Blank Check

Halloween Trick Or Treat Bag - Made From Two Tea Towels!

SusanMars — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:30:00 GMT

All you really need for this easy project is two Vintage Gingham Trim Dishtowels, or two towels of your choice. Here's the really simple instructions!

How To Embroider Those Adorable Stuff Animals!

SusanMars — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:30:00 GMT

Following are the instructions for embroidering these cuties! You'll need the following:

Embroiderable Cubbie of your choice

Temporary Adhesive Spray

Water Soluble Stablizer

Medium Weight Tearaway Stabilizer

CHECK OUT ALL CUTE CUBBIES AVAILABLE HERE

The World's Easiest Sewing Machine Cover

SusanMars — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:22:00 GMT

Sometime last year I wrote about using a small tabletopper as an easy, casual cover for sewing machines. My sewing room collects dust like crazy and I know it's not good for the machines. Over the last few months, I have thoroughly enjoyed walking into my sewing room and being greeted by the pretty monograms and designs I stitched on those tabletoppers. So much so, that I was thinking of ways I could have something different for each month of the year. Using a tabletopper would not be practical as far as my wallet goes, so I was thinking of other ways I could make one for each month. Another thing I always have to consider is time. I have to keep my projects to about a hour or two and no more. If I don't get something done in that time frame, it may never get done. If it gets set aside to work on later, I might never get back to it---I might find a new quilt kit between now and then that just begs to be opened and cut into. So once I sit down to make an easy project, I have to get it done then! So with those two important factors in mind, I thought maybe a kitchen tea towel would be just the thing---and it worked beautifully! Here's a photo of the two I completed this afternoon:

All I did was take a tea towel (found here) and place it over the sewing machine. I printed a paper template of my design and used the paper template to determine where I want to put the design on the towel to be visually appealing. Complete the stitching and finish it out how you like. Here's some helpful hints for you:

I made this from a Linen Guest Towel---really!

SusanMars — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 20:00:00 GMT

So here's the thing---I didn't get any sewing done in the last couple of weeks. I was getting ready for and attending the Houston Quilt Festival for the last two weeks, and this week I was playing catch up the whole time. So when faced with a little deadline for this blog, I reached into my arsenal of completed project samples and voila! This one is actually one of my favorite samples---and those cute Christmas-y looking pillows are each made from ONE guest towel!

I have taught this project at club meetings a couple of times, so I am simply including a link for you to click and download the instruction sheet for you to have and keep forever. (No selling or sharing! Just give your friend this link to download herself a copy!) It gives you step-by-step instructions for making the pillow, including how to attach the flower of your choice to the front. One word of warning---we took a shortcut on the outside seams. Instead of turning inside out and doing a "proper" seam up both sides, we just top-stitched the edges together. Because the guest towel is finished along the edges, we could get away with this little "fake-out". It's a great beginning project for the young person in your life interested in learning to sew. For those of you that are sewing purists, you may want to make some subtle changes to the instructions to suit your instincts. Either way, it's a fun project and can be made from any linen guest towel you happen to encounter.

I used the Funky Christmas Dot Guest towels, found here. Instructions in pdf form to make this extremely simple project here.

And on a personal note, I thought I might share some photos I took this Fall season. I don't have a particularly fancy house, but I did somehow manage to get a fabulous view from my sewing room. When I look outside while at my sewing machine, I see the wooded area across the street and the trees growing in my yard for the last 15 years since we moved in. One tree in particular turns an amazing color of red, right before dropping all of it's leaves. Finally after 15 years I decided I better capture this on camera! (duh...) Here's the view from my sewing machine, taken each week for four weeks:

I was gone last week and just BARELY got home in time...the leaves have already started coming off the top of the tree, but it's still so beautiful. I really do feel inspired to sew this time of the year, and not just because of the upcoming holidays. How about you??

Keep on stitching,

Susan

Favorite Fonts Galore!

SusanMars — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:30:00 GMT

I’m often asked about the fonts we choose for various projects, and folks are sometimes surprised when they find out some of my most favorite fonts—the ones I go to over and over again—are fonts digitized by AnnTheGran herself! If you search the www.annthegran.com website for items with the AnnTheGran brand, you’ll find some of the best hidden gems of the embroidery font world! Or to keep it simple, click here to go to the page with all the fonts.

(String Bean Font--my absolute favorite!)

I like the more modern, fresh fonts that are perfect for baby gifts and gifts for tweens. Here are the top 8 fonts I use over and over again:

As a member of Ann’s Club, members receive 50% off the regular price of these fabulous fonts…the membership quickly pays for itself!

And now a couple tips about these fonts:

1) Remember these design sets are not “keyboard” fonts---each letter is a separate design file and in order to create a name, you’ll need embroidery software that allows you to combine designs to form the name.

2) In the example above, you’ll notice the name on the bib on the right looks a little darker than the one on the left. I like the font on the left just fine, but I wanted the name to REALLY stand out and be bold, so I backed up the machine to the beginning and restitched the entire design again. This gave the design a “perkiness” to it that I like. I do this with almost all of my monograms now---I like the look of the raised font. It doesn’t mean it’s badly digitized---it just means I like my monograms a little thicker and puffier and I can achieve this affect by simply stitching twice!

Most of the gifts you personalize include a name on them, so invest in a good arsenal of your favorite fonts. It will speed up your embroidery process when you know exactly which ones to choose!

Keep on stitching,

Susan

An Easy Way to Keep the Dust Away!

SusanMars — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:40:00 GMT

My cousin just came to visit and helped me do some Spring cleaning (yes...it's Summer already). I was forced to face the dust that has been finding it's home on my sewing machines over time. It's really not fair to the machines and I'm sure machine repairmen would tell me it's actually really bad for the machine! I found some beautiful patterns for sewing machine covers, but honestly they seemed like a lot of work and I feel compelled to make one for each machine...that's just time I really don't have right now. Instead I started looking around and decided a small tabletopper would make an excellent cover for my machine. The easy-breeziness of the look and the work involved is right up my alley.

For my project I used the pretty Cutwork Tabletopper found here. I wanted something feminine looking to go with the light and airy feeling of my sewing room, and I chose to monogram it in way that's popular nowadays with the applique capital letter and my name underneath. It's pretty and feminine, and when I'm tired of looking at it, I can embroider something in the opposite corner and switch! Maybe I'll put a holiday design in the other corner!

Also, I have a friend with a very dry, funny sense of humor, so I chose a plain hemstitched version of the tabletopper and will embroider a funny saying in the corner. Maybe something like "Remove cover to find my sanity" or something along those lines. I don't know---I'm still working on that, which is why I am not showing you the finished version of that project yet! LOL Stay tuned...

BTW, if you are doing any applique by machine, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend these scissors: (click here). They are made especially for applique projects and helps keep you from cutting something on your item that isn't supposed to be cut. How many of us have been there and done that? These scissors really help. Truthfully, I think I use them the wrong way...the duckbill is supposed to be held against your applique design, but I have really found it easier for me to do it this way. Whatever works for you is the right way!

This is another one of those really fast projects that can actually make a difference. 30 minutes spent on making it pretty now, and no more time spent cleaning the dust out of those hard-to-reach places on my machine!

Enjoy!

Susan

Wine Wraps That Aren't Just for Wine!

SusanMars — Fri, 20 May 2011 19:00:00 GMT

I will start off by confessing that this project was definitely not my brainchild. In fact, it is a lovely idea given to me by one of our customers. Instead of using the wine wrap in the traditional manner (wrapped around a bottle of wine!), she is using them as wraps around flower vases on centerpieces at a bridal shower. I thought it was a fabulous idea---another great re-purpose of our pretty cotton wine wraps! So I warned her that I was going to "steal" her idea, and now I'm sharing it with all of you! BTW--my "vase" in my photo is a glass I bought at the dollar store! If you're needing a lot of vases for centerpieces, don't spend a ton of money---head to your local dollar store and shop in the housewares aisle.

I can think of many instances where these can be used. Weddings, anniversary parties, baby showers. We've embellished ours with a pretty Jacobean floral design (found by clicking here). I thought by keeping it "generic" and not using a monogram, it might have more function for more people. But there may be an instance where you want to monogram them and use as centerpieces. Here's a great example of a monogrammed wine wrap:

There is no big secret to stitching on the wine wraps. I like to hoop a medium weight tearaway stabilizer. You can choose the sticky kind, but I still go "old school" and use the 505 Spray. Either works well. I also LOVE my paper templates of the designs. When I printed this one out, I realized that the design looked better if stitched on the wrap at an angle, so I could rotate my paper template until everything "looked" right on the wine wrap. You can then see from the photo that I hooped the wine wrap at the same angle (using the cross hairs on my paper template) so it would stitch where I wanted it to stitch. (I hope this makes sense---this is one of those things that's hard to describe, and easier to show you!!)

I pop the wine wrap onto the stablizer and start stitching! Within a few minutes I have a finished project---and I LOVE finishing projects! On a side note, I realized as I sat down to work on this blog, that I hadn't used my embroidery machine since the LAST time I wrote a blog article. I've been spending my coveted sewing time catching up on quilt blocks of the month---I'm hopelessly addicted to them! And I do try to stay up to date with them, but maybe signing up for FIVE of them was a little bit like stacking the deck against myself. LOL At any rate, once I heard that embroidery machine humming, I realized that I've missed it! I've got a small (medium) sized stack of goodies that family members would like personalized---maybe I'll get busy and finish that stack up. In other words, we're all so busy during this time of the year with graduation, gardens, and vacations---don't forget about your good friend, your embroidery machine!

Hope you find a use for these wine wraps---email me and let me know what YOU do!

Susan

Quick and Easy Spring Pillows

SusanMars — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:40:00 GMT

This great project idea came from one of my officemates, Kimberly. She stumbled on this great article on making "flowers" from buttons and we'll share it with you: http://artsycraftybabe.typepad.com/artsycrafty_babe/2008/03/button-flower-t.html. All you need is a few inexpensive bags of buttons like this:

and don't forget to pick up your vintage gingham trim dishtowels here!

Once the flowers are made, go ahead and embellish your towels with the fun Springtime designs of your choice. Your towel will look like this:

Take a pillow form of your choice of sizes. The ones we like to use are either 12x12 or 12x16 in size, depending on the look we're wanting. Wrap the towel around the pillow and determine where your side seams need to be. Turn the towel inside out and stitch up the sides. Turn it right side out and you're done! (Yes...it's really that fast!)

There are NO LIMITS on this project--you can use your creativity and really go nuts, or just copy what Kimberly did! I like the way she used the variegated thread in the lettering shown above---it really changes the whole look of the wording!

Also you can embroider on a whole range of other items, check out the sale right now : Click Here To Receive a FREE Hemstitched Guest Towel with the purchase of ANY Embroiderable Blanks Product

We also stitched up a couple towels for the Easter holiday that's soon upon us. Here are those ideas for you:

Enjoy your gardens and the fresh air and the sounds of Spring--but take a few minutes to enjoy your sewing machine too!

All the best,

Susan

Let's Talk About Terry---Terrycloth, that is!

SusanMars — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:40:00 GMT

(Baby Bibs and Burps are now available at AnnTheGran.com. Click here , also click here to vew other new blanks on special)

Just recently we’ve had two customers call us to let us know they were unhappy with our baby items. They said they “fell apart” and they wanted to return them. Alarmed that there might be a problem with our new batch of baby bibs, I had the customers quickly return the items so I could see what was going on. Turns out, there really wasn’t anything wrong with our product. See, what our customers didn’t tell us was that they were in the crafting business and had taken our bibs to a show. They stuck price tags on the front of every bib (the sticky kind with lots of glue) and when they went to remove the price tag---shazam---all the loops of terry pulled out.

We had failed to let our customers know how to properly embroider on velour terry fabric. It’s not like our pretty little linens---it takes a little bit of special care. Specifically---NO ADHESIVES on the furry velour part! Knowing this little tidbit can save you a lot of embroidery heartbreak, so I hope you find this little blog helpful today!

Here’s the thing---looped terry is just what it sounds like. The cotton fibers are looped back and forth to create the furry little fibers we love to cuddle. The velour terry cloth is taken a step further, with the tops “shaved off” to provide that rich, soft feeling we love in our towels and bibs. What happens if you pull too hard on a loop? It pulls out of place. Curiously, terry cloth can be washed and laundered hundreds of times and it will faithfully stay in shape. But apply an adhesive or get your trimmers caught in a loop when pulling off stabilizer, and you’ve just created a little bald spot in your cloth.

I’m a huge believer in 505-Spray and other temporary adhesives. I rely heavily on paper templates in my embroidery work, and I use the adhesive sprays to help me position templates all day long….but not on velour terry cloth!! On those projects, I’m back to using old fashioned pins. Here’s some other key things to remember when embroidering on terry items:

1) Notice I have my template pinned to the burp cloth so I can determine best placement visually and also so I have my “crosshairs” to use as guidelines when lining it up in the hoop. The next step is to place a water soluble “backing” on top (why do we call it backing if we end up putting it on top??). I really no longer need the paper template in place, but I DO need to know where my centerpoint is. So I turn to my water soluble marking pin to put a reminder dot of where the centerpoint of my design is. This will help me make sure everything is lined up when it’s at the machine. Mark the spot---take off the template, and pin the water soluble backing on top. (see next 2 photos)

2) You MUST use a water soluble backing on top when you are stitching on anything “fluffy” like velour terry. If you don’t, your stitches are going to just bury themselves in the fluffy fibers. A water soluble backing will keep the stitches placed up above the fibers and keep it looking pretty. And a well designed font will have underlay stitches built in to keep the pokies away permanently. Check for that underlay when you’re shopping around for font designs

3) Yes—I used some 505 Spray! I actually hooped my tearaway stabilizer and sprayed it with temporary adhesive spray so I could stick my bib down onto the hooped stabilizer. However, when working with the terry, I use just a light dusting of the spray and I let it sit for a couple minutes so it’s not quite as sticky. As long as I only expose the back of the velour terry to the stabilizer, I’m fine. I wouldn’t dare use the adhesive spray on the front of the velour terry!

4) Stitch the design out---I picked a really quick and easy St. Patrick’s Day design for this lesson. My husband came in while it was stitching and asked me who Avery was….I told him it was my made-up baby. We’re at the age now where no one we know is having babies anymore…I’m out of little infants to sew and embroider for! I’m too young to be at the “waiting for grandchildren” age, but I do have some cousins with kids in their twenties that seem to be getting married at a nice pace. Maybe we’ll have some babies in the family again soon!! Everyone warned me that time would go faster as I got older---they were NOT kidding!!

5) Anyway, now that my stitching is complete, it’s easy to just pull the stabilizer off the back and front. Do be a little gentle with your snips and stay mindful that you don’t want to pull any loops out. But it’s a fairly easy and quick task. I rushed and caught my snips in a loop on the back--so I took a photo so you could see what not to do! (I slid a piece of fabric in behind the pull so you could see it better)

6) I did have my purple mark showing—the one I made to mark my centerpoint. I keep a small bottle of white vinegar and some Q-tips in my sewing room. Just a little dab of white vinegar and the spot disappears!

7) So hopefully you now know the ins and outs of sewing on terry cloth items. Easy to do---you just have to be a little more careful in a couple of the steps. Now if I can just find an Irish baby named Avery that needs a bib and burp cloth set…

Wrap up some Sweet Treats!

SusanMars — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 23:30:00 GMT

Seasons Greetings Everyone!

If you happened to catch my blog around Halloween, you may remember that I used the cutest designs from Amazing Designs---little candy corn characters dressed up for Halloween. It was the “Sweet Halloween I” collection. Well I had so much feedback from that project, that I wanted to do something using the Christmas version of those cute designs.

(inside that pretty package is a small loaf of Chocolate Chip Bread)

Our kitchen towels make a wonderful “gift wrap” for baked goods—and when all the goodies are long gone, the kitchen towel can be used for years to come! So I decided to stitch up a “gift wrap” and give you a few helpful hints for getting it to look just the way you want.

What you’ll need:

Vintage Gingham Trim Tea Towel (Available in red, green, or black trim)

Sweet Christmas 1 designs by Amazing Designs (I used the Green Peppermint Hat design from this collection)

1 yard or so of coordinating ribbon

Tear away stabilizer

Temporary Adhesive Spray

Very Easy Instructions:

1.) Print a paper template of the design. This make placement on the towel so much easier! Cut it out of the paper sort of like you’re cutting out paper doll clothes.

2.) Wrap the towel around the baked item (I’m giving little loaves of chocolate chip bread!). Spray the back of the paper template with a temporary adhesive spray (just a small spritz will do). With the towel wrapped around the loaf of bread, determine where the design will look best. Stick the paper template onto the towel at this point. Unwrap the bread and set that aside.

3) Now lay the towel flat on a table, and take a look at where you placed the paper template. It SHOULD be pretty close to the center front of the towel. You can straighten it up a bit and get it “looking right”, being careful not to move it too far from it’s original position. You need to keep it fairly close to where you initially set the template down, so it will look right when you wrap up your bread at the end.

4) Hoop your stabilizer, spray it with a temporary adhesive spray, and stick your towel down onto the hooped stabilizer. I like to pin a little around the edges, as you can see. I feel like it will stay in place a little better during the stitching process.

5) Stitch away! How cute is that!?! Remove from the hoop, trim any threads and tear away the remaining stabilizer. You may want to give it a little press with a hot steamy iron from the back side of the towel.

6) Wrap the towel around the loaf of bread so that it forms a gathered edge around one end. Tie it with a big pretty ribbon and you’re done!

You know I have extremely limited sewing time---everything I do really has to be completed in an hour or two—no more than that because I get interrupted with life and might not get back to the project (can you relate?!?) So this is a nice, easy project that adds so much to a gift with very little investment of time or money, but just LOADED with thoughtfulness. And maybe a few calories….

Happy Stitching Everyone!

Susan

Spooktacular Halloween Projects

SusanMars — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 21:30:00 GMT

I really enjoyed locking myself into my sewing room and creating these Halloween projects. I think the color combinations of Halloween must be very pleasing to me, so I tend to collect lots of designs and fabrics for that holiday. It was easy to dip into my stash of designs and work up a few decorations for my house. I may not be the house on the block that has a fake graveyard in the front yard and skeletons hanging from the trees---but I do manage to stitch a couple new kitchen towels each year and that's fine with me. I enjoy using them for the days leading up to the big day and it's sure less time consuming than taking down all those decorations in the yard! :)

On a side note, I've decided I'm going to have to stop having the QVC channel on in the background when working in the sewing room. I have a very small TV I keep in there and I keep it on merely for background noise while I'm busy creating. Often I keep it on a 24 hour news station, but on Sunday when I was working, I just wasn't in the mood for all the Sunday morning pundits, so I switched to QVC. In the course of stitching the projects for this blog, I managed to order the most amazing stuff! I am now going to have the silkiest, bounciest hair on the planet, my eyeliner will no longer smear and smudge and with a couple months of Easy-Pay, I'll have the cleanest wood floors in the neighborhood! This blog post cost me a lot of money! LOLOLOL Maybe I should just put a radio in there...

Here's your supply list:

2 Black Border Hemstitched Guest Towels

2 Vintage Gingham Trim Dishtowels - Black Trim

Medium Weight Tear-away Stabilizer (the sticky kind if you prefer)

Temporary Adhesive Spray

Designs I used: Sweet Halloween I by Amazing Designs for the candy corn characters and the applique designs were dug out of my stash of designs (anyone have a stash of designs?)

Alphabet Font is from my new favorite program "Personalize N Stitch 2.0" from Amazing Designs.

1). There are a couple tips I can offer on this week's blog. One is to help you line up designs on matching pairs of towels. Often we forget this step and end up with a pair of towels hanging in the bathroom with designs stitched at all different heights---not cool! Just print a paper template fo your designs! It helps so much with hooping items correctly and for lining up designs. Here's a photo of how I use templates to make sure my designs are even:

If you notice, I line my towels up on the grid of my cutting board, then stick the paper templates onto my linen towels using a very light bit of temporary adhesive spray. I can pretty much line them up easily by referencing the placement lines printed on the template, but if I really need some extra help, I can use the grid lines on the cutting board as an extra bit of reference. Now you know that when they are hanging in kitchen or bathroom they will look "right"!

I know to do this, because I can't tell you how many times I've gotten excited about stitching, stitched up one of the towels, only to realize that now I don't know where to put the design on the second one! So now I try to remember to line up the designs FIRST on both projects---then stitch.

2.) I rarely hoop an item. It's extremely cumbersome to get a towel into the hoop. When you hoop linen you also run the risk of leaving hoop marks and that's no good. So I like to hoop my stabilizer and spray it with temporary adhesive spray. Then I just stick the towel down onto the sticky stabilizer and pin it around the edges. Then it's ready to go! Here's a photo of what my stitching projects look like on the machine:

Here's my fun little projects - up close:Won't these look really fun hanging in a guest bath on Halloween?!? (I absolutely love that lettering---it's called 1940's and can be found in the Personalize N Stitch program--my new favorite!)

I just fell in love with these sweet little characters from Sweet Halloween I. The collection has so many more adorable designs that I need to get stitched out. They are so cute!

Happy Halloween to you all,

Susan

Don’t Be Afraid of Pillows! Beautiful Hemstitched Boudoir Shams

SusanMars — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 21:30:00 GMT

Greetings to all!

In my travels I get to visit with customers who love to sew and embroider as much as I do. I try hard to listen to what people are wanting and asking for, and what they need help with most. I'm always surprised at how many experienced embroiderers are afraid to stitch on pillow shams and cases. Which is a shame, because they are some of the prettiest and most loved gifts to give! So I thought for this blog I would just go over the basics of embroidering on pillow shams of all sizes.

The supply list is minimal:

Pillow sham of your choice (AnnTheGran has some beautiful basic ones here)

Pillow form (it's important to have the pillow form you're using for that sham when you begin)

Medium weight tear-away stabilizer (the sticky kind if you prefer)

Temporary Adhesive Spray

Thread of your choice

For our sample shown above, I used the Francie Alphabet from www.annthegran.com. I created the monogram design in my embroidery software, making the M slightly bigger and resizing the H and S until they looked the way I wanted.

Steps for Embroidering on Pillow Shams:

1) The first step is to print a paper template of your design. If you've read my blogs before, you know what a believer I am in the paper templates! Just print it out in black and white on plain paper and trim it down to your design. I spray the back LIGHTLY with temporary adhesive spray and position it onto the pillow.

2) This is very important to remember---put the pillow form you're using in the pillow BEFORE you place your design. What looks good when the pillow sham is flat on the table is VERY different from what looks good when the pillow form is inside. I've found that every pillow form has its own personality. No two seem to fit the same into the pillow shams.

3) Once you've determined design placement, you'll now know which side is the "bottom" seam of the pillow sham. I take a seam ripper and gently tear the bottom seam. You'll find that linen items like this hemstitched sham come from the factory very heavily sized and it actually tears right out with a gentle tug. You can literally open the seams up in 15 seconds flat.

4) You can see in the photo below that, generally speaking, you will really only have to undo the bottom seam. It usually allows enough of the backing to be removed to get out of the way of the embroidery process. Occasionally I am planning a big design and will need to undo the sides a little bit, but 90% of the time, this method works for my planned project.

5) Here's a photo of what the pillow sham looks like hooped up. As you can see, I rotated the design 90 degrees so that the bulk of my pillow sham is off to the left of the embroidery machine. I find that very helpful. And I stopped apologizing for my dirty hoop about 3 blogs ago! LOL (I keep promising myself to buy hoops that are to be used for photography only, but you know that never gets done...)

6) You can also see how helpful the paper template becomes when it's time to hoop the pillowcase. The centerpoint is indicated, along with the cross hairs so I can get the pillowcase lined up straight.

7) I don't ever hoop the pillow shams. If I tried, it would take me a year to get it all straight. I find it much simpler to hoop the stabilizer, spray it with a temporary adhesive spray (or use the sticky stabilizer), and stick the pillow sham down onto the hooped stabilizer. I do pin it around the edges a bit to make sure it stays in place. This method is much quicker and simpler for me, but always do what feels best for you!

8) Stich the design. Here's another tip: 90% of the time I stitch the monogram TWICE. I stitch it once, then restart the machine at the beginning and stitch it twice right over the first one. I find that most monograms look much richer and prettier this way!

9) When completed, take the pillow sham out of the hoop and straight to the ironing board. Using a lot of hot steam, iron the monogram from the BACK. This will help your lettering to pop up off the surface of the sham...it's gorgeous!

10) Time to stitch up your pillow. Using the same thread, just set your sewing machine to straight stitch and top stitch the back of the sham back into place. It's REALLY easy to follow the seam line from the previous stitching. Plus, the seam is along the bottom of the pillow and no one will EVER see or notice it! Super Easy!

And you're done!!! I hope that if you've ever been afraid to embroider on pillows that you'll feel a little braver now to jump in. Putting a simple monogram on a pillow is fast and easy and they are just so BEAUTIFUL! Most of my projects HAVE to be done in an hour or so, because I don't have any more time to sew than that during one sitting. So, quick and pretty is what I'm always looking for. I am sure many of you can relate! Don't be afraid of pillows!

Until next time, happy stitching!

Susan

Now this is REALLY cute! (And so quick and simple!) - Get ready for Easter!

SusanMars — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:30:00 GMT

Hi Everyone! Sometimes I'll see a design and instantly 8 projects spring to mind that I want to create using that design. That's what happened yesterday when I got my latest e-mailing from www.AnnTheGran.com. They were advertising the special currently running on The Embroidery Studio designs, and the design they chose to feature on the ad just struck a chord with me. I fell in love with that little fuzzy chick and instantly I had plans....all I needed was some time!

Well, I didn't get all of my ideas brought to life yesterday---but I did get my most favorite one completed. And I think you'll be amazed at how fast it went. All I did was take a couple of cocktail napkins and well...I'll let the photo speak for itself:

With this little project, there isn't a long supply list and no lengthy directions. I literally took two Crochet Edge Border Cocktail Napkins, embroidered the design on one of them, then stitched them together along the edge on three sides. I had an instant little "pocket" to tuck in easter grass and all the yummy candy I could find. Crazy simple!

Now, I ran out of time to get all my ideas brought to life for this blog--in fact I'm posting this about 2 hours before it gets published (whew!). What I really intend to do is use these little "baskets" as place settings at our Easter table for all the little ones. And to complete the table, I've got the matching Crochet Lace Edge Dinner Napkins. These lightweight, Springtime napkins will be perfect for our somewhat casual luncheon. Here's a photo of them (that's the napkin on the left), along with a link to where you can purchase yours:

I also have big plans for the new Cotton Flat-Weave Cocktail Napkins. They are about 9" square, which I think is the perfect size for little girls who like to have tea parties. So I was thinking of maybe embroidering a set of 4 for the little girl I know who puts together the most wonderful little parties. My little boy, Jake, is more interested in running his cars around the table...but that's another story. Here' a link to the new Cotton Cocktail Napkins if you think you might like to give this idea a whirl:

I so enjoy the change of season into Spring. Here in the South, we're expecting a gorgeous Sunny day with a high of 68. My mom just arrived in town last night, and she and I are going quilt shop-hopping all day here in Atlanta. What a perfect day to be out and running around! (And I'm sure there's a quilt kit or two out there just waiting to come home with me.) But before I hit the Atlanta highways, I wanted to share this fun project with you...I think it's so important that we complete little projects like this one. I never get as much sewing time as I want with my embroidery machine, but when I can finish things like this, it gives me a great sense of accomplishment. I hope you feel the same way!

Keep on stitchin,

Susan

Ribbon Trim Adds a Special Touch to some Really Trendy Linens!

SusanMars — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:00:00 GMT

I've been looking through Spring catalogs from some of our suppliers and I'm seeing lots and lots of damask patterns and designs. It inspired me to think ahead to next year because I'm sure you'll be seeing lots of it too! It may be a little late to get something done for this holiday season, but how would it feel to actually be ahead of the game for 2010? And be ahead of the trend, to boot!?

I started with some basic linens that hang beautifully in your home.

I found a damask design that suited my taste and gathered up some coordinating ribbons from my stash. And this is what I created in just a short morning!

Supplies Needed:

Embroidery Blanks of your choice. We used Hemstitched Guest Towels, Border Guest Towels, & 8x8 Hemstitched Pillow

Medium Weight Tearaway Stabilizer, Temporary Spray Adhesive (Or Sticky Stablizer if you prefer that method), straight pins, a couple safety pins, and coordinating ribbons of your choice.

RIBBON ACCENTS: Sometimes I stitch a design and it just needs a little something MORE, but you can't quite put your finger on it. ALWAYS keep a stash of ribbons on hand. They are fairly inexpensive if you buy them on sale, and you only use a little at a time. It will last forever. And usually it adds the extra something you were craving on your finished design!

GUEST TOWELS: The guest towels are super simple to do! Stitching the design is so easy when you print a paper template of your chosen embroidery design. This helps me so much in placement choices. I decide where the stitching should go and where I think the ribbon bow will look most pleasing to the eye.

Then it’s time to stitch. I don’t actually hoop the linen towel. I believe in using temporary adhesive spray on a medium weight tearaway stabilizer, or you can choose a sticky stabilizer if that’s the kind you like to use. I also like to pin around the edges—it makes me feel like everything is nice and secure. You avoid leaving hoop marks on the linen towel if you do it this way.

After your stitching is done, just pin the bow to the towel where it looks best. That way, if it ever needs to be laundered you don't have to mess up that beautiful bow you just tied! Just remove it and put it back on when the towel is clean. Easy!

HEMSTITCHED PILLOW: Pillows are a little trickier than guest towels-mostly because you have to open up a seam to make room to do the embroidery. But don't let that frighten you. It really only takes an extra minute or two and you're on your way to a beautiful project.

One word of advice---ALWAYS determine your design placement with the pillow insert inside. What looks good on the pillow sham when it's flat, is very different from what looks good with the pillow form inside. Once again..paper templates are the best way to go!

Here's what my pillow looks like before stitching. It's supposed to be 8" square, but honestly, it had a mind of it's own. It looks more like a rectangle to me. So I turned the design around so it "fit" the personality of the pillow. Every pillow is different! That's why it's so important to determine design placement with the pillow form inside.

Next, open up a seam on the back of the pillow sham so you can get the area to be stitched down onto your hooped stabilizer.

Stitch your design. When complete, thread your machine with white thread, switch to a simple straight stitch, and top-stitch the back flap of the pillow sham into place so it’s back where it started. Just follow the line of the hemstitching and you’ll make a perfect row of stitches.

Pin the ribbon into place and you’re done. GORGEOUS!!!

These projects are exceptionally trendy and modern---you’ll start seeing more of the damask patterns in both housewares and fashion accessories. But don’t limit yourself to just damask. These embroidery blanks lend themselves to any style…it’s all about what YOU like!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Susan

Get your Hostess Gifts ready now---party season is upon us!

SusanMars — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Hey Everyone! It's that time of the year again---time to start coming up with some quick and easy gifts for folks on our list. I try to make the most of every single minute I have in the sewing room because I just don't get as much time in there as I want. But I do want to give special, personal gifts to special people in my life. I am quite sure that many of you can relate.

So here's a way to spend just two hours in your sewing room and have several gifts lined up for all those holiday parties you'll be attending. With these hostess gifts in hand, you'll be ready to arrive in style at all the get togethers. Make them up now so you can be ready to go at a moment's notice!

Now in the interest of full disclosure, I got this idea from my local Bernina dealer. They had a sample hanging in their store that used the naughty/nice idea and I told them I was going to "steal" the idea for the season. So these cute and clever cocktail napkins are inspired by those I saw hanging in the store.

These cute and clever guest towels and cocktail napkin sets are really fast to stitch up, so you can get lots of them done in a short period of time. First you'll need to purchase the blanks here at www.annthegran.com. They are called Funky Christmas Dot Guest Towels and Cocktail Napkins. Too cute!

I used the Murphy design font for the cocktail napkins. It's one of my favorites and I use it over and over again. You can purchase that here at www.annthegran.com. The font I used on the guest towels is one I found built into my Bernina Embroidery Software--called Craft. It's becoming one of my favorites too. Now I am a firm believer in printing paper templates of your designs so you can really achieve proper placement on your items (see photo below). Temporary adhesive spray is a staple accessory in my sewing room. I use it to stick the blanks down onto the hooped stablizer and I spritz a little on the back of my design templates. I'd be lost without it!

Stitch away--you'll find you can get quite a few done in a small period of time. I typically split a dozen cocktail napkins into two gifts---6 in each gift bag. I pick up the gift bags from the section in the craft stores that have the cello plastic wrap made for baskets. They almost always have some gift bags right there on the shelf. Add a bow and you have a really pretty presentation.

The guest towels are really fun to hang in a powder room for guests to chuckle at when they go to dry their hands. Which one will they use??? Cocktail napkins make a nice conversation starter over a glass of wine. You'll be a hit when you bring either to the party!

Hope this helps you mark a few gifts off your list and Happy Holidays!

Susan

More embroidery blank products can be found here.

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How To Embroider Those Adorable Stuff Animals!

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I made this from a Linen Guest Towel---really!

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Wine Wraps That Aren't Just for Wine!

Quick and Easy Spring Pillows

Let's Talk About Terry---Terrycloth, that is!

Wrap up some Sweet Treats!

Spooktacular Halloween Projects

Don’t Be Afraid of Pillows! *Beautiful Hemstitched Boudoir Shams*

Now this is REALLY cute! (And so quick and simple!) - Get ready for Easter!

Ribbon Trim Adds a Special Touch to some Really Trendy Linens!

Get your Hostess Gifts ready now---party season is upon us!

Don’t Be Afraid of Pillows! Beautiful Hemstitched Boudoir Shams