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What's New
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Where are our trunk shows?
Til end of Sept Jerry’s Sewing & Vacuum, Janesville, WI
Oct 1-23 Somewhere Sewing, Johnson City, TN
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Reminder More Free Designs!
This is a reminder from last weeks message that I'm expanding my Yahoo Group service, with more FREE DESIGNS. Check out the FREEBIES page for details.
I will start sending these designs out this week. Make sure your group settings are “Individual Emails” and that you have added me to your email to receive attachments.
I will start sending out the designs unzipped. With only 3 formats and a txt document the files sizes will be so small zipping won't matter anyway.
Also, At this time we are not planning to put the newsletter into pdf format.
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Newest Products
Mehndi Body Art Machine Embroidery Designs
The Big Easy Purse Pattern
The Hex Flex Frame
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Daphine’s Hardangish Squared Tablerunner
I failed to mention last week that Daphine’s project is one of the most ambitious Harandish projects I’ve seen to date. While the photo doesn’t do it justice, based on the given dimensions, I estimate the tablerunner took well over a hundred hours to complete. Way to go Daphine! This must truly be a labor of love.
See the Hardangish Squared collection here
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Featured Projects
For the next few weeks I will be featuring NEW projects made using the techniques and designs from my TOUCH OF NATURE book.
This is the second week in a series featuring this project
Read the first week here
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TOUCH OF NATURE: Textured Applique Machine Embroidery Techniques & Designs has been well received by you folks and I want to thank all of you who bought the book. Of course, I could only touch on the potential of this art and still be able to get the book into print. Therefore, for the next several issues of this newsletter, I would like to show you the versatility of the “Touch of Nature” concept.
This week I’m featuring another patch from our Periwinkle Dot top.
All of the projects in TOUCH OF NATURE are embroidered as patches. In fact, all of the applique designs included on the CD in the back of the book can be made as patches. What does this mean?
It means when you hoop your fabric to sew the designs you don't worry about design placement. Just sew the design. Once the patch is made, you audition them onto your project, playing with the arrangement until you are happy with the placement. Pin them on the project. Sew them on. It doesn't get any easier than that!
Use the applique designs included on the CD or use ones you already own.
In your book, look under “Applique Patches”. These instructions tell you how to make patches with appliques and what type of applique designs are appropriate for the “patch” technique.
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Featured Project
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Periwinkle Top with a Touch of Nature ‘Spray’
I found this cotton knit top at my local Kohl's store.
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I thought it would be nice with lightweight 3D floral applique's.
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Rummaging through my fabric stash, I found blue and white organza and a shiny sparkle blue fabric. Next, I matched up some threads. I picked a blue and white to compliment the organza fabrics and a nice yellow for a little contrast - but not too much.
In your copy of Touch of Nature, look in Appendix A at the pictures of the embroidery designs included on the CD. Notice the instructions for each design include what each color stop sews. Keep your book open to these pages, so you will know what sews next. In this series we’re going to do some mixing and matching of the designs and their parts.
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I made 2 butterflies, 2 large flowers, and 6 small flowers (4 are shown here) before I started auditioning them onto the top. Fringe covered buttons were added last.
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In Appendix A, look for this design
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This patch is a large white organza flower with a blue fringe puff arrangement in the center in place of a center applique.
Follow the directions in Appendix A for sewing this design in the colors of your choice or use my variations.
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Hoop 2 layers white organza.
Instead of adding another fabric for the background applique use the organza already in the hoop. Follow the directions in Appendix A for sewing this part of the design. The rest of this design is not sewn. Don't take it out of the hoop yet.
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For the center of the design, change to the fringe puff group design.
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Sew it into the center of the applique design directly on the organza fabric. Your machine should already center it in the hoop for you.
To sew the fringe puff group follow the directions in the book under 'Fringe Puffs - Free-Standing Finge Puffs' and under the “Chenille Embroidery Pillow” project.
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Once the patch is made and the fringe released it is ready to be auditioned onto your project, or wait until you have several patches ready first.
Instead of applying it to the top by sewing it on around the outside edges of the patch, I stitched it in place around each fringe puff as illustrated in the book under 'Fringe Puffs - Free-Standing Finge Puffs'.
In this way the outside fabric (the organza) is left free for a 3D effect.
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Optional: The fringe button center was added last. In the book under "Fringe Button Covers" follow the directions for making these button covers in fabrics and thread colors of your choice.
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Next week, I’ll feature other “Patches” from this project
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Albert’s Cubicle
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Internet Security Software
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
In a nutshell, because brevity is bliss...
- Good: Install and turn on anti-virus and firewall software as soon as you get your computer.
- Better: Purchase and install an Internet Security Software suite before you ever connect your PC to the Internet.
- Best: Engage (hire) an Internet security professional to install and configure an Internet Security Software suite on your PC.
The Good. You all know of the importance of anti-virus (AV) and firewall (FW) software in protecting your computer as you venture into the Wild Woolly World of the Internet. You can get these programs individually for about $30 or even for free. In fact, some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer these programs as part of their service. You need only download and install them onto your system to begin protecting yourself from hackers. What's more, if you own a fairly new computer, Microsoft's Windows XP operating system comes with both a firewall and anti-virus program, which are activated the first time you ever turn on your PC and remain so until you turn them off or replace them with other programs. A few years ago, security software companies began bundling their Internet security programs to include AV, FW, and SPAM filtering as a comprehensive approach to PC protection. Several companies offer these Internet Security Software (ISS) suites, including Symantec (Norton), McAfee, and Zone Labs (ZoneAlarm). These bundled solutions typically cost around $50, as of this writing, with annual subscription renewals about 20-40% less than buying it new. So what makes them better than the free stuff? What's the catch?
to read more
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