LOVE for Laurel

Every year for Valentine’s Day, I plan to follow James Taylor’s advice to “Shower the People You Love with Love.”  If you are unfamiliar with this sweet ballad,  I suggest that you treat yourself to a few minutes of his wise counsel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkAhQBbK-oM

The good news is that I am blessed with so many people whom I love.  The bad news is that  I was unable to get a full blown love shower up by Feb. 14.  This year, it is more like a drizzle. 

I’ve started with my precious grandchildren and gotten not much further.  You’ve already seen the Egyptophile shirt I made for Robert.  The next post will show the shirt I made for Alastair and which he wore home after spending the weekend with us.  This LOVE outfit is for my sweetheart and only granddaughter, Laurel Cade.

When I found this red sale-rack pettiskirt I knew it was the perfect start for her Valentine’s Day party ensemble. I wish I had a big poufy hair bow to go with it.  My dear friend Judy Day is coming for a visit at the end of the week and will teach me to make the fabulous bows she makes for her granddaughters.  

NOTE: Have you seen the darling design for boys that says “I like girls with big hair bows.”  Next year I’ll make that for Alastair whose prissy playmates don these flirty hair accessories.

A white shirt was pulled from my size 5-6 bag of blank shirts.  I added some ribbon roses at the neckline and applique’d LOVE with letters from www.planetapplique.com, Planet Applique’s Gobble Alphabet.  The gobblers were removed in BuzzEdit2. 

I wanted to add a heart to the O in love and found just what I needed in Sew Many Designs www.sewmanydesigns.com  Say it With Love collection.  The single heart was extracted from a double.  This heart, however, did not have Planet Applique’s signature bean stitch on top of the satin stitching.

I was so pleased when I realized that with BuzzEdit2 I could add it!   Have I told you lately that I love this program?  I didn’t have time for a test stitch out and consequently, the bean stitch on the heart is longer.  It  has a length of 3.0 and the Planet Applique stitch must be 2.0 or 2.5.  But I  Laurel doesn’t mind.

The letters were arranged in BuzzEdit2 and stitched out as one file in the largest hoop on my Brother Pacesetter ULT2003D. My Brother Duetta 6500D was busy stitching another design while I worked on the LOVE shirt.

Laurel was pleased to see that each of the fabrics used in the LOVE applique’ were also used on her redwork quilt, including her favorite lipstick kiss in the center of the heart. She is learning the value of a hefty stash!

Valentine’s Day is such a fun holiday.  It’s over for 2011, but for the rest of the year and years to come, I plan to shower the people I love with love.