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Creative Personalization and Unique Gifts all with a Needle and Thread.

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Saturday, May 18, 2013

Machine Embroidery Boy Scout Neckerchiefs Finished

Finished!


The boy scout neckerchiefs are finished!  Below is a picture of only about half of the troop.  I just love those boys!  My son Timothy is the one in the second row wearing shorts.  They are all busy, busy getting prepared and in shape for the long 71 mile hike through the mountains of Philmont, a national boy scout camp here in New Mexico.

 
As for what else is going on around here, Emily graduates from high school in two days.  Family is coming in for her graduation as well as my Air Force girl Katie!!!!!!  God is so good to bring us all here together.  I am so thankful to Him.

Have a beautiful and blessed weekend everyone.
Love,
Nancy



Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day and The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible Book Review




Dear Friends,
Happy Mother's Day to all you sweet moms.  We put in thousands upon thousands of hours raising our babies and I must say, we deserve a special day in which to receive a bit of pampering.  I hope you are all being treated like queens and getting the royal treatment.  Despite all the sacrifices we do for our children, what a blessing it is to be a mom.  I am so grateful for my three.
 
This morning Mike and I walked to a favorite breakfast place and shared an order of biscuits and gravy along with a great cup of coffee.  The walk is just over 5 miles round trip so I certainly got my exercise in.  I love going for walks with my hubby so this is a treat to spend time together just the two of us.
The beautiful roses are from my son Timothy.  They smell so good.  Timothy knows I LOVE flowers!
 
Mike has driven with him up to Santa Fe for his rugby game.  I'm staying home and resting this afternoon.  Sore throat is there but much better today.  Several of you e-mailed me that you were praying.  Thank you!  Prayers answered!!!!
Emily came up with this clever gift.  She gave me $20 in a jar in $1 bills.  I just cannot lose those 20 stinkin' pounds.  The scale is stuck like glue on my current weight.  Yes, I could try harder, but I really LIKE food! 
 
For each pound I lose, I am to move one dollar to the other jar.  The jar with the money in it says "pounds to go"  The currently empty jar says "pounds lost".  When I have lost all 20 pounds I am to spend the $20 on myself.  I love this!  This is real motivation now as I can't let her down and a bonus for me when the weight is off!  The jar on the left better not stay empty for long.
And from my Air Force girl Katie, I received the best gift, a phone call with lots of love.  Love is all this mama really needs.
Now from Mike, he did get some direction as to what I would like.  He got me this book, The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible by Wendy Gardiner and Lorna Knight as well as a couple of specialty sewing feet I had asked for.  I thought you might like to take a little look into the book.
The bias binding foot you see in the picture is what I used on all those boy scout neckerchiefs.
One of the specialty feet Mike got me was an adjustable binding foot for larger size bindings.
 
 The other specialty sewing foot Mike got me was a cording foot which you can see above.
 
Mike and I have always been do-it-yourself kind of people when it comes to many things.  We have gutted a house, done electrical work, plumbing, tiling and much more.  One of the things we say is why pay when we can do it ourselves and also that it is best to have the right tool for the job.  That is the way it is with these specialty feet.  They do a great job for the technique the are made for.  It makes life a whole lot simpler to have the right tool for the job.  Plus, doing specialty items in sewing is just plain fun!
 
Let me give you just a brief overview about the book.

First off, the book is such a pretty book to look through. 
Chapter 1 is the Essential Kit
Chapter 2 is Basic Feet
Chapter 3 is Specialty Fabric and Technique Feet
Chapter 4 is Pretty Edges
Chapter 5 is Fancy Stitching and finally
Chapter 6 is Buyer's Guide
With each foot, it first talks about what the sewing foot looks like.  Then it goes into how the foot works.  Then there is an "ideas file" which shows other effects you can get from each foot. 
I really like this book and should go over to Amazon and give it a 5 star rating as honestly, it is just well done.  It will certainly remain on my shelf as a reference that I know I will look at again and again.

Finally, to finish off my day, after Mike and Tim get home we will be going to church this evening.  Thankfully our church as numerous options as to when we can attend so when our schedule is thrown off, like with the rugby game today.  Then I'm sure we will be eating out tonight and I won't be cooking.  My favorite food when we go out.....Sushi!  Yum!!  {Yes I could cook myself.  There are times when we do make exceptions to the DIY attitude we have!}

Happy Mother's Day and love and blessings to you all,
Nancy

Saturday, May 11, 2013

More Machine Embroidery Free Standing Lace Coasters

Dear Friends,
I really enjoy creating free standing lace.  It is just so delicate.

Remember this one?  It is the one I gave to my mother when we went for a visit.

These are from the same collection by Pixies Rule in their Lace Coaster Set.  I just finished up a couple more of them the other day.
 
On a sour note, I'm typing this in bed as I'm dealing with strep throat.  I had made it through the winter with nothing more than a sniffle (blessed) but WHAM I'm knocked off my feet today.  Praying the Tylenol and antibiotics kick in quickly.  All prayers for pain relief are appreciated.  Thank you.
I really think this hit as I feel under tremendous stress here lately so I'm certain my immune system is down.  I'm dealing with Emily's high school graduation, Katie's wedding and so much more to list here.  I've made a long L-O-N-G list of all that needs to be done and recuperating was NOT on that list.
 
Here's praying that all my readers are healthy and that you have a happy day embroidering.  One more note; all the coasters were made in a 5 x 7 hoop.
With love and blessings,
Nancy

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Free Digital Issue of Designs in Machine Embroidery just for YOU

Hi Friends,
I want to share with you some "happy" news on the web today.  A publication I subscribe to, 'Designs in Machine Embrodiery' has a free gift for YOU!

By going to their website, you can download a special digital issue of the magazine with no strings attached.  It is using a very cool interactive format within it to give you access to videos, tutorials and more.  There is something for everyone, from the beginner to the advanced.

My first project I'm going to make are their recipe cards in which you embroider on ribbon.  You will just have to download the publication to see what I'm talking about.  This will make a great gift for my Katie who is getting married next month.

There are some great articles, one on stabilizers, embroidering on a t-shirt, continuous embroidery designs and more.  Of course as with their print publication, they have some free designs to download too.

I hope you enjoy this as digital magazine as much as I have.  It is a happy day when we get a freebie such as this.  Thank you Designs in Machine Embroidery!

Have a great day embroidering!
Blessings,
Nancy

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Machine Embroidery Quick Tip - Bobbin Thread

Hi Friends,
Machine Embroidery Quick Tip Today!

 Just take a look at how dense this design is.  It has 71,000 stitches.  Lots of stitches can really create some beautiful designs, but that means the design will be heavy.
 There are times when using a matching color of thread for both the top and bottom is necessary such as when doing free standing lace or when the finished product can be viewed from the back side as well as the front.
But when doing a dense design such as this one, it is best to use a thread specifically made for bobbins, be it pre-wound or that you wind yourself.

Bobbin thread is finer and depending on the brand of both top and bottom thread you are using, you can decrease the denseness or heaviness of your design by up to 1/3.  This means on a design such as the one above you have less chance of issues when creating your project such as less chance of the thread creating a nest, less chance of needle bending and of course the most common and frustrating issue of thread breaking.  Did you know that?  Have you ever heard your embroidery machine going POP - POP - POP as the comes back up from out of the design and it slightly lifts your hoop.  Ok, some of that can be due to digitizing and too many stitches in the same place.  By using a lighter weight bobbin thread you can help prevent some of that from occurring.

I hope you found this helpful today.  The embroidery design comes from Embroidery Library and the bobbin thread is from BFC-Stash.

Happy Embroidering and Blessings to you today!
Nancy
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