whiny! I finally got us all bathed & dressed and took us out to lunch to kill time before Browder's playdate.  I worked for 10 years from an investment banking firm, and hands down being a mom of 3 and trying to do this from home is 125 times harder than working 5 days a week ever was! I'm not sure what the answer is? I think I'm just having a rough month with a lot going on (Disney, Mallory and her double X-rays/not being able to walk for almost 2 weeks, 2 boys playing soccer, etc etc etc) plus my endless workload, less and less time to work, and I could go on and on!! If anyone has any suggestions, bring 'em on!? Back to work....

P.S. www.sewingmachine.com has a used PR620 if anyone is interested! Please ask for Mel (or Steve) and tell them Rosemary referred you! :) Sewingmachine.com is located in Atlanta but they also have a 2nd store in West Point, GA. When I looked at mine they sent it to the WP store for the day (and then it came home with me!) I'm sure it won't be available for long!!

Here is where I stand...

Here is where I stand on orders...

(revised Tuesday, 3/23/10)

26 tshirts - down to my last 6 3 (these should have been done before SB)

19 tshirts - need to be done ASAP

31 various tshirts & a backpack

12 visors - Jeff is going to try to do these!! DONE!!!
+ 1 jon jon, 1 apron, 1 dress, 1 piece of fabric, 3 various tops (all came today!)

I did 14 shirts Sat & Sun on my PR600! At first I was a little frustrated because it seemed to take forever to program in the thread colors & stops, change out thread colors, thread needles, etc. BUT, once I got the fabrics down it would sew/finish the whole design very quickly which was great! I think after 14 shirts I'm getting the hang of it!! We've ordered a Craftsman 4 drawer "cart" for it (which was recommended by someone) so once I get that in and everything situated (and everything on my table isn't shaking to death) it'll be a nice little setup!

The kids went back to school today (yipee) and I ran errands all morning getting everything done post-Spring Break! Mallory is still not walking on her right foot! :( It's a little weird having a 2 year old that can't walk! It's like having a baby again, only she doesn't understand that if she can't walk, she can't just go outside, etc!! HOPEFULLY she'll be back to normal within a week! She can crawl around, and walked (hobbled around) this morning holding my hand. Both boys are playing soccer too so we've got soccer like 3 days this week!! Crazy as always!!

I have at least 4 new designs for AC to do this week! We're getting back in to the swing of things after spring break! Just a reminder that all Easter and Cross designs are $2!

Minnie Mouse

We are back from Spring Break and Disney! We had a fabulous time and had so much fun with the boys! Here are a couple of pictures of them at Minnie Mouse's house by her sewing machine! HA! We had our green on for St. Patty's Day!

G looks thrilled, eh? I guess Mickey's house was a little more exciting.

Thankfully Mallory did not go with us. A) we thought 2 was too young to go (and we were right) and B) the Saturday before we were to leave on Sunday she decided to climb out of her crib. It wasn't a good landing! I had to take her to Primed that Sat. afternoon for X-rays, we left her with my mom on the way down on Sunday with a hurt leg - she wouldn't walk on it but the X-rays showed nothing was broken! We picked her up yesterday on our way home and she is still not walking/putting weight on it, so I got in to see an Orthopaedic Specialist this morning thanks to a good friend who had an "in" with AOS. Nothing appears to be broken, and we decided to carry her around as needed in lieu of a cast! Hopefully in a week or less she'll be back to normal! I now have a 2 year old toddler who crawls everywhere and won't walk!

I spent the rest of today washing loads and loads of laundry, going grocery shopping to restock our fridge and getting my house in order for the weekend! My goal for the weekend is to finish up the 20 shirts I'm past due on to hopefully mail the first of the week! I seem to keep hitting roadblocks every which way I turn and am having a hard time getting anything done! Today I installed some software on my computer, and Jeff just spent the evening uninstalling it because it made my computer so slow it was unusable!

Good night! I will get back to regular posts soon!

P.S. I'm about to put all Applique Cafe Easter designs on sale - 1/2 off! We will hopefully get some new designs done this weekend and listed next week!

After Spring Break...

This week has been off the charts CRAZY! I may have mentioned we had a Missions Conference at our church this week so I was at church Sunday morning, Monday night, Wednesday morning, Wednesday night and again on Thursday for my monthly bible study. That's a lot, and we even missed a couple of events because it was just too much on the kids! Tuesday we spent the day in West Point, GA buying the new machine (http://www.sewingmachine.com/). Browder had a soccer game last night, which I missed because Mallory threw up all over my car yesterday after bible study. It was one of those good ones where I had to remove her from the car still strapped in to her carseat! Stripped her down in the driveway and carseat had to be taken apart after her bath!! I had a dinner with some friends last night AFTER getting Mallory to Jeff after the soccer game. This morning Browder had a Mexican Fiesta at school, so Jeff kept Mallory so I could go help with the Fiesta (I didn't send her to school). We are now at home, Mal is asleep (she only puked that one time by the way) and the boys are watching basketball on TV in my room! I've banished them from the den for at least an hour or so this afternoon. My PE750 is working on a few last minute things I was asked to do before Spring Break! I still haven't plugged the 6 needle in b/c it's been too crazy around here to spend a minute on it! Oh, and we're going on vacation leaving Sunday and I have not packed a single thing yet!!

So.... with all that being said, this is where I stand with orders pre-Spring Break, and also post-Spring Break. I have had several people call and e-mail me wanting to "get in line" and I just wanted to update on how (unfortunately) I am going on vacation BEHIND!! :(

**Past due: 22 20 of 26 t-shirts I was supposed to have done this week (really LAST week but got behind because of my machines messing up and also my hives episode). I am working on some of them today and tomorrow, but will have to finish the rest when I return.

**FIRST on my list post SB: 19 shirts for a customer that I asked if I could hold off til after SB, PLUS 16 shirts & a backpack in line from other customers. I also have 11 other things that will fall sometime after SB that I'm awaiting instructions on. AND, 12 visors which may be a project for Jeff! Did I mention our calendar for the week after SB is covered in red & blue "events" both during the day and just about every night! Both boys are playing Spring soccer so we've got our hands full!

So I have the note on my blog about new orders and I have had to turn some people away who have e-mailed me for pricing. I have some great out of town customers and want to continue to provide for them as well as my friends and equally great customers here in town, BUT, I can only do so much! I know my new machine will be faster, but until I get some time to learn how to use it, that does me no good! Just e-mail me with any questions and if you're in a hurry, check out my blog list for other MOMS who do this as well! Or if you are out of town and just like applique t-shirts, try http://www.etsy.com/! I could spend hours on Etsy looking at all the neat hand made stuff you can buy!

Thanks for understanding and being patient!!

P.S. If you are an Applique Cafe customer, the sale ends today! Please don't forget to download your design files ASAP, as they expire after 24 hours! While on vacation we will have very limited computer time so most e-mails will be answered after we return! We still get e-mails DAILY from people who don't download their designs and let them expire! We are HAPPY to resend your designs, but it does defeat the purpose of instant download and we would hate for anyone to be without their designs while we are on vacation!! THANKS!! We will hopefully have some new stuff after Spring Break!

Here is a cute yellow shirt a friend of mine did w/ the AC caterpillar! It was so cute I asked her if I could share!! This is from Mary Bobbins on Facebook or http://marybobbinsmonograms.shutterfly.com/. She has more up to date pics on Facebook of her work!

New Machine

No news on my new machine!! It is still sitting here.... I honestly don't know if I will do much with it until after next week? I want to of course, but I have so much to do that I don't want to get sucked in to it for hours!! By the time we got it unloaded last night, it was time for laundry, dinner, baths, homework, bedtime, etc. Today I ran around all morning, then by the time I get home and get unloaded from school and check e-mails, it's 3:15 and I've done nothing! I'm working on my first shirt of the day and we have church at 5:30!! Such is the life of a busy mom, eh?? We also get TONS of e-mails through Applique Cafe so it takes forever to sift through them! People don't download the designs immediately, or they have trouble opening the files, etc. Customer Service is a part time job just for the website!

I've had several people ask me questions about it - I did get one of each size hoops! No fast frames yet and it did not come w/ a stand! We decided we'd try it out on my table first and go from there! I have gotten an e-mail too from someone who has a stand possibly for sale, so those "accessories" may come later! It does take up half the table! And someone mentioned it being on a towel and we just put it there to get it unloaded!! I don't even have it plugged in!! I do keep looking at it and think "WOW, it is BIG!!!!!"!! I know in the long run it'll be great!

Back to work - I may squeeze in one more shirt before church!!

And the verdict is......

A NEW MACHINE!!! The whole family rode over to SewingMachine.com in West Point today, Jeff and kids included, and we spent a couple of hours there looking at this machine! We stitched out a few things and even monogrammed a cute little backpack for Mallory! The WP store is located downtown, so we walked down to the Downtown Diner and had a yummy lunch while we thought it over. There wasn't too much to think about! We decided to get the machine and here she is!!! It's not the newest model, but a PE-600 that has everything I need for what I do! It'll hook up to my computer and I can still use the programs I'm used to (Mono Wizard Plus and Sew What Pro). I'm a bit overwhelmed at learning a new machine, but with some time I know my life will become easier and I'm going to be able to do some things that I wasn't able to do before with my little Brothers! More bags, big stuff (no more 5x7 max hoop), etc. I think my biggest hoop is close to 8x12? Very exciting and very overwhelming!! I still have a lot of shirts to do this week and we're pretty much booked up every night, so I probably won't try to really LEARN it until after Spring Break!

I'll be sure to keep y'all posted on my progress! I'm not looking to expand my business that much and still have 3 busy kids, a husband and lots of activities. Oh yeah, I still work on my dining room table too. But, from everyone I've heard from, once I learn this machine I think I'll be a little quicker and things will be easier! We shall see...

New Designs...

I just listed 4 new beach-y ocean-y summer-y designs at Applique Cafe! That'll be it for us until after Spring Break! I've been trying to get some work done today and still have too much to do before the weekend! (A.A. - if you read this, I am working on your stuff and please e-mail me!!) I failed to mention that a couple of weeks ago my "monogramming" folder in my e-mail was accidentally DELETED! That would be where I put monogramming e-mails I get from customers with info on what they want, etc. Not a good thing!! That, on top of my machines not wanting to cooperate... it's been a crazy couple of weeks!

We ARE going to West Point tomorrow (yes, the WHOLE family) to look at the 6-needle! I'm very excited (and scared to death to make such a large purchase!). I had to do a "mouse" shirt today for a little friend who is turning 2 (for his b-day party), so I went ahead and did one for G too! Hint Hint: we will be somewhere very special on St. Patty's Day!! I bought the "Waltography" font from http://www.jolsonsdesigns.com/ for $3.00 and it comes in like 6 sizes and stitches GREAT! I wasn't sure if it was safe to put his name on the shirt, so I stuck with our standard "G"!! Browder got a St. Patty's Day tee from The Children's Place! I figure he might be too old for gingham mouse ears!?

I will be sure to update tomorrow....

Countdown to Spring Break!!

Back to work!! I've sampled 4 new designs for Applique Cafe tonight as well as appliqued 2 last shirts for a customer (thanks to a late afternoon Starbucks)! I still have more to do this week (20-something), and thankfully have my PE750 back and it's sewing like a champ! Jeff rode over to West Point Saturday and picked it up for me and took my PE700 (while I took G to a b-day party and did our grocery shopping for the week)! They replaced the tension system and I think that did the trick! I did plenty of complaining last week about my machines and wanted to clarify that it was nothing against the great service I've gotten OR these particular model machines!! My PE700 is the first machine I got a few years ago, and I'm pretty sure I have 16 times as many hours on it as a normal person would!! I've run these machines to DEATH!! I LOVE THESE MACHINES!!!! I would recommend either model to anyone starting out!! They are inexpensive and easy to learn and I've gotten every penny out of them I spent (and continue to). We are, however, looking at a used PR600 (6 needle) and hope to ride back over to West Point this week to take a closer look! It had 1 owner who traded it in for a very expensive machine and it has been totally upgraded and rebuilt with everything I need. Jeff is on board and we think it's the logical next step if we are to continue in this business! Very exciting and scary!! I always thought I didn't want a big machine while I was still in my dining room, but what the heck!! Everyone I have heard from says it will be well worth it so I'm excited!! And I will continue to use my small machines when needed too!

We have a CRAZY week this week between school, soccer and a Missions Conference at our church! I have so much to do before Spring Break! Back to work...

Thankful for FRIDAY!!

Yesterday was a BAD DAY!! Hives (which are better today), down a machine and my backup machine started acting up last night! The thread kept breaking/shredding/thinning and I broke a needle. I changed thread and it did a couple of test letters OK, so I thought for sure it was the spool of thread I was using! No such luck - I just tried a shirt and same deal! It just looks SLOPPY!! So............ my "good" machine is back from the shop and is at West Point, so another trip over there maybe tomorrow!? I NEED a working machine!! Very frustrating!! Last night I was ready to QUIT!! For those of you who do this as a JOB, you know how frustrating it can get!! No wonder I broke out in HIVES! HA HA!! Steroids seem to be working?

So here I sit with work to do and no machine to do it on!!! I have one week to get A LOT of embroidery done before Spring Break! On a side note the weather is beautiful here...

New designs...

5 new designs added to http://www.appliquecafe.com/! Here is the double circle I did a while ago on Mallory's romper - I used it to cover up an existing monogram and it worked great, so we decided to sell it!

Hives again today! My Dr. couldn't squeeze me in, but called in an Rx so hopefully they will be going on their merry way!! I don't know if I ate something or if it's stress related? Not fun!! :( No word yet from my #1 machine!? It's times like these I'd love to throw in the towel!!!! Just trying to get by for another week so I can take a much needed long break!!

Bunnies Bunnies Everywhere!!

Here is the AC bunny done in blue gingham! My friend Liz sent this pic to me and I asked her if I could post it! I've only done/shown the bunny in pink so here's one for the BOYS! The other pic is of a design a customer of a customer is requesting! Do you know where to find it? If so e-mail me at rosemarygulledge@knology.net! I told my friend that this may be one of those designs we've all looked at, but maybe it didn't have the right fabric so we didn't notice it? Or it may just be a custom design! Anyway, if you know where to find it let me know! It's very cute! It looks like the bow was attached in an interesting way too? (UPDATE: MYSTERY BUNNY IS FROM http://www.nobbieneezkids.com/ - mega hoop design $9)

I am down to 51 items pre-Spring Break!! I'm also down to 1 machine. I'm still not convinced I can get it all done, but luckily I'm really only down to 3 customers for these 51 items and I feel like at least one of them would be understanding if I don't get done before I leave (and since it's still cold)!!

We're waiting on our ART conversions for the new AC designs! Our ART converter had to get a new computer so we're a little delayed! I have a backup ART converter on standby if we don't get them back by tonight, so HOPEFULLY they will all be listed tonight or in the morning! I'll be sure to post them here and on Facebook.

I woke up this morning to some sort of rash on my chest, around my eye and a couple of other odd places? I'm not sure if it is stress related, or if my cleansers in my shower got contaminated yesterday by my shower cleaning products?? I'm not a rashy type person so I'm not sure?? Always something!

Another Road Trip

This morning I loaded up the kids for a road trip *in the rain* to West Point, GA to take my PE-750D in. I can't say it was my #1 choice for a Tuesday morning outing, but we're now home and all in one piece! Traveling with a 2 yr old is quite the challenge!! She likes to take her shoe (only 1) and sock off, throw them up to the front seat. Then she might cry b/c she "dropped shoe". She throws her hair bow too! Drops her paci on to the floor, etc. She pretty much did that all the way there! We stopped back in Auburn to eat lunch. Eating with 3 kids is another adventure in itself!! We're home now, e-mails are checked and I've got my PE-700 going! The top tension went out again on my other machine so they (Southeast Sewing or http://www.sewingmachine.com/) are going to take a good look at it and possibly replace some of the tension controlling part of the machine! I'm exhausted, but have too much to do this afternoon to enjoy a snooze (on this cold rainy perfect-weather-for-a-nap kind of day)! Sigh....

Here is one of our new designs that I previewed on Facebook Saturday night. Of course I added the bow and "big sis" in LOVE font. The feet were originally a fill stitch and we changed it last night to fabric. I think "she" is cute!! Just waiting on our ART conversions and we'll hopefully have these listed later today or tomorrow! I'm not a big lavender or purple person, but I got this dot fabric at JoAnn the other day and I think it looks great with the green! I also got another one that's a tad lighter with tiny white pin dots on it.

Off to work...

Photos part 2

I've had several people e-mail me about the photos post! It is totally OK (for example) to copy pictures of designs you've purchased, or hope to purchase, from Applique Cafe! If you're like me, you have gobs of designs and it's very hard to sample each & every one of them for your blog to show your customers what designs you have!!

Or... you see 20 designs you like on Applique Cafe (for example), but you're not sure what your customers might like, I think it's OK to post pictures of appliques you haven't bought yet! That way if you have a customer e-mail you and say "I want the flip flops", then you can go buy the design and you're not out a bunch of money for 20 designs you "like", but that you may or may not use!

I look at lots and lots of blogs/websites and see lots and lots of pictures of the samples I have sewn myself for Applique Cafe! It is perfectly fine and flattering to see AC designs out there! I also see the samples I sewed for EB which is fun too! My only suggestion was that as you sew the designs, change out the sample pictures with your own! It shows your customers what fabrics you have and also showcases your workmanship! That doesn't mean you need to spend the next 24 hours marathon sewing your own samples and putting all the pics on your site! It just means that gradually, over the course of time, as you stitch out the designs you have, then add your own pics!

The issue that brought about the post in the first place was that someone had photos on their site of hand sewn OUTFITS and personalized BABY GIFTS shown as their samples when they clearly were not!!  Please feel free to use any design listing photos on Applique Cafe! I'd rather you not go to my Gallery and copy pictures of shirts and things that have AC designs on them, but all featured design listing pics are fair game! Thanks and sorry for any confusion!!

Photos, etc.

Applique Cafe and Facebook:
Hopefully you've already seen that all Applique Cafe designs are 30% off until the 12th! We've had a great day so far and part of that may have to do with us having close to 300 fans on Facebook! WOW! I'm amazed at the response and have enjoyed seeing the customer pictures that have been posted as well as the comments! Speaking of comments, Facebook doesn't notify you of them on a Fan Page so I try to see/read them all! Hopefully I won't miss too many!

Scissors:
I went to JoAnn yesterday with my 50% off coupon and bought a pair of the 4" curved scissors! I haven't used them too much yet, but they are pretty sharp and I think I like them!! I'm going to have to get used to them for sure!

New Designs:
We'll have 4, if not 5, new designs up this week! I'm finishing up sampling 2 of them right now. When I'm done we'll send them to be converted to ART and then will get them listed ASAP!

Machine Numero Uno:
I'm sad to report that my PE-750D is on the fritz AGAIN!! :( I was doing shirts Saturday evening and somehow in between shirts the top tension went ka-put! I e-mailed Steve @ Sewing Machine.com to see if there was anything I could do to try to fix it. I didn't expect to hear from him until Monday and was surprised when he e-mailed me back several times Saturday NIGHT! Depending on the weather tomorrow I may run it over to West Point and leave it with him. He said he might need to replace the tension parts since this has happened before. Luckily I have my PE-700 as a backup!

OK... now to the topic of PHOTOS:
I won't go in to too much detail, but in a nutshell, this morning a friend of mine realized that someone was using HER photos of outfits she had sewn. The person that posted them did not give my friend credit, nor did she say "I didn't make this outfit, but I can make an outfit like this". Much to my surprise, after looking further I realized that this same person had "borrowed" photos from my blog as well! Not just my applique photos which many of my customers use showing what appliques they offer, but photos of specific things I had done and these photos were made to look like HER samples. All of the photos had prices underneath and were misleading and looked like the person who used the photos had sewn them herself! One photo in particular was a project that I spent hours on and consisted of 11 baby gift items I did for a customer. Another photo was of a bib & burp cloth a customer of mine did using one of my designs! I think it's in the AC Gallery so I assume that's where she got it?

OK.... it is one thing to use applique design photos. I have people e-mail me all the time asking permission to use my pictures and that is fine! And most people don't ask, which is fine too! I usually suggest that as they sew the designs themselves, that they replace my pictures with theirs! The reason being that you will run in to people requesting appliques in fabrics that you don't have, and also it's not a representation of your work if your whole blog is full of other people's pictures! But, I do understand that people buy lots of applique designs and it takes time to sew them all and show pictures of them completed! I think I can count on 1 hand the number of pictures on my blog that aren't mine (from the right hand collumn). There are a few from Embroidery Boutique from when I did samples for the website. If I do use someone's photo in a blog post I always give credit (ex: customer photos of the teapot shirts for example).

The person who used these photos is a good Applique Cafe customer, and I'm not going to make a big deal over a few photos. But, use your best judgement when using other people's pictures! I'm flattered when I see AC design pics on other blogs because it tells me that people are buying our designs. Like I said, I do suggest that you replace the pics with your own as you sew them! However, please don't use other people's photos of outifts, baby gifts, etc. and make it look like they are samples of your own work! That is very misleading and dishonest!!

On another note, Mallory just dropped a little poop in the toilet!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure it's a total fluke, but very exciting here at the Gulledge household! Of course she had an audience of 4 people cheering her on so we probably freaked her out!!

Back to work on these samples...