AnnTheBlogger : alphabet xpress

Veterans Day, Embroidery Projects, a Gift Idea and a Travel Story

AnnTheGran — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:40:00 GMT

Can one paragraph be about current events, information, an embroidery project, a gift idea and a travel story? Last week we in the US celebrated Veterans Day. Most holidays in the US fall on Mondays so as to provide long week-ends, but Veterans Day is always celebrated on November 11. So this got me to wondering, what is so special about Veterans Day that it falls on a specific date, like Christmas and Independence Day, instead of on the nearest Monday? I was also wondering what’s the difference between Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Armed Forces Day. As long as I was wondering, I wondered what happened to Armistice Day and Decoration Day. Have I now got y’all wondering, too? We live in the Information Age and Google is at our fingertips, so I was not long in finding the answers to all of my wonderings.

•    Veterans Day always falls on November 11 because that is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.) After World War II the name was changed from Armistice Day to Veterans Day in order to honor the veterans of both wars.
•    Memorial Day, contrary to popular belief, is not the day we remember our white shoes and begin wearing them again for the summer. It was called Decoration Day because it was a day to place wreaths on the graves of fallen Union soldiers of the American Civil War. After World War I it was officially proclaimed Memorial Day and was expanded to include American casualties of any war or military action.
•    Originally each branch of the armed forces had individual celebrations. In 1950 President Truman proclaimed Armed Forces day to honor the members of all branches of service.

So, Veterans Day honors all military veterans who served during any war; Memorial Day honors all soldiers who died during any war and Armed Forces day honors all soldiers who are currently serving.

I have done two embroidery projects for Bill, my favorite veteran, who served in World War II and retired from the Army in 1961. I made the first one several years ago before a Memorial Day picnic. I wanted Bill to have something special to wear, so I purchased an olive drab polo shirt and embroidered all of Bill’s battle ribbons above the pocket along with a purchased design of laurel leaves that was part of a military designs collection. I copied the battle ribbons from Bill’s dress uniform and digitized them with PE-Design. It was so easy to do, just basically drawing little rectangles and filling them with the correct colors. Bill Wears his every Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Pearl Harbor Day. He gets a lot of attention and often gets to tell some war stories. If you have a military veteran in your family, this would be a wonderful gift that you could easily make.

The second project was really something so simple, but it had a lot of impact. Bill was just a 20-year-old kid, stationed in Schofield Barracks at Pearl Harbor, when World War II began on December 7, 1941. We were getting ready to visit Hawaii last March, the first time Bill was returning since the war began. As a member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, Bill has a special hat so, of course, I insisted that he take it along so he could wear it when we visited Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial but I wanted him to be easily identified as having been stationed in Schofield Barracks. I knew that many of the other survivors have the names of their ships embroidered on their caps, so I had Bill write down exactly how he wanted the name of his barracks to appear, I digitized it in Alphabet XPress, ran it by Bill for approval and very carefully embroidered it on his cap. I can tell you that from the time Bill stepped off the gangway in Honolulu until we returned to the ship he was treated like a special VIP guest. At the memorial people came up to him and asked to have their pictures taken with him and asked him to sign their tickets. Even young kids came up to shake his hand and ask him questions. Everywhere we went that day people came up to Bill to shake his hand and thank him for his service. Our last stop that day was at the Home of the Brave Museum where Bill’s picture was taken and placed on the Wall of Honor with the photos of all the other returning veterans. If I could give Bill a day like that again I would do it in a heartbeat.

Well, that wasn’t really the travel story I was planning to tell. A couple of years ago, along with out travel buddies Loes and Theo, we visited Normandy and Utah Beach where Bill’s company came ashore in August of 1944. He wasn’t part of the D-Day invasion, but followed soon after and marched all the way to the Ardennes Forest where he served in the infamous Battle of the Bulge. We followed Bill’s march all the way to Belgium and the Battle of the Bulge museum and memorial. I can only assume that, given Bill’s age and where we were traveling, people saw him for a returning veteran and came up to shake his hand, welcome him back and thank him for their freedom. Bill and Theo sat in the front seat of the car and Theo asked question after question. Bill was in heaven, having a new pair of ears for all of his war stories.

Okay, so it wasn’t just one paragraph, but I did talk about a current event, give a little history, describe two embroidery projects and tell a couple of travel stories.

So long for a while. On Tuesday Bill and I are setting out on an Amazon Adventure, leaving from Miami, island-hopping down to Brazil, sailing up the Amazon River and back and then island-hopping back to Miami. We’ve had this trip planned for nearly two years and we’re both pretty excited about it. I’ll be out of touch for about 4 weeks. I’ll have some spotty Internet access and may be able to check in from time to time. I’m leaving you in the capable hands of my staff and I’ll probably miss you all more than you’ll miss me. I’ll be taking LOTS of pictures and will have lots of stories to tell when we get home. To those who celebrate the US Thanksgiving, have a wonderful and grateful day. To everyone, be kind to each other. Keep those machines cranked up and try to get all your gifts finished BEFORE December 25. CUL8R, TTFN.

Fathers and Dads and Daddies and Grandpas and Poppies, oh my!

AnnTheGran — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:06:00 GMT

This one's for you, Daddy
When I was small we didn't have a lot of money. Sometimes I don't think we had any. As time went on my parents incomes improved. But they didn't really change their lifestyle very much. Oh, the year I left for college they did carpet my bedroom (which had become my sister's room) and installed central air conditioning. But basically they lived the same simple kind of life they always had. They were saving for their retirement. In 1980 my father fulfilled his dream by moving to a golf club community in Wildwood, Florida. The children and I followed soon after, which is how I ended up in Orlando. Eighteen months later I held my father's hand as he breathed his last breath. All that saving and planning and he barely had a chance to enjoy it.

I think of my father almost every day, but especially on March 5, which was his birthday, and on Fathers' Day. It's probably a Southern thing for grown women to still call their fathers "Daddy" and I did that terrible day and I will always think of my father as Daddy. I was thinking of him as I worked on the Fathers' Day project here. He never did get to meet his great grandchildren. He would have gotten such a kick out of them!

A year after my father died I met Bill, and a year after that Bill and I were married. What a prince of a man to marry a woman with two teenagers! Bill became the father my children needed and is the only grandfather their children have ever known. I think about him on Fathers' Day, too, and this project is for him.

Grandpa's All Stars
This isn't a difficult project, but you do need some embroidery software, some graphics software, printable fabric and a printer. I used Alphabet XPress, PE-design, Photoshop, Bubble Jet Set, satin fabric, a Canon printer and KK 2000 temporary embroidery adhesive. You can use any kind of printable fabric, available at many craft and fabric stores. I just happened to have prepared fabric with Bubble Jet Set a long time ago and really needed to begin using it.

Create your lettering
I used Alphabet XPress with the alphabets Athlete and String Bean (string Bean is included with Alphabet XPress). First I created "ALL STARS" and saved the file. Then I created "Grandpa's," imported the ALL STARS file, lined them up the way I wanted them and saved that file.

Assemble the design
You need some stars and I know just where to find them! Go to the Celestial Page on the Free Designs section. Download the 4th design in the 6th row. When you unzip the file you'll find a bunch of stars. Choose the one that's a satin stitch outline.

Open the saved lettering in your embroidery digitizing or editing software. Import or merge the star and duplicate as many times as you need for the All Stars in your family. You may have to reduce the size to fit them all in. If so, be sure to use the method that corrects the stitch count. Arrange the stars in a way that is pleasing to your eye.

When all the stars are arranged, draw a running stitch just inside the border of each star. If you're smarter than I was you'll do this for the first star you import or merge and then duplicate and arrange both parts. I was about half way through before I realized that I could, or should , have done it this way to save some time. Use a color that you can see. Those will be the placement lines for the appliqués. Of course you don't want to stitch the alignment lines on top of the satin stitch and you don't want to stitch them in block, or whatever contrasting color you used so that you could see what you were doing when you drew them. So the next step is to rearrange the design parts, putting the placement lines before the satin stitches and changing the color to match.

I've used garnet and gold, the colors of my alma mater, Florida State University (Go, Noles!). Of course you'll use whatever colors you like, even orange and blue if you really must.

Create your stars
After you've saved the design, save it again with a different name (so you don't shoot yourself in the foot and overwrite the design you've just created). Now delete every part of the design except the running stitch placement lines. Change the color of the lines to black. Print this design. It will be your template to create the stars and your pattern to cut them out.

I'm afraid you're going to have to be on your own as far as creating the pictures. Your graphics software and your ability to use it will vary. This is the way I did it in Photoshop and the same way you would do it in PaintShop Pro, Photoshop Elements or Corel PhotoPaint. I scanned the printout 1:1 so that the stars would be the correct size. Then I used the magic wand tool to select the inside of the first star.You'll know it's selected when you see the "running ants" around the perimeter.I dropped a photo on it and resized the photo until I could see most of the face. Then I pasted the photo down and erased the part that wasn't inside the star. I did this by reversing the mask (selected area) and deleting. I repeated this for each star. I had to be careful that when I resized the photos no parts of them were overlapping other photos. When I was finished, I printed the page on the fabric I had prepared.

Time to stitch!
Now comes the really easy part. First iron the fabric onto some light weight fusible stabilizer of interfacing. This is just to give it some body so it will be easy to cut and so that the edges won't fray. Now cut out your stars, spray the backs with temporary embroidery adhesive and put them aside. Hoop the t-shirt or whatever you're going to put the design on. Some dads don't or won't wear t-shirts so you might want to make a pillow or wall hanging instead. Turn on your machine and load the design. When you come to the place where you've just stitched the placement lines, stop and put your fabric stars in place. The temporary embroidery adhesive will hold them down. If you have to remove the hoop, be sure to take it off and put it back on very carefully so you don't knock the design out of alignment. Now finish stitching. That's about it. I'll bet you can come up with several variations on this theme, Mom's School Bus with the children's faces in the windows, Grandma's garden with the faces in flower centers, etc. If you do, I'd love to see pictures.

Now, turn off your computers and sew something! Happy Fathers' Day to all the dads and granddads in your families! TTYL

Ann

Community Circle Thanks and Video Demonstrations

AnnTheGran — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:15:00 GMT

Hi, everyone!

Well, I think I've recovered from our fabulous Community Circle! I want to thank everyone who attended as well as Diane and Pardeep for keeping things running smoothly and, of course, Greg, for overseeing everything. Thanks also to Eileen Roche for her terrific classes, great products and those questionable questions during our question and answer session at dinner. I fear that all of you who were there now know more about me than you ever wanted to know (or I ever wanted to tell you)! And how about the terrific deal on the new Brother machine? Thanks to George and Jewell from Brother for bringing the machines to us and showing all interested parties how to use them. Congratulations as well to Cathy Spencer, our very popular winner of the Brother PE-700 machine that was our big door prize! What a great story, that the one attendee who comes without a machine to go home to is the one to win it!

I had such a special time meeting and eating with you. AnnTheGran has been around for nearly a dozen years now and I can't believe you all are still with me! Lets keep those tears I shed on the first day just between us, okay? I sure hope we can do this again. It was too much fun not to repeat!

Please, please keep in touch with each other and try to meet up every once in a while. The forums are a great place to do that! And by the way, for those of you who watched Greg post on my behalf on Friday morning, that question about the life of thread is still mostly unanswered in the forum, even though we had some great answers in the room! It's not too late to go and answer it! Anyway, I know I'm going to be in contact with the Central Florida contingent and we're going to be planning some hi jinks. We do need to get out from behind our computers and machines once in a while!

We took lots of videotape at the event, much of which you'll be seeing up on the site in the coming weeks and months. Some of you mentioned that you'd like to see more video on our web site. Well, we are working on that, but in the meantime, I thought I'd send you a list of items for which we do have video now. All of the following links are product videos, but we are definitely planning to post some "non-salesy" video links as well. Also, if any of you have instructional video that you've posted on YouTube, let me know and we'll be happy to link to it from my site.

Here are some products that include video demos (sometimes you need to scroll down to the tabs to view the videos):

Alphabet Xpress lettering software

Catalog Xpress software

Magna-Hoop

Perfect Placement Kit

In The Hoop Kit

Perfect Towel Kit

Madeira Incredible Threadable Box

Madeira Thread Treasure Chest

Klasse Needle Value Pack

That's all I have for you today. I'm still getting back into the swing of things after Community Circle, so if my correspondence is a little disrupted, I hope you'll forgive me. Keep sending in your projects to me at wow-you-made-that@annthegran.com and I'll keep posting them for all to see.

Talk to you soon!

Ann

Embroidered Sheepdog Wallhanging Using Photos

AnnTheGran — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:44:00 GMT

Like many of us, Barbara Schleter has more than one passion. Here she has combined her long time love of Shetland Sheepdogs with her more recent passion for embroidery. Barbara has done a great job of sharing her thoughts on creating personalized gifts for those who are special to her. Heartfelt expressions such as this are sure to be cherished by those who recieve the gifts.

Barbara's Description
I am very new to machine embroidery ... in fact I have only been doing it a couple of months. However, I made the attached wallhanging for a very dear lady who has helped me enormously with my other passion ... Shetland Sheepdogs.

It is approximately 20 inches wide by 30 inches long. Please click here to view a larger image of the wallhanging.

Step-by-step
First I printed out photos of three of her Shelties onto TShirt transfer paper on my ink jet printer. I then ironed them onto cream homespun, The photos are about 5 inches wide and 6 inches deep.

I cut these out and sewed glittery material 'frames' about 1-1/2 inches wide around them. I then used my sewing machine and sewed hearts around to make it stable ... any pattern would do or even just plain straight stitching.

Then I embroidered three blocks that I chose at random onto a cream with a white printed background. About 6 inches.

Then I embroidered the lady's kennel name on a piece of the same fabric about 4 inches by 6 inches (this was to enable it to be cut to fit)... but the person's name would do just as well ... or a well chosen word.

I then ran up four pinwheel blocks with a finished size of 4 inches ... but any patchwork block would be fine ... even a four patch.

To assemble I sewed the kennel name, an embroidered square and a photo together. (centre panel).
Then I sewed the left hand panel together ... the photo, then an embroidered square.
Then I sewed the right hand panel together ... again the photo, then an embroidered square.

It is difficult to give exact sizes because the photos vary.

Then I sewed a strip of bright floral material along the bottom -- 2 inches wide

Then I joined the four pinwheels and put a piece of material that I had used in the pinwheels at either end to make it the correct length and sewed it to the bottom strip.

Using another 2 inch wide strip of the bright floral material I sewed it to the bottom edge of the pinwheels.

Then I cut a strip of a different floral fabric 2 inches wide and sewed around the entire wall hanging.

All through the process I measured and ensured everything was square.

Then I got a piece of cream homespun measuring 20 inches by 30 inches and laid it on a table. I then cut a piece of wadding the same size and lay it on the backing. Lastly I put my wallhanging top on it and pinned it all together.

Then I ditch stitched it.

Then I cut a binding 3 inches wide, folded it in half and sewed around the edge.

Then I cut a piece of homespun 16 inches long and 4 inches wide and doubled it over. I then sewed this (raw edges) into the top of the wall hanging.

Then I sewed the folded over binding around the wallhanging, mitreing the corners.

Then I hand sewed the binding onto the back of the wallhanging.

Then using a darkcolour in my bobbin I machine stitched the other side of the rodpocket to the wallhanging.

I cut a piece of dowel to fit and some cord and attached the cord with drawing pins.

What Makes This Project Special
The idea was to make something that would bring a lot of pleasure to the recipient.

Skill Level
Beginner

Products
Bobbins
Colorfast Printer Fabric
Rotary cutter and ruler
Ultimate Quilt Binding Combo (incl. Stitch in the Ditch)
Embroidery Designs

Time Investment
I made it over a couple of days ... in fact I made two ... one for another friend .... but would estimate about 4 hours if one sat and did nothing else.

Why I Love This Project
I wanted to make a personalised wallhanging for a dear friend and I think I accomplished that.

Send Us Your Creations
Do you have any creations that go with a great story? If so, we'd love to hear about them, and see them! If we choose to post your project, you'll get a free $25 gift certificate to use in the AnnTheGran.com online store. Click here for details on how to submit your creation.

What Would You Do?
Barbara combined techniques of photo printing and embroidery to create a unique quilted wallhanging. Share a time when you have combined another craft or technique to make your embroidery project unique. Click on the Comments link to share your story.

Embroidered Hot Cup Wraps

atgadmin — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:59:00 GMT

I know you are all waiting patiently (or if you’re like me maybe not so patiently) for more on the great time with at the AnnTheGran Community Circle 2008 in Orlando. We’re ironing out the final details so please just hold on a few more days. Some of you have been asking about the hotel; I can't give that information out until we get everything finalized, or the hotel will have a deluge of calls they don't know how to handle. Also, I've had a fair few gents tear a strip off me for addressing all my correspondence to the "gals". A recent survey showed that 97% of our site's users are women (does that mean I can tell my husband I'm right 97% of the time?), but for all you fellas out there who make up the other 3%, I stand corrected! Old habits die as hard as old broads.

In the meantime, while you wait in anticipation, we had so many requests for Diane’s hot cup wraps from last week's promotion that we decided we should share her secrets with you all. Fun gifts that are easy to make and can be given for no reason at all are always popular. Aside from being cute, this wrap is reusable so it is helpful to the environment. Whether you make just two or a whole bunch, you’re sure to get a giggle from each and every recipient.

Diane's Description
I was trying to think of a fun little gift for the girls in my morning study class when one morning a couple of them walked in grumbling that the local coffee store was out of jackets and their cups were too hot to handle. In the same class they got their cups mixed up and didn’t know which was which. That gave me the idea for these personalized wraps.

Step-by-step Description
1. You’ll need:
a. A 6”X12” rectangle of fashion fabric for the front.
b. A 6”X12” rectangle of fashion fabric for the lining.
c. A 6”X12” rectangle of leftover batting (Hobbs warm and natural type works best)
d. An alphabet, font software or embroidery design of your choice. One collection that is absolutely fabulous for this project is the Mornings collection, from Amazing Designs.
e. Matching embroidery thread.
f. Tear away stabilizer
g. One paper coffee jacket
2. Carefully cut the coffee jacket down one seam. Fold in half. Fold all three rectangles in half so they are 6”X6” and place you pattern on top so the folded edge of the jacket is lined up with the folded edge of the fabrics.
3. Trace adding ¼” on the 3 sides (not on the folded edge). Cut one wrap piece each from front fabric, lining fabric and batting.
4. Using whatever method you like center your design or text on the front wrap piece. Hoop fabric with the stabilizer and embroidery the design. Remove the stabilizer.
5. Baste the batting to the wrong side of the lining. With scissors trim the batting close to the stitching line.
6. Pin front and lining right sides together. Using ¼” seam stitch along both long sides and one short side. With pinking sheers or a rotary cutter and pinking blade, pink close to the seam.
7. Turn the wrap right side out and press.
8. Fold the raw ends of the open side in ¼” and edge-stitch along the fold.
9. Fold in half with right sides together. Align the ends and stitch a ¼” seam. Press this seam open. Top-stitch ¼” in along top and bottom catching the opened seam at the top and bottom. (You can edge-stitch or tack the open back seam down if you like – I did not.)
Note: Add some trim to the bottom if you like for even more giggles from your friends.

What makes this project special?
It’s fun to gift small gifts that are easy to make and provide laughs as this one did when I took a special one for each member of the group.

Skill Level
Beginner

Products
My embroidery machine
AnnTheGran Alphabet Xpress
AnnTheGran tear-away stabilizer
embroidery threads
fabric

Time Investment
About 4 hours once all the supplies were gathered. (But I made more than one.)

Why I love this project so much
It was different and useful and gave the girls something to giggle about. My 3- year old granddaughter had to have one too - with her name on it – and she doesn’t even like hot drinks.

Send Us Your Creations
Do you have any creations that go with a great story? If so, we'd love to hear about them, and see them! If we choose to post your project, you'll get a free $25 gift certificate to use in the AnnTheGran.com online store. Click here for details on how to submit your creation.

What Would You Do?
This is a great way to make a quick, personalized gift. Share some of your favorite sayings and quotes or a project idea that gave you the giggles, by clicking on the Comments link to share your story.