Who says aprons can’t be for little girls?

Well I didn’t but I couldn’t think of a title, looks at the time on her watch.

Little girls love to be like mommies, so why can’t they have an apron. After all when mommy is preparing dinner or baking, who always wants to help. Little ones. So why not give your little girl her very own apron for those days you have a special mother daughter day. But it can also be used at play or when crafting.

I have some “special” aprons I want to create but I’ve been pulling myself in all different directions to get “other” items done for my booth. As I looked at my to do pile, I was like okay lets do these little girl aprons because those “other” ones I have to create myself and will be more time consuming. Last week was dedicated to embroidery, I can’t sew and embroider at the same time, I get frazzled if I do both at the same time. I like to “focus”.

A surprise. I pulled out a pile of aprons earlier that week. All of the little girl aprons were rolled up nicely, indicating that I had washed them for possible shrinkage. I had a design set up in my machine and just finished the thread colors, now to unroll them. As I start to unroll them and lay them on the sewing table when I got to the 3rd apron and as I opened it up, I see a cupcake design. No this can’t be so. I open the next one, ballet shoes. What, I remember embroidering those and I remember there were more. I remember there was just one that I gave as a Christmas gift, now how many more of these are done. I start to quickly open the rest of them. In total I have 5 aprons done and 5 blanks to do.

Yeah I knew I had stitched them up but forgot where I stashed them. You know we all do that. You buy something to make, you put it away and it completely slips your mind where it is and you end up buying it again and a day later you find the original one but used the one you just bought. I’ve been finding all these little surprise a lot lately. Just like the little totes I made for small children and embroidered, sorry no pictures and they are in my booth, but, whispers, I have more of those little totes. I just wanted to see how they looked stitched up. You know there is a method to our madness. You see I had plans long ago and had started to sew up an inventory, but things happened and ….. the rest is history.

I felt good knowing I only had 5 to do and most of my day was spent running errands so this helped in finishing them. The end results are great and I have more little girl aprons in my big storage organizer so I can put other designs on them.

I have a little joke to share. Well its not a joke but, my son works in the electrical field and one year he told his dad that they had these big metal boxes from the job he just finished and they don’t know what they were going to do with them. These boxes stored all the tools and other items needed to do all the work on the building and they had like 5 of them. His dad said cool that would be great if you could get a couple of them. We could put them in our yard and I could store all our jeep parts in them. They would be safe and the weather wouldn’t ruin any of the pieces. When I heard the conversation, I said hey get me one for all my fabric and stuff, lol. Gawd I wish he got them cause it would have been perfect to store all my stuff, however it would have been a pain to “find” something. You’ve heard how women have used sheds and storage units to have their stash, I’d have my metal box! Okay pictures!

Coffee Anyone?

Whats your favorite Java? To tell you the truth I don’t drink coffee, but there are times that I do grab one, just because the smell overcomes me. I am more of a flavor hot chocolate lover and tea lover. I am starting to try new teas, but I limit myself with how much I drink a day. Too much caffeine is not good for me. I also refrain from drinking too much sodas.

Last week I took a day making aprons and a day for huck towels. I am getting ready to set these up in a few weeks at Nickorbob’s Home Decor, where I have a booth. I’ve been trying to think of a form of staging. I actually found a old coffee or tea pot and shined it up really nice. Now I was looking for old tins of coffee but I think I won’t succeed. I’ve decided just to grab a couple different flavors of coffee with a coffee cup. Put them in a nice box and nicely place one of my towels by the box. A card saying, “A perfect pick me up or special treat for that coffee lover”. I mean how many friends do you have that LOVE coffee and is always carrying a cup from Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or one of the many other coffee houses out there.

These designs on the aprons and towels are major thread count. Rule of thumb, when a design is stitch intense, the end result, item will be more expensive. No wonder it took me a day for the aprons and 2 for the towels. However, I will admit, it was worth the time to stitch these out. They are beautiful. I know I would “hate” to wear one of the aprons and worry about getting a stain on it, cause after washing them you definitely have to iron. And the towels, to good to use, better for show. I know there are lots of ladies out there that when they decorate their kitchens, there are towels for using daily and then there are those towels that “are not” to be TOUCHED. These are definitely display. I will add this side note, these coffee cups can be customized to your personal taste, to match your decor of your kitchen.

On both the aprons and towels the stabilizer I used was tear away, iron on. Just as a reminder, I used the iron on tear away mostly because it holds the fabric in place and is perfect for all types of projects. I know I’ve been out of the loop with embroidery stuff, such as new products, so I’m going to have to check out some of my past suppliers to see whats new in the embroidery world.

Take a peak at the aprons and towels. Most of my designs are purchased from EmbLibrary, unless I mention, the Roosters and Frogs were not from there, just a fyi if you ever go looking. At EmbLibrary any design I purchase I can embroider and sell my wares.

Februray EmbLibrary Free Designs

Embroidery friends don’t forget to get your freebie designs from EmbLibrary. You have until February 29th to claim your designs. Remember you have to be a member to purchase. http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/Free.aspx

Here are the designs

The strawberries design comes in 5 sizes, the flamingo 2 sizes.

Enjoy. Tomorrow I believe a new sale starts, I’ll let you know.

Happy Hour EmbLibrary – This weekend only ending May 17th 2009

This week-end, until Sunday, May 17th, EmbLibrary is having “Happy Hour”. If you are not a member of EmbLibrary you are not aware of what “Happy Hour” is. This is were you can receive machine embroidery designs at half off from their normal price. This includes design packs. So take advantage of filling up your shopping cart with designs, add the special code, Nifty50, and see the prices drop before your eyes.

With this particular week-end Happy Hour there is a bonus. After you have placed your order, go to your order history. There you will see a folder titled something like VIP, these are the five free designs, which I’ve posted above.

So stop by and check out this week’s new designs and sale items <sale is certain designs for a dollar a piece, the Nifty50 code does not apply to these items, only regularly priced items>. Maybe there might be a design that you wanted to purchase in a previous week, but didn’t, now you can take advantage of the “Happy Hour” and get those 5 free designs. And as a reminder, pick up the free designs and check out their 17 cent designs for the month of May.

Remember this “Happy Hour” sale ends Sunday, May 17th 11:59 pm, Central Standard Time.

EmbLibrary Customer Appreciation Sale, New Freebies and 17 Cent Designs

This week at EmbLibrary they are having a FAB Customer Appreication Sale.

There are 4 coupons that you can use on separate purchases to get maximum savings on embroidery designs. Please be advised that only one coupon can be used per order. You have to make sure that you put the appropriate code in the box and click on “Apply Code” in order to activate.

This sale ends Tuesday, May 12th at 11:59 pm, Central Time.

Buy 10 designs for 10 bucks – you can’t go wrong there! Take your pick of any design, find all the ones that are costly. Put in your shopping basked enter the code GiveMe10 and see the prices drop!

Single designs save 60%. Put single designs in your shopping cart. When you are ready to check out, enter code SINGLE60 and each regular priced designs will be discounted! 

 

Buy one design pack, get the second one free – we know how we like our design packs. No matter how many design packs you want, enter into your shopping basket, enter BOGO4U and if you buy 4, the two will be free, buy 6, 3 free and so on.

$5 off a $10 order – cannot be used with first coupon. Add designs or packs to your shopping basket until the total is $10 or more. Enter code TAKE5 and your order is discounted $5 bucks.

Don’t forget to check out their new items for this week and the “TWEET” for the week. You can apply “TWEET” to one of these coupons, prefer single design coupon for a savings of 60% off the dollar price.

 

 

 

Don’t forget to get May’s 17 cent designs. There is a total of 4 different designs, but all designs stem around the one I posted here. If you already collected their hummingbirds, this is another one you must have.

 

Finally we have the monthly May free designs.

Pop on over and collect them before the end of the month!

Cold and rainy – Simply Spring Birds and Buds

Well haven’t seen any snow, but it is cold enough. I was reminded once again, when you turn off the furnace, put it back on when you know its going to be cold the next day. Hey I’ve got too much on my mind to remember these things and what’s wrong with your fingers or eyes to check if its on or not – LOL.

Did some machine embroidery again today, reminds me I have towels in the washer that I am preshrinking… <run downstairs and transfer>

Here is one of the new designs from EmbLibrary that was purchased from their Wishful Thinking promotion from this week-end. I am very happy with the outcome once again of their design. This makes a great set for any occasion, remember Mother’s Day is coming up. Was thinking of putting this on my ETSY site, but not sure whether to put it as a set or individually. Can always put in the description area, if interested as both towels and apron, converse with me. Can indicate a price and they can get the whole package deal.

Started a second design, the apron only got completed. That’s why the towels were in the wash. Don’t like to embroider on items that haven’t been preshrunk. The design is being done in green, matching towels will be green. These towels are really nice. They were purchased from All About Blanks. Susan has great quality items and her prices are very reasonable. Have to take a trip over and see what’s new.

These items were done using fast frames. It almost seems that I might pack away my hoops since the frames are working very nicely (any one interested in an extra set of PR 600 hoops). I just found out that they have a jumbo fast frame now. Get this, 12 x 14 sewing field. Guess what <giggle> I’m buying one!!! Lets see, metrothread last week, EmbLibrary yesterday, uhm fast frame tomorrow. Gonna call my sewing store to see what price they will give me. AllBrands has it on sale for 99 bucks, lets see if my sewing store wishes to continue receiving my business by giving me a better deal <wink>.

Okay so time for me to start downloading items to flickr and etsy. I’ll keep you posted on my projects. And guess what – – – ITS SNOWING!!!!! ARGH!!!!!

EmbLibrary Wishful Thinking – April 5th

If you are a member of EmbLibrary and you have purchased from them in the past, this week-end they are having a “Wishful Thinking”. Only until April 5th, purchases of designs or sets that you have in your wish list will be 50% off.

So anything that you put in your wish list, you move over to your shopping cart. When you are ready to check out, click the apply code and put in the code wishfulthinking and your items will be reduced 50%.

Guess what time for me to go shopping!!!

EmbLibrary 17 cent and Free Designs – April 2009

Hi everyone. Busy evening for me. I started sewing my pin cushions. They are adorable. I’m not completely done with the first set but you will really like them. I need to find out how I attach a PDF file so if I provide the pattern you can get it. More learning.

I visited EmbLibrary a few minutes ago and they have their new 17 cent and free designs for the month. I like the 17 cent designs, so I will have to find something to buy. You have a matter of hours to get the previous months free designs.

Here are this months items:

These are the free designs. And they come in two different sizes.

Baseball Bear comes in 4.83 x 5.56 and 3.34 x 3.86.

Tulip Trio comes in these two sizes; 5.58 x 4.84 and 3.87 x 3.52.

Remember you can grab all four sizes just by being a member and putting the items in your shopping cart.

I really, really like this design of potted flowers. It is one of the six 17 cent designs.

It comes in two sizes, 8.98 x 5.85 and 6.86 x 4.47.

The other 5 designs that they are offering this month are individual designs of each flower pictured here. Each individual potted flower comes in two different sizes. 

Here is the tweet design for the week. I think its darling.

It would really look nice on an apron that you wear while gardening.

The tweet designs are for a dollar only during the week that they are appearing.

And as with all EmbLibrary designs, it comes in two different sizes; 5.86 x 8.89 or 4.48 x 6.80.

Grab ’em while you can and you will have to visit for the remaining month of April for the other weekly tweets, as I don’t post them weekly.

This week’s designs are called “simply spring”. There are some very nice designs, but you will have to hop on over there to see what they have to offer. 

While you are there check out their sale for the week. You might be interested in something.

Well time to sign off and crawl into bed. It was a very busy day.

Happy Hour & VIP Free Designs – EmbLibrary March 13 2009

EmbLibrary is having another one of their fabulous “Happy Hours” this week-end. From now until Sunday, March 15, 2009, 11:59 pm (Central Time). If your not a member yet, you won’t be able to take advantage of this great deal.

This week the “Happy Hour” is 10 designs for $17 bucks. The thing is, you have the opportunity to use the code up to 3 times durig the week-end. 

But wait, there’s more. If you make a $17 purchase, you get 5 FREE VIP Designs. As I usually do, designs are shown below that are in the VIP set. I betcha this would be a good opportunity to buy those 17 cent designs as well.

It seems that EmbLibrary has Happy Hour every other week-end. So in order to take advantage of these special savings, you need to be a member. If you are a member but did not receive an email – special code is Green17

Reminder – have you signed up for the Monogram Wizard drawing. Only one entry during the month of March

EmbLibrary Free Designs and 17 Cent Designs March 09

Welcome March.

Two more weeks of snow and cold. Lets hope that’ll be it. Its supposedly snowing right now and it has been very cold this week-end. The wind was whipping like crazy. I’m really tired of the weather and it is not making me productive. I know once the weather is nice I won’t get out because I will be in the sewing room, having energy.

This month we will be moving our clocks up an hour. Daylight savings time! This will take place next Saturday evening or Sunday morning, however you do it. It’ll be nice to have light early in the morning. Now I will know where I’m at. I have a tendency of making a left turn at the wrong location on Mondays’. Note the change.

March will bring us another Friday the 13th. February the 13th didn’t bring any bad stuff, so neither will March. My days fall into each other, so I really never know what day it is anyways. As far as I am concerned, tomorrow is Christmas. I say that because days just go by to quickly.

Free design #2 March 09

March brings us to new free designs at EmbLibrary. I’m really learning how to link sites on here <giggle>. 

These two designs come in two different sizes and you can get all four for FREE!

The “Bunny” design comes in 2.79 x 6.87 and would look cute on baby quilt or blanket that comes in the world around Easter time. The smaller design, 1.57 x 3.87 could be put on a t-shirt or you could shrink it smaller to possibly put it on a onesie. If you can get it small enough you could even put it on a baby bib.

The “Daffodil Bouquet” design comes in 5.33 x 4.86 or 3.85 x 3.50. As stated in my previous post, you can put this on a towel for your kitchen as well as other applications.

 

17 Cent Design March 09

And here is the 17 cent design from Emblibrary. Isn’t this cute!!! I showed it to my daughter and she said “It’s not a PEEP”, so I guess she didn’t like it. In order to get the designs for 17 cents you must purchase another design, whether normal price or sale price.

This design comes in several sizes. You can get the design with text in 7.91 x 5.86 or 6.54 x 4.86. If you just want the design without text you can get it in 3.89 x 3.29. 

Several possibilities for this design. You can put it on a towel, kitchen or bathroom hand towel, table cloth or table runner. You can add additional eggs throughout the table runner or on additional edges of the table cloth. You can use the filled design eggs or applique that they also sell.

They have lots of different Easter designs and until Tuesday I believe, they have their BOGO sale, buy one design at regular price, get one free. I should not have looked at the new items for last week. They are for t-shirt tops around the neckline. Oh they are so darling for children. I am staying away…

 We must not forget their weekly tweet design. This is the design for last week that ends next week were you can purchase for a buck. So if you like it, you’d better grab it quickly.

I should let you know that if you are not a member of EmbLibrary, you should become one. They have a birthday club. If your birthday fell in January or February, sorry, but if you sign up, you get a certificate for 10 dollars to purchase designs in your birthday month. Last year I didn’t use mine. I was a real dummy.

Well that’s it for now.

Enjoy!