A love like GNOME other....

 

....February is Machine Embroidery month--along with cold and snow here in Iowa--great time to try something new!!!

As an AccuQuilt GoGetter, I have the opportunity to try new things and encourage you to try them too!! Just ask my sewing friends--encouraging others to go outside their boundries and try new things is what I do--LOL!!! Even though I have worked with numerous AccuQuilt applique dies, I had never used machine embroidery with them. There are free downloadable files on the website for most dies, PLUS there are for purchase ones using the dies with a little extra pizzaz added to them. I chose one of the for purchase designs to work with for this project. Embroidery designs are 15% off for the month of February. Check them out HERE.

Here are some tips I learned from doing this project:

Terri's Tip #1--ALWAYS do a test sew. I thought I had my fabric and thread choices down pretty good--but wow did they not show up good on the fabric I was going to use!! The fabric is a cotton jersey. I used a jersey needle.

Terri's Tip #2--back the light colored fabrics with a fusible interfacing of some sort to prevent the show through of other colors.

Terri's Tip #3--try cutting different mediums with the applique dies. This is a Kimberbell glitter. Heat Transfer Vinyl or HTV is another term for it. It cuts super easy. Has a fusible back and a shiny protective film over the glitter. Just pay attention when cutting if shape is directional. And remember to take the shiny film off before embroidering.

Terri's Tip #4--I did not put fusible web on the back of my applique shapes--GASP--I know right?!? The embroidery design suggested using a glue stick to apply a bit of glue to shape backs--so I tried it--and it worked!!! I wanted the finished design to stay soft.

Isn't he just such a happy little gnome?!?!? The embroidery design was made by V-Stitch using the GO! Gnome and GO! Cookie Decoration dies.

After doing the embroidery, I finished cutting out the front pattern piece. 

Added some lettering cut with the Silhoutte Cameo. SVG file for just the lettering can be found HERE.  The tshirt pattern is a free raglan found HERE. Don't those fabrics from Island Batik just make the design sing--love the swirling dots in the beard--it's called Almond. Ask for them in your local quilt shop!!

Ta-Dah!!! The finished project!!!! Love all the details about it!! I might just be wearing it every day this month!! Don't forget to check out the machine embroidery designs HERE --where you can find the adorable gnome!!

" If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13

Farmhouse Runner....Island Batik way....

October is here, along with a new challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors. Make a holiday runner that includes applique. Well, I have had an idea running around my brain this summer so this is the perfect opportunity to bring the idea to life.

I started with fabrics from the Foundations line--Custard and Smoke. The strips were torn along the lengthwise grain of fabric. Because of the tightly woven nature of batik fabric--tearing the strips is easy and quick!!

To keep my seam allowance accurate and straight, I used the seam guide for my 97D foot on the Bernina 790.

Now for the applique. What I thought was going to be a simple addition of letters to the runner, ended up taking me MULTIPLE tries!! But I persisted, because I was going for a specific farmhouse look for this runner. Most of the tries were user error on my part. I was torn between matching the letters to the stripe or making them from the solid black batik.

Using a ruler to align the  black solid batik letters across the runner end worked so well!!

Time for the quilting. Aurifil #2315 was the perfect match to Custard.

I chose my go-to design. Walking foot soft wavy lines that overlap!! I should come up with a name for it!!

I wanted this runner to have more of a farmhouse feel than a quilty feel--so a faced binding was just the right choice. Having never tried this technique before, I searched Pinterest and used the tutorial I found HERE.

I am just over the moon excited about the finished runner!!! It came out better than I had even hoped for--so there might be a winter one made too!!

Just a little glimps into my dining room corner. I love how Island Batik fabrics from the Foundations line blend so well with their other lines. Read about the little table topper on the chair HERE.

Since I enjoyed this project so much, I thought others might too. So I wrote up a little pattern leaflet. The leaflet is available in my shop. Use the code GATHER to get the leaflet free until 11-21-2019.

"What greater blessing to give thanks for at a family gathering than the family and the gathering."
--Robert Breault

"For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills." Psalm 107 : 9

Thanks to Island Batik and Aurifil for suppling the products for this project.

Using Silhouette to cut Island Batik fabric applique for Galentine's Day

Galentine's Day--yeah not a typo, but apparently a made up holiday for the day before Valentine's Day to share some love with your BFF's or any other women in your life....so going with that theme, I have a few gals in my life that are going through some serious health struggles. They were on my mind and in my prayers as I made these little mug rug type quilts for them.

Isn't this just a great palate of colors to work with--the apple one was too cute to cut up this time but keep an eye out for it in future projects!!

I have had my Silhouette digital cutting machine for a couple years and while I have used it for many paper crafting projects, I had never tried to cut out my applique pieces with it...until today. I drew up a couple arrows and some hearts in the machine's software, applied Steam a Seam 2 to the back of my fabric pieces and sent it through the machine with the suggested settings.

And then this happened!! The fabric pieces stayed on my mat nicely..but it didn't cut through the fusible. It took some tugging to get the heart out--and since the arrows where much thinner and more fragile, I had to rethink my approach.

So I tried again...this time with Heat and Bond Lite. And look at the wonderfully cut applique pieces!! Oh wow, a whole new world has just opened up to me!!! If you are interested, the settings I used to achieve these results are:
Blade setting of 6
Speed setting of 2
Thickness setting of 33
As a side note--my blade is pretty old and getting dull, so I probably should have put a new one in..but I like to live life on the edge and just went for it!!

Next, I cut 2--5" squares from these fabrics, making this a charm pack friendly project!! Sew them together to make a four patch. Make sure to "spin" the seam allowances on the back, making for less bulk.

After applying the applique pieces according to manufactures instructions, I layered the batting and backing pieces and took it to my sewing machine. I have recently added a Bernina sewing machine with the BSR attachment to my workspace. I have not played with it much, but when I do, it is super fun and so easy to do small intricate quilting. I like to applique down my pieces with a doodle type quilting design. Going around the designs twice for a sketchy doodly look!! Since the applique arrows were quite narrow, I used a 60 wt Bottom Line thread by Superior for the sketching.

Add the binding to the back and bring it around the front to topstitch down.

And there you have it!! Two gifts of love and prayers to be sent to a couple friends in need. I plan to write an encouraging note and a scripture passage on the back of each before I send them off.

Thank you so much to Island Batik for jump-starting me into creative gifts of love again!!