Tag Archives: Brother Dream Machine

I’m Baaaack

It has been a wild ride in the time I’ve been out of the loop. After 5 days of Hurricane Matthew preparation, hunkering down with no internet, tv, cell or landline service and then clean up, we headed to Mayo Clinic.  My husband underwent a minor cardiac procedure, as if ANY cardiac procedure can be minor.  He’s just fine, we’re back home and now I’m back to blogging and sewing.

 

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First, I want to share this cute, quick and easy Halloween faux-pieced wallhanging that I really enjoyed making just before Matthew made his unwelcome visit.  A complete photo tutorial is posted here at Brother’s new blog, Stitching Sewcial.  The designs are from the new Disney Halloween Collection at ibroidery.com

There is still time to whip up this kid-pleaser for the increasingly popular Halloween season. Unlike corn stalks or hay bales, this decoration can be packed away for next year and more years to come.

Children love this, especially when they see Goofy’s skeleton glow in the dark.

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Goofy by day

 

Goofy by night

Goofy by night

 

I especially like the yo-yo pumpkins that dangle from each side. Continue reading

Fun Halloween Projects and Lessons Learned

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Check the UPDATE below. The ghost and skull glow in the dark. Happy Halloween towel V.2 below is a great improvement.

NEWS FLASH–Urban Threads is running a sale on their designs especially designed for glow-in-the-dark threads–$1.29 each with a neat bonus set that comes with a purchase of $10 or more.

That’s just 8 designs. I finished these towels just about an hour before I found out about this sale. I had spent a lot of time searching my design library for files that would be suitable for glow-in-the-dark. Oh well. Children are crazy about this stuff. I look forward to stitching my new designs for the older grands.

A package of fun Halloween items will go out in tomorrow’s mail to my two younger grandchildren. A fingertip towel for each child should make them smile. When the children were here a few weeks ago, they were so pleased to have embroidered personalized towels for their bathrooms.

Three year old Vivian Rose is infatuated with cats so the cat and hat towel is for her. Seven year old Alastair was equally infatuated with glow-in-the-dark threads when he discovered them during that same visit. So that is the fun factor on his towel.

It looks pretty ho-hum until the lights are out.

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Be sure to check the UPDATE below if you haven’t already.

LESSON LEARNED: When dealing with glow-in-the-dark, areas outside the glow are best stitched in regular colored thread. The ghost mouth and nose were stitched with orange thread. That looks good. I mistakenly thought that having the ghost and skull eyes glow in a different color would give a great effect. Wrong. It would have been so much nicer with the lights on or off if I had used black or orange thread for those features. Live and learn.

UPDATE: After this post was written, I couldn’t live with the Happy Halloween towel. I knew the fix would be easy. So the towel was rehooped and the scan feature on my Dream Machine was engaged. After the embroidered towel was scanned, the original design was opened. As it appeared on the screen, I dragged it over the existing design with the stylus.

After scrolling through the first few colors, I came to the skull eyes and then the ghost nose. They were re-embroidered with black thread.

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The fix took less than 3 minutes and towel looks much better in daylight— even better in the dark.

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Restitching those elements of the design in black was a huge improvement.

Even more was learned on the next project, a pumpkin door hanger.

Fun project! Pumpkin Door Hanger from Hang To Dry. The applique' font and the text were from Brother's PE-NEXT editing program.

What a fun project! Pumpkin Door Hanger from Hang To Dry. The applique’ font and the text were from Brother’s PE-NEXT editing program.

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Finished Christening Gown for Baby Shrek!

“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted what I asked of Him.” 1 Samuel 1:27

After earlier disappointments, people around the world prayed for this baby during the difficult pregnancy. God hears all prayers and answered with the safe delivery of this precious baby into the arms of his loving family.

So here are the details of the renewed heirloom gown Baby Shrek wore for his baptism. ~~~~~~

Photo taken between rain and wind gusts from tropical storm Hermine.

photo taken between rain and wind gusts from tropical storm Hermine.

It’s been so long since my last post that faithful readers probably think I have dropped off the face of the earth. A more accurate explanation of my absence is that I’ve been buried deep in my sewing room. Sooooo much has been going on, the highlight being the completion of this gown for Baby Shrek and spending some time with him. Details of a weekend with 4 rabid embroidery enthusiasts, ages 3.5-9, nearly a week of sewing with our two older grandchildren before they moved to New Jersey, and more will be posted later.

Little Shrek on my dining room table

Little Shrek on my dining room table. His adoring grandmother is captured in the mirror wearing a white blouse.

First let me answer a the question many have asked about why he is called Baby Shrek. His parents very graciously gave me permission to use any photos of him, but asked that I not use his name. So the hasty endearment from his maternal grandmother, “beautiful Baby Shrek,” is used in place of his very lengthy, good Christian name.

These pictures are not great, but he had passed up his noon nursing due to the distraction of my two dogs and his watchful, attentive fan club.  Then when he was dressed for the photos, he was good-natured, but very actively squirmed and flapped his little arms as he pleaded for his dinner.

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For the Boys

He asked that his face not be included. That's a shame because he is so handsome. But I respect his privacy.

Grandson Robert, 10 yo, embroidered this fleece poncho on my Brother Dream Machine.

 

Shops, internet and sewing groups inundate us with beautiful and adorable projects for our girls.  Items for the boys appear far less frequently. Yet we want to shower them with the same love that is stitched into items made for our girls.

My friend Judy Day faithfully and thoughtfully includes something for her grandson in packages she sends with garments for her granddaughter. See one example in her Even Steven post.

When our delightful 10 yo grandson Robert spent the night recently, he spent a lot of time cuddled up on the couch, wrapped in a fleece throw.  March Madness was well underway, watched intently by Robert and his Granddad.

As Robert trekked into the kitchen for a drink refill, with his blanket dragging the floor and slipping off his shoulders,  Sonia Showalter’s poncho   came to mind.  That’s just what Robert needed!

He agreed it was a great idea and wanted to help.  The technology of my Dream Machine fascinates him and he always asks a lot of questions about its capabilities.  In my experience, kids love sewing machines.  Robert chose a dragon from the built-in designs.

 

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Catching Up

My-Oh-My!  It has been so long since I have posted but life surely can get in the way.  Sewing has been going on, but with lots of interruptions and delays.

 

Children's Corner Jenni Leigh, worn hard and outgrown by Vivian Rose

Children’s Corner Jenni Leigh, worn hard and outgrown fast by Vivian Rose

Similar to this, the first Children on Parade dress I made for granddaughter Vivian Rose, another is is nearly finished.  It just needs the aqua gingham covered  buttons, which should arrive tomorrow.

This is such a delightful fabric, just perfect, I thought, for Vivian Rose’s 3rd birthday party this weekend.

The dress pictured was one of my daughter’s absolute favorites for Vivi, and true to my directive, she let the child wear it everywhere–playground, preschool, play dates, whatever.  When Rebecca handed it back to me I thought this rag should just be thrown out.  But I took it to a dry cleaner who worked a miracle, getting out most of the stains.  Vivian is a very active little whirlwind and her clothes reflect her love of dirt.  After being cleaned, the dress isn’t pristine but I think it’s decent enough to be passed on to another little girl for general play.

When cutting out that dress, I moved heaven and earth trying to match the border print at the front and side seams.  I was unsuccessful.  So an alternative pattern was chosen, Children’s Corner Carol.  Hopefully, pictures will be posted soon with Vivi modeling the dress at her party.

The other project I have worked on is Petite Poche’s Penny, by Wendy Schoen.

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I have loved that pattern for so long and finally just decided to “git ‘er done.”  It’s not done yet, but will be soon.

The pattern includes an especially pretty hand embroidery design but I had no time for that.  The design shown is from Custom Keepsakes Christening 2 Collection, which, like all Kathy Harrison’s designs, is spectacular.

 

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The pinstitch around the bodice scallops are finished.  Those scallops are small and take almost non-stop pivoting.  I was so grateful for the knee life on my Brother Dream Machine.

White Swiss pique is combined with Liberty of London and hot pink gingham piping.  All that remains is to pinstitch the skirt scallops, attach the skirt and put in 3 buttons and buttonholes.  I can’t wait to get it finished.

 

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We’ve spent most of the month at dr. appointments.  I’ve had cataract surgery—WOW!  That was a non-event, about as stressful as waiting in a short grocery line. No pain whatsoever and now I can see!  My second eye will be done next week.  My husband has had some cardiac problems so we’ve been back and forth to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.  I’ve got a broken bone in my foot necessitating podiatrist appointments, orthodic fittings, etc.  So I’ve been way behind with blogging.

Hopefully,  blog posts will appear more regularly.  Please don’t give up on me!  I need to know someone reads this stuff….or not.

So what are you sewing? Valentine projects?  I’d love to hear about them.

Keychains or Pack Pals–tutorial?

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“Pack Pals” for our  grandson and his friends made entirely in the hoop of my Brother Dream Machine

 

It seems that children everywhere are dangling little characters and ornaments from their backpacks.  The description on one site tells it all:

“Want to dress up your backpack for school?  Keychains are a great way to make a statement about who you are…..Show your hobbies, express your beliefs, or tell who you are with one of our keychains today.”

Just see how many are for sale on one site alone.  Would you like a tutorial on how these can be made on any embroidery machine?

After embroidering 43 Pokemon Ninja headbands for our 6 year old grandson Alastair I made him a hanging embroidery with the text Pokemon.  It hung from his backpack and was admired by his friends.

When I offered to make more, he requested several to share with his Pokemon passionate pals.  Eleven were made, some to keep and some to share.  He is a kind-hearted, generous little guy who thinks of others far more often than I would expect from a kindergartner.

His sweet classmate  Maddie loves Frozen so he asked  if I would make some for her.  Laurel, his 11 yo cousin,  has dubbed them Pack Pals.

 

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Dream Big! Updated

 

I’ve been dreaming big  for some time and now my dream has come true!

 

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My new Brother Dream Machine.  The hoop is filled with one of many built in Zundt designs.

 

The Dream Machine by Brother has me filled with awe.  The engineers who think up and design all these feature sare like Disney’s Imaginators.  They bring to life fantasies most have not yet imagined.  Just look at this video!

 

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I can hardly stand my excitement for this machine and have spent considerable time playing with it this past week.  The project in the hoop above will be a companion pillow to this one,  made in such a fit of enthusiasm that I forgot to taper the corners.  The Zundt design is 7.4 x 13.6″ and stitches beautifully.

 

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And it is overstuffed.  The next one will be better. Continue reading