Ready for a fresh start!

I'm now in North Carolina! We arrived 2 weeks ago this evening. I've stayed busy since then with unpacking and attempting to settle in. There are so many changes - a new grocery store, learning my way around a new town (I grew up in the next city over, so *this* town is new to me but the general area is familiar), and of course finding places for my stuff in a new house.

I don't have any photos to share right now, sorry! I know a post with no photo is boring. :-)

On Sunday afternoon, I created a Facebook page for my business. I'll do my best to keep up with this blog *and* the Facebook page. I've been doing a lot better this year about keeping up with my "normal" blog so maybe that will spill over to this one. :-) Please come "Like" Flutterby Stitches on Facebook! I've uploaded photos of my recent beading work, including some "fobs" that are for sale. See you there!

I spent a lot of time unpacking my sewing room yesterday. ***I LOVE IT!!!*** Even though it's not fully unpacked, it's already so nice to have a dedicated area *just* for sewing. For the last 11.5 years, I've shared my sewing room with the laundry area (in 2 different houses), with the piano, with the school room, and with my daughter's bedroom. To have MY OWN SPACE is absolutely wonderful! I still can't get over how generous my parents were (are!) to buy a house for us. Wow.

-- Elizabeth

Looooooong time, no post!

Wow, it's been a very long time since I posted. Life just got so very busy.... we've also had some family "drama."

The short story is that in 3 weeks I'll be moving from Oklahoma City back to my home state of North Carolina. My parents are helping (A LOT!!!!) by buying a house for us!

The new home for Flutterby Stitches....... and for me!

LOVE this porch!!!!!!! Wouldn't this swing be the *perfect* place to sit & do some hand-sewing, or reading, or just "chillaxing?!"

The back yard.... the swing stayed, as did the "iron" decorations. Those trees look like they belong in Washington state, not North Carolina! I wonder what kind they are?! I guess I'll have to try to figure that out after I move there.

The house has 4 bedrooms, meaning I'll get my own sewing studio!!! This is the realtor's photo, so obviously the things in the photo belong to the sellers. The door to the left leads to a walk-in floored attic..... soon to be known as my fabric storage area. :-) My window looks over the back yard, and should get plenty of sunlight, which is good for sewing. The built-in desk stayed with the house so that's where my sewing/embroidery machine will live.

We plan to move the first week of July. In the meantime, I'm super-busy with all the packing I need to do! After I get all settled in, I hope to devote more time to my Flutterby Stitches business. I've learned a new craft.... beading..... so I'll be offering necklaces & other beaded items for sale. I'll try to share more details later..... for now, my water-drinking break is about over so I need to get back to the packing............

-- Elizabeth

Sheets & Curtains & Smocks

The nursery/day care at a local Bible college ordered 12 crib sheets & 2 sets of door curtains. The sheets are just plain white cotton “broadcloth” fabric... plain but functional. :-)


The door curtains were a little more interesting – the lower curtain has the day care's logo embroidered across the top edge. The upper curtain is a plain white rectangle, with a strip of Velcro to attach to the door when they need privacy. Here's a photo of one of the lower door curtains, taken at my house. Maybe sometime I'll get a picture of the curtains in use at the day care.

I digitized the logo for these smocks in August 2008. So far I've used it on 9 smocks for their day care workers, plus the door curtains! I did one more this week, but didn't take a picture since it's so similar to these from last year..... (The worker's name is “smudged” out on purpose... it doesn't look like that in real life!)

I still can't believe I get PAID to do stuff this fun..... :-) Or rather, that I will get paid after I submit the invoice!

-- Elizabeth

Nancy's Crosses

As I mentioned in my previous post, my email friend Nancy also ordered 8 crosses to give as gifts. I edited the Embroidery Library design to have metallic gold thread accents. Fortunately for me, the first 2 "trial runs" didn't turn out right, and another of the crosses had a thread nest on the back... not good enough to sell to Nancy, but certainly good enough for me to keep for myself!!

Here's a close-up of one cross. I wish the gold thread would look as pretty in a picture as it does in person.... just take my word for it - the gold is GORGEOUS!!!!

-- Elizabeth

Nancy's Shells

A couple of years ago, an email friend asked me to make some lace dragonflies for her tropical-themed Christmas tree, & to let her know if I ever acquired a shell design. This year, I was able to buy a lace shell design - so she ordered 3! I love the way they turned out - I just might have to make at least 1 for myself. :-)



The fun thing is that Nancy ordered some lace crosses to give as gifts! I still can't believe that people will PAY me to do something so fun!!!! Isn't that the definition of a dream job, though?


-- Elizabeth

Apron for "Pappy"

This photo is of an apron I embroidered for a friend to give to her dad. She bought the apron at Wal-Mart, & had the "Best Pappy" part embroidered by someone else. She wanted an applique of some kind - maybe a chef's hat - but couldn't find any she liked. Her sister remembered that I have an embroidery machine, & so she called me.

I digitized her children's signatures to make the apron even more personal, & she'll use paint to put the children's handprints on the pockets.

The shrimp-lobster border is because their family is from Louisiana, and "Pappy" is learning to cook Cajun food.

-- Elizabeth

Baby Burp Cloths

These baby burp cloths are DONE.... I just need to list them on Etsy. The embroidery designs are based on vintage embroideries from the mid-1900's. The burp cloths are made from flat-fold cloth diapers, with a triple-layer in the center. The triple-layer serves two purposes.... it provides better absorbancy, and it hides the back of the embroidery designs so there are no poky threads! The center panels are stitched down with decorative stitches, most of them with variegated thread to make them fancier. They're long, so you can drape them over your shoulder or fold them double to give more protection. They're great as "washcloths" to clean up small spills.


I used some burp cloths similar to these with my babies, and I LOVED them! After being washed, they lose the crisply-ironed look, but they still look fine, in my opinion. Since they're made from cloth diapers, they can be machine washed & dried. I wouldn't use bleach since that might white-out the embroidery design, but they could be spot-bleached if the stain isn't too close to the embroidery or stitches. I'm saving a few for myself, just in case we have another baby, but most of them I'll offer for sale in sets of 2. This photo is of what I call the "flowers" set. The lamb is frolicking through sunflowers, and the goat is gathering some blossoms... presumably for his mommy! The stitching on this pair is done with green variegated thread, ranging from almost-white to dark green.


Now to find the time to sit down & list them!! :-)


-- Elizabeth