How I Embroider A Quilt Label - Part 1

 Well, I finally am back up and running on my blog.  So sorry for the delay.   It took a long time to straighten it out.  I have worked on this blog just about every day for a month.  I made this blog about nine years ago and I have forgotten how to set everything up.  That is a long time to try to pull all this information from a 68-year-old brain.  They want you to code the blog and I am like "huh"?  I certainly don't remember that but I do remember that I had trouble with it nine years ago and I never thought I would make it through this process again.  I was just about ready to quit then decided to try one more time and got it all up and running.  So it is time to sew again!  I didn't get much sewing done over this period since I was tied up with this fix.  I did make up a couple of quilt labels, one for my red and white quilt which I love in my RV now on my bed and the other one was a Christmas quilt I made two years ago before I got sick.  So I thought I might explain how I get my lettering so nice.

I use the Embird program to make letters, but this is just personal taste. The only changes I had to make in the lettering program was that I rearrange the spacing between some of the letters and some of the words.   You can make your letters right from your sewing machine or use another program.  They all are pretty good.  

The biggest tip I have for embroidering is to iron your material with some spray starch, and the real unknown tip is to iron and starch your stabilizer also if possible.  A lot of stabilizers will shrink and this prevents that.  Just that little bit of spray starch will help everything to lay flat in your hoop.  Now if you are using a sticky back or something along this line you won't be able to do that but if you use regular stabilizer keep this tip in mind.  The spray starch that I use is just the kind you purchase in the grocery store, nothing special.  Sometimes you don't have to pay the sewing high prices.  You can see in the picture that there is not a pucker anywhere in my material even after sewing.  If I was using a heavier material I would have also sewn a basting stitch around where I was embroidering.  Most machines will have this option now.  For those of you who do not know, I sew with the Janome 15,000 and I love this machine.  Her name is "Nancy" and I named her after Nancy Zieman.  

I named her after Nancy because I sewed for many, many years but never knew that I was a good seamstress.  Just no confidence!  I made myself the Snowman coat which is shown under my "pages" at the top of my blog.  I had a dream one night and I had this coat on.  This was when I decided to make it.  That has never happened to me again!  After I was finished with it, I got brave and sent the pictures to Nancy Zieman.  She was my favorite.  Then a couple of months later I received a package in the mail from Nancy with several sewing items in it.  She loved my coat and told me she was showing it on her tv program and video.  This was such a boost to me that I decided to start branching out very slowly and eventually, I started my blog.  Now you know the whole story.  Never again have I seen myself wearing something in a dream.  Just that once and I guess there was a reason for it!!

BLOG PROBLEMS

 I am having a little problem right now with my blog.  If I understand it correctly, I was no longer the owner of my blog.  Have no idea how this happened but as soon as everything is taken care of I will continue with my posts.  Thank you and it shouldn't be much longer.  Cindy

Make My Own Panties?? Why? I Will Tell You!

I never thought I would ever be making panties or even talking about it.  Now I will tell you why I am!  Because I love them.  If you ever put on a pair that was exactly your size and really fit your curves you would love them too.  They are not hard to make and once you have your pattern they go together very quickly.

I used Beverly Johnson’s Pattern in BluPrint called:  Sewing Panties Construction and Fit!  It is a video and she guides you each step of the way to get the perfect fit.  You take a few measurements and draw out your pattern. The first pair I made was not quite long enough in the back end but she tells how to fit that and then I made my second pair.  I loved the first pair, but the second pair??  That was sheer heaven.  I just don’t want to wear anything else.  Now I am making my fourth pair and I don’t think I will ever purchase any panties again.  They are just so comfortable and the material just makes them very luxurious.   She also shows how to dress them up with lace and cutouts and things but I like them just in a stretch satiny material.  Your clothes just slip on so easy and practically close and snap themselves.  You should give this a try.

Here is the link:  mybluprint.com    (As usual no connections, just showing what I love)

She teaches how to make the enclosed gusset  (white part of the panty) which is way easier than it looks!

My finished pair!

My other two finished pairs!

There is one thing that I changed.  If you look closely at the black and red pair you can see part of the white elastic in the legs and waistband.  I didn't like this and actually, I could feel that elastic.  Now on my last pair, I added just enough to the pattern to roll that elastic twice so it is totally enclosed and this looks much more professional.  You can see the difference if you look at the pink pair.  You just might want to give this a try.  You will never jerk on your panties again!

NEW BAG FOR MY I-PAD!

Have you been watching all of the new sewing videos that are on every day since Covid-19 started?  I watch Janome every day and I have learned many things that I did not know about my Janome 15,000.  I just think these videos are great.  I have also seen some for many other brands of machines.  I watched a video on free motion quilting and then you made a bag.  Well, the bag wasn't a problem, but you all know I am not an expert quilter.  This was a great lesson for me and maybe some of you out there would want to try this.  I purchased the Janome quilting templates quite a while ago and never really knew how to use them and this video showed me how.  They also had the directions for the Westalee quilting templates and you could use either set in the directions.  Here is the bag that I made.  I actually made it larger than the directions so I could have a bag for my i-pad when we go camping.  The videos and lessons are all free.  If you are interested in making this bag, I have included the link for the video.  If you enlarge the bag you can see the free motion embroidery on the front of the bag.  The back of the bag is free motion quilted also.

https://www.facebook.com/donelle.bradfordmcadams/videos/3261446700586593/

A special thank you to Donelle Bradford McAdams for a wonderful video!!

I should have added this information yesterday.  Thank you Pru for your note!  If you want the Janome videos, they add a new one every day at 3:00pm M-F live.  Also, all of the back videos are always listed so if you are not available at this time you can tune in at your convenience to watch.    You will have to go to your Facebook page and search for "Janome Sewing Room"  or/both "Janome Class Room.  Join these two groups and you will find videos for most of the Janome machines then listed under videos.  Not always are the new ones for the 15,000, but most of them apply to a big group of different machines so they are very useful.  I have the timer set on my phone for 3:00 and if I am not busy I always watch the new video coming out.  They are really great!!  I bet if you join groups for the other companies selling their sewing machines you would find that they are doing videos also.  I have seen many of them but I don't know what they are listed under so I would just search for Bernina or Phaff or whatever you have and see what comes up.

TWO NEW TOPS AND A FREE PATTERN!

I made a couple of new tops which I just love how well they fit.  I was just playing around on the computer and ran across an article about a lady that made t-shirts from ten different patterns from ten different sites.  Then she posted which pattern was her favorite.  I decided well if she liked this pattern the best out of ten, I thought I would try it.  Also, the pattern was free!! 

The site is Greenstyle Creations-Sewing & Pattern Group.  You have to join the group and you find it on Facebook.  After you join the group and are accepted you need to go to the announcements page.  Next, scroll down to the Welcome article that starts out like this.

Welcome to the Greenstyle Creations Sewing and Pattern Group! For more information and to purchase Greenstyle Creations PDF patterns, visit www.greenstylecreations.com.
Things that are helpful to know:

Then they list by number information and you need to scroll down to number 5 and you can order the t-shirt pattern and use a special code to get the pattern for free.

It is a free $10.00 pattern and you print it off on your computer and then tape the pages together. It is a great pattern and well worth the paper and tape. It also comes with ways to change the necklines. I am not affilliated in any way. I just thought someone out there might be interested. It is nice to be able to get the pattern instantly.

Here are a couple of pictures on my new duct tape dummy showing what they look like. These are just some materials that have been on my shelves for a while and since I could not go out shopping I decided to use what I had on hand. I have been able to clear out plenty of scraps that have just been waiting for an opportunity like this to get used up.

All sizes are on the pattern and the only adjustments that I made were going from my bust size to my waist size and then to my hip size. Just drew a line from one size to the next to get the correct measurements. Hope you give them a try and if you need help, just let me know!!

2 INGREDIENT DOUGH - HAMBURGER AND HOTDOG BUNS

This recipe with one cup of FAGE  0% FF Greek Yogurt and 1 Cup of Self Rising Flour, I use Hudson Cream), make the best diet rolls and they are always a big hit at my house.  I made some today to freeze for when we go camping.  They are delicious!

I always mix my two ingredients by hand on the counter and it is messy but it will come together into a nice ball and if you need to add a tiny bit more flour that is ok too.  Now here is the trick to having these come out good.  I take mine and spray a little olive oil spray on the top of the dough and lay a piece of saran wrap over them.  I let the dough sit for 15-20 minutes.  For the hamburger buns, I just use a hamburger maker and I take my dough and cut it into four equal pieces and press one in the hamburger presser and flatten it round and place it upside down then on my baking pan.  For the hotdog buns, I rolled my dough out into again four oval shapes to about 5 1/2 inches long.

Then I folded in one side, then the other side and folded again to meet in the middle.  Then placed the folded side down on the baking pan.  I beat an egg and did a light egg wash over the buns and sprinkled them with Stonemill Everything Bagel Seasoning.  I baked them at 475 degrees for about 15-17 minutes but watched them very closely the last five minutes.  I want to eat one so bad, but I will be good and freeze them.  If you are on Weight Watchers they are 3 points each or 94 calories.  I guess I never told you, I also love to cook and bake!!

GREAT GRAND BABY - QUAN MARQUIS, JR.

My new darling great grandbaby is here and he was born on May 30.  His name is Quan Marquis, Jr.  He is just so precious and we just fell instantly in love with him!  I think I will call him Quan Quan or maybe Quanny, and my husband wants to call him QJ.  He is going to have to answer to many names!  We will just wait and see what fits him. 

Mom is doing fine but she is tired.  He is eating every hour, so she is not getting any rest.  The poor thing.  I think he just isn't getting full enough yet.  I wish there was a way I could help her out, but hopefully, he will be doing better soon.  I will also show you a picture of his brothers and their first meeting.  I just love this picture!

I haven't even gotten to see him with his eyes open, but he sure opened them up when he saw his two brothers!!!  The boys just love him to death!

Now I have been doing some sewing but just haven't had much time to post so some new items will be coming soon!!  I ordered some more material from JoAnn's this morning for two more tops and I want to start on those today.  Have a great day!  Cindy