First Time Project....Possibly a New Obsession

My sister in law is due with her second baby any day.  I made a quilt for the new baby using some embroidered appliqued animals. (see my last post)  It is together and basted, but I still have to actually quilt it.  I am going to try that on my embroidery machine.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Whenever I make something for a second baby, I try to make something for the big sister/brother as well.  This time, I am making a doll for my niece.  I haven't made a doll before but so far I like how this one is turning out.  I used Simplicity Pattern 2462 and some fabric I had on hand.  I made a dress for her and today she will get little pantloons.  I'm not sure yet what I will do about hair.  Yarn or doll hair?  Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I especially wanted to show you her face.  I stitched her with my machine, using a design from Embroider USA Florida.  I think hair will make all the difference.  Right now she looks kind of freaky to me.

I have had fun making this doll, could be a new obsession for me.  Dolls everywhere!  I will post a full picture when she is ready for her debut!

Keep stitching,

Looking for Content and Baby Quilt WIP

Well, filling up this blog isn't going to be as easy as I thought!  I am a novice with my embroidery machine so as yet not much help to anybody as far as tutorials etc. go.  I have been surfing the web looking for content to help me with my posts.  If you know of any links that would like a mention here, let me know.

I've been working on my Irish Chain quilt which you can see here.  I have all the blocks done.  Next I am going to work on a baby quilt for my SIL.  Here are a couple of pics of the appliqued blocks I've already stitched.  I'd better get going; the baby will be here in about a month!

These designs are stitched from one of my favorite sites, Embroidery Library

What is your favorite source for designs?

Keep stitching,

Stabilizers - Lessons learned

Stabilizers.  Talk about confusing stuff for a newbie.  I haven't been doing machine embroidery very long; about a year and a half, and like everyone else have run across my share of problems with stabilizer.  Usually the wrong type or not enough.  I still have yet to master stabilizing a t-shirt properly for a fairly dense design.  Good thing I have some scrap material to practice on!  If anyone has experience with t-shirts for busy designs please share your wisdom!

It can be very confusing deciding what to use, when to use it, and what brand is better than the other.  I tend to use Sulky because it is available to me locally.  Same with the thread, but that's for another post.

I have found a nice article with tips on choosing the right stablizer, and learned about heat away topping as well.  The article is from ABC Embroidery Designs, click here to check it out.

Here is a pair of kitchen cotton waffle-weave towels I learned a stabilizer lesson on.  The first pair I stitched I neglected to use a topping and there was a lot of white showing through the solid fruits.  The stitches just sunk into the weave of the towel.  I gave that pair to my MIL.  (She gets my mistakes lol)  I stitched them again, using a water-soluable topping. They turned out much better the second time and have since sold through my Etsy shop. 

The fruit designs came from the Secrets of Embroidery website.  I used my software to size, layer and get the look I wanted.

Do you have any trial and error stories?  I'd love to hear!

Keep stitching,