That Sew Shannon

I think I've mentioned once or twice on the other blog that I have a small sewing business named That Sew Shannon. Here's how it started:

About ten years ago my fabulous Aunt Mary (my Mom's twin sister) began embroidering on her first machine (the same model I own now). Mary has a creative gift. For years she would sew and embroider purses, blankets, towels, koozies... you name it, I've seen Mary make it!

Several years later my Dad bought my mom an embroidering machine. During college my Mom and I would embroider sorority and fraternity sweatshirts, blankets, bags and towels and I would sell them to my friends on campus. I would reimburse my Mom for the expenses, and we would split the profits. It came in handy for pocket money while a broke college kid (and helped me develop sales and marketing experience!).

Last Christmas my Mom and Dad surprised me with a refurbished sewing and embroidering machine. The Babylock Esante...



...the next month I took a sewing class on a Saturday morning. I had embroidered before but sewing intimidated me. I fell in love with sewing and embroidering. The first pattern I bought was an apron pattern. I posted pictures online of my projects and received great positive feedback, encouraging me to sell my aprons. That Sew Shannon came to be. My parents love that I get so much use out of my machine (probably the best present I've ever received).

Now that I have a baby (and a husband, dog, and full time job) I've tried to limit my projects to embroidering only. I look at everything for it's embroidered potential. I think at first it drove Ben crazy that I would find something embroiderable at the store for a good price and I would come home with twenty of that item (dollar bins at Target?!). Now he loves it. I have an embroidery closet (like Mom and Mary) and keep the essentials for last minute gifts.



Mom and Mary are very giving with their talent. They've sewn items for myself and my cousins, all our friends, our sports teams. At Christmas they embroider blankets for the kids staying at the Atlanta Ronald McDonald house. I've started this too, hopefully this year I'll be able to do this for the Temple, TX house (next to the hospital I delivered Betsy!) and the Austin, TX house.

So that's the story. I have tons of sewing pictures, I'll start posting them.

Presentation is everything

I enjoy fussing over a gift. Especially the wrapping. For bridal showers and baby showers I've recently taken to making gift baskets. For bridal showers, a Kitchen basket is my favorite! I love sewing and embroidering an apron with the bride's new last name, including a bottle of wine with a matching wine bottle apron, a few monogrammed kitchen towels with the couple's last initial, a magnetic pad to be used as a hanging grocery list, a cookbook and a few kitchen gadgets off the couple's registry. Here are pictures of a few of the baskets I've put together this year.







Baby gift baskets are fun too. I usually include a blanket with the child's whole name. A few receiving blankets with initials, a hat with the first name and other essential baby goodies.




Speaking of 'presentation is everything' I need to do a better job of picture taking! Please ignore the un-made bed in the background above :)

Diaper Wreaths

One of my favorite new projects is the diaper wreath. I've known lots of special ladies who have had babies lately and these have become my favorite gift to give. It's especially fun when I know the theme the family plans on using for the baby's nursery so I can correlate the Diaper Wreath decorations with that theme. Here are a couple examples.




For reference for those who might want to make one of these...

these were made with a medium sized wire wreath base from Hobby Lobby. It also took two small rolls of grosgrain ribbon, but we used 4 rolls, blue and white polka dot, white with blue feet, blue gingham, and blue "It's a boy!".

It took 32 size 1 Huggies diapers on the bottom layer
an 8 pack of baby wash cloths
three bottles
1 teddy bear
2 pack of pacifiers
1 burp cloth embroidered with Baby's name
lots of little baby ornament looking things my Mom randomly had in her closet

Here are a couple pictures of the wreath making process. I discovered if you use a larger wreath frame it not only takes more diapers to fill the frame but also more decor so it doesn't look bare.





Next time I make one of these I'm going to try for something more colorful. I'll post a picture soon!

Welcome to the new blog!

Hey guys, welcome to the new blog!

While life with Betsy, Ben and Madison keeps me pretty busy, I enjoy entertaining our friends and loved ones as well as being crafty! This blog is in the pursuit of documenting the dinner parties, barbecues, showers, and birthday parties I've hosted as well as the sewing, scrap booking, decorating and baking I attempt. So many times I don't take pictures or write down the directions on how to do something and I later regret it. I also hope to have pictures and input from friends and family who also enjoy entertaining and crafting. I think it's great to share ideas.

To get started I'm going to back track over the past year or so. Feel free to email me any ideas you'd like me to add to the blog!

Thanks!
Shannon
thatsewshannon@hotmail.com