4 New Designs and Sale Info...

I just added 4 new designs to http://www.appliquecafe.com/! Prices are as marked, plus get $10.00 off your purchase of $30.00 or more on applique designs until May 16th! More designs to come next week including some 4th of July designs!

Have a great weekend! I'm off to Farm Links tomorrow on a (too-short) WIC Board retreat!! Be back Saturday! The new schedule has worked pretty well this week, however I worked today since I won't be able to work tomorrow. I did finish close to 20 items including all of the new AC samples. We'll see how it goes next week!

Last Post...

For the 2 comments from yesterdays post, as of today:

1) Since the raggy flower (http://www.embroidery-boutique.com/) is a redwork stitching design, I shrunk it 50% and did not adjust the density! If it were a regular satin stitch design I probably would not shrink it down like that!
2) Sock Monkey fabric - I HAVE seen that fabric! I actually considered ordering some but haven't yet! Is it a regular cotton fabric?

And... do you have any idea where to find this fabric??

A customer is looking for some and not having much luck, and she even has all the info! Windham Fabric - Traffic Jam by Allison Jane Smith. There are several variations of it (another group of colors on Etsy) but she is looking for this color combo specifically - red, orange, blue, yellow & green stripes. E-mail me at rosemarygulledge@knology.net if you have any ideas! I'll pass along the info!

Also, last year I ordered a few Stephen Joseph backpacks if anyone is interested??

I'm doing a fabulous bible study on Fridays at my church - Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands and last night I read about DESIRE, which can turn in to all sorts of things, which can provoke anger, hurt, etc. when something gets in the way of your desire!! I'm realizing now why I get upset and stressed out so much! I put so much "desire" in to this business and pretty much let it take over my life! When things wouldn't go my way (like when I couldn't get any work done), stress, stress, stress! What rules my heart will determine how I respond to life!! This is a great book!!!

Not working today!!

I'm not working today per my new schedule (and Browder's strict instruction), but I think it's OK to do a quick blog post! Not working to me means not turning my machine on?? That means I get to do fun stuff like laundry and getting a few places my cleaning lady missed today! I did take the kids to the bank this morning (so B could get some bills for his rolled quarters), then to Target and lunch! I'm about to sweep out the garage while the boys play outside too! I had a productive day yesterday - worked all morning and afternoon and finished 9 shirts. I also cooked dinner! Tomorrow and Friday I have only the afternoons to work so I hope I can finish my 11 other items for the week!

Here is a shirt I did yest. to match this precious Riley Blake fabric! This motorcycle is from an It's a Boys Life collection I think? I deleted a few things on it and of course fabric/colors can make an applique look SO different!

Here are some onesies I did for a friend who's brother ('s wife) is having a baby! I love the red crab, which is a miniature from http://www.bunnycup.com/! I also used a mini petal patch and the EB raggy flower shrunk down about 50%. I think Molly was due yesterday and I'm not sure if she has made her arrival yet or not!?

Here is the AC sea snail I did last week on one of the Garanimals lime tees!

And lastly, I posted pics of these bibs/burp cloth sets I got a while back and I finally did one as an order/gift for someone! I have 3 more sets I think - 1 more exactly like this one, another one with the same colors but with green in the ribbon, and a light blue/khaki set. They are really cute so if you need a baby gift, let me know!

I also did several other tees to match various fabrics. I just took pics before my customer picks them up so I'll post them later when I can upload and edit them!

Jeff has sent me 4 or 5 new designs to test! Hopefully I can get them done tomorrow so we can list them by the end of the week!

OK... here are a few more photos of tees and their coordinating fabrics! My customer provided all the fabric because she had shorts made in all of them! What a cute summer wardrobe!!

Pirate Ship and Tractor - http://www.nobbieneezkids.com/

Surf Boards - http://www.embroidery-boutique.com/

Truck/Car Carrier and Sock Monkey - http://www.appliqueforkids.com/

Monkey Face and Dump Truck - http://www.pegasus-embroidery.com/ (not sure what's going on w/ this site?) and the rounded patch the dump truck is on is from http://www.embroidery-boutique.com/ - I just elongated it a tad so that the dump truck would fit!

**MY NEW SCHEDULE**

Scheduling this dining room gig has always been a constant struggle for me! All of you who do this know that you can't just "leave it at the office", because for most of you the office is your dining room or some other room in your home (if you're lucky!). For me it's my dining room table, which is a blessing and a burden! The other night Jeff finally took over for me, removed all of my handy organized bins and spread everything out in our room! He has put me on a strict production schedule of 20 items a week (give or take 1) and we went a little further today and decided that I would only work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays right now since my kids are at home with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I will still check e-mail but am going to try not turning my machine on those 2 days of the week. Weekends - same thing! If it's pouring down rain and everyone is taking a nap, then I can turn it on and do a little work, but for the most part this "work" is not to take over my life 7 days a week like I've let it up until this point!

With that being said... I'm booked up for the next 2 weeks, therefore, any new orders I get will be put on my schedule for the week of May 10! Side note: Jeff's b-day is May 8, triplets nephew/nieces b-day is May 10, G's b-day is May 11 and our 9 yr anniversary is May 12, followed by B's b-day May 25. I hope to stick to 20/week during all the craziness but we'll see!

Today I was productive and was able to do 8 things! The theory is that once I get my 20 done for the week I'm DONE and get some time off! We'll see if I can stick to that! Anyway... it is worth a try and will hopefully help me to be less stressed out and spend more time with my kids, husband, cooking, reading and just enjoying being at home and doing things! Wish me luck!!

Wednesday Update!

Wow, when was my last post?? I have been busy! We've had soccer a lot lately in addition to church on Wed nights, various dinners and a kid-free trip to the beach this past weekend (woo hoo)! Here are a couple of things I've done lately and thought they turned out cute! I love this gator and my customer had me use this fabric and color thread! I LOVE IT! I probably would have never thought to use this fabric but I think it is so cute and different! Gators can be orange, right??

I have another friend who is still using the cute Walmart shorts from a couple of years ago. I still had scraps from a spare pair, so I did this round scallopped patch Bunnycup using the green gingham. I get a lot of e-mails about this patch so if you click on Bunnycup it will take you to it! It's an alphabet set and I just deleted the letter inside!

I have several new designs to sample for AC and will hopefully do those sometime today! I'm still enjoying my new machine! I can easily be doing a shirt and a blog post at the same time!

New AC Designs and INVENTORY!!

Yesterday I got out of bed before 7:00 AM and went back to bed at midnight last night! 17 hours... I was able to work while the kids were in school so I got maybe 5 shirts done and 5 new samples for AC. The sale ends Thursday so we were rushing to try to get them tested and listed so everyone could take advantage of 30% off. We will most likely have them listed within the next few hours (when Jeff gets home from his day job). Here is the Sea Snail...

Here is the Sea Turtle. Mallory has a Castles & Crowns ruffle skirt I got at a recent overstock sale with these exact fabrics, so how cute will she be? Of course I had to go all over town to find blank tees! 2 Walmarts didn't have any and I finally found 2 at Toys R Us. I refused to pay $10/shirt at Gap! Whoever said Walmart was filling the shelves with tank tops was right! The t-shirt selection was slim!

We've had a request or two for a starfish... You can do the eyes & mouth in different colors or leave them off altogether. Some people don't like faces?
 

2 more... the Crabby Crab as we call it and a LOBSTER!!

We struggled coming up with a "different" crab... again, to match Sissy's skirt!

I spent the morning finalizing a pastel I had done of Sissy and it turned out PRECIOUS!! A guy named Arthur Smith did it and I think he's from Birmingham, but also spends the summers at the Grand - from what I gathered he's all over! I left it to be framed (ouch) but will have to post a pic when I get it back! This was something done through The Charleston House in Montgomery, and we spent over an hour today waiting for it to be finished. Me and 3 kids in an ART GALLERY!!!!! Of course I let them frame it and spent the drive home with "framers regret". It is SO expensive!!!! But... I still have pictures from November that I have yet to frame, so I knew it would be beautiful if they did it and it would be DONE! I just listed a few outfits on E-bay to help pay for it!! HA! (A few of the kids nicer outfits they've outgrown - why wait to consign when there is Ebay!!).

I also just took a good inventory of my work and here is where I stand:

To Do With Instructions- 44

To Do Lacking Instructions - 10

To Do by JULY - 3

To Do for my kids - A LOT!

Not so bad?!? We do have a beach trip so I'll get some of it done before then and continue afterwards!

NEW FABRIC!!

I have done the http://www.embroidery-boutique.com/ baseball glove A LOT lately! Here it is on a bib, but I must say I did it on the lime green Walmart Garanimals tee with blue & lime stitching on the ball and it turned out really cute - the brown on lime looked great!! I thought I took a picture of it but I can't find it!? I have another order for one so I'll take a pic this time!

Friday I was able to get out for a bit with money in my pocket to shop for spring clothes. Wouldn't you know I found NOTHING!! I was a little discouraged, so I decided to haul myself up to Beth's Heirloom in Wetumpka and go fabric shopping!! A friend of mine also gave me a bag of FABULOUS scraps on Friday, so I hit the jackpot on new fabric! Here are some pics of what I got! Nothing too exciting, but I did stock up on the Fabric Finders big ginghams - they are WONDERFUL to applique with!

I also got a few seersucker ginghams! Mallory has a little ruffle skirt (Castles & Crowns maybe?) with the lime & pink, so I plan to make a tee to match!

And... I got a few florals too. Beth's has a "scrap bin" with squares they cut from leftovers when they make their clothes, so they sell them for 50 cents! I got a few (the 2 on the right are scraps)!

Mallory also has some bloomers made out of the 2nd dot fabric, so I thought I'd applique something on a pink tee with it to match in addition to the A-line top that came with it. I LOVE ORANGE too, so I like the right floral which was a 50 cent scrap! I figured it might match the Target yellow dot shorts?

I have been busting out t-shirts the past few days!! I did 5 yesterday afternoon and I've done 8 so far today with one about to hit the machine! I also have at least 3 new samples for AC to test, but want to do them on tees for Mallory and of course Walmart nor Target had any plain white tees today in her size! :( We're going to try another Walmart after soccer tonight!

While I'm making progress, I'm continuing the "new order ban" for another week or two! We have a non-kids beach trip coming up and I still have quite a bit on my plate! Plus I'd love to do a few things for my kids in addition to Mal's samples! E-mail me with any questions!

The 30% off sale at http://www.appliquecafe.com/ lasts until April 15th, so Thursday!

New AC designs...

It has been a crazy 24 hours and I will elaborate tomorrow! I've just added 4 new designs to http://www.appliquecafe.com/! Kite (shown with real bows), Happy Fish (my fave), Golf Ball (with shag grass) and a Bird (this was a custom design we did like 6 months ago!). I wish I could post everything now but am exhausted!! We had some crazy web issues and I also got TONS of new fabric today!! Will post tomorrow...

New Designs

Here are a few new designs which will be added to www.appliquecafe.com later today! I did the kite to match the Target shorts I got and it's shown with a couple of bows! You could probably lay your ribbon down as your machine is stitching the string and tie the bows when finished?? Of course the bows would then be permanent! I put Fray Check on the ends of mine. I will probably just pin or stitch these on. It's unknown how certain ribbon and bows will hold up in the wash!?

I LOVE this fish!! We had no "theme" this week as we did with the sports theme last week as you can tell!

I did this golf ball on a shirt for G to match some lime seersucker shorts and it turned out really cute! He wore it to church last night and got a compliment or two! I put a layer of flannel underneath the grass, trim around leaving some of the fabric (about 1/8" maybe?) and then scrape it with my scissors, trim and a lint brush comes in handy too! In hindsight I should have put an initial inside the golf ball!!I used a pique type white fabric so the ball actually has some texture!

It is RAINING!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!! I pulled my car out of the garage to hopefully wash off the POLLEN!! We have our back patio furniture scattered around the yard to try to wash it off too! It has been AWFUL so hopefully it will GO AWAY!!

Yesterday I went to Target and bought a pack of loose leaf paper! I came across a notebook the other day that had actual pictures of applique designs I had sewn - from when I FIRST started and there was no blog!! Anyway, I had the idea to start a notebook to maybe help me stay more organized! I'm not sure how it's going to work but it sounded like a good idea!? Right now when people bring me stuff I jot it down on whatever piece of paper I have and may or may not jot the date down! I figured I could make more notes and maybe print out monthly calendars and try to figure out how much I can do per day/per week and try to pinpoint for people when I might get their things done! We'll see if it works!! As I type this I'm realizing my piece of paper with everyone's names and all my counts is MISSING.... ugh! 

Fabric Websites

One of my customers brought me some shirts to do and had some of the cutest fabrics! She forwarded me this list of the websites she looked at/bought from, so I thought I'd post them. I looked at a few of them but have not gone through the whole list yet! I'm also a big fan of www.etsy.com if you know what to search for (name brands, etc). Where I live we have a couple of great stores where you can buy good fabric, but it's not always convenient to get to them to shop!Of course our Hancocks, Hobby Lobby and Joann are hit or miss. Anyway, take a look at these and I'll try to sort through them and possibly add a permanent list to my blog! I like www.fabricworm.com too which is not listed!

sewblessedfabric.com

mysouthernbaby.com (CUTE STUFF)

thesmockingbird.com (website under construction?)

childrenscornerstore.com

peanutbutter-n-jellykids.com (CUTE STUFF)

baltazor.com

elegantstitches.com

delicatestitches.com

farmhousefabrics.com

simplysunshine.com

I did a quick inventory before dinner tonight and right now my load is approximately 77 items. I managed to do 9 shirts today. Now... if I could do 9 every day I'd be in good shape! But... some days I'm lucky to do 2 and some days I don't do any! Some of the 77 I've had for a while and need to work on ASAP, and some of it I just got this week. Regardless, 70something is A-L-O-T so I will continue the "ban" on new orders until I can knock some of this out (at least the old stuff). Thanks for your patience and e-mail me with any questions!

If you have any wonderful online fabric sources, please e-mail me at rosemarygulledge@knology.net! As I look at the above I'll add notes - so far I've looked at a few of them!

New SPORTY designs and 30% off!

First of all, for all of you SEW WHAT PRO users, there is a Yahoo Group for SEW WHAT PRO! I had no idea!!!!!! You have to be approved to join and I just sent in my request to be a part of this group! 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SewWhatEmbroiderySoftware/

I learned last night that you can actually open & view your computer embroidery files on the right side of the SWP screen! If you click VIEW up top, then click ALBUM ICONS... when you go to open a design/letter the entire file will appear on the right side of your screen with all the icons for the designs in that file! This will especially come in handy when merging those bought alphabets - instead of open, merge, merge, merge, all of the letters will be on the right hand side of your screen and all you have to do is click on what you want, and it will move it right over for you! You still have to arrange them (letters, for example), but it's a lot faster! You learn something new every day!

I just added 4 new *SPORTS* designs to www.appliquecafe.com and all designs are now 30% off until APRIL 15!! Here are the pics below and of course they are at the top of the blog!

Tennis Racket shown with a bow:

I'm making progress I think on my heavy workload, but am still behind on some orders I've had since before Spring Break! I have 6 shirts that I'm doing today, plus some odd items (a shirt here and a shirt there) I hope to get done - a couple of things that need mailing, etc. I haven't counted lately but may do so later today and get organized (the story of my life!!). 

I survived Wednesday - double Easter parties, one of which ended up being at my house because our plan A location had 2 other parties going on, so at the last minute my house (plan B) became G's Easter Egg Hunt location!! When I say the last minute, I mean THE LAST MINUTE!! It was really fine and hopefully our dirty back patio wasn't too bad!! I don't think the kids noticed.

Check out the SWP Yahoo Group and the new designs on www.appliquecafe.com (remember 30% off all designs til 4/15). I hope everyone has a wonderfully blessed Good Friday and EASTER!! It's not about the egg hunts and new Easter outfits ~ it's about what Jesus did for US! :) HAPPY EASTER!