Machine Embroidery Cutwork

I've done come cutwork embroidery by hand, not a lot though because it takes quite a bit of effort to create a beautiful table runner. I'm always fearful that after all that work on a table runner that something would spill on it and ruin all that work. Voila! Machine embroidery to the rescue! I had a great time recently attending a day-long machine embroidery class with Alix Graham-Michel where we made a cutwork table runner on white linen. During the time that the machines were busily creating the cutwork design, Alix showed us her lovely work. We learned how to finish table runners, napkins, pillows, etc. I am amazed at how well my table runner turned out, especially the edges of the runner done with decorative scallop stitches built into my sewing machine. We learned how to keep the scallop stitches straight by using the stop-start button on the machine rather than the foot control, using the stitch guide to ensure the design returns to its original position, and sewing one design at a time. It was very easy to get the scallops incorpoated into the main design, and by doing one scallop at a time it was easy to rip out a bad one and resew it. Alix' trunk show provided me with lots of inspiration to make beautiful gifts and simple ideas to make my home beautiful.

Beautiful Hydrangeas

It's difficult to say which is my most favorite flower. The daffodils are just about gone, and the beautiful tulips are starting to fade. Now the rhoddies are starting their show. My neighbor has a magnificent yellow rhoddie that is about 12 feet tall and just as big around. The hydrangeas at the area nurseries are in full bloom and a few of those found their way to my house. There's something mesmerizing about the colors in those delicate hydrangea blossoms.

I found a beautiful quilt pattern called "Picnic Quilt" from "Simple Things, Small Joys" published by the Acorn Quilt & Gift Company. I hadn't visited their website until I started writing this post. Nice site; and, better yet, the pattern book I used is on sale! I was lucky to find the same fabric as the center piece of the quilt and then bought fabric to inner borders and the pieced outer borders. The reason why I chose this patter, other than the fact it has hydrangeas on it, is because of the scrappy, mitered outer border and the beautiful look of the scalloped edge. Well, it's one thing to make a mitered border come out right--and I'm pretty confident I can accomplish that--but it's entirely another matter for a mitered-corner-newbie to attempt to match the scrappy squares in the miter! Oh, well, each corner will be an embellishment opportunity. Now, I'm a bit skiddish about the scallops!!

I also got a bit of machine embroidery accomplished recently. I had a denim vest that I've wanted to embellish for years. The plan was to add some interesting had stitching on it, but now that I have an embroidery machine--well, let's just say it's more likely that clothing embellishment will actually happen. The tulip design was modified in my embroidery software by copying the design, mirror imaging, and adding additional pieces to make the design look the way I wanted.

This will be my first time posting pictures through SmileBox. Let's hope you can see the pictures of my recent projects.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Cut Work Embroidery

I've done a lot of Handanger and other embroidery using cut work techniques. The actual cutting part can be a little nerve wracking so there are a few rules. Don't cut when you're angry or tired, work with good light, and have nice, sharp scissors with very fine points. After cutting then you have the ground fabric threads to wrap creating the "holes."

Well, yesterday I had fun making cutwork with my embroidery machine using an Anita Gooddesign butterfly. Using a 100% cotton ready-made towel, hoop it with sticky, water soluable stabilizer, and stitch the first color of the embroidery design using polyester threads in the needle and bobbin. After the first color is finished, take the hoop off the embroidery machine but do not unhoop the fabric. Using a produce called Fiber Edtch apply a small amoung along the inside edge of the areas to be "cut" away. After the Fiber Etch has dried, an iron accomplishes the magic of cutting the unwanted fibers out. Since the stabilizer was cut away as well as the fabric, a scrap of sticky stabilizer is needed on the back of the hooped project. Put the hoop back into the machine and finished the design, and Voila! you have a cutwork project completed. I found a great demonstration on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ySucm_Aqs8 that shows how to use the product.

I am really pleased with the results and my brain is figuring out other designs to try. So the new rules for cutwork are . . . who cares about the old rules!

Enjoy!

Pillows, pillows

I love little pillows! I have just a few that I've made hanging around the house, but I want more! I thought I'd post some of the pillows that I have made in the past, and three new ones where I've incorporated machine embroidery designs.

The first picture shows some very small pillows! The square pillow is done with silk ribbon embroidery on pre-made doilies. The needle roll is about 5 inches long and done on linen with cotton threads. The needleroll commemorates my grandson's birth.

I made three small pillows using Thimbleberries fabrics as well as their machine embroidery designs. Machine embroidery designs are a relatively

new offering from Thimbleberries. Check out their website to view the designs and download their free designs. The pillow in the

background uses a corner motif, and I added lettering with Husqvarna-Viking 4D Professional embroidery software. The anchor pillow is done in applique, and the pillow in the for

eground uses an unaltered design.

Last November I took a three-day Martha Pullen Heirloom sewing class in Gig Harbor. What an event that was! That's a story for another post, however, on the subject of pillows, I made a lovely heirloom pillow. The pillow is made of off-white cotton batiste, ecru laces, and ribbon and was all sewn using a serger. Who would have thought a serger would be capable of creating delicate heirloom sewing!

Crab-Apple Hill designs are absolutely fun! The pieced pillow on the right is based on one of their designs that I purchased as a kit. I was lazy about stitching out the design by hand, so 4D Embroidery to the rescue! I found some flowers from other design and created the wording in the software. I experimented with fancy buttonhole designs--although these buttonholes are not functional. I sewed the antique buttons on top of the button holes. Shhh! Don't tell anyone.

The green pillow is a traditionally sewn Hawaiian applique pillow. The green design is needle-turn applique'd and all the quilting including the echo quilting was done by hand. For my first design I chose ulu or breadfruit. Even though I do know quite a bit about Hawaiian tradition from my life-long Hawaiian friend, for t his post I researched the design at the Hono Hale website. Ulu is "chosen design for a first quilt because of its importance in traditional Hawaiian life. It is believed that the making of an Ulu quilt insures adequate food and a lifetime of prosperity for the maker. " Also accoring to tradition, I left a stitched "puka" or hole in the center of the design to allow the spirits to enter and exit.

On this note I'll leave with with Aloha and Mahalo for reading my post. I hope you've had fun reading it as I have in creating it.

Sewing & Stitchery Expo

What fun at the Sewing and Stitchery Expo! I've only been to the sewing expo three or four times in the past as I was more interested in hand needlework and the expo targets quilting and sewing. But I've grown and expanded my interests.





This year I volunteered three mornings at the expo along with my fellow Clothing & Textile Advisors assisting in the fashion shows and classrooms getting patrons seated, handing out papers, etc. I learned so much by listening and learning new techniques. And the vendor booths! Oh, my.

I bought Jenny's Heritage quilt by Jenny Haskins. What a spectacular quilt this is. I had the opportunity to see and touch it. Absolutely stunning. Each of the 16 blocks is constructed and them machine embroidered. All the embroidery designs are included, and the book gives lots of new (new to me, anyway) techniques such as applique decoupage. In this technique the embroidery design is stitched directly onto stabilizer and then cut away from the stabilizer. The final step is to then applique the design onto the square. A really neat way to "cut" away the design is to use a stencil type cutter to melt the stabilizer away from the design. This technique works when you stitch with rayon thread and a stabilizer that melts and doesn't burn.

I'm most excited about trying the applique decoupage technique to embellish ready-to-wears. I get nervous about machine embroidering directly onto a sweater or jacket because I'm afraid to ruin it. No matter now many articles and books I've read on fool-proof ways to get this done, there's always a chance your machine will have the hiccups the day you try. This technique gives me great confidence.

The quilt also has numerous blocks that are three-dimensional with flowers embroidered onto a stabilizer-organza sandwich and then cut out. Multiples of individual flowers are stacked onto the quilt block and then stitched into place. Some blocks have furry spots, others have lace.

Here's the website to see and learn more about this beauty: http://www.rnkdistributing.com/jh-Heritage.htm

The Ripper!

I have been quite remiss in not posting to my blog. Instead of posting to my own blog, I've been quite entertained and inspired by other people's blogs on quilting and fiber arts. I didn't think anyone would notice or care about Lydia's Threads until I received comments from three people who asked if my blog has been updated. I have been doing quite a lot of sewing, quilting, stitching--playing with lots of threads! So, now I'll try to catch up.

I don't know about you, but I sure do unsew a lot! In needlework it's called frogging, you know, "rip-it, rip-it!" In quilting and sewing language it's called unsewing. Pictured is a 60-inch center for a Thimbleberries scrappy quilt that I'm doing through a local quilt shop. The center block is made up of 6-1/2-inch squares with a 12-inch middle block. There are two rows of 12-inch blocks to add and several inner and outer borders to add. It will be king sized when finished.

I had gotten a bit behind in my monthly club "homework" so I really applied myself to get the rest of the blocks sewn and then stitched together. I carefully, or so I thought, followed the diagram for laying out all the blocks. After each row, I would double check to make sure that all was well--that, of course, after unsewing multiple blocks from a couple of rows. I was so happy to get the center done, get a picture taken, and have some new stuff to blog. The happiness turned to disbelief as I discovered after looking at the photo while posting that there appears to be two more blocks to unsew! Oh, no! On the left side I can see two blocks that appear to be turned the wrong way. Grrr! Looks like the Ripper will be out again in the morning.

The Ultimate "Threadplay"

Libby Lehman is reknown in the quilting world for her creative art quilts. I had the opportunity to sit in on her three-hour seminar hosted by Best Sewing in University Place, WA, on September 15. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak or take a class with her, do it. She's a friendly, entertaining, funny, and down-to-earth quilter who kindly shares her knowledge with others. Her seminar covered a lot of the details in her book, Threadplay, interspersed with jokes, trivia, specific applique techniques, and her unique ribbon illusions. With technical assistance from her computer, projector, and video camera she demonstrate how to create the ribbons. I don't think I've ever had such a great personal learning experience with 40+ attendees!

She brought several of her quilting masterpieces and explained how she created them. Now this lady has experience with threads! In each quilt she has numerous types of threads and thicknesses like DMC pearl cotton, macrame cotton, metallic, polyester, cotton. She loves varigated threads (who doesn't?) and she knows how to use them. She graciously allowed us to take pictures of her work. You can visit Libby Lehman's website to see examples of her work and her class schedule. I'm so inspired! I hope you will be too.