Embroidery It on Pinterest

Visit Embroidery It by Nancy's profile on Pinterest.

I have had a love affair with Pinterest from the first day we met.  I've heard people say, "I just don't get the whole Pinterest thing." If that is you, let me describe how I view Pinterest.  Maybe you will see why I like it so much.

The way I look at Pinterest is that it is like my own personal magazine.  I buy a lot of magazines.  I love to read them, I love the inspiration I get from them.  I tear out articles, recipes and ideas from their pages and those torn out pages usually get moved from place to place in the house creating clutter.  Eventually they either get filed or thrown away.  Then it always happens, I can't find the article or recipe when I want to lay my hands on it.

With Pinterest, I'm able to collect those inspirational tidbits from the web all in one place and I can easily locate them when needed.  I just create a board for each subject that I'm interested in.  When I want to be inspired, I flip through my Pinterest boards and there is always something to spark my creativity.  By the way, I've got plenty of machine embroidery inspiration on my Pinterest boards.

Have you tried Pinterest yet?  It's free and it's fun!

Click on the Pinterest logo above or click HERE and it will link you to my Pinterest site, follow me if you like, and you can see what inspires me around the big wide web.  It just might inspire you too!

Blessings,
Nancy

Machine Embroidery on a Long SleeveT-shirt for Me!

Dear Friends,

I was going to my quilt class and wanted to jazz up my plain outfit.  I thought a sewing machine was perfect considering what we were doing.  I'd had this design for some time but had not used it on anything.  Today was the day.  :-)  Embroidery design from Embroidery Library.  One more quilt class this week then I will show you the finished table runner.

Blessings and as always stay warm!  We've had another 6 inches of the white stuff here in Michigan.

Nancy

 

Machine Embroidery on Thermal Shirts

Today is my sweetheart's birthday.  I found a couple of thermal shirts at our local Meijer, on clearance no less, and stitched an airplane on it.  The plane design was from Embroidery Library.  Then I added some words using my Generations software.  I used cut-away stabilizer underneath the design and a Solvy wash-away stabilizer on top.  Mike got his pilot's license last year and loves flying.  I've got the shirts wrapped up and will give them to him tonight at supper.  It's a good day.  "Happy Birthday my sweet Mike!"

The above shirt says "PILOT."

 

Stay warm friends!

Embroidery Blessings,

Nancy

Machine Embroidery On a Pocket

Hi Friends,
Yesterday was a sad day as I put our Emily on a plane to head back to Albuquerque for school for another semester.  I have so enjoyed having her home for the past month.  She is such a blessing to this mama.  Keep her in your prayers as well as our daughter Katie who is getting ready to deploy to Kuwait in early March. 

Quick post here.  I embroidered several items for Emily.  Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of them all and these are just a couple of quick shots.  She got pajamas for Christmas and wanted her initial on the pocket.  The only way for me to get it on the pocket and still keep it as a usable pocket was to remove the stitching on one side and across the bottom.  This allowed the pocket to be placed flat on the embroidery hoop.  Once the "E" was stitched out I then re-sewed the pocket to the pajamas.  I was really pleased with how well the pocket looked as I don't think you could ever tell I took some of the stitching out.  The pajamas have some silver metallic thread stripes in the fabric so I stitched her initial in silver metallic.

The letter "E" was one that was built into my machine.  The pajamas had been through the wash and not pressed for this picture.  Sorry for the wrinkles but take my word it looks good.

My oldest baby Katie getting ready for deployment.  She is one tough cookie.

 

I'm so proud of my girls and love them so much.  I miss them terribly.  I know life isn't meant to stay the same but gosh I'm having such a hard time letting them go.  Life is not the same with such an empty house.  Sigh.

 

Many 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 on Towels and a Great Tip

I am so happy to have had Emily home from college and I have her yet for one more week then she is off again for another semester.  Emily has asked me to do some embroidery for her and I'm thrilled to oblige.  One thing she asked for help with is in making a gift for her sorority twin.  Emily picked out the towel and we chose these Greek letters from Embroidery Library.  I'm so pleased with the results!

Here is a great tip for stitching on towels.  When stitching on towels you must use a topper or else your stitches will sink into the towel and be hidden.  Most times you hear of using water soluble stabilizer.  That is an acceptable option except that when washing it out, it can leave the area around the design somewhat stiff.  Instead of using water soluble stabilizer, try using tulle in a color that matches the towel or matches your stitches.  I used the white tulle you see here in the picture.  I cut two pieces to cover the design area.  I placed the pieces of tulle at an angle to one another and then stitched the design.  Once the design was finished stitching, I carefully tore most of the tulle away and cut away whatever remained.  The tulle, plus the fact that this was a solid design will insure that the loops of terry cloth will not poke through the design.  I purchased these rolls of tulle at Hobby Lobby.  Be sure to use that 40% coupon!  You only use enough to cover your design so you don't need much.

One more bonus with using the tulle:  If you leave just a very slight amount around the edge of your design, small meaning 1/16", that will help keep the terry cloth loops around the outside of the design from coming over the design on the outside and covering it.  Make sense?  It just helps keep a crisp outline to the design.  The tulle does not show and makes a great option when you just don't want to use a water soluble or other stabilizer to top with.

Finally, I wanted to mention that I hooped a Tear-Away Soft stabilizer made for terry cloth.  This was from Baby Lock.  I floated the towel and tulle on top of the stabilizer.

I hope you are all having a good weekend.  I am helping Mike install a garage door opener in our new home today, then I am going to pop in at our local sewing dealer as they are having an open house.  I'm going to sign up for a quilting class there.  Finally this evening I have church activities, so a full day is in store for me.  It is about 38 degrees and our snow is melting.

Happy embroidering,
Nancy