To do baby things or not...that is the question

Hello!

In my last post I stated that I was trying my hand at embroidering various items, i.e. guest and kitchen towels, key fobs and baby things to name a few.  Well...I think I've decided that embroidering baby items is just not my cup of tea.  Maybe it's the tininess of the design area (is "tininess" a real word?  Maybe "tiny-ness?"), or maybe it's because I don't even know anyone having babies for whom to make the samples, or maybe...

No, it's because of the tinyness of the designs and how frustrating it was for me to hoop the onesies.  That's not to say I didn't do a few, because I did.  Four sets for a girl in my husband's office who will be going on maternity leave soon, to be exact.  Four different styles ranging from cutesy to artsy to cool to sweet.  They turned out well, I learned some things (how to hoop a tiny 3" square area for starters), but I also learned that not every kind of embroidery is going to be fun for me.

This was the cutesy set, a bib and a burp cloth made from a fingertip towel. Applique design from Embroidery Library.

An appliqued bunny and the baby's name

The "cool" set. Design from Urban Threads.

See that little butterfly?  It wasn't part of the main design.  On the bib it was just a decoration to match the one on the onesie.  I learned what the wrong needle can do to knits - it can tear a thread and start a run exactly like on a pair of nylon stockings.  The butterfly fixed it and actually made the design look cuter anyway.  Win win!

The artsy set.  The image is from Urban Threads.

I've recently discovered the Urban Threads website which is filled with all manner of fun embroidery designs including punk, gothic, artsy and more.  Not a lot of cutesy there, but there are plenty of other sites for that.

I had fun practicing different ways of personalizing these designs with different font and letter layouts.

The sweet set.  Design from Embroidery Library.

Embroidery Library was the first website I discovered back when I first started embroidering. They have many beautiful, fun, sweet and cutesy designs not to mention lots and lots of project tutorials and tips on the various aspects involved in this wonderful craft.  It truly is one-stop shopping and learning at Embroidery Library.

And there you have it - my foray into the world of embroidering for baby.  I won't add it to my business plan, but at least I can give new moms and moms-to-be a nice, personalized gift.  Thankfully I only bought a dozen of each item and not dozenS (which is my natural tendency).

Thanks for joining me today, and I wish you a lovely holiday weekend for the Americans out there and a lovely weekend in general for the rest!

Happy crafting!

New Directions!

Hello and Happy (almost) Fall, Y'all!

Did you take a vacation this summer?  I did (from blogging) and am back with vim and vigor.  And a new (old) craft!  Since completely redoing my craft room (you can see the befores and afters here), I've been itching to fire up my Viking and get back to embroidering.  I had only been doing it about a year before discovering fun with paper and glitter, but I couldn't do both the way my craft room was situated before - it was either one or the other - but now I can do either one on a whim by just rolling my chair to either side of the room.  Yay!

Here's my darling embroidery machine.  It's a Viking Designer Diamond, and I just love it.  The software, which I upgraded a couple of weeks ago (so many changes happened in the past two years that I sort of HAD to, right?) allows it to do just about everything but wash dishes for me.  As I hadn't embroidered anything in two years, it was all pretty new again and took a bit of learning to figure things out and remember what I had forgotten, but it's been time well spent.  This time around I plan to really dig deep into all of the options and features available because I want to expand the embroidery business much more than what I'm doing now, which is basically towels, both guest and kitchen, plus a few baby things.  And key fobs - they are so FUN!  I want to do it all right now, but learning is a process.  Baby steps...

Here are a few of my projects and I will share more in the coming days and weeks as I grow this hobby.  At the moment I'm putting most everything I make into the Etsy shop (saving a few for gifts) and I've just barely dipped my toes into the waters of personalizing and customizing.  Eeek!

For a fall wedding or bridal shower.

Meow...Halloween is coming.

 

Suzani Hearts for just because.

Happy candy corn!

 

My sentiments exactly.

And these are just a tiny few of what I've been up to for the past couple of months, my "beginner" projects as it were.  Next I'm digging through my closet and drawers for clothes (t-shirts and cotton shirts) on which to practice clothing-type embroidery.

Thanks for joining me (it's good to be back!) and I wish you a wonderfully crafty day!

Happy crafting!

Oh wait, just one more...

My darling crafting companion loves the room too.  She thinks it might produce a handmade winter coat soon.  She could be right.

All embroidered items are for sale in my Etsy shop.