Wednesday, February 20, 2013

A Bit of History

Welcome to The Applique Place Blog! My name is Beth and I am the owner of this blog and of The Applique Place.  On this blog I plan to post helpful tips for machine applique, a few tutorials, and a bit about us.  You will not be seeing a ton of blog posts from me, but I hope to post things that are helpful and informative, or at least fun.  I would first like to introduce you to my family and give you a bit of history on how I came to open The Applique Place.

This is us last June at the Currituck Beach Lighthouse on the outer banks of North Carolina.  My husband, Dave, and I have 4 daughters.

Karilyn, Heidi, Diana, and Baby Hannah

Dave and I were married in 2002, and God has blessed us in more ways than I could have ever imagined.  

Dave works as a network technician and helps me with the computer end of things when I have trouble. 

I became a Dental Hygienist in 2000 and worked full time until my oldest was born.  Then I worked part time up until my baby, Hannah was born.  I guess I've been on "maternity leave" for a year and a half.  I'm glad the girl that is filling in for me likes it at the office where I worked, I'm not sure if I will ever go back to hygiene.  

I own two other businesses;  My Little Hedgehog and Froggie's Swim Caps, also Froggie's Swim Caps on Etsy.  Both of these business have allowed us to have that bit of extra money so that I could stay at home with our 4 daughters.  In my shop, My Little Hedgehog, I sell personalized embroidered and appliqued products, mostly baby gifts, like bibs, burp cloths, and onesies.  I have over 2000 sales and my customers seem very satisfied. I started my etsy shop in 2009 and began by selling pre-made scrapbook pages and albums.  My very talented sister, Amy, still does this.  You can find her shop Journeys of Joy on Etsy.

I grew up sewing, I loved to sew by my mom's side making things like little sleeping bags and pillows for my dolls.  Through the process of growing up and college, I stopped sewing.  I found a new interest in sewing in 2009 when my Diana was a baby.  I made her a rag quilt and the rest is history.  I loved making all of my girls outfits and dresses.  For more on our early family history and the things I liked to sew, you can visit my old blog here.  One of my most favorite creations is the dress I made for my daughter, Heidi, using old fabric sample books:



Froggie's Swim Caps is a bit smaller than my hedgehog business, but I have a lot of fun with it.  I sell lycra swim caps in 4 sizes.   Lycra is the same type of fabric that swimsuits are made out of.  They are very comfortable.  I also make fancy swim caps, here are my two oldest and my sister's two oldest modeling some for me:


I got my first embroidery machine in 2010, and I was like a kid on Christmas!  I found embroidery to be very fun and rewarding!  It wasn't long before I got interested in learning to digitize. I have been working towards learning to digitize and open a design shop since November of 2011.  That's brings us to now.  My shop will officially be open on March 2nd, 2013.  

I will be offering things like simple appliques, in the hoop puppets, other in the hoop items, and various other designs depending on where I feel led.  

Thank you for visiting my blog!  

Have a Fabulous Day!