And We Have A Winner!!

Let's face it.....we are ALL winners, right??  But only one *special follower* can be the recipient of the $35 Gift Certificate from my good friend Sean @ CSN Stores!  I want to use a little space here to thank Sean for his support, and for helping to make someone's holiday just a little easier with his generosity.  :D

Drum roll, please........

Mixin' it up.......

Sorry for the blurry pic, but it's not easy to look away and take the pic at the same time!!!

And the winner is.........

The Winner is Princess of Everything!!!

I will be sending you an email to give you the coupon code for your gift!

Thanks to everyone that took time out from their busy holiday schedule to read my blog, leave a comment, and lift up my day.  I cherish each and every one of you, and want you to know that it enriches my life to hear from you!

Okay.....got a tutorial I am finishing up, and these holiday decorations are not getting themselves out of the boxes, so I will be back a little later!  :)

Oprah's Favorite Things?? The Real Reasons For Giving Thanks, And A Giveaway!

Oprah-shmoprah.  I'm sorry, but most of the *favorite things* are great if you are in the audience, and you're getting them for free!!  But what about the rest of us poor schmucks??  

Our favorite things often lie in the simple things in our lives.  My list is pretty short and sweet.  And, after my *many* years on this planet, my list no longer centers around material goods.  I won't tell you that I don't enjoy driving my fancy car, because it is better to have reliable transportation than the kind we had many years ago.......I have not forgotten driving with jugs of water in the back seat to refill the radiator on the wrecked Chevette.  But I know my true happiness does not rely on those things. 

I watched Oprah's *Favorite Things* Show last week, like I do every year.  Mostly to see what made the list.   Then, I thought.....why not share MY list, and ask all of you to list one of your *favorite things*?  It can be anything that makes you happy.  

For example, I love getting things ready and packing my suitcase for my annual birthday trip to Michigan.  It's not just getting to leave town for a few days.....it really is about my roots, seeing my family, and sharing the dark humor we are known for with the people that get it.  I love driving past the farms, seeing the fall colors, and that feeling of being loved and grounded all at the same time.  

Just about a decade ago, I lost 4 family members in 5 years, 3 of them to cancer.  It was so hard, for so long, to see anything in that experience that was good at all.  The holidays were by far the most difficult time for a long, long time.  I could hardly bring myself up enough to even decorate.  There were so many years we were together for Thanksgiving or Christmas and we took for granted that it would just *be* that way.  Richard would drink too much, Mom would complain the turkey was dry, Karen would burn the rolls, I would force people to try a new, healthy alternative to the old holiday recipes.  Then when things changed, I realized how much I depended on them to be the same.  I was lost for a long, long time. 

Gotta Have Bling Part 2- Chenille Letters

First let me say a big "Thanks!!" to all who emailed me for the first set of files.  I am happy to share my files, and would love to see what you make with them!

Second- let me just say a big "Boo-Yah!" and "Heck Yes!!" on the harvesting of the first vegetables from my garden!!!  Yes....it's true!  For a mere cost of $3500 and a timeframe of 7+ years, I grew and harvested 3 watermelons!  But, I don't want to toot my own horn here (right...?)

Okay...on to the tutorial and freebies!!  
Is this just the cutest High School sweatshirt ever??

 I branched out from the High School sweatshirts and did one just for the love of Texas:

And here is how to make some of your very own!

Like before, just shoot me an email and let me know what format you need the font files in, and I will send them to you FOR FREE!!


Note:  These are not true type fonts.  You will need to use your editing program to size them and arrange them.  These designs fit 4 x 4 or 5 x 7 hoops.  I am giving away these font files.  You may use them for your own personal use, sell items made from the files, give away the files with appropriate tag-back to Ticklish Moose, but may not reproduce and sell these font files.  Simple enough, right?  


If you do not have an embroidery machine, you can still make chenille letters by printing out fonts on freezer paper, pressing it to the fabric, and sewing a small zig-zag stitch following the outline of the fonts.  Use a stabilizer backing to give the letters some body.  Then follow the final steps to create the chenille. 


Start with any T-shirt, sweatshirt of hoodie, the fabric of choice, and I use flannel behind the fabric to make a *poofier* applique.  I have found that like the rag quilts, the flannel makes a really nice fringe-y edge.

It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got Some Bling!

I am still alive, faithful followers....but barely!  I feel like I just can't get caught up no matter how hard I try.  I wanted to put this out there: I have been having much more frequently what are commonly called 'ocular migraines'.  I was wondering if anyone else out there had any info they could share with me about this.  Of course, the first time it happened I was sure I was going blind from the Lyme.  It was super-scary, but I did a little research, and spoke to my Neurologist who said to just keep a log and if they become 'too frequent' to come in.  What is 'too frequent'??  Do any of you know anyone that has these and has determined some sort of 'trigger'??  I still have not put two and two together with these.

Okay, enough with that.  Let's get down to the good stuff!!  *Blingaholics* unite!  I have a fun project with freebies I am sharing today.   If you are interested in creating some shirts of your own, just leave a comment or send me an email, and I will email you the embroidery font files *free of charge*!

Be sure to let me know what format your machine uses!

My son goes to a new High School that opened last year with Freshman and Sophomore's only.  Awesome!  Beautiful campus, excellent staff, no Senior 'meanies' to detract from the excitement of Freshman year.  One HUGE problem though.....Ugly school sweatshirts and T-shirts!!  I have seen some from other schools in the area, and ours are definitely some of the ugliest! (sorry to whoever 'designed' them)  I thought there was certainly room for improvement- let's leave it there.  The beauty (??) of this project is that you can use the ideas to apply to any group.  These pics for instruction are actually from some sweatshirts I am doing for another school.

First the 'legal stuff':

These designs are my own, and are copyrighted.  You may use these ideas and files to create your projects and sell those projects.  You may not copy or download these files and use the files for resale.  I am giving this away to you, please do the same, but give credit or a linkback to Ticklish Moose and this blog. :)

A few notes about this project:

It is designed for use with machine embroidery, but you could also make templates with a graphics program and sew around the letters with a regular sewing machine, or even by hand!  The project I am posting today is 'reverse applique'.  I will also post a different project next week with the sweatshirts I have been doing with 'regular applique'.  You can use either one of the files I will send you to do the reverse or regular applique.

I buy Guildan sweatshirts from Jiffy Shirts 

I use between 40 and 60 5mm Hotfix crystals per sweatshirt.

April at A Crafty Family  is my source for the crystals, and her level of customer service is second to none!

The first thing I want to discuss if fabric choice.  From experience I have found that definite geometric prints do not work well for either of the applique applications.  Random patterns, solids, batiks or blending fabrics are going to be your best bet.  Use a good quality quilting cotton type of fabric, or even t-shirt knits.  Pre-wash and dry both the sweatshirt and the fabric so you don't get any 'wonky' shrinkage after you are finished.

Second- use a good quality, medium weight, cut away stabilizer.  Use a needle made for stretch/knit fabrics!  I use a 90/14 ball point.  If you use a sharp you will just punch/tear holes in the knit.  

And....The WINNER is......

First of all, let me apologize for being gone from the blog for sooo long!  I thought about all of my followers every day, wondering the outcome of the Great Giveaway.  We have had a family medical emergency, and I just have truly not been able to catch my breath.  I'm not sure why these things always seem to time out this way.  Just Murphy's Law at work.  Ahhh Murphy....not sure who you were, but you were wise.

So- Let's get down to it!!!  :)

As promised, I wrote down all the names of everyone that was kind enough to leave a comment on the blog.  

Folded them and put them in the basket:

Mixed them all up really, really well:

I will contact you and let you know how to get the gift certificate, and my thanks to everyone for staying with me through all of this turbulence.

I certainly hope to get back to crafting and sewing just ASAP!  I am definitely in need of a creative outlet!!