Birthday shirts for Alex and Peter

I appliquéd a couple of birthday shirts for a couple of birthday boys this afternoon.  The "1" shirt is for Alexander, the son of one of my sister's best buddies.  Last time we hung out with his family, Charlotte glommed on to Alex and decided she was his baby-sitter for the night.  It was hilarious, and Alex loved the attention.  The fabric for the "1" is from an old onesie that his mom, Toni, was very sad that he outgrew.  Perfect use for such a cute vehicle print!  This was the first time I had appliquéd a knit onto a knit, so I used a tip I had read recently and placed a paper towel on the back side to serve as a tearaway stabilizer.  Worked like a charm!

The "4" shirt is for Peter, whose birthday is tomorrow.  Gotta make sure everyone knows how old he is tomorrow at school!  Strangely enough, every time we remind him that he will be 4 tomorrow, he tell us that the day after that he's going to turn 2 again.  Um, okay.  The fabric for the "4" is from the sleeve of one of Corey's old shirts.

I skipped the stabilizer on this appliqué because I was too lazy to run upstairs to grab another paper towel (I moved my sewing stuff back into the basement before Thanksgiving) and it didn't seem to make a whole lot of difference.  This was a heavier knit shirt than Alex's and the "4" was from a woven fabric, so I wasn't as worried about the stability.