Fall Stitching

Syracuse Seamsters

It is a busy time for so many of us right now, but I wanted to mention that if you might be interested, go ahead and download some offerings at the CME Magazine website that are at no charge for only a limited time.

One of them is a machine embroidery applique design and since the Oct 9, 2010 mtg is focusing on doing applique by machine embroidery using pre-cut die shapes from Dalco Home Sew, you might find it interesting to see how to create your own die cut shapes to do designs up yourself at home w/o having to buy pre-cut dies if you prefer to choose your own fabrics instead.

The Sept/Oct issue of the CME magazine apparently has "instructions" for doing a Harvest Hanger, but the actual design elements are still up and can be downloaded from here:

http://www.cmemag.com:80/articles/Harvest_Hanger

Over at Embroidery Library site, you can find their general project instructions, including some for in-the-hoop door hangers and written ones with pictures are here:

http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/ELProjects/Simpleproduct_ELP.aspx?productid=PR1163

and they have a video tutorial as well that you can click on!

http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/elprojects/holder.aspx?page=video_doorhangers

showing you how to make doorhangers that fit over certain size doorknobs.

This is free standing applique work done by machine embroidery, but the principles are the same as applying an applique to a base fabric, instead, for free standing work you simply use a water soluble stabilizer that is more fabric like as opposed to being plastic like as your hooped base fabrication.

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The Nov/Dec issue of the CME magazine has online downloads for a Fancy Flurries (snowflakes) purse: Snowflake design & then a purse pattern

http://www.cmemag.com/articles/Fancy_Flurries

There is also their version of info for working with metallic threads.

Also there is a Seasons Greetings offering: you can download the "Give Thanks" and "Peace" Designs:

http://www.cmemag.com/articles/Seasons_Greetings

Finally there is a stippling design they called "Twinkle Toes" for open shoe insoles for Happy Feet--if that suits your fancy.

Have a great Fall & Happy Stitching,

Stephanie in F'ville

Fun challenge

There is an easy "Stash to Treasure Sewing Challenge" mentioned over at the Bertina Studio site that some of you might be interested in participating in.

http://www.bertinastudio.com/index.htm

You do have to sign up for the site to access more sections of the site, including the free embroidery designs section, but the challenge is about creating a "Material Girl Challenge" grocery shopping bag using up some of the stash of fabrics, etc., that you already have.

The site lists 4 links for making such bags (we all know there are many more sites, but this is a starting point at least):

The Green Bag Lady http://www.greenbaglady.blogspot.com/ > FREE PATTERNS > Shopping Bag Pattern

Janome Shopping Tote http://janome.com/index.cfm/ProjectCenter/Project_Detail/Janome_Shopping_Tote

Bertina Studio Quick Bag

http://www.bertinastudio.com/funstuff/projectsbag.html > http://www.bertinastudio.com/funstuff/BertinaGroceryBag.pdf

Sew4Home Insulated Bag

http://sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/504-nature-brights-kitchen-insulated-shopping-tote

One is free to do any style of grocery shopping bag they want.

There are some nice free designs that are offered for use in the challenge, but one does NOT

have to add machine embroidery to the shopping bag one makes. The challenge rules allow one to do machine applique work, quilt or embellish the bag, or use any sewing technique one desires when doing up the bag.

As long as one is NOT an industry professional and is at least 18 years of age one can check out this challenge.

There are some nice prizes that will be awarded in categories of:

Judges Choice; Viewer's Choice, and Honorable Mention.

All the details are on the site, so if you are interested, check it out.

It is a win-win situation as who couldn't use more fabric reusable bags for shopping!

You still have July & August to whip something up, take some pics, and decide to send

an entry in by email.

I have NO affiliation with this site, just thought the challenge idea was one that might appeal to some of you.

Enjoy your summer!

Stephanie in Fayetteville

New Jackets by Pamela and her booth at the event.

Pamela Leggett pt. 2-- April program

Pamela Leggett

Some more pics from the March Class

This thread was great! I used pink on my jacket.

There was a nice choice of fabrics and patterns as well as the batting for the jackets for sale.
Marie helping Jean layout her fabric and pattern.
Marie and Margaret examining samples.

March Jacket Class with Marie Henry of Cazenovia Fabrics

Marie came and taught a jacket pattern by Bare Roots. We sewed strips together and then she helped fit the pattern on us. Then we cut it out with a thin batting and a lining. Most of us finished it at home. She recommended Hoffman's Bali strips and Coats n Clark variegated thread.

My fly front using Sandra Betzina's method

Another Fly Zipper Technique Demonstration

Trudy from Hot Patterns shows her fly front zipper technique

Video: An Easy, Flat Fly-Front Zipper - Threads

Video: An Easy, Flat Fly-Front Zipper - Threads

Posted using ShareThis

Fly Front Zipper

I'm going to test a few different fly front techniques. Like many of you I have an extensive sewing library. I plan to choose a few different books with the technique and see which one is the easiest to do, has the clearest instructions and has the best effect. Stay tuned!

February Road Trip-- Superbowl Sale at Cottons Etc.

Winter has arrived!

Happy New Year to one and all!

It is hard to believe that it is the start of a New Year already. December flew by it seems with so many twists and turns.

Now we are having a rather cold, blustery period of truly brisk January weather.

I hope everyone is doing well and had a lovely holiday season, but now is staying as warm as possible since lake effect snow tends to keep the air shall we say a bit chilly!

"Real life" had determined what activities got accomplished during this past Fall into the start of Winter, but now I hope to get caught up myself on some project work since the holiday happenings are fewer. "Little Christmas" is coming right up and then after that, things should slow down a tiny bit.

Likely many of you are in similar situations. January is a time when you probably work on some projects you had set aside when the hustle and bustle of the holiday season took over your lives and meant putting many things "on hold" for the duration. Now each of us can settle back into our more normal routines and get back to those unfinished projects we all have.

There is one project that is in the planning stages that I hope to get to very soon. It is a project which involves the use of Machine Embroidery (ME) and I have worked on the actual design setup using my computer and machine embroidery software. Hopefully, shortly I will sort out the details of stitching out this project since I feel I have gotten the "look" of it where I want it to be. Finalizing the color scheme is the next step and I have toyed with some options, so for the fun of it I have posted the options I am considering above. See which one is your favorite and which you think would look best.

I want to give full design credit to Eliza Wheeler and Elaine Myers. The jpgs are only of machine embroidery designs that are licensed solely for personal use.

Eliza Wheeler is a graphic artist who created a lovely greeting card that was the basis for the girl in the coat in the midst of the snow flurries with the drifting snow beneath her feet and the bird flying overhead on a Winter's day. Kindly note that she owns the copyright to the original greeting card graphics and that she has an arrangement with the firm that used revised graphics for digitizing purposes and all rights are retained by the respective parties.

Elaine Myers created the wonderfully simple Winter Tree design with the original font choice for the word WINTER and she works with a specific design mall and all rights are retained by the respective parties.

Eliza chose to allow a digitizing firm to use a graphic for machine embroidery purposes to create the design of the girl in winter, while Elaine did her own digitizing.

I simply combined the designs and then duplicated the word "WINTER" to then place it around the combined inner designs. I don't digitize myself, but I certainly appreciate the efforts of those who do a good job of it.

Here's hoping YOU get to all the projects you are wanting to do this winter and that by Winter's End, you will have fewer UFOs (unfinished objects) in your "to do" section of wherever you do your sewing, embroidery and other creative craft work.

Make the most of your precious creative time indoors this winter,

Stephanie in Fayetteville

Holiday Fabric Craft Ideas

Hello everyone!

Kathy invited me to post here at our ASG Syracuse Chapter blog.

Since I was under the weather and missed a nice Neighborhood Group (NG) mtg yesterday (Sat. 11/14/09) of the DeWitt Darts, I thought I would contribute some links to the blog that I found while I was home sipping tea and surfing the www this weekend.

My name is Stephanie and I live in the F-M area East of the city. I'm a newer member of this local ASG Chapter, although I have been sewing since my teenage years (I won't count the doll clothes I made before that ;)

Over the decades, I have continued to enjoy dabbling in various arts & crafts, although as it happens, I lack the drawing skills of actual artists and sometimes feel a bit challenged to fully grasp the total effect a series of various color and texture choices might have on a finished design. Needless to say, I am always learning!

With the Fall & Winter Holidays coming up, I was looking for some fun fabric projects one could do that don't necessarily involve Machine Embroidery (ME). Now I happen to love do to ME work, but I know that not everyone does. Another time I'll post about some ideas that are for ME work, but today I thought that I would share some more general types of holiday craft project ideas.

Over at the Hewlett Packard (HP) site, I found an interesting Vintage Santa Wall Hanging. It incorporates vintage images from yesteryear that are printed off on specially prepared fabric to create a beautiful holiday theme item. I know some gals buy the ready-to-print type fabric, while others prepare some fabric themselves for this type of printing process, but either way it is a neat idea.

You'll find the link here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/acProject lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&extsubcat=holidayandspecialoccasions&extcat=quilting&extproject=vintagesantawallhanging

or just use a search engine and enter something like the following and the site will come up:

Hewlett Packard Vintage Santa Wall Hanging

Next I found a cute casserole carrier with a country moose design at the Thimbleberries site:

http://www.thimbleberries.com/pdf/THP00173.pdf

After that, I found a couple of versions of a Holiday Card Holder in a Christmas Tree Shape (done up like a memory board) at:

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/holiday-card-holder-669662/

or

http://www.allcrafts.net/f.php?url=www.wrights.com/wrights/class/12_xmas/treecardholder/treecardholder.

A Victorian Angel Card Holder Fabric project I came upon was here:

http://www.sewing.org/files/project/victorian_angel_card_holder.pdf

Then a Folded Star Trivet Tutorial for a neat pair of folded star trivets that intrigued me were here:

http://lieslmade.wordpress.com/2006/11/18/folded-star-hotpad-tutorial/

Of course, Thanksgiving is coming up around the corner, so finally, here's a link for a very nice looking Harvest Table Runner that anyone would love to have on their Thanksgiving table:

http://www.sewing.org/files/project/harvest_table_runner_cranston.pdf

and another table runner found here is also quite attractive:

http://www.cranstonvillage.com/uploadedFiles/falling-leaves-table-runner(1).pdf

Another time I'll share some more ideas I have found on the www, but I'll wrap up for today.

Here's hoping your Fall & Winter Holiday sewing is going well!

Time for some more soothing lemon ginger herb tea,

Stephanie in Fayetteville

Soup recipe from October Meeting

I got this recipe from one of those newspaper inserts where they advertise all the contractors and talk about taking care of your yard and winterizing your house-- I think it was in the Post Standard.

Gro Good Garden Vegetable Soup

Makes 8 servings

Prep time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 bay leaf

3 medium carrots, chopped

2 parsnips, peeled and chopped

1 medium turnip, peeled and chopped

1 pint Brussel sprouts, trimmed and quartered

1 3/4 pounds fresh tomatoes, chopped (can substitute a 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes with juice, chopped)

2 quarts chicken broth or vegetable broth (I used Wegmans vegetable broth)

1 cup baby lima beans

One 15 ounce can of great Northern or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Heat the oil in a stock pot over medium heat.

Add the onions, celery, and bay leaf and cook until the onions are tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the carrots, parsnips, turnip, and Brussels sprouts and continue cooking until the vegetables are just tender, about 5 more minutes.

Add the tomatoes and their juices and the stock.

Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour.

Add the eans, salt, and pepper, and simmer for another 30 minutes.

November newsletter is out!

http://premium.fileden.com/premium/2009/11/12/2648865/November%20Newsletter.pdf

November 2009 Newsletter

Set your radio dial this Wednesday morning!

Janet Lutz from Calico Gals has won a radio spot this Wednesday morning on the Kathy Rowe Show.  Tune in and support our Calico Gal and you might win a sewing machine!  Yes!  She is giving two away!  Stop by the shop and find out the exact time she will be cohosting with Kathy!

Is your sewing machine a hidden goldmine?

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi police are investigating the origins of a hoax that had hundreds of people believing that old sewing machines may bring fortune because they contained an elusive, and probably mythical, substance known as red mercury

Saudi newspapers on Tuesday published pictures of Saudis proudly posing next to old sewing machines awaiting prospective buyers at traditional markets.

The English-language Saudi Gazette newspaper said some buyers were willing to pay up to 200,000 riyals ($50,000) for an old Singer sewing machine proven to contain red mercury.

Mobile phones are supposedly employed as instruments to prove the existence of the phony substance. Popular belief in the Middle East has it that it can help uncover hidden gold treasures, though there are other theories which say it can be used to create a nuclear bomb.

"If the line cuts off when the telephone is placed close to the needle ... that proves the existence of the substance," Saudi Gazette said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5...

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former" - Albert Einstein.

If Wishes Wore Wings...I'd send this your way

Thank you so very much for the invite to blog with you! I thought I would share my If Wishes Wore Wings trunk show, showing a couple pictures of projects each time I post. I had the fabulous opportunity to work with digitizers from Cactus Punch and turn my doodles and sketches into real live stitches meant for embroidery machine and hoops of all makes and models in the United States, Canada & Australia (oooo, aren't you impressed now??) Now don't tune out 'cuz I said embroidery machine...remember all of these were created originally on a basic sewing machine "thread painting" or in the old days, they called it the darning stitch... Hours of thread painting by machine, playing with colored pencils and doodling (stuffing drawing pads and markers feverishly into every available pocket in my suitcases when I traveled-driving my husband absolutely nuts) has transformed into a project designed to create and pass on to girlfriends, moms, daughters, sisters and hopefully to women whom we have not yet met. These projects were designed to stitch, embellish and then pass on...with surfaces filled with words of inspiration... Florence, this ARtAngel was designed and dedicated to my mom who lived young and large with the attitude 'when I get old, I shall wear purple"...only sometimes there's a bigger plan. I say, don't wait to get old to wear purple! I hope you enjoy my future posts here and pictures to get you thinking hopefully, a bit outside your box!