New gadgets!!

OK -- so what happened? It's freezing this morning! Of course, the temperature is only 17 and feels like 17, and with the windows open, it's cool in the house. It's crazy weather! 

When I was in the Wal-Mart the other day, I spotted this in the yarn section: Faux Leather. What the heck would you do with that? Yes -- it's long and stringy, just like yarn. WAIT a minute—now that I see this again, I want some! 

A skein of Faux Leather

But I guess the idea is you knit up a sweater or a bag with it. There was a small swatch knit up so you could see what it looks like! Hmmm—I'm not sure I would do that. It came in multiple colors! 

A swatch of faux leather "yarn"

Yesterday was time to get out the garment pattern and have a look at it, as I need to decide what embroidery designs to put on it. 

The garment pattern

You can tell the pattern's age by looking at the pieces. Do you notice anything about it? 

What's missing on the pattern?

Yep—there is only one size!!! It's a mens/misses medium pattern. I'm not going to make any adjustments, but I will shorten it as the shirt and the sleeves are quite long. I may look at the shoulders, but this garment has a yoke, and I don't want to mess with that the way it is designed. I separated out all the pieces I need and ironed them gently. Now I'll shorten the shirt and the sleeves and hopefully get it cut out today. I also did some research for an embroidery pattern, and I think I have narrowed the style down; I just need to find the right sizes. 

It's been a long time since I sewed a pattern with plackets on the sleeves. I don't think that's the exact term, but you know what I mean. I just checked, and it's a placket! It also has a two-part collar! But I've made those in the past, and they are not complicated; they just take a wee bit more time. I have a serger now, so it should be easy!

This is another way to buy patterns. This is the Burda Style magazine, and it contains numerous patterns. You'll find them all on the pullouts in the middle, and the patterns are printed on top of each other in different colors. Tracing the lines to form a single pattern will be the most challenging part. 

The new way to buy patterns

Different times!!! 

In case you are wondering this happened. 

The last stitches of the table runner are done.

The embroidery for the table runner, which required three hoops in the 450 by 450 Mega Turnable Hoop, is done! It seemed to take forever, even though the number of stitches yesterday was HALF of the day before. But it's done. I now have to repair that one spot, then figure out how to trim and hem it. You'll get to see it when it's done. 

Have you noticed that there is NO setting things aside to get them done later - it's get them completed NOW. 

I spent the rest of the day prepping fabrics, finding patterns, etc for things that will be stitched out today or in the next couple of days. That was a lot of work. 

The next time you show someone something you have machine-embroidered, and they say, "Oh - that's no big deal, you had a machine stitch it," you'd better set them straight. It's a ton of work -- prepping the fabric, finding the pattern, choosing the thread colors, picking the correct stabilizer, having the skill to combine the elements, and knowing the many tools on the embroidery machine. Then, to make everything come out right and fix any issues should they arise. It's a whole different set of skills from doing it by hand, but trust me—it's NOT just about pressing START and walking away. People have ZERO idea. 

I was exhausted when I went to bed! 

Here is my finish for yesterday. YES -- it's off center, and I could have trimmed it to fit, but then it would have looked very tight! This is the one where I had randomly stitched the bird out in the middle of a piece of blue fabric. Then I figured out what to use the sample for, and well, it has lots of issues. But I bound the edges because it's a great learning piece, and I will certainly use it in classes for placement, the order of stitching, and many other things. I could always put a flower or something in the bottom right corner. It's not too late. Hmm -- that gives me an idea. 

The sample of the day

I'm in the process of redoing it, but it will be done the correct way or at least more to my liking. I started it last night, but I struggled with the stitches as I was so tired. So I left it and will tackle it this morning. 

If I don't get everything I want to done, I'm OK with that, but I can make a huge dent in the list. I think I'm down to ten things on the list and seven days!

So, do you know what this is used for? 

A new gadget

When I first saw the tool, I got super excited. A friend of mine told her husband, who is still working, that he'd better find a hobby for when he retired. Well, he took her advice to heart and bought himself a 3-D printer. He's not ready to retire for a few more years! He made that tool above, and it's brilliant, and about 6 weeks ago, I was looking for exactly such a thing. 

What's it for? 

Let's imagine you are making a small pouch and need to round the corners. But you can't find anything small enough or suitable for use with a rotary cutter. I swear I had some round templates, but at the time I couldn't find them, so I sort of rounded these corners, but they look messy. 

Messy rounded corners

But if I had had this tool, I could have used that! 

So much easier with the rounded corner tool

I didn't do such a bad job hacking with scissors, but I much prefer using a tool like this. And notice that all the writing is raised and printed in another color! I love it!!!!

Easy to read letters and markings

And did you notice that he custom-made the tool in my favorite color? Thanks—you know who you are!!!

But WAIT --- there's more!!!! 

He also made me a set of cord minders! 

Cord minders

They snap together beautifully, and just the other day, I was looking for a cord minder for my heat gun. Now the cord is nice and tidy! 

A cord minder for my heat gun

And I also got a point turner with a hole at the tip that can be used to hold your needle for insertion into the sewing machine. 

A point turner

WOW --- that is an amazing set of tools!!! Thank you once again!!! I love them all. Now I have to remember to pay for them, which I'll do this morning. What did we do without the ability to e-transfer money? 

I believe they will be selling these tools at the Brant Heritage Quilt Show on September 25 and 26, so if you want some of those quilting items, check that out. Or if you want to place a special order, I'm sure that can be arranged. 

Someone at the last Virtual Retreat, which was at the beginning of July, mentioned this puzzle. Does anyone remember this quilt that raised the most money at the Mennonite Relief Sale ever? I believe it sold for $42,000. They made it into a puzzle. The quilt was created by Renske Helmuth and members of the Waterloo County Quilters Guild. 

What a great way to raise funds for the Mennonite Central Committee. There are many stories about this quilt online, but here is a link to one. 

Threads of Africa quilt

I found a store (In-Season) that sells the puzzle, and guess what? I had an $11 credit with the store because I had bought a number of things last summer, and well, that paid for the postage. The puzzle arrived yesterday. I need to stop buying or acquiring special puzzles because I won't want to give them away, but where the heck will I store them? Yikes—I think we need to have an intervention here! 

I'm not this bad yet, but maybe it's time to purge the quilt magazines and use those bookcases for jigsaw puzzle storage!!!

Someone's puzzle storage (not mine)

Speaking of puzzles, the theme for July with the Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association is a Villager-brand puzzle. There are already 181 posts from people this month. You know it's been done this month because you have to post a keyword in the picture. I see two people have done this one. I'm working my way slowly from top to bottom. 

Progress on my puzzle

I haven't resorted to sorting by shape for the trees yet, but I may have to. I think I have all the tree pieces pulled, but probably not! And then comes the challenging reflection, water and boats. Yeah!!!! But it's a nice way to end the day. 

And OH MY - the Villager company just came out with 250-piece puzzles, which are fun because you can do them in an evening, and they will also be releasing an Advent calendar. OK -- I have to get that!

Well, there's a lot to get done today, and I have to say I'm very focused and having fun, even though I'm learning with almost everything I do. There's so much more that I want to play with, but after this event, I need to get back to my quilting UFOs! But I will have other machine embroidery samples to make starting in August, so that will blow my quilting time out of the water! 

And on that note, I'm out of here! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Progress with only one SNAFU

It was another good day in Studio B. And Brenda, I'm so excited that you are messing around with the Qult Block Wizard! I did NOT accomplish all I wanted. I knew there was going to be a snag somewhere. Things just take longer than planned, but that's OK. However, I had a very humbling moment. I was all excited about one of the samples - this is going to be perfect. And then BAM! It wasn't perfect. I am not sure I will camouflage what happened. I'm going to finish what I did by binding it, but let's just say that it was a humbling moment. 

Remember all those tools that I said were amazing? They are, but only if the operator doesn't go in and try to do something silly. You see, I had everything lined up perfectly, and then I accidentally touched one of the designs and moved it, thinking I was moving everything, but I was only moving one design, not four. Alas, it stitched out but was not lined up!

However, it was another learning moment, and since we learn from our mistakes, I think I've made all I can with those tools. I'm done now!

Anyway, I managed to get all the stitching done using the Embellishment Attachment and used up three sample stitchouts that were hanging around. Despite my error, the one I goofed on is cute. And it's a teaching moment. Yep -- I'm going to take it to Nashville with me. 

I still have two to clean up, one to bind, and one is done. So worst-case scenario, I can clean up those pieces on the move if I have to. But they are stitched. Actually, I think I need about two hours to completely finish the last three samples. 

It's time to move on to another hoop, and I haven't decided which one. 

Here's the sample that I finished yesterday. And YES -- that is entirely done on an embroidery machine, including the fuzzy bits.

My completed sample

I have to laugh when I look at this one. The fuzzy stuff for the sheep is a tad fuzzier than I thought it would be, and his face and one ear are obliterated. But that sort of fits with the quote. I might trim it slightly, but otherwise - it's done. 

This is another sample I was stitching out, and it is the one that went haywire. 

So cute and before the "storm" hit

But when it was done, I went back to the screen to see what had happened, and that's when I discovered what I had done. It's not enough to make a mistake, but figure out WHY that happened, and then you can move on. Get over it! And never do it again!

I love the project system even in sewing mode. Those projected lines are great for sewing diagonal lines, too. Why mark when you don't have to? I am sewing on the PFAFF creative icon 2.

Projection lines in sewing mode

OH MY -- I may have spoken too soon about the colorways of the 70s and how they would never come back. Look what I spotted on IG yesterday. This is from a fabric company introducing a new line. Doesn't that remind you of the fabrics from the 70s? 

Reminds me of colors from the 70s

Instead of completing the items yesterday, I did something else. I lost a bit of steam when I screwed up, but that's OK. It's good to take a break. And making mistakes is hard work! 

This is the latest puzzle I'm working on. This is another great brand (Villager Puzzles), and guess what? They are also Canadian and use only artwork by Canadian women artists! They make a lot of Canadian landscape puzzles, and I've suggested some for the prairies. Hey, the owner was looking for suggestions! I just realized that this company is based in Comox, BC. 

My current puzzle

You can buy from them online or from Puzzles Canada, and there are many other shops where you can find them. This is the company that Cynthia submitted artwork to and won! It was for a puzzle that will be sold exclusively on the BC Ferries. You will also be able to buy it online at the Villager website. I'm not sure when that one will come out.

And this is what it looks like when you open the box. There's a poster inside, which I never use, and the pieces are already in a bag. That is good -- all puzzles should come with the pieces in a bag. It's a zippered top bag so you can reuse it! That's even better. Hey, the company was founded by a woman! 

Inside the box

She appeared on Dragon's Den, and you can watch it here. The quality of the puzzles is amazing. Check them out next time you're in the market for a puzzle. 

Here's my progress so far. That was HARD, and it took almost an hour just to do that small part. I wonder how easy the rest of the puzzle will be? 

A challenge to do the lettering

I also spent some time weeding in the backyard. It's a mess. This is the before picture. 

Before

And here's the after. I only started with a small section, but already it looks much better. It's hard to see because of the sun and shade, but it looks much better - trust me. 

After

And you will NOT believe this, but when I was digging through that sample drawer, look what I found. I thought I only had one of these Dream Big panels, but NO - I have two. Of course, I have two. 

Two Dream Big panels

I have stitched a teal-colored panel, but I want to stitch another one because with my newfound skills and new tools on the embroidery machine, I think I can do a better job than I did the first time. So—that is something I can attempt to make happen this summer. Nothing like trying to get some of this embroidery done. 

At some point, I need to stop and work on quilt UFOs, not just embroidery stuff! 

This is a quilt that a reader sent to me. It's made from a quilt pattern by a Canadian designer. YES --- we have some great Canadian designers, and we need to make sure that we support them.

A pattern by Sew Fresh Quilts

The company is called Sew Fresh Quilts, and the designer is Lorna. Check out her website, as she has some amazing designs. The link for the fox is here. You cannot beat $5 for a very cool pattern. 

OH - I'm running out of time before I meet Brooke. I have a question to ask about Lorna's patterns. Perhaps we need to do one of these as a sew-along, but NOT for this year. But next. The price is definitely right!!! Which one is your favorite? 

And on that note, I'm out of here!

Have a wonderful day, and hopefully it will be filled with joyful moments, even if it requires some tough love and learning! 

Ciao!!!!