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40 Comments

  1. Nancy Ross Vecchione
    May 14, 2013 @ 10:13 am

    Victoria, once again you rock the blog world! Loved this post, so totally relate to it, and the timing of the project is perfect! TY!!!

    Reply

  2. Sandi
    May 14, 2013 @ 10:20 am

    This is charming. 🙂 Of course, because YOU made it for LARA. 🙂 I love hearing about your friendship!

    I do nothing of crafty note. My most recent “how-to” post was How to Write a Query Letter Without Freaking Out. Practical, but no fun pictures.

    I have embroidered for friends and family, and I have even spun wool into thread. Of course I have no posts about these things either.

    Thank you so much for sharing your inner brain and your outer awesome. Personally, I like a template for connected letters, but it does require a lot of thread. 🙂

    You’re fabulous. Every post.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 14, 2013 @ 4:31 pm

      I’m skeptical that it’s possible to write a query letter without freaking out. Do you have evidence such a thing is possible?

      I suffer from over-edit ocd… where something like that gets revisited for so long that by the time it’s finished, an entirely different approach has occurred to me.

      Reply

  3. Scottie
    May 14, 2013 @ 10:23 am

    Have to tell you, didn’t care for it on the photo in the email… clicked over to check it out and then Waa La!! Totally awesome once I realized where you did it and got a bigger picture. SO incredible! What a cool gift! I wish I had a friend like you. :0) I can’t sew to save my life… if I could come up with the time to take a lesson it’d be fun- knowing me though, I would forget I wanted the lessons and do something else then be bummed I wanted to take the lessons and didn’t.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 14, 2013 @ 4:32 pm

      My sewing skills are limited to hemming stuff… anything more complicated than that gets into the realm of half-assed solutions where if you look at the inside of the seam, it’s clear I pretty much glued it together… So I guess that’s an endorsement of how truly simple this project is.

      Reply

  4. Emily K.
    May 14, 2013 @ 10:56 am

    Super cool! I miss those days of incessant chatter and picking apart the same topic over, and over, and over again with your girlfriends-turned-sisters. Now much husband has to put up with this, but it becomes a one-sided conversation.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 14, 2013 @ 4:34 pm

      I KNOW!!! I miss it too… even though half of those conversations were totally agonizing and involved trying to decipher WHY life was so confusing.

      Reply

  5. Garden, Home and Party
    May 14, 2013 @ 11:19 am

    Victoria,

    What a heartwarming and hilarious story. I’m going to pressure my best friend to make me a t-shirt. In all seriousness, you made this whole embroidering thing look easy. I’ll save this for the files on ‘crafts I’d like to attempt once I retire’.

    You described best friend discussions perfectly!

    Karen

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 14, 2013 @ 4:35 pm

      I made sure to leave the tag on the t-shirt, so she knew I actually bought it… the last time I made her a tee, I just used one that didn’t fit me anymore (I am way taller than she is)… it was for a joke-thing, so it didn’t need to be super nice… but I overlooked that it had a giant stain on it. She was like, is this a USED t-shirt?

      Reply

  6. Jessica@CapeofDreams
    May 14, 2013 @ 12:11 pm

    I linked up, but I went with an old post of something I made with love for Douglas when we were still dating. I was too busy planning a party to make anything last week!

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 15, 2013 @ 9:39 am

      I’m so glad you shared… I love that project!!

      I loathe party-planning. Whenever I think about having one, it takes me no more than ten minutes for the panic to set in… and cancel all imaginary plans.
      Then I congratulate myself on having avoided the stress.

      Reply

  7. Danielle
    May 14, 2013 @ 1:14 pm

    Look who’s crafty?! Martha would be so proud!

    For all my love of needlepoint and cross-stitch, I’ve never attempted to embroider anything. I have the supplies just haven’t made the jump into the great unknown. You make it look so easy and now with my new found knowledge of playing with fonts in Illustrator, I may be unstoppable.

    This shirt is so cute, but the depth of your friendship is the truly the gift.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 16, 2013 @ 7:46 am

      I think it would be cute filled in… I guess I’d need a smaller template because it would take too long otherwise. But it would be easier to read if the letters were solid.

      Reply

  8. Alex
    May 14, 2013 @ 5:00 pm

    I’m sorry, did you say you thought you weren’t crafty? I want one. Like yesterday. I can’t do that. And I have lots of bloody embroidery hoops!!! Again, I want one!! This requires a giveaway…

    Reply

  9. Laurel
    May 15, 2013 @ 11:27 am

    As I read this post, I kept trying to decide whether it was appropriate to make a joke about the other four letter word that rhymes with luck that I find myself uttering when attempting something crafty. Then I thought of another joke that was far less funny but I still cannot help but make about getting side stitches from laughing about the first joke. Sorry.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 16, 2013 @ 7:50 am

      Here I thought I missed out on making the joke… but apparently it was unnecessary to actually say it out loud.

      I cannot tell you HOW HAPPY it would have made me to send Lara a t-shirt that said F*** in giant letters on the side… CLEARLY superior.

      Reply

  10. Laurel
    May 15, 2013 @ 11:28 am

    I also thought I’d let you know how impressed I am, as I tried doing this exact thing except in a straight line on a blanket that I thought I was going to hand quilt (lol) and it was horrific.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 16, 2013 @ 7:52 am

      I had to pull out a few stitches a couple of times… but the template mostly kept things under control.

      I had started out making tiny stitches… but then halfway through the first line of L realized I was making twice as much work for myself.

      Reply

  11. Becky
    May 15, 2013 @ 11:51 am

    “Plus, now that I write a blog, I’m contractually obligated to do crafty shit.”

    LOL!! I love it!

    Thanks for the great idea!

    Cheers, Becky (aka sketchystyles.com)

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 16, 2013 @ 7:57 am

      It’s what no one tells you about blogging… I thought it would be enough to dazzle with my personality, but turns out I must also make things.

      Thanks for linking up!!

      Reply

  12. Bridge
    May 15, 2013 @ 2:18 pm

    Just found you and already signed up to be notified when you post additional awesomeness. Thanks for taking the time to make the internet a great place to spend time!!

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 16, 2013 @ 8:01 am

      Your comment MADE MY DAY.
      I should change the text of the email-subscription box to read: sign up for when I post additional awesomeness….

      That’s a WAY better sales pitch.

      Reply

  13. Sue
    May 15, 2013 @ 8:45 pm

    I am late to the game and have no required craft item for entrance through the gate anyway, but I tweeted. As always you brought me through an adventure. Also, what wonderful friends you two are.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 17, 2013 @ 6:29 pm

      She IS my best friend, but next time I should write about the ways we annoy each other, just to give a balanced picture… lol.
      Have a great weekend!!

      Reply

  14. Anne @ Planting Sequoias
    May 16, 2013 @ 1:21 pm

    I also linked up an old-ish project since I am less proud of more recent things (doing stuff for the sake of blog/pinterest love? I may be guilty of late). Anyway, this is as good a time as any to come out of lurkerdom and mention that I take great enjoyment from your blog.

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 17, 2013 @ 6:22 pm

      Blogging has changed my entire brain chemistry. I saw this t-shirt idea and thought—oh, that would be fun for Lara… followed IMMEDIATELY by the thought—AND A BLOG POST. I cannot say the second thought was any less important than the first.

      Thanks for linking up… it’s fun for me to see who else is out there, you know?

      Reply

  15. Anne @ Planting Sequoias
    May 18, 2013 @ 8:45 am

    I completely agree. “Blog-portunities,” I call them. It drives my husband nuts.

    Reply

  16. tammigirl
    May 18, 2013 @ 9:49 am

    I think my failure to cut a triangle casts me out of the clubhouse entirely. But I love the shirt!

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 18, 2013 @ 6:09 pm

      It was deceptively easy… although I cannot vouch for whether it will withstand washing.

      However, since the post has been written, that’s all that really matters.

      Reply

      • tammigirl
        May 19, 2013 @ 10:15 am

        I think I love you for that alone. You know what really matters)

        Reply

  17. Sarah
    May 19, 2013 @ 12:40 pm

    LOVE this!!! I have been wanted to do some kids shirts with names on them. I am going to use these instructions to do them. Oh and I so need a LUCK on your side tee!!

    Reply

    • Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
      May 19, 2013 @ 7:03 pm

      I know! I really could get carried away with ideas… I spent at least an hour playing with other fonts before realizing I’d spent all my free time on a theoretical project. (I hate when I do that)

      Reply

  18. Mandy
    May 19, 2013 @ 5:48 pm

    What a great personalized gift! And what an adorable little helper. Good job on the hand stitching. It looks really well done. 🙂 did Lara love it??

    Reply

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