December Projects

As is our usual tradition, we opened gifts on Christmas Eve night.  Which means, I can finally show the projects I’ve worked on this month.  It has been several years since I did many handmade gifts and this year I made up for it.  First up is the whole cloth quilt I made for our quilt group gift exchange.  The color isn’t quite right on the screen — it is a red, red.  The quilting designs were derived from some Hawaiian fabric.

We only exchange gifts with extended family if we are together.  My sister and her family came here this year.  So for her I made this Handbag.  The Pattern is “The Large Angled Pocket Handbag” from Dixons Designs. (The fabric for my purse came into the store this week 😀 )

My sister and brother-in-law have a foster daughter who is 11 months old today.  For her I made a baby doll from a “Dinky Baby” pattern.  I used Doll Skin fabric rather than the craft velour called for by the pattern.  I think the velour would have been easier to work with.  The pattern directions come on a CD so there are loads of pictures which means the instructions are pretty easy to follow!  The real baby’s first reaction to the doll was to rip off its hat and bite it on the top of the head.  We think maybe she considered that a kiss.  LOL.

I was cleaning out Jesse’s outgrown clothes a couple months ago and there was a large stack of T-shirts.  I was ready to donate them, and it suddenly struck me I had about enough to make a T-shirt quilt.  I stuck them in the closet and forgot about them.  I remembered them at the beginning of the month.  I bought the stabilizer for the shirts on December 4.  I didn’t have as many T-shirts as I needed to make the quilt the size I wanted, but I did have the backs.  So I digitized video game titles and images on 7 squares.  I was clearly reminded of the fact, I dislike auto digitizing.  However, I had to live with it as I didn’t have time to manually digitize and finish by Christmas.  I also didn’t stitch out samples.  All the embroidered blocks are the first try.  The boys got out of school on December 20 and I managed to finish the binding on the 21st early in the morning.  Thankfully they are fairly typical teens and slept in. There is Dr. Suess flannel on the back and wool batting.  It all paid off when Jesse pulled it out of the box and proclaimed he LOVED it!

For Guy I made a turtle police car pillow from one of the blocks in Amy Bradley’s “Traveling Turtles” pattern.  He had seen a picture of the pattern and asked me to buy it.  He said he would make a pillow from that block if I would help him.  I just saved him the trouble.  I think this pattern is a hoot, and after making this am considering a whole quilt.

I made pillow cases for both Nolan and Jesse.  The pattern can be found by searching either “Hot Dog Pillow case” or “Burrito Pillow Case”  I used this pattern.  Nolan got Converse like shoe fabric because he has a pair of bright yellow ones exactly like one shown in the print, and Jesse got cats, because he has been crazy about them for years.

Finally a new wall hanging for Guy’s office.  He has two already and this is to rotate out with one of them.  The Pikes Peak and Colorado Springs postcard blocks are from Olde America Antiques Vintage Quilt Blocks.  The pattern comes with the blocks but is also available free from their website.  I still need to hand stitch the hanging sleeve and will probably get to it today.

Whew, I should be tired just looking at this, but I’m ready to move on to the next project, or three.

Bernina V.6 Software — After Playing with It

I finally took the time today to go look at the newest version of the Bernina software.  I’ve read on Bernina’s website the new and/or enhanced features, but I just wasn’t sure there was enough to justify the upgrade price.  It seems the fact that Coral Draw is included is one of the biggest new features being touted.  To me that isn’t a selling point.  I have other graphics programs that I’m already comfortable with and don’t really need another.  Another feature is the ability to finally be able to edit blocks in the Quilter portion of the software.  Again I have other programs that do this, so not a selling point. 

I must admit the only new features that tempted me at all were the were the spiral fill, the sculpted fancy fill, and the star stitch.  These are very cool features as are some of the improvements in lettering, unfortunately, they are not tempting enough to make me fork over $500.  In my opinion there were far better new features in V.5.  The multi-hooping feature and the Advanced applique being huge ones.  I had no problem upgrading to that version.   I’m not saying V.6 isn’t a good product.  If I were still teaching the software I would buy it.  But for now the software will stay on the store shelf.

Bernina Embroidery Software V.6

Edited 6/17 — None of the links from this post work anymore.

I’m sure if you use Bernina Software you have been hearing the buzz that V.6 is coming out soon.  If you want to see a very fast preview of some of the features in V.6 there is a video located here.

I’ve signed up for the Webinar on Wednesday, but I think it is already safe to say I’m going to “need” this new version.  Cough, Choke did I say need, — want, yep I want it!  Unfortunately, I don’t work for the Bernina store anymore, so I won’t get my hands on a store copy ahead of time this go round. Sigh.

Edited:  After registering and receiving a confirmation email for the webnar, I got another email saying it had been cancelled.  I’m going to keep watching the site to see if they put up new dates.

Chicken Divan Block

We are using the book Chicken Buffet by Linda Huber & Bonnie Collins to digitize a block every other month as part of software club.  I stitched out my test of “Chicken Divan” today.  Here she is

I also recorded the digitizing process and loaded the videos on YouTube.  It is in five parts to deal with the size constraint.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

I also uploaded the videos in a webshots album.  I’m trying to find some way to have better quality on the web.  I don’t know that webshots did it, but you can be the judge.

I talk about digitizing the fringe on the lamp in the video, but I didn’t mention that the bobbin thread under the fringe needs to be clipped after the block is finished.

Importing Fabric Scans into the Bernina Software

There was a question on the QSS email list about how to import your own fabric scans into the Bernina Software for use when digitizing applique.  I  pulled up the software and was refreshing my memory from teaching the Quilter portion of the program when I stumbled across a method I hadn’t taught.  Reneah had already posted that she had free videos on her website of how to do bring the fabric scans into the program.  I watched the videos and they were a little different from the way I just discovered.  So I made a very quick video of another option for achieving this task.

Multi Hooping

It occured to me while I was writing last yesterday’s tutorial, some people may not have familiarized themselves with the multi hooping portion of V.5 Bernina Embroidery Software.  This feature was one of the main selling points for me when I upgraded to V.5.  There are other very nice additions in V.5, but just this feature would have sold me.  I did software club on this subject some time ago and created a video that was a little over an hour in length.  I’ve pulled a couple of portions from that video and uploaded them to my YouTube account.  This should give enough information to get someone started with bigger embroidery designs.  This portion of the video does not talk about rotating and deleting hoops, but those are certainly options.

I showed some pictures in yesterday to explain how to stitch out the files after using the multi hooping feature.  I had an explaination of that in my CD also so I went ahead and uploaded that short video.

The feather shown in the first video is one I drew and digitized especially for that class and to use on a sample for Embroidery Club when we were embroidering on fleece.  This is a picture of that sample.  By the way, it would have been much easier to load the fleece on my longarm and stitch that feather than it was to digitize it and do all the hoopings.  However, it made a good educational tool.

I’m adding the embroidery design file to the Free Embroidery download box on the side bar [The application I once used for sharing documents has disappeared from my sidebar at some point over the years. So lets try this click on the name at the end of this sentence, and it should get you to a zipped folder of designs LARGE FEATHER].  It is not split, because it would need to be split for whatever size hoop you plan to use.  As usual I can make no promises for formats other than ART.

Digitizing Auto Applique in Bernina Embroidery Software V.5

There has been discussion on how to use the Auto Applique feature in the Bernina Embroidery Software on one of the email forums I read.  This is the subject I taught this week at software club, and I was trying to answer some questions through email.  However, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.  How much is a video worth that includes words?

 I sat down and created this very quick video on using the Auto Applique feature.  I was talking and working fast to keep it within the 10 minute limit for YouTube.  I didn’t want to have more than one part.  Please be aware there is much more you can do with the applique.  The class I taught on Wednesday was 2 hours, but this should get people started.

Another caution, I am showing blanket stitch as the cover stitch in the video.  If your pieces have sharp points or tight curves you may need to reduce the width and length of the cover stitch.  At some point you may need to switch to a satin cover to get good results.  If the pieces are pointy enough you may want to digitize them as embroidery objects.

I wish the videos maintained their clarity when uploaded to YouTube, but I guess you get what you pay for.

Putting out Fires

I have a nasty habit of living my life putting out whichever fire is burning the hottest at the moment.  In other words, whatever absolutely must be done takes top priority.  Today was software club and I figured I had Monday and Tuesday to get ready for it.  The best laid plans . . .  At 6:40am on Monday I received a call asking me to substitute teach for grades 7-10.  I did and that took up most of the time I thought I had on Monday.

Tuesday I did work on the handout and the designs, but Nolan has had a horrible rash and we made an appointment with the doctor for 3:30pm.  I left home about an hour prior to that to pick them up from school and make it back to the doctor’s office.  The doctor requires that you arrive 15 minutes prior to your appointment.  I thought we were going to be lucky when we were called to the exam room at about 3:18.  Wishful thinking!  After sitting in the exam room for almost an hour the doctor finally made an appearance.  She diagnosed him with “Contact Dermatitis,”and gave us a couple of prescriptions for some topical creams.  She also had him get a steroid shot, much to his dismay.  The shot wasn’t what bothered him.  He has gotten extremely private since he became a teenager, and he didn’t appreciate where they gave him the shot.  After the shot we had to stay in the waiting area for another 15 minutes to make sure he didn’t have a reaction.  It was now about 4:50 and I needed to be back at the school for board meeting at 6:30.  We went back to the east side of town and had a quick dinner at Noodles & Co.  It was then a quick trip to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions and we made it back to the school just in time for the meeting.

It was almost 9:00pm by the time we arrived home and I still hadn’t done a test stitch out of my designs.  The subject for software club was applique.  I traced patterns on fusible web, chose fabric and cut out the pieces and pieced the background.  (I get better results using the fusible rather than trimming in the hoop and the Bernina software will print patterns for applique pieces.)  Finally I could start stitching.  There were a few  very minor glitches.  The Bernina software has some quirks in V.5 when doing applique.  Finally at 11:30pm, I had my sample of “Chicken Gumbo.”  He still needs button eyes, but they were out of stock when I tried to buy them.

The pattern for this block came from the book “Chicken Buffet” and yes each student had to buy the book.  We will be doing one block at each software club as a block of the month in addition to whatever else I teach.

I had one more sample for Advanced Applique and figured if I could get moving early enough this morning I could stitch it out.  I did manage to stitch it out.  When it was stitching I realized at some point I had reduced the width of the satin stitch perimeter more than I intended.  Because of that there are some stray threads from the applique fabric.

I didn’t use fusible with this design.  I tacked it down and trimmed in the hoop.  Notice the applique isn’t quite as smooth.  I’ve corrected the outline stitch on this design and it is available as a free download in the sidebar.

That fire is out for this month on to the next.

Little Miss Muffet

I am sick again!  This is the fifth time this school year.  I’m beginning to think I don’t have an immune system.  I’m coughing hard enough I can’t work on customer quilts.  However, I did manage to work on a couple of other projects.

My iron on transfers to finish the Nursery Rhyme quilt finally came last Wednesday.  Little Miss Muffet has been transferred and I started embroidering the first one on Thursday night.  Friday I had to sub for grades 7-10.  Since I’m not the teacher, I didn’t have to grade papers or input grades.  So I took along Little Miss Muffet and worked on her once I had explained assignments and everybody was working.  I finished her up this afternoon.

In addition to finishing Miss Muffet, I digitized a label for my sister.  She sent a piece of fabric she used in the quilt and I digitized the sea horse from it.  Here is the test stitch out. It isn’t too bad, just needed the outline stitch adjusted slightly.  I made some slight adjustments and went ahead with the label.

The outlines still aren’t exactly on, but I will fix that with a pigma pen.  I’d share the design, but I’m afraid I would be crossing the line into copyright infringement since he came from a piece of Hoffman fabric.  Plus that, I’d be obsessed with perfecting it.  Since I was only planning to stitch it out this time, I didn’t worry about controlling the jump stitches.  I can live with the outlines not being exactly right.

New Fun Stuff

My in-laws gave me money for my birthday (Thanks again Sandra & Glen).  For me that is usually the best type of gift.  I have pretty much used up their gift.  There were a couple of things I ordered through the mail.

I got a 20-1/2″ Omnigrid square.  It is going to be perfect for squaring up my Prairie Flower applique blocks.  I also ordered the Omnigrid Fold Away.  This one is the largest size.  It is both an ironing surface and a cutting mat as shown in the picture below.

 Next I took advantage of my birthday discount at Ruth’s Stitchery.  If you have made purchases there throughout the year, you receive 1/2 your age as a discount the week of your birthday.  I really didn’t have a long list, but picked up a few things.

I purchased these blue and white batiks thinking I would use them for the pieced blocks in my Walking in A Winter Wonderland quilt.  I’m not sure they will actually work, but I’m happy to have them anyway.  Blue is my favorite color.  I also picked up both sizes of Circleeze templates.  I’ve cut my own circle templates for applique from heat resistant template plastic in the past, but decided it would be nice to have perfect circles ready to go.  I read a great tutorial on these at Blue Moon River.  This is the same way I’ve prepared circles for applique in the past, just no making templates — as long as the correct sized circle is in one of these sets.

This is another batch of batiks I bought.  These are going to be used as the background for a Chicken Buffet quilt.

This picture shows the fabric I picked up for the chicken bodies and for the wings.  I included a picture of the book.  I am a vegetarian (the book includes recipes), but this book tickled my fancy.  I am going to use it for a digitized block of the month in Software club.  For those of you worried about copyright, yes, each student has to buy their own copy of the book.

I originally started digitizing snowmen from Possibilities Snow Buddies Thoughout the Year.  I began that effort just for myself, but my students really liked the blocks.  Unfortunately, the book is out of print.  I contacted Possibilities to see if we could pay them some sort of fee for each student to use the images.  It took forever for them to answer, and when they did it didn’t really address my question.  They said something like you may digitize the images for your personal use, but you may not give them to the students.  That wasn’t what I asked.  They did say they were looking at a way to republish the book that didn’t require storing them.  I’m thinking that might mean CDs, but I haven’t seen anything since I sent my request more than a year ago.  Just for fun here are the three snowmen I have stitched out.  I have three more digitized and just need to find the time to stitch them.  Click on the picture to see all the way to the edge.

The book calls for every little detail , right down to the buttons and shoe laces, to be appliqued.  That is why I decided to digitize them.  I could get the detail without having to deal with all those itty bitty pieces of fabric.  I’m really happy with how these have come out.  All of these are my first stitchout.  I’m hoping we can have as much fun with the chickens.