Tried out a new (to me) design

Hello,  everyone.  

The new design is a rose, that was sitting in my hard drive. I don't remember where I got it. I'm getting into Christmas prep mode and wondered if it would be a usable ornament, or be part of gift tuck-in froufrou.

This is a 5 inch charm square--quilting cotton. The heart completely filled the side to side dimension. Also the fabric needs a backing. I could see it as the decoration for a small pouch...on a  6 inch square with some light batting behind for support. It would need a reverse side square if it were the front of a bag.l, or it could be appliquéd onto a larger item like a tote.

I could see this heart on felt, too, actually. (With felt backing or cotton backing) A little big for a Christmas tree ornament but it could be hung from a biggish wreath.

This was a fun little break from chores and used up a charm square. 

Bonus Blocks!

Hello, everyone. There were bonus blocks leftover after the patriotic centerpiece was completed. They found their own purpose for existence. 

Several of these, on being stitched out on the white twill, proved not to fit into the petal template for the centerpiece. Also some are thematic in that they have lines from "My Country 'Tis of Thee" embroidered on them. (Not all the lines of the first stanza got embroidered. And one had far too dense of stitching in its test and has joined the scraps pile.) 

I had gotten the white cotton twill for making  Christmas gifts...still on the To Do list...it worked out reasonably well for this. The backing of these little flags is cotton from stash. 

Photographing something at the top of a window was tricky. I finally resorted to doing it after dark, using the room light for illumination. During the day the sunshine shone in and overruled the pennants.

Finished a new project

Hello, everyone.  I finished the Fourth of July project.

This began with a picture on Embroiderydesigns.com, which I looked all over the site and couldn't find it. I did find a similar shaped centerpiece with flowers. So began a hunt for directions and for suitable designs to put on it. 

This was all before they made the patriotic one available through their blog. The blog listing includes the suggestions for designs. The designs suggested are nice, but some of them also somewhat densely stitched. This seems to be a tendency in the "cute patriotic designs" category overall. I used two layers of stabilizer under most of them.

Oddly enough, this year the classic "spirit of '76" image has not been popping up.

It was fun to make this.

A new project in the works (edited to add links)

Hello, everyone.  There's a new little project on the table--even though I'm hip-deep in another one. 

The other one has a lot of embroidered pictures to make. They're using a lot of bobbin thread, and I'm running short of empty bobbins to load. I need to finish off the dribs and drabs of a number of mostly empty bobbins to continue with the project. 

Therefore I decided to start with the new passport-and-credencial case. It will have a zipper closure so the documents can't fall out. 

The prototype 

The inside pockets of the prototype.

I'm planning to do this in some lovely black X-Pac fabric I found at Ripstop By The Roll. The interior will either be some cute cotton or some ripstop. I haven't decided yet.

Learning new things (edited for spelling)

Hello, everyone.  

I have been working on the lessons that came with the upgrade to my embroidery software.

From first to third, the key fobs made in the lesson about editing shapes. 

I don't think the first one (cork) worked out that well. Poor choice of font, and general first-attempt confusion.

The second was done on some thin vinyl I had gotten at Hobby Lobby a while back. Now sitting in stash. 

The third used a thicker vinyl, also in stash, and I note that both of the vinyl ones showed a tendency to pouf up. 

The blue one was glued to the stabilizer with basting spray. Possibly the decorative design was just too busy.  The shell has more stitches than I realized.

The black one was taped down instead of being glued. It still did the same thing. The puffiness seems to start at the yellow arrow. 

Anyway, it was a learning experience!

Using the scraps up

Hello, everyone.  

I'm working on a label/nametag to put onto a gift. It's not very big, just enough to decorate the box it's going on, and it actually fits my smallest embroidery hoop. 

I cut the felt a bit larger all around, and used my Spray n Bond Basting Adhesive to stick the felt on top of the stabilizer. (Also known as "floating" the fabric.) Then I thought about how the stitching will go on the felt. I really think itcwill want to sink into it. I looked around my sewingvroom and found a scrap of Sulky Solvy, left over from another project. It's just right to go onto the felt piece.

As y'all can see, I just gave it somecquick hand basting to hold it down. 

Another bit of stash is getting used up! Yay.

An Easter project finished (updated to add link)

Hello, everyone.  I finished another Easter project, probably the last for this season.

This is the front. I started with a blank rectangle and imported the applique egg and the row of tulips.  (I will probably change this if I do it again. The row of tulips took a *really* long time to stitch out.)

Pages 2 and 3: Palm Sunday and then Carrying the Cross. Used without changes from the Resurrection Table Runner design.

Pages 4 and 5: the Crucifixion and Finding the Empty Tomb. Used without changes.

Pages 5 & 6: a Bible verse and the traditional Easter greeting. The Bible verse page was used without changing. The Easter greetings page is my own.

The back cover. Another page of my own.

This began as a banner/table runner embroidery pattern set. I added the front cover and the Easter greetings page/back cover to convert it to book format.

There is a lot of stitching in the rocky-ground portion of each image. I will, if I do it again, make the ground surface as an applique piece. (My Hatch software has the feature to convert a shape to applique.) This will make the pages less of a "bulletproof" experience. 

The Bible verse was digitized in block letters. I sewed it out with #60 thread, finer than the standard #40 embroidery threads. It came out a bit hard to read. (The dots on the i's were merged into the rest of the letter.) I was in an experimenting mood, so I swapped the block lettering for a scrip font for the next time. Haven't done a test prototype yet! 

The book pages ended up being 8 layers of cotton, so sewing it into a book was difficult. I suppose leaving off the back cover piece would help it a little. This one, however, will do nicely for a gift for visiting children this Easter. 

A new project is completed (edited for spelling and to add link)

Hello, everyone.  It's almost Easter-time, and I found a little decorative project in the "to be made" pile, with its fabrics already chosen, and decided to finally do it.

This is one of the Sweat Pea designs. It's a machine embroidered applique, made in four parts. I elected to use Minky scraps and some fake-suede for the animal bodies. 

The curved-ruler pieced tree is decorated

Hello,  everyone.  It's been busy around the home place, but we're in a calm spot for a few days, so there's time to make a post.

Last year I made a wall hanging Christmas tree. It wasn't decorated--no time, and no plan! This year, a plan grew for decorations for the little tree. First rule of the decorations was that they have to be light weight. The gorgeous rhinestone brooches would make the tree too heavy to be held up by tape on a door. Fortunately, there were a lot of little Free Standing Lace mylar light bulbs left over from the Kimberbell Christmas quilt project a few years ago. I also have a cute little Starlight Mint coaster/ornament pattern from Designs By JuJu. They're about 4" and the free standing applique is very light weight. A couple of FSL ornaments turned up in the Christmas boxes, too.

Now it really looks like a Christmas tree.

I always feel like I need to use the test stitching

Hello, everyone.  Today I finished a book tote. It started out as test stitches for the embroidered brown pillow last year. The pillow went to its new home, but the test swatch sat there staring at me. For months. Reminding me that something should be made from it.

Fortunately there was more of the red duck in the stash.

It is lined and has a slip pocket. There is also a small D ring at the side for a key chain or charm. It's the right size for many hard cover books, too. 

Fabric: cotton duck canvas from stash, quilting cotton lining also from stash.

A small project to relax with

Hello,  everyone.  After the big quilt, I was a little tired, mentally,  and wanted to do something that's not such a HUGE commitment of time and energy. 

A piece of scrap from the vinyl sided zipper bag we did in Sewing Club a while back looked a little bit like a boat...one thing led to another and it turned into a fidget mat.

There was a satin triangle that had been a stitching test piece, so now it has stitched texture, and a triangle also left from that zipper bag, a piece of solid blue left over from making a different zipper pouch, some more of the shiny, blue "fur" in the stash...I embroidered a couple of fish in the blue water and added bead "bubbles" and some decorative stitches from the sewing machine to imply currents and seaweed, more scraps to make a hillside building with a little path and some button shrubs...it was all very relaxing until it was time to stitch onto the fur. Then the texture was getting into the presser foot of the machine. I ended up covering all of the fur with Sulky Solvy to hold it still.

At the end, I  used solid golden binding that was left from the big quilt. (I had cut about 10 yards and connected them all together. It wasn't a surprise that there was some extra.)

It was a nice break from manipulating huge piles of fabric. 

A new zipper wallet (edited to add link)

Hello, everyone.  After walking the Camino Francés with a me-made bill fold that didn't have a closure and didn't have any kind of an idiot loop attachment, I decided that the bill fold situation could do with improvement.  After scrolling past many Youtube videos, running down long pages of search results, and thinking about it, I went back to one of those videos: Ripstop By The Roll's simple zipper pouch kit. It was almost exactly what I wanted. 

The kit came, along with another kit that inspired me in their shop, and it had a piece of ripstop that wouldn't ravel, because they use something like a hot knife to cut it, a zipper, a piece of grosgrain for grab loops, and their video. I had also ordered some pocket mesh and the sample stuff sack kit--this came with some hardware tucked into a piece of light ripstop. I made an interior pocket with the mesh, edged with some scrap ribbon in the stash, and a label tag from that scrap of light ripstop, and otherwise followed the directions as given. 

It should work out okay. 

Trying out new things:pillow edition

Hello, everyone.  It's been chilly and the days just get consumed by this and that. 

I have a set of embroidery designs that calls itself Damask. They're all monochrome florals. 

This incorporates 2 of them. I did it in 3 colors but the 2 whites are pretty much the same color. Base fabric was not from stash. (!) I got some brown upholstery fake suede for this. It's a 12 inch pillow, very usable size. 

It did take over 70 minutes to stitch out. And the fabric required a size 14 needle.

It was fun hunting down something to put on a 12 inch pillow. Designs stash for the win!

Final finish of 2024!

Hello, everyone. Happy New Year to all of my readers!

The final finished project, just under the wire yesterday! is the panel quilt.

The reverse is in a cream colored Australian aboriginal style print, no fancy piecing or creatively used orphan blocks, just getting the job done.

Since the embroidery machine goes to class sometimes

Hello, everyone. The embroidery machine goes to Sewing Club sometimes and carrying it is rather awkward. Toting a four-year-old child in arms awkward--both arms needed and while it doesn't weigh as much as the four-year-old, it's an inanimate object and can't help at all. So I decided to look into a way to carry it. Thought about a webbing harness but couldn't figure out how to design one that would support the machine without major wobbles. Then I was looking at Sailrite.com and found a video about a tote. Theirs is a little smaller than this but it looks sturdy.

The footprint of the machine is 22"x18". 

I have now learned a lot about Dacron sail cloth (the interfacing) and Cordura. And that this project is at the very edge of the ability of my Janome HD3000 sewing machine. 

There is a little bit of extra fabric,  maybe I can make some little things out of that. 😀

Spray basting a new quilt

Hello, everyone. The weather in south Texas has finally cooled off. We walk in long sleeves in the morning now.

This is the newly spray basted quilt. It's mostly based on a panel print with a national parks theme. The happy Alaskan bear in the middle was added; there was a block of ugly text there that I didn't like.

This is the happy bear. He is an applique done with the embroidery machine, a design from John Deer. The Dipper and Pole Star above his head are embroidery. He has been echo quilted with navy blue thread, because there has to be enough quilting to hold the whole thing together when it is washed. 

As it's early days yet on the quilting,  there may be more added later on. We'll see how it looks.

Another project done

Hello, everyone. I know this is a boring title, but am at a loss for anything cute to say about this project. 

At sewing club this month we worked on reading pillows. These are a combination of art pillow to lean on and a pocket to put a book into. Generally people like to decorate them with cute pictures and sayings.

Here's a dinosaur telling us how great books are.

For me this involved trying out a new skill. The dinosaur design is actually designed for a smaller pillow. Our club was doing 18" pillows for this. In addition,  the largest size was just a little too wide for the length of my longest embroidery hoop. So I used the multi hooping abilities of my software to split the dinosaur pocket design into 2 smaller, overlapping hoopings. This after a little fiddling seemed to be going okay. The software created file 1 and file 2.

I started out with file 1. Oops. Should have started with file 2. File 1 creates letters inside the conversation bubble in front of the dinosaur.  File 2 creates the applique conversation bubble for those, and other, letters. Having done file 1 first, I went with having all of the letters appearing on the background fabric. 

Lesson learned: look carefully to see if it matters what order the files sewing out in.

I think the dinosaur is cute anyway, even if the gray swirls are showing through the letters.