Class starts next week...

Today my day will be filled with preparation for Monday, which is the first day of our Beyond the Color Purple Quilt class. So I have fabric to press, cut into blocks and mark to be ready for Monday! So I better get to work!!

Spring projects...

Since Spring is here to stay, I decided I needed to take down my winter wall hangings and put up my spring designs. As I was rummaging through my collection of finished projects, I came across several items I thought I would share!




My favorite, Jump Into Spring, is a hopping rabbit dancing in the spring leaves and flowers. Little purple 3D butterflies are stitched around the lettering.

Spring is in the Air with this fun pillow. The SPRING letters are applique' designs with a floral vine intertwined in the letters. I will never forget this project...I was cutting the ruffles with a rotary cutter late one Saturday night and sliced off part of my index finger on my left hand!! Ouch, that hurt like crazy and took several months to heal.

This project was for a class on applique' embroidery designs I was teaching on Monday, so I was hurrying to finish. I'm not sure how, but I was able to finish the pillow for class! This is a lesson for you all...be careful when using a rotary cutter late at night and in a hurry!!! It never fails...whenever I am working late at night with a rotary cutter, I always remember that Saturday night!! :-)

Butterflies in blue and metallic gold are stitched on ivory cotton to create reversible placemats. The other side is a butterfly print and the decorative edge is a blue serger stitch.

That's all for now!

New Blogger Link

Click on Dordogne Quilter on the right to see Clare Worthy's blog! See what her latest quilting adventure is!! Thanks, Clare, for linking to my website!! :-)

Sewing or Computer Work??

My sewing projects have seemed to come to a dead end. I have spent so much time lately doing computer work that my creative sewing has been pushed aside! :-(

I need to get started on a new and fun project to get my creative ideas flowing!! Then I won't be able to stop embroidering and sewing!! But for now, back to the computer (which I love doing also)!!

It's Finished!!

Ok, it's a little later than planned, but it is finished! Here's my sample Nine Patch Variation Quilt (actually just a wall hanging) for which I am teaching a class at the end of April!

The combination of pink and white creates a pretty effect. Wouldn't it look cute on a twin bed in a little girl's pink bedroom!! :-)

Beyond the Color Purple

Beyond the Color Purple is a machine embroidered quilt, designed by Jenny Haskins, that can be stitched in a multitude of color schemes! It features exquisite embroidery, beautiful fabric colors and detailed embroidery & quilting techniques! Take a peek at my sample...

The class I am teaching for this quilt starts in April and I am excited to get started! The sample was so fun to create and it will be equally exciting to see the many color combinations others have chosen to do!

Protect Your Fabric Collection

You don’t know how it happens, but you started with only a few yards of fabric and now have a collection that is threatening to overflow! Those beginning few yards of fabric were easy to store in the empty chest of drawers, but now you are finding your fabric stored in dresser drawers, under the bed, above the closet and other places you dare not mention!

It’s Spring Cleaning time for your treasured collection!! It needs to be dug out, sorted and stored correctly. But what is the easiest and simplest storage solution? Read on for a few ideas!

Inexpensive shelving is a great way to store fabrics; fabric are rarely heavy. It is essential to keep fabrics from direct sunlight - they’ll fade fast when exposed to the sun. Create a cover for the shelves or add a glass door to keep them clean an visible also. Folded fabrics need to be refolded from time to time so fade lines and permanent creases don’t appear.

Store your fabric on hangers! Fabrics are easy to see and access. Don’t use uncovered wire hangers; the dyes in the fabric can react with the metal and stain the fabric. They will also create an unwanted crease in the fabric. Use the spare closet in your house and your collection will stay organized and clean.

Use empty fabric bolts and long cardboard tubes for fabric storage. With masking tape, tape one end of the fabric to the cardboard and wrap the remainder of the fabric around it (be sure not to create creases or folds as you are rolling). Using a small strip of plastic wrap, wrap it around the fabric bolt and back onto itself to keep the fabric tail intact. Avoid using pins; they can rust and create stains on the fabric.

Find all your hidden fabric throughout your house, sort according to color or print and properly store it! You may be surprised at what you find, long-forgotten, in your fabric stash. And when your family wonders why the bed mattress is not so high and the couch cushions are not so lumpy, you can just say, "I’ve been spring cleaning!" :-)

Sewing an Accurate Quarter Inch Seam

Before machine piecing, you need to be sure to set your sewing machine to sew an exact quarter inch seam, the standard seam allowance used for quilting.

Sewing precise seam allowances is critical for the accuracy of your blocks. If the seams are not accurate, the blocks will not align with each other when you assemble the quilt top. It can cause multitues of problems the further you get into your quilt project.

Sewing accurate seam allowances produces sharp points, crisp corners, and help you to match-up blocks during quilt assembly.

An easy way to guage your machine's quarter inch width is to stitch a seam and compare it with a clear ruler. It must measure an accurate quarter inch. If it doesn't, you may need to reposition where you place your fabric for the quarter inch.

Quilter's Fabricalc??

What is a Quilter's Fabricalc? Well, it is a calculator for computing quilting ideas into usable dimensions -- yards, inches, fractions or metric measurements! There are buttons for figuring borders, quilt top width and length, quilt drop, block size and sashing. It seems to be able to calculate how much fabric you would need by imputing the size of quilt pieces, blocks, sashing and borders.

Sounds great! I have one ordered and will see how it works. Check back for future posts and a link to see it online!

Spring is here!?

Spring is here...time for rain showers, blooming flowers, warmer weather and snow?? Yes, that's what's on the ground where I am in Kansas. We have had an unusually warm winter with no snow since December and guess what happens the first day of Spring?? A huge snowstorm and all the cold weather, wind and ice to along with it.

It is the perfect time to stay indoors and finish all the projects I've started! So I better get busy finishing mine...

Paper Embroidery

As I was flipping through the pages of the latest issue of Creative Machine Embroidery(sister publication to SewNews), May/June 2006 issue, I came across an article titled Gifts From the Heart, Embroidering on Paper. They displayed some wonderful sample ideas for stitching designs on paper and incorporating scrapbook techniques to complete the project.

Several ideas were mentioned...Dad's coupon book for a neat Father's Day gift, a Mother's day gift bag created from a simple box and a wedding gift box covered in embroidered greetings. My favorite idea is the s'mores treat bag. Three plastic bags held a Hersheys bar, graham cracker and several marshmallows. These three bags were held together with a paper label at the top with an embroidered fire & logs and marshmallows roasting on a stick. What a neat idea and fun use of paper and embroidery!!

Just last month I taught a class on embroidering on paper and how to create unique greeting cards and labels. I immensely enjoyed exploring different kinds of paper and which designs would stitch on each one! See some of my samples...

I receive multiple machine embroidery magazines and Creative Machine Embroidery is my favorite. Their magazine is always filled with wonderful ideas for any project you are doing! If you love machine embroidery and need inspiration, I would definitely recommend ordering a subscription. Visit their website for details.

My Sewing Companion

I thought you all might like to meet my sewing companion!! She is always with me in the sewing room as I'm stitching away!! Read some fun articles about Quilters & Cats.

Time to Sew!!

After a full day of teaching class on Monday, the next couple of days are left for sewing!! What project am I working on at the moment? Well...I am creating an Alex Anderson Nine Patch wall hanging in colors of pink and white. When it is complete I will post a photo. Maybe it will give some ofyou some ideas for new projects.

Alex Anderson is a wonderful author and great inspiration to us quilters! Her books are very simple and easy to understand, giving helpful illustrations and clear instructions. One of my favorites is her book for beginning quilters - Start Quilting with Alex Anderson. She also is the host of HDTV's Simply Quilts. Take a peek at her upcoming tv program schedule. You can also read past archives of her shows, search by subject and view some quilt photos on HDTV's site! A wealth of information is available!!

Welcome!!

Welcome to my blog at Embroidery Treasures!! I hope you will find many fun facts and helpful information relating to sewing, quilting and embroidery.

I'll be sharing some of the projects and ideas I am sewing at the moment along with classes I am teaching locally. Share your in-progress projects!! It's fun to see what everyone is busy stitching!!

Serena