Machine Embroidery

Do you have an embroidery sewing machine?  I do... I think I may have blogged about that early on.

I used to be an embroidery snob -- thought it had to be done by hand on fine linen to be right.  Then I got into silk ribbon embroidery for a while.  I branched out into doing that on denim and on baby knits.  Those little onesies can be so darn cute!

I finally broke down and got a machine several years back.  Having this very low end Brother satisfies my need to do embroidery, now that I've embraced this art!  But the stabilizer market is crazy with names and types and brands, don't you think?  I was using something to do my church's baptismal napkins.  It was sticky so I could embroider Irish linen without hooping it to death and it washed away.

I tried to order some more but they stopped making it or something... oh my gosh why does this always happen??!! 

In October I saw an ad for the local Ben Franklin store promoting a Floriani seminar.  Well, if anyone knows embroidery, it's Floriani, right?  Their logo says so!

I signed up and was so excited to get their expert opinion about everything machine embroidery related.  And boy did I get lots of opinions!!  The educator was knowledgeable but she moved so fast, I was furiously writing notes on my samples and the list we got, trying to figure out what I should use instead of what I was using.

My brain was spinning!  It didn't help that is was late afternoon on a Friday and only my second day back to work from the surgery.  But I diligently wrote down what I thought were the main points I needed to know.  About halfway through the 4 hours, she switched to talking about software and designs.  After that I was kind of brain dead anyway, and I don't love-love-love every 50,000 stitch design I've seen, so I kind of tuned out a little.

The main thing I got was that you can go to the Floriani website and use their stabilizer workbook to help you decide how much stabilizer and what kind you should use on a project.  And that they recommend one layer for every 10,000 stitches in your design.

So while I could not be induced to spend $1800 on the software, or $289 on a box with one roll of every kind of stabilizer, I did manage to spend more than I thought was possible on four rolls of various melt away and/or sticky stuff to use when I embroider a small scallop shell on an Irish linen napkin.

I'm hoping to try them out this weekend.

Oh, and in case you're wondering whether I thought this was worthwhile, I have to say YES, I did!!  I came away with a sample, labeled, of almost ALL of the Floriani stabilizers, ten gorgeous spools of polyester embroidery thread, four CDs of designs and a couple of other things which were all free with the price of admission. 

And by the way, no one paid me to write anything about Floriani and I'm not employed by them or anyone in the embroidery world.  I work for engineers, boring and colorless most of the time.  (Kidding, guys, I love my job!!)  But everyone gotta do something, so I work for engineers during the day and live my creative life on weekends!
What color is your life??

Sew on!

Phone Guy's Wife Blocks

Have you been following the Barrister's Block blog and watching everyone do fabulous things with their fabrics?  I have!  There were a couple of colorways featured this week.  I loved the black and white, and the red and white and the blue and cheddar. 

Randy was looking for pictures of everyone elses blocks so I sent mine.  Within seconds, it seems, she posted my blocks on her blog!  If you want to see them, and others, go to the Barrister's Block link on the right where the blogs I follow are listed, and take a trip over there.

I recognized some of the fabrics from the black and white group...  Hey, I have a tub of B&W, why don't I just start another project???  LOL!

I have to get finished with the baptismal dress.  The baby arrived today!  Her name is Linnea Grace, and she's beautiful... lots of hair, and her proud Gramma has already sent me pictures.

Life is so good, isn't it?  New babies always make me feel that way.  No matter what else happens today, I see it as a sign that God still loves us.

Hope you have a wonderful day.  Look for pictures of the finished gown sometime within the next couple of days to a week. 

Sew on!