Home for the Holidays

Dear Friends,

I'm taking a bit of a break from embroidery to bring you this special announcement of a new online course being offered called Home for the Holidays from the blog LifeInGrace.  I'm also taking a break from embroidery to bring you some very special news that we will be moving!  I will be filling you in on all the details very soon.

So in having a new home and new surroundings, it will be a very busy time for me and oh how I want to make it beautiful for the holidays and not just visually, but by experiencing beauty through the moments I will be sharing with others.  With the hustle and bustle that will come with the move and with the holidays, I want to keep Christ, and what is important at the forefront of my thoughts, words and actions.  Slowing down, and appreciating the holidays as well as authenticity of our actions is a portion of what this course will be offering yet it helps summarize the essence of the course.  There will also be recipes and lots of creativity offered each week that will help satisfy my need for artful expression.  Home for the Holidays begins October 1st.

Yes friends, this will be a big move for me to another part of the country which means so much to learn, new places to explore and new friendships to make.  Please keep my family in your prayers as we experience the many changes and challenges that moving presents us with.

Thank you and God Bless,
Nancy
(disclaimer:  I received this course for free by writing this blog post about it.)

Machine Embroidery a Mug Rug

 

Good Morning My Sweet Embroidery Friends!

My how I'd love to have you stop in for a cup of coffee with me so we could catch up on all the latest and then spend a peaceful morning stitching away.  Fun, fun, fun!!!

I'm sure you have heard of these little placemats called "mug rugs".  If you haven't, just do a Google search for them and you will find many.  They are a miniature placemat meant to be used with just a drink and a snack, or in the instance of breakfast, coffee and a pastry.  They wash up easily in the laundry and are good to go the next day again.  I've made several and what I particularly enjoy is taking them outside and sitting on the patio to enjoy the start of my day.  Coffee, prayer, listening to the birds, there is nothing better!

In the above picture is my mug rug that I put together with jelly roll scraps.  This is a great scrap buster project.  My sewing machine has some built in lettering which I used to stitch the wording.  Then I pieced it all together with a scrap of quilt batting.  The pink border is the backing.  I cut the backing 1" larger all around and brought the backing to the front and tucked the raw edge in.  Then either whip stitch it by hand or use the machine and stitch closely to the edge.

This little cutie is a coaster from Oma's Place.  It is made in the 4 x 4 hoop.  I feel like it is a little too small to be a coaster plus I'm afraid it will get lost on its own, but take a look below....

It was the PERFECT embellishment for my mug rug!  Love it!!  One more little secret...It is one of her freebies!  Can't beat that. 

Just a few stitches to hold it in place and good to go.  :-)  A clever way to make a machine embroidered mug rug.

 

 

Finally, our youngest, Timothy, turned 16.  And yes, he's learning to drive.  Yikes!  His birthday was the day was the day he and Mike returned from the Boy Scout jamboree.  They didn't get home until about 10:45 at night so we only had a short time to celebrate.  Tim has a sweet tooth so Emily and I made up a candy buffet which he thought was fun.

 

Embroidery blessings to all of you!
Nancy

 

Machine Embroidery Mylar Butterfly on a Handtowel

Hi Friends,

Yellow is my favorite color!  Second favorite color is green.  They just make me smile.  In fact, most of my house I've painted in a soft butter yellow and our bedroom in a soothing spa green.  Actually, I love all pastel colors.  You all wanted to know that right?  :-) 

At our local sewing center, I took this class in which we took a hand towel and stitched two rows of fabric casing.  One row was at the top of the towel and the next was four inches down from the first.  Then   grosgrain ribbon was strung through the casing, the casing was gathered and then the ribbon stitched in place.  There is a final matching decorative strip sewn three inches up from the bottom.

You can see here how the hand towel attaches to the oven door by tying the ribbons on each side in a bow. 

Finally, rather than stitching directly on the terry cloth towel, the design was stitched onto cotton and then the white cotton stitched onto the towel.  There is also mylar under the butterfly wings.  This towel has been washed numerous times and the mylar still shines.

The digitized image was given to me by our instructor who informed us she had received permission to pass this image onto the class, but honestly, I don't know who to give credit to for it.  If any of you have seen this image, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail and I'll be happy to give a shout out to the designer.

I hope you are all staying cool this summer and finding a little time to sit down at your embroidery machine.

Summer blessings to you,

Love,

Nancy

Machine Embroidered Desk Organizer

Dear Friends,

Where is summer going?  I even feel like spring flew through here and I missed it!  Never have I felt time pass so quickly.

 

First there was Katie and Eric's wedding, and now lots of boy scout activities.

Mike and two additional leaders took 24 boys to West Virginia to the National Jamboree for boy scouts.  Our boy scout council didn't get their patches in until the day before so here I am with 3 others at the boy scout office stitching away to help get our men, young and old, ready to go.

My sweet Tim.

 

Today I want to show off a desk organizer I made in a sewing class at Ryan's Sewing and Vac in Albuquerque. 

A few years ago there was an "as seen on TV" commercial for a fold and go desk organizer.  I don't know if it is still on the air as I haven't seen it in some time.  Our instructor designed one of her own and taught us.  I, of course, took advantage of a blank spot above the top center pocket to do a bit of embroidery work.  When it is folded closed, it is held together by an elastic pony tail band and a button.  Clever!  The pockets are made using Pet Mesh.  This is a pet screen you can get at Lowe's or Home Depot where they sell window screen.  It is a fibrous screen with a plastic coating on it.  I've actually seen some beach bags made with it and it stitches easily with the sewing machine.

My decorative butterfly embellishment.  The design is from Embroidery Library.  What I have stored in it are stabilizer scraps.  The pockets hold different types of stabilizer, wash away, cut away, tear away, etc.  When I have a scrap of stabilizer that I know will fit in my smallest hoop, I save it here.

My garden is getting into full swing now.  I'm picking tomatoes, pole beans, peas, spinach, radishes, carrots, kale and herbs.  Take a look at this yellow beauty that decided to come up as a volunteer!  A bird must have dropped a couple seeds as I have two plants.  I'm going to cover them with mesh and hopefully harvest the seeds soon.  There are also some cucumber and zucchini making an appearance but too soon to pick.

For now though along with the vegetables, the plum tree and grape vines have been providing us, and the birds, with some yummy goodness.

Blessings everyone,
Nancy

Machine Embroidery Bride and Groom Wedding Reception Favors

 

The wedding favors are finished.  All 100 of them!  If you remember they are little wraps for Hershey's nuggets and they will be placed on the tables at the reception.

As a quick reminder, the designs for these came from Embroidery Garden.

With love and Embroidery Blessings you all!
Nancy

Machine Embroidery Wedding Favors

Hi Friends,
I'm here but don't expect to see too much of me this summer.  It is a whirlwind of busy!!!  So much has happened since my last post and I will get to that in a moment.  For now though, let me show you some wedding favors I'm making that are a current work in progress.

These are little Hershey nugget wraps that I've made for a wedding reception.  I'm making 100 of them!  It is a simple and quick in-the-hoop project done on white felt.  I've used wisteria purple thread which is one of their wedding colors.  The designs come from one of my favorite places, Embroidery Garden.

This is just one of several wedding projects that is keeping me busy.  You will see more soon.  :-)

Well, since I last wrote a post, Emily graduated from high school.  That was a big day.  It was also the day that the horrible tornadoes went through Oklahoma City which is where Katie is stationed.  During the middle of that afternoon we started getting phone calls asking about Katie.  What a blessing she had two days off and was with us, safe and sound, for Emily's graduation.  Katie reported that some of the destruction was as near as 1/2 mile from the base.  That tragedy is something that has weighed heavy on my heart so please know if you are in the area and affected, I am still praying every day for you.  I think I was saddened most about the children.  I don't know what to say other than, I'm so sorry.

                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Following graduation we celebrated Katie's 20th birthday, followed immediately by Emily's 18th birthday.  Follow that by our 25th wedding anniversary!  I love my sweet husband so much!!!

We went out for a special dinner and he gave me a silver bracelet.  25th is the silver anniversary!
Mike and I also went to Michigan for three days since I last wrote.  It was so beautiful and green there.  It is very brown where I live, high desert region.

Finally, I've spent two full days at the University of New Mexico with Emily at her orientation where she will go to school next year.  She is so excited and I'm excited for her!  I loved my days in college and it brought back a lot of good memories.  Mike and I were college sweethearts!

As I said at the beginning, don't expect to see me too much here, but know I'll stop in when I get a chance.  Know that I'm around and I'm thinking of each of you.

Love and blessings to you all,
Nancy

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