Merry Christmas!

Christmas is always such a crazy time of the year.  BUT I wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas with  a little of my stitchin'

"Merry Christmas" is from the 82009 Bernina Holiday Magic collection and the cottages are from the Sarah Vedler designs - It's A Sterling Life on Berkeley Square"

Enjoy!

Part 2 - The Gingerbread Man Cookie Recipe

After a suggestion on the Facebook page for a kitchen towel, I searched for a recipe and found one in Taste of Home. (check the link in the previous post).

I typed it up in Microsoft Word and brought it into the V7 software.  I used the suggestions from the March 2014 Software Sampler for the fonts and sizing.  I then used the function of combining multiple hoops to create the stitch file for the design.

I soon realized that it was waaay too large for a towel and the project morphed into an apron!  

I used Abbey Lane's pattern called Lady Godiva.. You can find the pattern here or ask for it at your favorite quilt store.

                                                 

Naturally I always 'make it my own' so I eliminated the pockets and added a ruffle to the top!  The best part about the apron was I used fabric from my Christmas stash!!

Stitching the ruffles was a snap because I used #16C gathering foot for my Bernina. I prefer the larger foot as it sits over both of the feed dogs evenly.

Here is a closer look at the recipe - I used Floriani's 60 weight thread which is PER-fect for stitching out a recipe.

As a holiday gift from me to you, I would like to share the stitched file.  Here they are!

You can find the files below: 

Bernina Art 50 here

Bernina Art 60 here

Bernina Art 70 here

The fonts that I used are Jenna Sue - a free font from www.dafont.com here and Roman Small in the Bernina V7 software.

If you download them, please let me know it you were able to use them!  Happy baking!

Part 1 - The Gingerbread Man Cookie project!

Last week my husband said to me that he would like me to make Gingerbread cookies this year.  Now I have to say, I no longer bake cookies for a variety of reasons but most importantly - I am not bakin' when I can be stitchin'!

So I 'googled' for a recipe and found this one on Taste of Home.com (you can never go wrong with their recipes)!

Well one thing led to another and I decided to make a cutwork gingerbread man using the DesignWorks software.  I started with a line drawing from a coloring page and then started building my guy. (no wonderful smells coming from the kitchen....)

When I design my files, I always add a placement stitch (red line) for the fabric size.  Then I add a tackdown line (blue line) for the basting stitch.  With this file I can cut out up to 6 gingerbread men at once.

I sequence the lines so all of the red stitches cut out first, then the blue lines basting them down all at once.

Here are the cut pieces in the hoop - ready to go!

All cut out and ready to be stitched!

Here is the embroidery finished file... 

I have to add that I added his eyes and smile in the V7software because they were too small to fuss with.. :)

Here he is all stitched out!

Coming next....  Part 2 - The Recipe

Noel Card Holder Wallhanging

At one time in my life, I used to send out 50+ Christmas cards.  Those days are over and I certainly have a tough time sending out the few that I do today.  This card holder wall hanging is an adaption of a pattern by Janine Babich and can be purchased from Brewer or directly from her here.

What I love about it was that it included the cutwork files for all four letters in the mega hoop or two letters each for the oval hoop.  One of our customers stacked four layers of fabric and cut all four letters for the Noel wall hanging at once.  I do hope she comes out with more cutwork compatible files.  Included are different embroidery formats and a file to be used with the Silhouette Cameo machine.

Instead of adding the sashing to the blocks and creating a wall hanging, I added the sashing to the letters and turned them into pockets.  Then I just switched up the background slightly so I could feature each pocket individually.

Now on to make a few holiday cards to send!

Part I - Cutting the files with the Cutwork Tool in "It's A Sterling Life in Berkeley Square"

Well it has been over a month since I last blogged the project I am working on. If you think this is a quick project, hmmmm -it is NOT!

I am currently working on the two houses to the right and left of the center block and I am challenging myself once again.  The first house that I am working on is Prosperity Place. ( I will continue on with that section in another blog post.)

The center block designs were cut with the Bernina cutting tool and if you are missing any files in the original CD, just let your dealer know and they will have the missing cut files for you.

You will have to purchase the cutwork plate as well although many of you may have received it when you  purchased your Bernina.

You may also purchased extra cutting blades but honestly  I have been cutting with the same blade for over a year. ( The tool comes with two blades)

I only printed out the sheets as I needed them but one one of our customers printed out all of the sheets.  Not sure how many there are...

I then cut the appliqué fabric into the sizes as recommended in the instructions. I ironed the Appli-Kay Wonder to the back of each piece and if there were multiples, I stacked them together using a light spray of 505.

The first file I cut was the Yellow fabric.  Unfortunately I was not planning on blogging my experience so I have only a few pictures of the actual cuts.

This cut is 4 layers stacked on top of one another and then cut all at once.

This layer is two separate pieces but cut all in the same hooping.

If you noticed I placed all of the cut outs in a sandwich baggie BUT the biggest mistake I made was NOT to number them on the back.  Be sure to do this as once I was finished I had a ton of cuts that looked similar to the others...

I took me approximately 3 hours to cut out all of the designs and organize them for the center block.  This is actually not bad for all of the pieces that are included in the center block design.

if you have any questions, please feel to comment below and I will do my best to answer your questions.

Coming next...cutting the house designs with the Silhouette Cameo

Christmas is coming!

Well I just finished  my store samples for the upcoming holiday season at the Bernina Sewing Center!

My first sample is a T-shirt and pj's - an perfect ensemble for Christmas Eve!

Here is a close up of the T-shirt.

The crystal snowflake is from the DesignWorks collection "Deck the Halls"

The "merry & bright" is one of my designs created in the DesignWorks software.

You will find the zipped file here.  I designed it using the 10ss Hot fix crystals from Kandi Corp.

Enjoy and please let me know if you give it a try!