Embroidery It Birthday Party Day 4

Embroidery It Birthday Party Day 4

by | Jun 23, 2016 | Blog

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Dear Friends,

Todays Birthday design set will give you the hometown country general store feel.  Kitchen Emblems using mouth watering words will keep you thinking of the freshest ingredients, Grandma’s comfort food, and your best recipes.  Use these designs on towels, aprons, placemats and all your kitchen linens to bring back that country nostalgic feel.

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I embroidered the designs onto towels that I made out of Hardanger cotton fabric.  The Hardanger fabric has the salvage edges finished off so all I had to do was cut to length and I cut them 30″ long.  I hemmed the top with a simple roll-over hem and on the bottom I did a scrappy patchwork border using fabric and thread colors that matched.

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You could cut your patchwork squares any size, but I cut mine at 1 1/2″ square and then stitched them together randomly using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

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I just made enough for two rows to go the length of the towel.  I finished off the back of the patchwork squares with white cotton fabric as my squares hang below the towel.  In hindsight, I could have just stitched them directly to the bottom of the towel and that probably would have been a bit easier.

I must confess, these designs have been some of my very favorite.  I think it is because they just special, what I call, trendy vintage feel to them.  You can find Kitchen Emblems HERE in the Embroidery It Etsy store.

Make it a great day everyone,

Nancy

be creative daily and live life beautifully

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Applique Chili Peppers

by | Jul 17, 2015 | Blog

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Chili pepper design comes from Embroidery Library

It was a sad day for me as I had to say good bye to my dear friend Laura.  I’m leaving on vacation and when I return she will be gone and getting settled in the great southwest state of Arizona.  Laura is both my neighbor and also my gym buddy.  Knowing we would meet at the gym is what would help keep me motivated to get up and go.  I hate exercise.

Having lived in Arizona, twice, I know how southwest décor is very popular down there so I made a couple of hand towels with chili peppers to help her feel like she is fitting in.  🙂

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I took some twine and tied it in a bow for an added embellishment and stitched it in place.

I will miss you Laura.  Best wishes to you!

Nancy

be creative daily and live life beautifully

Machine Embroidery Spring Hand Towels

by | Apr 27, 2013 | Blog

Machine Embroidery – Spring Hand Towels

Hi Friends,
It was time to give my blog a new look.  Actually I got to playing with it because right beside me my embroidery machine is humming away with those boy scout neckerchiefs I mentioned in my previous post.  I don’t like to stray too far while it does it’s thing, so I’ve had a chance to play with my blog.

The hand towels are from Anita Goodesign and it is from the Spring Curls collection.  These are more designs that just make me smile.  The towels were from Wally World and I used a water soluble stabilizer on both the top and bottom.

At our house, it is bursting with signs of spring!  I’ve got most of the garden in now.  There should be no more freezes now till fall.  Mama robin has built her nest in the back yard.  I’ve enjoyed watching her.  We will have new baby birds very soon.  My peach and plum trees already have small green fruit and the grape vines look like they will be loaded.  On a sad note, my cherry tree froze.  Not even a single leaf on it.  I hope next year it comes back in full.  Last year I froze 20 pints of cherries and was looking forward to more this season.  Oh well, I will be thankful for the produce I do manage to harvest from my little yard.  The red bud tree and forsythia bushes have been so pretty.

Spring blessings to you all!
Nancy

Machine Embroidery Using a Wing Needle

by | Apr 15, 2013 | Blog

Machine Embroidery using a Wing Needle

Hi Friends,
This past week was spring break for my children and boy did we have fun.  Mike and Tim went on a boy scout camping trip and Emily and I drove to Oklahoma City to visit Katie in the Air Force.

Two beautiful sisters, Emily and Katie.  Oh how mama loves you both!

This was my first time to visit her there!  She gave us a tour of the base and her dorm room (tiny dorm room).  She has her own bedroom with sink, but shares a bathroom and kitchen with another girl.  In her kitchen I saw she had one of my tea towels.  (I was wondering where it had gone to!)  Of course she can have it.  I’m delighted she liked something I had made and wants to use it!  Here it is…

It is just a tea towel with a fabric strip sewn onto the bottom to add more color.  Then for the butterfly, I used colors to match the fabric.  The interesting part of this design is that between the butterfly and the diamond, a wing needle was used with white thread to add a beautiful dramatic effect.

Just look how wide the needle is.  As the needle punches through the fabric, it pushes the fabric and creates a little hole.  Can you see it in the picture above?  It gives is a richness with the texture it creates.  The hole is created by the needle going through the same spot numerous times.  One thing is that you do need to do is manually turn the handwheel of your machine to make certain the needle passes through the throat plate easily.

Just a note, if using a wing needle, be sure to do it on a cotton fabric.  If you use it on a fabric with polyester or other man made material, the fabric will have a tendency to spring back into place and the little hole will fill in and not be noticeable.
Also it is wise to use an embroidery design especially made for using a wing sewing needle.  This design is from Sew Inspired by Bonnie.
So we are back home now.  This morning we are home and the sun is shining.  The leaves on the trees are the most beautiful spring green and the robins, finches and other birds are singing.  Spring always has been and always will be my favorite season.
Love and blessings to you all!

Nancy

Machine Embroidered Christmas Handtowels

by | Dec 13, 2012 | Blog

Machine Embroidered Christmas Handtowels

Dear Friends,
I’ve been working on some sweet hand towels to give as Christmas gifts.  I am bundling one candy cane towel with one Santa sled.  I think they turned out sweet as can be.
The towels are from Costco.  The designs are from Anita Goodesign.  I used metallic silver thread for the top and white for the bobbin and just as with the Thanksgiving towels, I hooped water-soluble stabilizer in the hoop, floated the towel on top and topped the towel again with water-soluble stabilizer to keep the stitches up and showing.

I think these are the perfect Christmas gift for many on my list.
With love and Christmas Blessings,
Nancy

Machine Embroidery Hand Towels

by | Nov 19, 2012 | Blog

Machine Embroidered Thanksgiving Hand Towels

Dear Friends,
I’ve been busy with some continued sports work for clubs.  It has been a nice trickle of business coming in.  Not too much to overwhelm me with the holidays fast approaching.
I’ve also been making a handful of these Thanksgiving hand towels for all the ladies in the family that we will be celebrating Thanksgiving with.  It will be a houseful of hustle and bustle of activity and chatter.
Let me tell you briefly about the towels.

This is a fun and quick project. I used water-soluble stabilizer on the top and bottom so that the stitches would not sink into the nap of the towel.  The pattern for this is from Embroidery Library and I got the towels at Costco.  Just be sure to preshrink the towels first before embroidering on them!

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving holiday.  We have so much to be thankful for.  God is so FAITHful and good!  I am so grateful to have been able to start this little business this year and for it to be steady.  This has brought me such joy.  Our daughter Katie is home from the Air Force for 2 weeks.  How wonderful to have her home!!

May you all have safe travels this week and know that you, my readers are in my prayers.  I am thankful for each of YOU!

Blessings~Nancy