December 22, 2012 · 10:57 am

Guess What Arrived in My Letter Box?

My Colours of Shetland arrived earlier this week – it was super fast delivery.

I’ve been reading Kate’s blog for a while and I am always amazed at what a prolific knitter she is! I’m not sure if I am just an incredibly slow knitter or terribly inefficient, but I can’t produce even a quarter of what Kate does.

I’m very keen to attempt some colour knitting next year and I shall read this book with interest – although they might all be beyond me!

On another note school holidays have started and things will probably slow down here a bit. Miss A is still feeling poorly – it’s been two weeks – but the GP assures me it’s just a virus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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December 11, 2012 · 1:31 pm

Jane Cardigan Update

Miss A has been unwell, which has meant time at home sitting on the couch. So a small amount of knitting is getting done.

I have finished the body of the Jane cardigan and have started on the sleeves. As the sleeves are quite short, the end appears to be insight.

 

 

 

 

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December 8, 2012 · 1:52 pm

Snail Trail

 

 

Snail Trail in Progress – Pieced in the hoop using an embroidery machine

My next digitising project is a snail trail block. I have made one before, but I want these new blocks to be a consistent size. While digitising I was a bit daunted by all of the lines on the screen, but in the end it was very easy and only needed one revision.

Finished Snail Trail

 

I like how this block turned out and stitching it out wasn’t too fiddly.

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December 3, 2012 · 2:40 pm

Project Update

 

Fussy Cutting Baby Clothes

This project (making a quilt from the girls’ baby clothes) seemed like such a good idea. What could go wrong? Baby clothes are cute therefore the quilt would be cute. The clothes are cute, but they don’t necessarily mix well together. And then there is the cutting! Oh the cutting. I’m 2/3 of the way through the cutting and then comes the designing, the sewing, making a back and the quilting. There is a long way to go!

I have almost finished this cardigan – Miss A wanted a bolero cardigan who am I to complain!

 

 

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November 26, 2012 · 4:35 pm

Jekyll and Hyde Cushion

Flying Geese Side of Cushion

 

Hour Glass Side of Cushion

I finished my cushion. I’m calling it my ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ cushion because the fabrics on each side are so different.

In the end it came together quite easily. I wondered how easy it would be to put a zip into two quilted pieces of fabric, but that was fine. Now I have to decide what block to do next.

You can find the machine embroidery designs here.

 

 

 

 

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November 16, 2012 · 2:32 pm

Holiday – Hour Glass Block

 

 

Wadjemup Lighthouse

We’ve been away on holiday to Rottnest Island (Miss A went on camp and we just tagged along). Above is the lighthouse in the middle of the island (I love lighthouses). This photo was taken about 6:30am – I went for a run every morning and the weather was perfect.

Salt Lakes at Rottnest

This photo was taken on the way back to the settlement. We had a fabulous time – went to the beach, the bakery, read books and I even managed to do some knitting.

Back to crafty stuff. This is my hour glass block…

Hour Glass Block Made Using Foundation Piecing by an Embroidery Machine

Here is four of them in a cushion top …

Four Hour Glass Blocks

Some of the tack down stitching shows on the middle square. I’m tempted to just ignore it or use water soluble thread, but the best thing would be to change the design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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November 2, 2012 · 1:12 pm

Flying Geese Cushion

I’ve been busy (if not actively blogging) working on my quilt blocks. Above is a new flying geese block (which you can find here). I am going to make this sample into a cushion cover (hence the straight line quilting).

Once I have finished my block designs – I will write a tutorial – I’m working on an hour glass design at the moment.

The fabric is from here.

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October 18, 2012 · 5:04 pm

Applique A and P

I bought Font Engine to go with my studio. I thought it would be handy to be able to type words and then make the embroidery file rather than arranging individual letters. First thing I tried was appliqued letters – sorry about the image it is all a bit dodgy!  You can’t tell from the image, but the letter is about 125 mm tall.

I thought it would be easy to create the applique, but it was quite fiddly and I intend to write a tutorial (if only to help myself remember next time!).

I used my A to make Miss A a bag for her dance stuff. Obviously there is a P as well!

As I have misplaced my applique scissors, I haven’t been able to trim the fabric as closing to the tack down stitches.

 

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October 5, 2012 · 2:41 pm

More Digitising

Lion digitised using Embird Studio

I’m still working my way through the Embird Studio tutorial – I am up to pg 674 of 786!

The above image is of a lion I digitised (one of the lessons).

In each lesson I learn something more and now I know how to add extra detail in the outline and how to make fur.

I’ve also learnt how to delete double-ups in the outlines – like this on the whale (I outlined the purple section and the blue sections and so in places there are two outlines).

Whale has a double-up outline

I’m almost ready to tackle some of my own original designs.

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September 24, 2012 · 12:43 pm

Learning to Digitise

Digitised Flower

I’m still learning how to use Embird Studio.

In the above image I created one petal (using the drop library shape) and then used the Auto Repeat command to rotate and duplicate the petal. However, the blue circle in the centre is on top of the pink petals – I can’t seem to delete the bits underneath and it will be too bulky and dense. I tried using the Create Fill Opening Object, but it just cut a hole in one petal (rather than all of the petals). I do have one more idea to try …

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