Pretty Pot Holders and Lace Sewing Machine

I feel the need to embroider.  I just love machine embroidering and in doing so, makes me feel sew creative! I have lots of  project ideas swirling in my head that I need to make a list, lest I forget.  An item on that list are pot holders...quick and easy.

But first, before I show those, I want to show this little sewing machine I did. I made 4 total and gave as Christmas gifts to my sisters. It took about 3 months of on and off embroidery to get them completed. The project is an OESD design. There are roughly 525,000 stitches in one little machine. Fourteen or so parts are stitched out separately on wash away stabilizer then the machine is constructed by inserting little tabs into eyelets. After completion I inserted a string of LED twinkle lights. Also, from the same company, I have a stand-up lace Christmas tree that I want to do next....better get started on that one now!

Okay....on to the pretty pot holders. These were fun and easy to do. Some of the designs (not all shown) were single corner designs that I flipped and rotated to make full designs.

 I backed them with canvas cloth making them more durable. I think they're pretty darn cute and will be an attractive addition to my kitchen. These designs were created by Anita Goodesign, from their Quilters Dream collection.

Now what to embroider next....I really need to get that list going!

Happy Embroidering!

Happy Sewing!

Life is full of many journeys. 

Check out my Journeys:

Gardening Journey

Cooking Journey

Machine Embroidery Journey

Journey with My Pets and Other Creatures 

Embroidery Fun

Last summer I purchased the Wilcom Hatch embroidery program and what fun I've been having. I actually feel creative in my embroidery attempts these days. I also follow OML Embroidery on YouTube where there are umpteen free tutorials for a variety of embroidery platforms. 

I did this portrait of my SIL and her dog.  

Using embroidery machine applique I made these dish towels that went into gift baskets.  The baskets went to special caregivers that attend to my MIL at the nursing home. I should have made more bc my MIL said, "folks were dropping in that I hadn't seen in a while hoping to receive a basket." I'm glad they were a hit! 

Happy Stitching!

New Wall Art

My  24 year old DD was looking through some old birthday photos and she commented that all the window treatments and wall art were the same in each year's photo. Gosh...she was right! I believe it's time for some decor changes!

Since I love doing machine embroidery I thought I would do some embroidery wall art and being from the New Orleans area I fell in love with this design.  I downloaded the design from Embroidery Library and changed the colors to Mardi Gras colors.

The design has 82,000 stitches, 25 colors and stitched out in about 2 hours. I have a six needle Baby Lock which helped with the color changes.

I stitched it out on some thin vinyl type fabric, framed it and wah-la...new wall art!

I also stitched these out to place as a grouping on another wall.  They were stitched out on washed duck cloth and I plan to stretch them out on framed art canvas.  These designs were also downloaded from Embroidery Library.

Hope you enjoyed my new wall art.  My DD will be happy for sure! 

Come back soon! I love to read your comments!

Thanks for visiting and have an awesome day.

Happy Living! Happy Embroidering!

Awesome Stitching

My sister attended a shop hop this weekend held in the San Antonio area. I believe there were 9 shops participating and from the pictures I received, it looked like she was having a great time. This was one picture I received that I thought was awesome and was stitched out on an embroidery machine.

At first look I thought the blue was fabric, but it's not...it's stitched

I think the stitching makes a really awesome design.

What have you embroidered lately?

Thanks for visiting.

Christmas Gifts

Here are some of the dishtowels and potholders I made for my SILs and MIL for Christmas. The gifts were a surprise and they loved them. I specifically told them to please use the gifts and just don't put them out to show. When they get stained I would just make them more!

The designs are from the Anita Goodesign collection "Baltimore Quilt" They stitched out really well as all Anita Goodesigns do. One day I would love to make a quilt using this collection. All had 5 to 6 colors and each design utilized the same colors which was great for me and my six needle embroidery machine. I did six separate designs and didn't need to change any of the thread colors which made for quick work. I used a water soluble stabilizer which made removal a snap.

Here are the towels opened out. 

 Potholders, which are actually mine due to the process mistakes I made. I love them all the same and no one else would know the mistakes I made, except for maybe another embroiderer. 

 The potholders not yet cut down to size. I used bar mop cloths to make them, one for the front and one for the back. $2 for a pack of four at Wal-Mart. I generally don't shop at Wal-Mart but glad that I checked them out for dishtowels.  For the gifts I binded each with traditional binding using a tan tone on tone fabric. 

The dishtowels are also a bar mop dishtowel.  $5 for a pack of 5 at Wal-Mart.  Each SIL and MIL received two dishtowels and a potholder.

 The embroidery collection came with several stipple designs to choose from. I first embroidered the center design with batting and stabilizer and only wanted the design to appear on the front of the potholder. I couldn't remove the embroidered cloth from the hoop because I couldn't get it centered again once I added the back cloth to finish off with the stipple stitch (the first of my own potholders).  So I ended up just pinning the back cloth onto the front cloth without removing it from the hoop.

It worked quite well after some adjustments and having to tape the ends of the cloth to the hoop (my own second and third potholders). It was fun and the finished mistake-free potholders were well received.

I always learn something new about my machine, a process and myself when I do an embroidery project. Continuing to learn is always a good thing.

Thanks for stopping by my Embroidery Page and please do leave me a comment. I love reading them. 

Happy Living! Happy Embroidering!

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