15 and Counting!

Emily turned 15 today.  She was so excited and could hardly wait for her birthday party.

Big brother Adam came over and nurse Trish was at the party also.

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday dear Emily!

Grace helped Emily blow out the candles.

Trish gave Emily a beautiful Minnie Mouse figure.

Minnie was whispering to Emily.

Oh boy, new decorative scissors for scrapbooking.

Dad shows Emily how the scissors work.

Look at the new shirt and scrapbook supplies!.

Emily hesitant about feeling the bumpy scrapbook paper.

What a wonderful 15th birthday.

Doily Lace

When browsing the internet for lace projects I found a Rose Lace Doily. I had thought about making doilies when I started making lace.  This rose doily looks fairly simple. 

I received a new roll of Vilene wash-away stabilizer and today I would use it with 100% cotton thread in the bobbin as well as the upper thread.

As I started stitching the lace I didn’t like it.  I can’t pinpoint why, it just isn’t as nice as I was hoping for.  I’ll make two more lace panels and then see how I like it.

 

Next I looked for something to embroider on the center of the doily I would put the lace on.   I found a cross stitch flower pattern.  I hooped up broadcloth and started the machine.

The more I stitched the more I liked it.

The only issue I had was with all the jump stitch threads.  I ended up cutting as many as I could in between each color change.  For those of you who don’t know what jump stitches are, look at the first cross stitch picture.  You can see threads that are carried across the cloth to the next spot where the cross stitching begins again.  If I don’t cut the threads they mess up the look of the finished cross stitch.

Once done I ironed the center piece and then pinned the lace on and began to stitch.

After stitching the lace on I trimmed the material under the lace as close as possible to the edge of my stitching.

Three of the four lace panels still had the wash-away on it.  I understood it would be easier to pin to the material and stitch down.  When the outer stitching was done I put the finished doily into a warm bowl of water to melt the wash-away stabilizer.

I changed the water twice just to get the wash-away out of the bowl and away from the material.  If it isn’t washed out enough the material will be stiff when it is dry.

I patted it dry and then let it dry on its own.

 

The only lesson I learned with this project is:  Cotton lace shrinks.  I had washed one lace panel before making the center of the doily.  When I stitched the other three panels onto the doily they had not been washed.  Once it was soaked in warm water to melt away the Vilene the panels all shrunk.  The area where I had stitched them to the center cloth pulled away from each other.  Its not too noticeable, except to me.  Oh well, live and learn.

The lace looks beautiful and the entire doily worked up so nicely.  You can click on the photo to enlarge it and see it better.

 

That’s enough for today.

Thanks for listening ~

All for Love

After seeing how nice the bird turned out I decided to do another flour-sack towel.  This time I wanted a design that had a few more colors.  I found a sweet little design with the word “Love” on it.

Using medium weight tear-away stabilizer I started the design.  I enjoyed selecting the colors from my new collection.  The design stitched out easily with no trouble.

Although this does look good on the towel I think I’ll make a pillow with this design on the front.

I’m enjoying this embroidery so much!  Its easy.  And if I don’t have to rip anything out, and if the bobbin threads haven’t gotten caught underneath, then I call it great.

Thanks for listening~

The Bird

I was going to make a small corner decoration on a flour-sack towel.  The minute it started sewing out I knew I was not going to like it.  After just a few stitches the flour-sack material looked like it was stretching and puckering.

I took the towel off the machine and cut the dots that had already been stitched.  I know I told all of you that I would show you my mistakes, but this project had started and stopped so quick that I never thought about the camera!  So with scissors in hand and tweezers in the other I plucked pink threads from the towel.

Once the pieces were picked out I put another small piece of stabilizer under where I had just worked because the stabilizer was torn there.

With another design in mind I tightened the towel in the hoop and put it back on the machine.  The bird stitched out quickly and was what I hoped it would be.

The flour-sack towel had a small hole where I picked out the first design.  I just sewed the design over the hole.  I can see it but it doesn’t look like it will fall apart.  I wonder if there is fabric glue I can use on it?

The lesson I learned form this project is:  Do not take out stitching unless absolutely necessary.  I don’t like taking stitching out.  Maybe next time I’ll just sew something over it.

Once the towel was washed (for the second time) it had shrunk again.  The shrinkage helped to pull the towel together and the torn area is nearly invisible now.  I guess there is something good about shrinkage! 

Thanks for listening ~

The Violin Recital

Last night was Grace’s violin recital.  She practiced and practiced.

And when the day finally arrived she waited patiently for the recital to start. 

She was a bit nervous but played her piece beautifully.

Her teacher, Mrs. Dirks, is on the left.  The other people in the picture are all students.

Battenberg Spiral Lace Doily

I finally got around to trying out a Free Standing Lace (FSL) doily.  Well, its a bit less than a doily, maybe a medallion.  I downloaded this free design from Advanced Embroidery Designs.

Wash-away stabilizer was hooped and 100% cotton tan thread was put on the upper and bobbin.  I’m using a 75/11 needle.

I was a bit hesitant to stitch the lace design with this particular stabilizer but once the project began to stitch out I could see that it would probably hold together just fine.

When the design was finished I cut away most of the stabilizer and then put the medallion in a bowl of warm water.

I changed the water several times to get rid of the stabilizer.  When I was satisfied that the stabilizer was gone I patted the medallion dry and then just left it on the towel to dry. 

The medallion turned out soft and pliable.  It could be used on clothing or as a doily.  This project took about 30 minutes to sew out, no broken threads and no other issues with stitching.  This is a great project for someone making lace for the first time.

Stay Tuned

So just in case you been wondering if I quit stitching or not, nope!  I've had a few days off though because Emily has been sick.  I'm not sure what the problem is but it is in her gut somewhere.  She was in horrible pain the other day and I couldn't do anything for her.  That sure is the worst feeling. 

Grace has been, well, Grace.  She’s gearing up, or should I say tuning up for another violin recital next week.  Her violin tune has been memorized so she should do well.  Grace has totally learned what the computer is all about and begs me to play video games with her.  I’m slow and don’t understand everything I’m supposed to do on an adventure video game, but she helps me along. 

So now that I’ve learned a bit about my embroidery machine I’m making a list of projects I would like to do. I want to do more lace and see that there are a few Battenberg laces that would be fun.  I also want to make quilt squares.  That one I’m very excited about.  So stay tuned and don’t change that dial, I’ll be back!

Thanks for listening ~

Design on a Tee

My new focus is tee-shirts. I’ve been told that it is difficult to embroider on tees so I spoke with Mom

 

and asked her how to proceed with this project.  She advised me to practice on an old tee-shirt first.  With that in mind I went to Emily’s room and found an old shirt we use for her summer relaxation wear.

For set-up I used sticky stabilizer inside the hoop and then measuring the center of the shirt I pressed the tee to the stabilizer, but did not hoop the tee.

The design would be stitched in Madeira rayon colors and using a pre-wound bobbin.  The neckline design was purchased through embroiderylibrary.com.

The stitching began as it should, but there was a small amount of puckering.  The design is not thick and that probably saves the tee from an untimely trip to the recycle bin. 

When the design has finished stitching I removed the sticky stabilizer.  Wow, looks great.  I took it to Emily and showed her.  She thinks it looks great also.

Now, time to start on the more expensive tee.  This time I decide to put a medium stabilizer under the hoop once I get the new tee on the sticky stabilizer. 

As I stitch the same design there is a definite difference.  The design lays a bit flatter and just looks nicer. 

When the machine stops I see a beautifully stitched embroidery design on a plain tee.  Sure did spice it up.  After removing the stabilizer I’m pretty happy with the end results.  I’m glad I worked the plain tee first and then used the extra stabilizer on the good tee.

Well, that’s the design for today.  Thanks for listening ~

The Bookmark that Almost Wasn’t

I went to the sewing store and looked at new sewing/embroidery machines.  Boy, oh boy!  I could go for one of those babies.  But I’ll have to think about that for a while.

I decided to make another bookmark since the first one turned out so beautifully.  I set it up the same as the last one, wash-away stabilizer, 100% cotton upper and bobbin thread, 75/11 needle. 

With the stitching well underway I turned my attention to other things…. unpacking 120 spools of colored thread.  I had also purchased a wooden rack and so I took the time to set the cones in order.  I feel like I’m really in business now.

The beep of the embroidery machine interrupted my thoughts.  The thread must have broken.  When I looked at my project I almost had a heart attack!  The needle was out of the machine, wrapped in a ball of thread and caught on the end of the bookmark.  The bookmark was torn away from the stabilizer and all bunched up near the middle of the hoop.   All I could think was, “Oh great, I’m almost done and now I’ll have to toss it.”

Just before I started the project I changed the needle.  Its possible the needle wasn’t tight enough in the machine.  Maybe I just put it in wrong, I don’t know.

I didn’t take a picture of the mess, something I promise never to overlook again.

Rather than toss out the base, which had nearly finished sewing out, I smoothed the edges and decided to try and save the bookmark.  I took a piece of thread and worked it through the loops of the area where the bookmark had torn away from the stabilizer.  After stretching it tight and tying it to the end of the hoop I held my breath and started the machine up again.

 

The machine continued to stitch leaves and flowers, and even a pretty yellow bow as if nothing had ever happened.  And then it was finished! 

Oh my gosh, I made it through one of the most horrible experiences in my life.  Again I have to apologize for not showing you a picture of the mess that it was, then you could have appreciated how nice it turned out.

After soaking the bookmark in a bowl of warm water and patting dry I ironed the wrinkles (from the previous mess) from the end.  You can click on the pictures to get a better view of the bookmark that almost wasn’t.  It seems like a miracle that it turned out so good.

Today I learned that I need to check my needle before stitching a new project.  I also learned that one small 150m spool of white cotton thread only makes 2 white bookmark bases.

Thanks for listening ~