Tag Archives: Brother Quattro

Keychains or Pack Pals–tutorial?

pack pals for Alastair and his friends

“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.

 

keychains

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Only for the Love of Grandchildren

Apparently,  there is no limit to what we will do for our children or grandchildren.

 

Pokemon ninja headbandss

 

I can’t believe I’ve just made 43 Pokemon Ninja headband birthday party favors for sweet grandson Alastair.  That’s LOVE!!!

Now 6 years old, he and most of his friends are  smitten with Pokemon characters. The headbands are embroidered with four of the all-important “energy symbols.”

 

party ninjas

Alastair is the little guy standing with his hands in his pockets.

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Rheeta’s Visit ~Sweat Shop or Working Vacation?

Rheeta

Aunt Rheeta has fallen in love with my Brother Quattro.

What a fabulous time we have had with my dear Aunt Rheeta.  She and her little apricot poodle, Molly, visited us here in Florida to escape the bitter Indiana winter and do a little sewing.  As it happened, she did more than a little.  In fact, my sewing room was like a sweat shop.  She accomplished so much!  Having an in-house sewing buddy was such fun.

We worked together, with most of the design arrangement done by me and most of the sewing done by her.    She is no newcomer to machine embroidery, only new to my Brother Quattro which she loved.

Rheeta has several major projects under her belt, including a spectacular embroidered linen communion cloth for her church, an exquisitely embroidered Bible cover and more.

Her primary goal was to finish high school graduation gifts for her granddaughter Alexa, a rising freshman at Texas A & M.  Rheeta’s first project was the requisite college fleece throw in school colors.

Edges are finished with a 3-thread wide serge.

Edges are finished with a 3-thread wide serge.  We didn’t worry about the wrinkles as the blanket was soon be packed tightly into her over packed suitcase for the trip home to Indiana.

 

The embroidery is Applique Market’s College Double Applique Alphabet.  As you can see, Rheeta used only the outline.  I love this versatile collection which comes with letters in

Since her acceptance letter,  Alexa has dressed her 4 lb. dog in a tiny, maroon, Texas  A & M shirt.  Certainly, she will be pleased with this fleece blanket.

 

Rheeta's granddaughter is, indeed, Princess of Quite a Lot of Laundry!

Rheeta’s granddaughter is, indeed, Princess of Quite a Lot of Laundry!

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New Sundress, NewTechniques

dress-full

The past two weeks have been very, very hectic.  Aside from an increase in the busy-ness of everyday life, I’ve been learning more about my Brother Quattro sewing/embroidery comb machine.  This little sundress is the result of my first attempts at using a few of the amazing features.  I’m just blown away with the impact of technology on today’s sewing machines.

Somewhere, I have a booklet printed in 1900 which celebrates the advances in Singer sewing machines up to 1900.  In that little publication, it was stated that every advance possible had been included in the newest Singer sewing machine model. Again and again, it stressed that there were absolutely no more improvements possible!  The machine stitched forward and backward and stitch length that could be adjusted.  What more could sewing women want?  The machine of 1900 was perfected.

They were wrong.

But first, here are the specs on the dress.  The pattern is Martha Pullen’s Summer Separates.   Now that my granddaughter, Laurel, is 8, I am happy to have a pattern that reaches up into the big girl sizes. Continue reading