Reusable Grocery Bags

USING CREATIVITY TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT In the next few weeks many cities are enacting a law that will allow grocery stores to charge for plastic bags. Some of you have already been using reusable tote bags; some purchase these bland reusable bags from the store at which they are shopping. Howe... [More]

An Easy Way to Keep the Dust Away!

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... [More]

Pucker-Free Quilt Squares

Because quilt fabric is usually lightweight, embroidered quilt squares are often puckered. To avoid puckers on your squares, fuse a piece of ShirtTailorÒ by PellonÒ to cover the entire back of your square. It will not be removed after embroidery. Rather, it adds body to the quilt squar... [More]

Embroidery Advisor Presents "Sweet Dreams"

Good Night! SleepTight!  Now that is something we all hope to do each night.  Whenever we don’t get enough sleep, there is usually something we can do about getting more and sounder sleep so we can stay in dream land longer each night.  Some people prefer to have it totally da... [More]

A Quick Gift for Father's Day

At our house we always seem to be slightly behind and end up cramming to get our father's day gifts done the night before that special day.  Sometimes they don't go as planned and we spend a frustrating time figuring out what to do.  This year we decided to change this (maybe the r... [More]

Would you like to win $500 Cash?

Would you like to win $500 Cash? YOU are invited to enter your completed African Folklore Embroidery in the upcoming challenge. Entry forms are on online at www.aflembroidery.com. THE GRAND PRIZE is $500 cash, 2nd prize $50 and 3rd prize $25.00. All entrants will receive certificate of part... [More]

Loosely Woven Fabrics ? Control Them with Ease

  Fear No Pashmina! One of my favorite newer stabilizers is the self-adhesive wash-away mesh type. This stabilizer can be pricey, but it stands alone when you need the unique advantages offered by this highly evolved specialty product.The item being embroidered must be compatible with wate... [More]

Look Mom! No Zippers!

     Individual characters (letters, numbers and punctuation marks) from my alph [More]

Embroidery Advisor Presents Sew Story Books

Remember as a young child and one of your parents, or grandparents, would cuddle up next to you and read you a story before bedtime.  You would listen to your favorite story until your eyes slowly closed and you drifted into fairy-tale dreams.  Now that you have grown up and have children ... [More]

Leftover Minky and those Elusive Binks

A friend gave me some leftover 5" squares of minky fabric the other day.  There were not enough to make a quilt so I pondered what to do with them.  In the meantime someone stepped on the clip that held the baby's pacifier so it didn't get lost.  She really only gets it w... [More]

Junk in my trunk - African Folklore Embroidery Elephants

 JUNK IN MY TRUNK and the African Folklore Embroidery Elephants One of my favorite animals to observe while on safari is the elephants. I love watching the baby elephant walk in between his mom and dad and seeing how protective the moms are toward their babies. The elephant is the largest... [More]

Keeping It Simple - Owls Are In

I know that I have told you about all the babies that are on their way.  And their mother's are now doing the decorating.  Many of our daughter's friends have seen her baby's room and when she asked them what they would like as a shower gift several requested the fram... [More]

Multi-Media = Major Fun!

As exciting as standard embroidery is, you'll reach a creative crescendo when you add other elements. When you incorporate everyday elements with even the simplest embroidery, the result is almost always a pleasing surprise. In this example, "The Busy Bride" from the Circle of Life des... [More]

Easter Goodies for Infants

"What will the Easter bunny bring for the baby?" our grandaughter asked.  Now, this is the same [More]

The Computerist Presents - Steampunk and other Freebies

What the heck is Steampunk?  Well, its called steampunk because it is a mix of steam powered era style and futuristic style, sort of as if the future happened in the past (if that makes any sense). Its punk because its a bit of that style thrown in. So really you can call anything that loo... [More]

Fabric Popped out of a Hoop? Re-Align It!

Here is how I recover almost designs that have hopped out of the hoop. 1. Walk away for a moment. Calm down and begin to work on getting it fixed. 2. Find some running stitches that are on a curve or angle. If you don't see any, you may need to remove some stitches covering them. For... [More]

Embroidery Advisor Presents Appealing Animal Apparel

Starbird Inc. has been dedicated to the embroidery industry for the past 25 years.  Our talented and educated staff has many combined years of embroidery digitizing experience.  Along with custom digitizing we also do stock designs which are all professionally digitized at our headquarters... [More]

You did that?

 Teaching an African Folklore Embroidery class is one of my favorite things to do. In the last few weeks, I have taught workshops at quilt guilds in Washington, Visalia, Long Beach and Covina. I have had all types of people in my classes, from people who have been quilting for many years, but n... [More]
AnnTheGran.com | Beautiful people make beautiful things

Target Rulers

I use target rulers to quickly find the middle of a quilt block, pocket, placket or other embroiderable area. Once placed on the fabric, I slip a target sticker into the hole, aligning the crosshairs. Then I confidently remove the target ruler and hoop the fabric. [More]

Fancy Mug Rugs

n-the-hoop projects are very popular.  There is something satisfying [More]
Great Tags for Gifting Food

Great Tags for Gifting Food

If you love to give gifts straight from the kitchen, like jams, jellies and canned goods, I found the perfect designs for you!

 

Jam                                                                            Enjoy

While looking through the new designs section, I found some great embroidery from Dakota Collectibles and Hopscotch. They are less than three inches square so they stitch up quickly and only require a four-inch hoop.

 

Beets                                                                    Green Beans

Stitch on felt, trim around the design and add a hanger. You will have a classy tag for gifting the bounty of your harvest!

Salsa                                                           Canned With Love

New neighbors next door? Make a mini gift basket. Add a jar of salsa, a bag of chips, and a bottle of wine. Or homemade spaghetti sauce and pasta.

Honey                                                             Baked With Love

Sick friend? Drop off a jar of soup, some honey, and a loaf of bread.

It is a thoughtful sentiment for holidays, birthdays, special occasions and just for fun!

Debbie SewBlessed

Comments (1) -

Excellent idea, terrific blog!

I like the idea of using felt as the fabric for this project. Felt is very forgiving and adds stability to the design.

Just remember that there is a big difference between doing tags that are only 4,000 stitches on a 4" by 4" (Canned with Love) and some of them that have 13,000 stitches on a 4" by 4" (Baked with Love). It means that the stabilizer needs to be increased significantly. I would probably use two sheets of 2.5 weight cutaway stabilizer.

I have long said that you (almost) cannot over stabilize; however, it will cause multiple issues when you under stabilize, a very common situation.

Pat, The Avid Embroiderer

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