August 2008 - Posts

• Redwork - A Super-Simple Beginner's Project

  Directions start @ paragraph 9 - Just a  hint to save you some time if you want to go to the project directly. (Chatty Cathy is going strong 1-8)   HH  (Hello Hello) Fellow M’Eers,   I hope all is going well for you and that your MEing is going great! I hope too that your machines are purring and you are still happy and excited about your hobby!!!! Even if you’ve had some glitches, I hope you are at least DOING something with your machine!!! (I am speaking more to myself than to you, here.) I was so swamped (and stressed) with “other things’ (summer school, kids crisis, renters, c- tunnel flair up, canning, July blogs not done on time, & a very excited husband not packed but headed for Alaska to fish with some sons etc)  Everything is getting back to normal now finally with the exception my home looks like a cyclone went through it!!!.:) I don’t do well in chaos and clutter and it sure has been both to the max. One special friend (with whom I did share all the gory details of ALL that’s been going on) suggested I needed to go to a spa & drink a bottle of wine. Well         1. I can’t afford a spa. (since I bought so many THINGS) and:                2. I don’t drink alcohol,  but I  did tell her that I was going to drink my home-grown  grape juice - STRAIGHT - completely UNDILUTED!!!!   - We’re talking strong stuff!!! L0L Now that’s getting serious!! (I bought an entire case of Pepsi when I went through my divorce but that’s another story.) I’m off caffeine except for chocolate; & it would behoove me to drop that too. I’ve done almost nothing on my machine for the last few weeks…although I did make up for it  shopping for things to ‘help me embroider better ’!!!!  Not all stress is bad, right???? (Well not until the Visa bill comes at least, - but unfortunately/fortunately I just learned how to do online banking…holy cow…now that is an eye opener to see what one can do to themselves shopping with on-line shopping now too !!!!!! ) I used to pay off my visa once a month…then had to do it twice a month to keep on top of it…lately it’s been every 2- 3 days!!! Enough is enough!!! I guess I should give a word of warning to any of your newbies….PHEW…It can be addictive and at least for me…since I am so new…I just got “ALL EXCITED” when I saw NEW designs that I thought I just HAD to HAVE  right then etc  (oh and ALWAYS the ‘carrot dangling ’ …” ON SALE” …well if it’s on sale then I had ‘better hurry’ or I might miss out!….Those marketers have me all figured out!!!! (My son, who DOES have a degree in marketing from UNLV, sat with me one day while we were at a ‘presentation’ and he explained what the steps are that sales people were going to use (which they did) …so it isn’t that I have never been told….Well I am now “putting the BRAKES on until I take care of , & find a place for WHAT I already have, & USE it -   at least SOME of what I have!” Now THAT is a good plan! OK don’t faint…. I am actually going to share with you a REAL project for any of you beginners out there like myself -  who might not know where to begin. It’s been awhile…sorry!!! Really I am!!! You might have heard many different terms describing various types of machine embroidery;  appliqué, trapunto, rosemaling, FSL ( free standing lace- which is really easy – honest), etc etc  ) and you might feel a bit overwhelmed. I did and still do, but I personally am GOING BACK to the BASICS here and I am going to do more of them!  I am truly a beginner and it’s where I’m at & need to be because I am just learning. I felt somehow that I needed to hurry up and learn as many new things so I could be blogging about them….but now I am SO happy because there are more and more bloggers coming on to Ann’s site who can help those who are advanced and/or wanting to learn a specific technique. They KNOW what they are doing & HAVE EXPERIENCE…)  I think it is so great too that Ann is adding a quilting section…that is SO very popular!!!!! My friend Kitty will be beyond thrilled! She’s been at it for a long time and so far I haven’t gotten into it because I see fabric stashes in the horizon if I do and I don’t need ANY more stashes of ANYTHING for awhile!!! So I am going to take a new fresh deep breath, drink my grape juice (diluted in the near future I hope)  and enjoy the rest of this embroidery journey I started just a few months ago. It’s time to HAVE FUN and ENJOY embroidering!!!! I can’t wait to do projects and give them as gifts …be they small or humble to begin with.  **** OK. Let’s begin the PROJECT of RED WORK A very basic, but still VERY nice gift to give is called “REDWORK. “  I believe it is usually done on kitchen hand towels but could be done on napkins, a quilt square, baby receiving blanket, gardening towel, purse, eyeglass holder, napkins and probably a golf towel too. I’m sure you’ll come up with lots of ideas once you do it yourself. Then please DO share it with me in Ann’s community. We’ll love to see and/or hear about it!!! I didn’t know (prior to doing it) that REDWORK is almost identical to BLACKWORK & GREEN WORK and I am pretty certain BLUE  work could be found too,  so why stop there?????…Why don’t the EMBROIDERY gurus on high out there just call it COLORWORK????   Hmmmm??? I am serious! It would be easier for us beginners….plus it would be like getting 3 + things for the price of one training!!!… (What a bargain!!) The ONLY thing I found out to be different was the color of thread you use!!!! …although when looking at different designs you can buy, they were separated into different categories.  Why????? Hmmmm someone more advanced than I can set me straight, but to me as a beginner, I could have missed out on black work for example, and think it ( ‘blackwork’ ) was a completely different embroidery type that may have used a different technique/stabilizer/ etc etc. Not so!!!! So why make something so simple – harder???? They’re  all SIMPLE!!!! Until an expert sets me straight I think they are INTERCHANGEABLE. OK…enough editorializing…here we go…. Supplies needed for the project Ethan and I did (besides your machine and hoop) 1.   Hand towel 2   Embroidery thread 3.  Bobbin  thread ( I used white.) 4.  Tear away stabilizer 5.  Redwork/ blackwork  etc ‘design’ (It has many fewer stitches than many designs and NO fill.) 6.  Rick Rack (optional but I really thought it added A LOT) 7. Alphabet for name/ or day of the week etc  (optional) We did it and we really liked the individualization. Hint…..In the embroidery class when we did it, the towels were NOT washed in advanced and they looked crisp and wonderful. They still do because I haven’t used them yet because I knew once the dust settled, I’d be blogging about it and wanted to photograph them while they still looked really new. Yesterday I bought SEVERAL similar towels but ALL in SOLID colors (from the same store the teacher bought ours) and WASHED THEM IN ADVANCE, so as to remove any sizing. I also put in one sheet of Color Catcher (recommended by a quilt shop) into the washer (made by Shout that says it “traps color –runs to protect clothes.) I got the box - a pkg of 24 for less than $5. I put all 75 (of them into the dryer (2 loads ) also in order to make sure that they would NOT shrink after the stitching was done so no puckering would occur. WELL…. ALL the new towels/napkins I bought FADED, and my rainbow of colors now look like worn-out  wanna-be cleaning cloths. I am SOOOO disappointed. (I washed the colored ones in COLD water…& only the very light yellow ones in warm water.) I am going tomorrow to Lynn, who is a professional embroiderer that I met in ‘ embroidery group’, to see what she thinks. Rather than fancy napkins for each person, I think I’ll change the theme to ‘gardening’ this next Christmas or bike rags for one family who designs racing bikes etc. I’ve heard so many times to do a ‘test’ on your patterns…well I suggest you do a ‘test’ on ANY new fabric before you even do a stitch. Had I NOT done that 1st step of getting rid of any sizing….they would have been beautiful at least at first glance…I’m not a quilter so it could be worse…had I done them all up into squares thinking they’d be a beautiful rainbow quilt and then given as a gift…only to have it all faded whammo fast would have been so disheartening… OK…. Back to the DIRECTIONS for doing the dish towels. The only ‘hard’ part (& it wasn’t that hard ) one could say, is getting the PLACEMENT of the design WHERE you want it on your towel. You may want to measure it so that it is up from the bottom edge about 4 or so inches & get it centered. (You can fold your towel 2 directions to get the center or use one of the fancier ‘gadgets’ to get it centered.). Once you place the tear away stabilizer UNDER  the towel  (& some put a water soluable on the top…but we didn’t in class) and then HOOP it  tightly…Snap it all into your it it  machine & then sit back and be thoroughly AMAZED how QUICKLY it stitches out and then you are done. VOILA!!! Well except for a few tiny thread clippings & tearing the stabilizer off the bottom.  I think you will love it!!! Hint….Just select your designs in advance if you know for sure who it’s going to.…E SHOULD have gotten a rooster for example rather than a hen….but we’ll do better next time!!! (He’s so flexible…He just went with the flow being a black hen instead of a rooster!!!! ) Not all men would go for that!!!  What a guy!) His towel is called BLACK WORK and my towel is called RED work.  EVERYTHING  was done exactly the same EXCEPT for the color of thread used!!!! See I told you….Now you can do MULTIPLE types of machine embroidery EVEN if this is your very 1st project!!! It takes just a FEW minutes to get the design on the towel!!!  REALLY FAST!!! We did add the rick rack on both of ours. I think they turned out really cute!!! IF you do put rick rack on, your machine must be able to do a simple sewing stitch or hand stitch it on. I may NEVER ever WASH them….but for now I just love them. (SO I also would not use water soluble because that would need to be removed with H2O, and I am not high on ‘washing with water right now.”). BRAND NEW, they would make a darling wedding or hostess gift. SOOOOOO good luck on your NEWEST PROJECT. If you try to choose this. I will love hearing from you!!!! Hugs, Cathy...speaking of  ‘hens’ this one needs to ‘fly the coop’ for a week at the beach & I will!   P.S.   For Newbies' eyes only… what do you say…Shall we unite and start using the term “COLOR WORK “ and see how soon it catches on in the embroidery world.???!!! Hmmmmmm  We’d have our very OWN NEW technique called COLOR WORK…..we could make it famous.!!!  We need to be brave and expand our vision….!!! , sort of like when the “Fosbury Flop” was 1st shown publicly to the world of track and field.  Do any of you remember when 1st did it ???- It was a new style for high jumping which now is used in the Olympics instead of the scissor style. BtW  we went to the same high school & I saw him practicing!!! I just stared at him and he just smiled back. To finish the story, I scissored 4’2” when I was younger…went to Europe gained 30 lbs and jumped 2’6” when I got back!!!) True story! My track days were SO over!!!! So, what do you say newbies…Shall we start a NEW movement??? Heavens… I can see it now!!! I LOVE hot pink, purple, violet and lots of other colors. I also LOVE SIMPLE and quick….I couldn’t help but think it sure would be nice to be in the position of agranddaughter of Ann's - getting to do a project already selected and having it completed in a short time under her trained and experienced eyes!!!!  Lucky girl!!!! Ann, do you want to become even MORE famous than you already are??? How about doing a collection of SUPER SIMPLE designs that you did for your granddaughter by putting them into a new package marketed  “especially for beginners’ and calling it COLOR WORKS. It could be the newest and hottest trend !!!! We’d love it, right!!! Let’s hear it for Ann !!!! (We’d just have to change embroidery threads.) Yeah!!!! Just think you could be right on the cutting edge and we readers on AnntheGran will KNOW exactly what it is…right off the bat…even before the golden oldies know what it is?? Yeah for us newbies!! Posted Aug 15 2008, 07:41 AM by TravelBug1237 with 46 comment(s) Filed under: annthegran stabilizer, redwork, good project for beginner, blackwork, alphabets, gift idea

• Shopping Up A Storm

  HH all my fellow ME’ers….I’ve been SHOPPING up a storm!!!!!…. Actually it started right there in Orlando at Ann’s Community Circle the day BEFORE I won the machine last April… and it sort of hasn’t stopped….but I THINK, finally, I am getting really close to having what I need -  in bulk -  (& actually soooo much more!!!!!) to seriously “ get started.” I now need to STAY PUT for awhile  & ME up a storm!!! (For those who didn’t read my last blog, I was attending summer school in more than one place and didn’t sew a stitch….or blog a word.) Since my last ‘book/blog’ was extra extra long and wordy…I’m giving you a break. Today’s blog is mostly pictures. (Well that might not turn out to be  possible, but I will at least try!!) Some of the items you can get @ Ann the Gran’s store (ex. The BadgeMaster stabilizer that I wrote about has been added to Ann’s store.)  It is a wonderful product for doing ‘lace.”  Ann carries the Thread Pilot too and some great scissors. I just got in the mail the  Gingher 6” Applique Scissors  Knife Edge that one of you suggested as s favorite. I just used them to cut the thread making the cherry design on my PE700 to top our canned cherries made earlier today. (And total oops….I made matching a matching red thread bobbin because of my ‘lace’ in my head lesson I guess…and did NOT remember to use BOBBIN thread. Will one of you experts tell me WHY I am suppose to NOT use the same thread???? I’ve  purchased several items from Wendy (my instructor)  @ the SewingRoom & the Mill End store both in Beaverton, Oregon and NW Quilts in Sherwood..my old stompin’ grounds…. and some  additonal big items from ‘on-line’ stores. All you ‘newbies” like me  (& golden oldies for that matter) know what I am talking about as far as ‘setting up” & starting a ‘new hobby.”   -   WHERE DOES one begin/ WHAT should I buy!!??? What are the basics??? (The same thing happened with water colors this last grad class…but that’s another story!) I REALLY really appreciated everyone letting me know what your favorite gadgets were too !!! It helped a lot!!! Ann’s store has some of these items I have pictures of today. Also, if you are reading this for the 1st time  -  since I “won my machine” - I did not get ‘free lessons’ that usually come with a purchase. I think that it is super important especially if you are completely new at it. Just find a good teacher. You CAN find knowledgeable people to help you. For some ,sitting down with the manual is just fine.  For me, I am all for a WARM body helping me & preferably right beside me.….(It helps reduce my frustration.) I did buy a phone and phone head set for ‘long distance learning!” Pat I will be calling you and any others who’d be willing to share your knowledge. Those of you who are in the market for an embroidery machine, I think it’s super important to meet owners/instructors and shop around for a store you like.  It can be a great experience or just the opposite. My friend Kitty who is a total die hard quilter enthusiast …gave me a piece of wonderful advice which I somehow ignored initially….but OH so how true it was…She said, “Cathy, go around to different shops and see how they treat you. Get a ‘feel’ for the place.”  She goes where she feels ‘part of the family.” Well I was originally ‘locked into thinking BROTHER machine only” and had tunnel vision period.  I somehow had my thinking set that I also had to go to the closest Brother dealership too. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the close local Brother wanted to charge  $75 per hour for lessons. It seemed really high. (As a professional teacher with a gazillion years of college credits and 28 years of experience, I NEVER made that an hour.) So, to be honest, I felt that quote was WAY way over priced.)…. When you consider I was a brand new newbie and would be buying hundreds of dollars worth of items in the future….(which I have since done but not from them.) it was short sighted in my opinion. Anyway,  I now order items from other Brother dealerships in Portland, Oregon City and even Missouri!!! Oh, another biggie that might be helpful to you….. I was also very shocked to find out the difference in prices that different dealerships charge for the very SAME machines!!!! (It may hold true for other brands too..I don’t know.)  For example, the top of the line Brother model was $6,000 just down the road (@ that $75 an hr place) - which I ended up not getting right before I left for Orlando because of a glitch to finance it for 90 days – ( which turned out to be a GREAT blessing as I won Ann’s machine etc.) …Anyway,  it turns out that if I DID want to get that same machine…  I can get it for under $4,000 from Mike in a Michigan’s Brother dealership!!!! Holy cow…..so NEWBIES….shop around…& don’t let someone pressure you into a fast buy or assume all stores charge the same amount. They don’t!!!! I initially went in for a PE700 demonstration just prior to leaving for Orlando…and ended up ALMOST ended up paying  $6,000!!! for their top model. I had assumed ‘same model machines’ would be about the same price, but they’re not!!! (A $2,000 difference….are you kidding me!!!???) There is a brand new Brother machine coming out in a couple of months ….not sure what it will do and what ‘bells and whistles’ it will have!!! I’m sure just great & I will love hearing about it from any of you who do end up getting one!!! (Oh any visitors to Ann’s site… you might be very pleased (& surprised) at the price of the PE700 @ Ann’s store compared to ANY on-line Brother store etc that I found that carrying the same model.) I am getting a bit more educated in machine embroidery…and FOR ME, I STILL love the idea of having a ‘dedicated embroidery machine.” I DO now see the reason to have a sewing machine, but having the PE700 is FUN!!!! Another idea is to buy a good used machine if you are starting out. My sweet Wendy at Pfaff  is willing to sell me a  great floor model at a really great price too on one of her favorite machines….(which still may happen down the road) but for now I am trying to  just learn my Brother.  But my point here is….Don’t be afraid to  shop around. Find people who are nice and supportive & that you make a connection with!!! I LOVE to shop and will continue to do so, but now I also really look at how I am treated-  be it for a $5 purchase or $500  & perhaps $5,000  or more down the road….Ok…enough….off that soapbox…. My biggest new purchase……TA- DA…..is my new ‘other Brother SE270 ” machine. It is almost a twin to my PE700, but it is the DISNEY model YEAH…DOUBLE YEAH!!!!! ( Well actually the newest and somewhat more expensive purchase was the Dell laptop - so that I can EVENTUALLY download what I bought in Orlando (Alphabet Express and its buddy…but I’ll write about that in another month or 3 . Maybe a whole blog could be dedicated to just that. I have YET to download one purchased design…etc….SIGH….talk about putting the cart before the horse….gee…how about a warehouse of carts before the horse! My new Brother  is also is a “sewing machine”. With a gazillion grand kids you can see the ‘WHY’  of  a Disney machine….(what an excuse that is…. because … …I TOTALLY LOVE Disney myself!!)  (Just yesterday we had 6 grandchildren picking fresh raspberries in our yard and one had a Disney shirt on….I asked them all…How many of you like Mickey Mouse?….They ALL did!!!….My point exactly.  (I actually met Walt Disney accidentally  when I was 5 or 6 right there at Disneyland.)  He was as sweet and kind (and offered me a bite of his chicken leg) as you saw him on TV. I have been hooked ever since. I have a darling Mickey Mouse watch I wear a LOT and I have visited Tokyo Disney & the ones in Florida and California…Anyway….back to embroidery… Since E has been helping me since day one and he ENJOYS MEing too…We now  have side by side machines!!!! Yes!!!! and we  can use the SAME hoops & bobbins!!!!!!! -  and for now I really need “SAME!!!! “  (Once I get the basics down, I am open to a more expensive machine….but for now I am ONE very happy camper & have more than enough stuff  to keep me busy. My next largest purchase was a steam press iron under $250.  I read Ann’s site and several others on the internet & decided I wanted a large (even though it takes up space) steam presser so I can iron several blocks of  material quickly. (I bought one entire bolt of black Kona cotton so I can FINALLY stitch out each ‘ built in sample’ now for  both Brother machines.)  Yeah!!!! I also bought a bolt of black stabilizer to go with it, so I should be set for quite awhile. I will let you know how the iron works etc in a later post. All I can say again is that FOR ME…I really just wanted 1 type of material (oops fabric), 1 machine, 1 stabilizer, 1 needle & thread brand ( loved Madeira colors)  1 hoop, 1 design company, “1 everything” …. so that I could minimize the variables & that I had a really good chance of ‘mastering’ the basics while trying to learn to even thread a machine. I SO wanted to keep it simple…I did not. I ended up NOT going that route….but now I am going back to go back to GROUND ZERO and will start FROM the beginning and approach it as if I had JUST started, only this time E will be beside me and we will stitch together with our 2 new basic Brother machines. I can hardly wait. E is away clamming in Alaska, but once he’s back we will take those machines down to the ALMOST completed new art studio and stitch away, stitch away, stitch away….(Can’t you just hear Enya singing that instead of Sail Away which is just about my theme song…I want it played as  my casket is leaving the church.) OK ME’ers I  promise – I’ll do more projects (for beginners.) I will do a few more new-for-me projects and will write those up for you too. In the meantime, the other ladies are blogging up a storm with such GREAT projects, helps, photos and ideas!!! They are the experts and can help you a lot!!!! For now I’m here just journaling my baby steps, my shopping sprees, etc & walks down memory lane. I really don’t know if I am helping you much, but perhaps I can save you some $ from my experiences.   This is a good time too to thank those of you for taking the time to write me! I really appreciate it! Have a really GREAT August everyone!!!! Hugs, Chatty Cathy in Hillsboro Posted Aug 01 2008, 05:22 PM by TravelBug1237 with 44 comment(s) Filed under: Brother PE700 embroidery machine, Thread Pilot, catalog xpress, alphabet xpress, shopping spree, badgemaster, gingher applique scissors, favorite gadgets