Teaching Machine Embroidery

 

Dear Friends,

I'm just beyond thrilled because I am going to begin teaching machine embroidery at our local sewing shop Lakeshore Sewing.  Teaching is a true passion of mine so to teach machine embroidery has me over-the-moon with joy.  My first project will be this personalized casserole carrier.  What a fun way to bring a dish to your next pot luck.  The carrier also serves as an identifier so everyone knows who brought the yummy dish and operates as a hot pad while the food is being served.  The carrier is perfect for a 9 x 12 casserole dish or cake pan.

 

 

Focus will be on design placement and using our machine specialty fonts and stitches to personalize.  And if you forgot how to make buttonholes - never fear, we will get some practice with those as well.

The design I used here is from Julia's Needle Designs and is in the freebie section. 

 

The wooden spoon cleverly holds the carrier together.  This idea was inspired by Janay.

 

As a bonus, we will personalize our wooden spoon handles.  Wouldn't it be a sweet gift for someone by baking them a cake, then personalizing the carrier and spoon for them as complete package.

 

For those of you in the Grand Rapids area...or if you would like to travel....Class is March 25th at Lakeshore Sewing at the Knapps Corner location.  Just click on the link to contact them and register.  We will have so much fun and I would be thrilled to see you! 

 

Embroidery Blessings,

Nancy

 

Machine Embroidery Applique LOVE Towel

This was a fun applique towel to make.  Fabric is from JoAnn's.  Design is from GG Designs Embroidery and it is one of her free designs.  What I like so much about it is that the applique is not done with just a plain satin stitch.  I like the decorative stitching around the fabric.
Perfect for Valentine's Day!
Embroidery Blessings,
Nancy

Machine Embroidery - Custom Order

I've been busy doing a bit of custom work these days.  Font was built into my Brother machine.
Blessings,
Nancy

Machine Embroidery Digitizing on an Existing Image

Dear Friends,
I did this towel as a special gift.  The heart with dog tags is from Lynnie Pinnie.  I purchased the blank heart with dog tags design and then I digitized the lettering and added it.  It reads, "Some Heroes Wear Capes, My Hero Wears Combat Boots."  Then I added the name to the dog tag. The inspiration for this design comes from Stitched By Janay.

With the move to Michigan and all the activity around here, I had set my Generations software aside.  It was so much fun to get it out and create.  You will probably soon be seeing more of my work having digitizing added to it.  :-)

Embroidery Blessings,
Nancy

Embroidery Related Christmas Gifts

Good Morning Friends,
I just realized I hadn't shared with you some Christmas gifts I received from some of the sweetest gals on this planet.  A huge thank you for your kindness and generosity.  I was beyond thrilled at these gifts.  :-)

First from my dear Mother-In-Law Ann, I received these Anita Goodesign Holiday Packs!  It's a total of 9 collections in these two packs.  I'm so excited to stitch these out.  Actually I already started on one of them.

Next from one of my closest friends Vicki, I received an JoAnn's gift card.  I went a little crazy at JoAnn's getting their Christmas fabric while it was on clearance.  There are holiday placemats fabric panels, a stitched advent calendar panel and just some super cute fabric in here.  Remember that quilt class I signed up for?  I went to it the other night and started using some of the fabric you see here.  I can't wait to show you my finished quilt in a few weeks.

Finally, a dear friend, Martha Ann, who I met this past year through my blog here sent me some wonderful items to decorate my home.  I opened up the package to see a lovely stitched bag and inside the bag were these lace goodies.  They are Anita Goodesign - Love their stuff!  Martha blogs over at Just Another Thread so you can pop over and see what she is currently creating.  The internet is a wonderful thing to allow me to meet such wonderful women who enjoy machine embroidery and creativity.

Thank you again ladies for your kindness.  I love these gifts and I love you too!

 

My embroidery machine has been on overtime lately.  In fact, last night I thought I broke the tension on it.  The upper tension was not tightening at all even though the thread was seated well in the tension disks.  I just had it in for service. :-(  I took the cover off my machine and couldn't find anything to be causing me such grief.  Finally, the simple act of turning it off and on seemed to get the tension disks to start operating again.  I'm a little nervous to try it again this morning but I have to do my homework for my quilting class, so machine please don't fail me now!

 

Embroidery blessings everyone,

Much Love,

Nancy

 

 

 

Machine Embroidery Be Mine Valentine's Day Cup Cozy

 

Dear Friends,
Happy Valentine's Day! I made a sweet cup cozy to help keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold. I stitched the design on pre-quilted red fabric and added the heart print binding.

Fabric came from JoAnns Fabrics. The sweet Be Mine design comes from Michelle at Needle Little Embroidery.

This is so pretty on the table and makes me smile as I drink from my special cup.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone,
Nancy
disclaimer: I received this design for free. The opinions of the designs and Needle Little Embroidery are my own.

Machine Embroidery On Soap? Oh Yes You Can!

 

This is soap!  It really is!  What a fun, novel gift to give someone. 

But how did you do that Nancy?  I'm so glad you asked.  Look closely at the picture below for the secret ingredient.

Tulle!  This fine mesh netting is the perfect medium to stitch the design on.  You can see, it is almost clear!

Start by hooping water soluble stabilizer and tulle together.  Choose a design created with a running stitch.  The butterfly above is from Anita Goodesign.  I used variegated thread.  When the design finishes stitching out, cut closely to the design to cut away most of the tulle and water-soluble stabilizer.  Then rinse out the stabilizer and the design remains on the tulle.  A solid filled design or a design with satin stitching will not work well for this as it will get lost in the holes of the tulle.

Carefully lay the design on the soap.  Wet a washcloth or paper towel and lay on the design.  This will soften the soap.  Lightly press the design into the soap.  Note:  Choose a soap that doesn't have an embedded print on it.  Many national brand soaps such as Ivory have their name stamped into the soap.  You want a flat soap surface.  This one happens to be a bar of Jergens.  It does have Jergens stamped on the other side of the soap.  I'm using the back side of it to place the embroidery.

 Another note:  The soap is for decorative purposes only.  It is not meant to be used or, of course, the stitching will wash off.

This design comes from Anita Goodesign's cd A Quilt for All Seasons - Spring

 

Embroidery blessings to you all,

Nancy

 

In the Hoop Machine Embroidery Decorative Clothespins

Hi Friends,

I am so ready for spring.  I mean, I'm seriously ready for green grass, flowers and warmer weather.  I had a lot of fun making these in-the-hoop machine embroidery decorative clothespin cozies from Embroidery Library.

The directions are simple to follow. I hooped heavy weight stabilizer and floated felt on top. At the final stitch out, the hoop is removed from the embroidery machine (but don't unhoop the stabilizer) and a second piece of felt is placed on the bottom side of the hoop. How do you get the felt to stay on the bottom side of the hoop you ask?

I have an ingenious product at my embroidery machine.  It is called blue painters tape!  Just put a little piece of tape on each corner of the felt, out of the way of the stitching, and it holds it in place perfectly.

Finally, insert a clothespin and glue a magnet to the clothespin and it is good to go.

Keeps my recipes handy on the side of my refrigerator.  Makes me smile as I think of spring.  BTW...Tulips are my all time favorite flower.

Blessings and happy embroidering,
Love,
Nancy

Creative Machine Embroidery - Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

Dear Friends,
I was so happy when Michelle from Needle Little Embroidery contacted me about stitching some of her designs into finished projects!  I've been wanting to stitch designs from more designers as I'm wanting to learn the art of digitizing myself.  She started out by sending me these two lovely embroidery designs for Valentine's day.

Heart of Love is shown above.  It is done in all white thread stitched on a polyester organza.  I've been using one of my favorite items, mylar, to add a little more shine to it. 

Above you can see the Heart of Love stitched in three colors of pink.

Here the Amore' Heart is stitched in three colors of peach with the silver mylar.  The mylar was floated on top.  When the heart finished stitching out I stopped the machine and tore away the excess mylar from both the outside as well as the inside of the heart.  Then I finished stitching the design.

And Amore' Heart in all white, no mylar.

Of the four I did, the Heart of Love stitched in all white with the silver mylar is my favorite.  Our daughter Katie is getting married this summer and we plan to use these sweet bags in her wedding or reception.  They are beautiful.

I have to say just a couple more things.  Michelle at Needle Little Embroidery http://needlelittleembroidery.com/ is the nicest lady to work with.  Also, I am thrilled that she has included a basting stitch for these designs.  I can't tell you how many times I've wished for that on other designs.  It just holds everything perfectly in place with no shifting.  If you don't want the basting stitch, just advance to the next thread color and bypass it.

Blessings to you all,
Nancy

disclaimer:  I received these designs for free.  The opinions of the designs and Needle Little Embroidery are my own.

Machine Embroidery with Mylar and Free Standing Lace

 

Dear Friends,

Remember the snowflakes I was making for the children at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT?  Well, today I want to share with you what I did to create them.

 

 

First I started off with a great free standing lace machine embroidery file from Lindee G. Embroidery.

These designs are all done with ONE color thread.  I used a slight off white.  The secret to the color and bling  is this!  Mylar tissue wrap.

 

Now you know my secret.  And an even better secret I'm going to share with you is this...

I got it at the Dollar Tree.  There are three sheets of mylar tissue in each package and each package is only $1.  Can't beat that!

 

As the design stitches out, on water soluble stabilizer, it starts in the center which is where I placed the mylar.  Just keep an eye on your machine and stop it as it gets ready to stitch the outer row of hearts.  Cut the thread and remove the hoop from the machine, but don't unhoop the stabilizer.  Gently tear the mylar to remove the excess.  I also removed the mylar from the center star area.  It tears easily but still, you don't want to pull your stitches. 

Then just put the hoop back on the machine and continue stitching the remainder of the design.

HERE is a link back to the post that gives the address where you can send your snowflakes.

 

My prayers continue to be with the families who lost their loved ones in this tragic event.  My heart breaks as I think of you and your struggles.  I hope you somehow know I care.

 

With love and blessings to my sweet embroidery family readers,

Nancy

 

Christmas Machine Embroidery Free Standing Lace

 

Happy New Year's Eve Friends!

 

Remember  my Christmas gift?  The OESD Cd's?  Well here is what I have been busy with.

 

 

Even though these got stitched after Christmas it is still nice to have them on my tree.

 

These are pretty machine embroidery free standing lace designs with applique.  The red fabric I used to applique with is red velvet!  Beautiful red velvet!  To stitch them out I used water soluble stabilizer on both the top and bottom.

 

The water soluble stabilizer on the bottom was hooped then I floated the velvet and top water soluble stabilizer. 

Then I bought a yard of the pearls to make the hangers.

 

I am partial to free standing lace designs that have applique.  The applique gives the designs a unique look because you could use any color or design of fabric.  I love the velvet, both the look and the feel of it. 

Hope you enjoy the last of my Christmas designs, at least for a while.

 

Warm winter blessings from my house to yours.

Nancy

Merry Christmas from Embroidery It

Dear Friends,
I want to wish each of you a very Merry and Blessed Christmas.  Like the wise men, may we too follow the star, follow the light, live in the light that leads us to our Lord and Savior.
With Love,
Nancy

PS.  I stitched out this Christmas ornament on navy blue velour which was placed on top of super heavy weight craft stabilizer.  This design is in a series called "Story Ornaments" and it is from Kreations by Kara.