Easter Baskets and More

I have had so much fun embroidering these baskets. Most of them are being used as Easter baskets, but the possibilities of their uses are really endless. These baskets could easily be used in your own home for storage, as a birthday gift filled with goodies, or as a baby gift filled with goodies! I held a quick photo session with one basket to give just a few ideas of how versatile they can be! However, if they are just used as Easter baskets, one great aspect of them is that they are collapsible! I love the idea of saving room instead of having more holiday decor to find room to store! We are ready to test ours out at an Easter egg hunt!

Happy Valentine's Day

I am excited to share with you my newest "try it out" project that I used my new serger to complete! I had read through several different blogs and looked at several Pinterest pictures of cutting off blue jeans to turn it into a skirt. I loved the idea since blue jeans either get too short, worn out, or need to be passed from brother to sister. I already had the design for a raggy heart applique shirt for my daughter, and I decided that a re-purposed ruffled denim skirt would go great with it. I had plenty of scraps of material, so I thought I would give it a try to make my first piece of clothing with my serger.

I decided on adding three layers of ruffles to my cut off jeans-turned skirt. The materials from the ruffles are also used in the raggy heart applique that I added to her shirt. She absolutely loves it, and I do too!

Monogrammed Shirts for Bride and Bridesmaids

I had the great privilege in December to monogram shirts for a beautiful bride and her bridesmaids. I can just imagine them getting ready together on that special day wearing these shirts!

I am back!

I am back to the blog after quite a break over Christmas. It was not that I stopped Jumpin' Jacks Stitches. In fact, it was the opposite! I completed many projects during December...some for business and some for gifts. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of a lot of the projects! However, I did complete one new project and remembered to take pictures. This project is now a possibility because of receiving a serger for Christmas! I have been playing with the possibilities ever since! This new project is a personalized burlap garden flag. I love the possibilities with the garden flags for either "everyday" or holidays!

Trying New Things...Success!

I posted the other day about trying new things to see what I can do with applique and embroidery. This weekend I finished up a project using some new applique designs that I could just see turning out so cute. My idea was to make a burlap wreath with an applique initial made out of burlap and add on stuffed appliques for different holidays. The idea started when I found this beautiful new applique font. I knew I wanted to get it on a wreath somehow. I thought I would try to applique it out of burlap on burlap. I had no idea if that would work or not! I was pleasantly surprised when it did! I also found an adorable applique design for a stuffed pumpkin to be all stitched out in the embroidery hoop. I had never used an "In The Hoop" design, but it was very easy. The burlap wreath was very easy to do, but then I had to figure out how to put all the pieces together. I love the way the end product turned out, even though there are several things that I will do differently next time. I have other designs that I am looking forward to doing for Christmas and Easter in order to change the wreath to match with the holiday.

Happy Fall!

I have now completed two more fall shirts that I absolutely love! I thought, when buying applique patterns for fall, that I would love the ribbon turkey design the most. And, I do love it. Then, I stitched out this dotted pumpkin design. Oh boy! Now I don't know which I love more! I am so glad I don't have to be the one to choose! But, yesterday, I stitched out this old truck with a pumpkin design. Oh my goodness! This shirt turned out so cute! Now my son is asking for one! With all these fall designs to choose from - decisions, decisions?!

Trying New Things...If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Try Again

I have been so excited to share this outfit on the blog. That is, until this morning.

I tried a new kind of applique using vinyl for a bubblegum machine and buttons for the gum. I thought I had researched it, figured it out, and even tried it out on a sample. I learned a lot through completing the sample. Such as, the vinyl I used CAN NOT be ironed, even using a press cloth! That was fun to see it all wrinkled up! Completed the sample, washed it, and thought it was great. Completed the outfit this weekend and washed it last night. I put it on my daughter this morning to take some pictures, only to find out that the vinyl had a small tear in it pulling away from the stitches!

I have since done more research to find that I should have used a heavier vinyl. So, this is not the end of this applique pattern! As the saying goes, "If at first you don't succeed, try try again!" And that is what I will be doing. In the mean time, I think I have figured out how to at least "fix" my daughter's. She is thrilled because she loves the outfit. And who wouldn't love all this polka dot cuteness?!?!