Saturday, January 7, 2012

New baby

I have mentioned my new machine several times but she needs a proper intro!

Over Black Friday weekend the timing worked out for us to purchase a Brother PE770.  The PE770 is a step up from my SE400.  The SE400 is a combination sewing and embroidery machine and the largest hoop size is 4x4 (which can be stretched to 4x12 with some snazzy software skills).  The PE770 is an embroidery only machine which has a hoop size of 5x7 (which also can be stretched to 5x12).

With combo machines there is a different platform, for lack of a better word, when sewing vs embroidering.  When you want to switch tasks you have to change the foot,thread and switch out the platform.  It's a real pain if you do equal amounts of each.  I had gotten to the point I had learned to group my projects so that I wasn't constantly switching everything but it was becoming a nuisance.  Also, as Olivia is growing the 4x4 sized designs were beginning to look a little small.

My new machine has some quirks I am adjusting to but overall it is really nice to have so many options.  So in a year's time I have gone from having no machines to having three (sew/embroidery combo, embroidery and serger).  Wow!  Here is the new baby!

Happy New Year!

Can you believe how quickly 2011 flew by and we are already a week into the new year?  My brain is already churning with thoughts of how in a few short months I'll need to start planning my daughter's 2 year birthday party!

Many folks make New Year Resolutions or goals at the beginning of each year and I am no different.  My goals for 2012 are:
-learn to use my serger
-work on my sewing skills (specifically I'd like to learn to make some simple clothing items for Olivia like ruffled pants and A line type dresses)
-continue to hone my embroidery and applique skills

I have decided to put business plans on hold for now.  I will continue to do small requests from friends and make gifts for relatives but I am not ready to sell my work to the mass public by any stretch of the imagination.  I really need to work on my techniques and fine tune them first.  I ruined several items over the holiday because I was either tired, not paying close enough attention or just not familiar enough with my new machine.  The reality is that because I work full-time I am only able to work on my crafting in the evenings unless it's during a nap on the weekend.  At night I am just not at my best.  So, the time to open a business is not now and I am totally okay with that.  God has my family's future in His capable hands.  When it is the right time He will make it clear to us what the next steps are and the timing for them.

So, what can you expect to see on the blog this year?  More of the same!!

Christmas Gifts

Here are some of the items I completed during the Christmas rush -

Added initial to two ready made scarves for relatives



Hooded Toddler Towel for a relative (made from 1/2 of a hand towel and one bath towel, strip of fabric and then embroidered) - 


And for my little girl, I added the adorable Studio MCA Designs Jingle Jungle Giraffes with Ornament applique.  I opted to use the fuzzy giraffe print fabric rather than plain fabric and the embroidered polka dots from the design.