CaDi Corners' Studio!

Oh, dear! It's been way too long since the last update.  Been SO busy!!!  First of all, the studio is in ready to use mode!  The electricity is in, the lights are in, the walls are painted and now the floor is painted!  Last to be done is the ceiling, but I still haven't quite decided what to put there!!!

It is SO light and cheery that when I came upstairs I was surprised to see it was rainy outside!!!

For anyone who is in the St. Albans VT area, I will be holding an evening session and a daytime session for the Judy Nowicki Block Party Quilt at Cowles Quilting Machines on North Main Street in St. Albans!  Get your reservation in and come down and see what I have completed so far!  We have reorganized the Cowles Machine and Class Room areas!  The Quilt Blocks are hanging on the design wall with some of the other class samples in process!!!

In preparation for that class, the Embroidery Club this month at Cowles will focus on "Re-Hooping" and some fun techniques I have learned along the way for the optimum success! When you are done the blocks look like they were all done in one hoop!!!!  These techniques will be used a lot with the Block Party Quilt because every block has multiple designs in each one!  So much fun!!!

Here is the finished Block:

Step 2 - Fresh Coat of Paint

Well, I am well into the second step of transforming a very open basement into a new Sewing Studio!  The difference is amazing!  It looks even bigger now that the ugly gray is covered with a pretty sort of antique white!!!

As with most projects, you think you want to go from A to B, but then there is always going from A to B to C in the back of your mind.  This project is no different.  A to B means that just the Sewing studio portion of the basement would get a fresh coat of paint, A to C means the entire basement gets a fresh coat of paint.  So, you guessed it - I just can't stop!!!!  I must do the other walls and the bathroom while I am at it!!!! So, it will be a few more days before I can post a true "Done Step 2" update!!!

In the meantime, I was able to put music in the space and so now I'm just hopping while working to some great XM Radio!  How cool this is!    See it dangling there??? :-)




And below is the nice toasty fire!!!!  And check out that Chimney!!!  No more dark gray and black!

 















And take a look here. See??? There is no way I can just stop in the middle of the wall just because it won't be a part of the sewing studio!!!   

Have a great day and thanks for following me during this fun project!!!!! 

Step 1 on New Studio - Complete!!!

Woo, Hoo!!!!

What a TREAT to have such a toasty, warm and very spacious place to work in!!!!  I'm very happy for the great job Allen Hulbert's Plumbing and Heating of St. Albans did!!!  They made quick work of it, very professional - left everything so clean and neat it was hard to see anyone had been there, but for the new Heater installed and some fixed plumbing!!!!  A big shout out to anyone in St. Albans looking for a plumber - you can't go wrong!!!!

So, here it is!!!!

 

Next Step - painting the walls!!!! 

 



Holiday Table Runner

Such a Fun time of year!!! I'm jamming in as much sewing as I can before the snow flies, because once the snow is here I'm off to the trails!!!! How I LOVE to snowmobile!!!!  Can't wait!!!  And this year, I must, must, must get my grandsons Paul and Kevin on them!!!

But, since there is no snow in Vermont just yet (except of course there is some on some of the very tops of the mountains)  I decided to do a little more digitizing.   I learned a BIG lesson on this one because I used it in our embroidery club that meets at Cowles Quilting in St. Albans the first Saturday of each month.  Everyone has a different type of embroidery machine and well, I will explain that one later. :-)

So, this is an applique file that I have in 2 sizes.  It was making it for the 4" hoop that caused me some challenges, but I do believe I've got it!!!

Here is my first stitch out:

 

I wanted a little more definition at the top of the candle and I wanted a little shine on the balls, so I made those little adjustments.  Here is the final on the Longarm machine and in metallic thread.  I love how it glitters!!!

 



So the big digitizing lesson I learned was that even though a digitizing software says it can export your file in a different format, for example, bring a .VP3 file in and save it as a .EXP format, it really does not do a good job of it.  You must always go back to the raw file to export.  This means that if you intend to do some tweaking of stitches AFTER you export, you will need to tweak each format exactly the same.  To avoid this, take advantage of doing all the tweaking before the export.  It causes you to have to plan more, that's for sure!!!!

Happy Digitizing!!!!

My Digitized Owl - Update

Wow! I have received some great feedback on the Riley Blake Inspiration - Part 1 and Part 2! Thank you so much!!! 

With that, the consensus is, figure out how to get the eye lashes to look more sweepy!!!!  So, that is what I am up to now!  I would like to thank those people who have volunteered to help me test this Digitized Applique!  You should see the file in your inbox this morning.  Here is what it looks like in the software package I use:

 

 

I can't wait to see the fabric choices my testers make!!!!

Brother's Dream Machine School - Here I come!!!

I am SO excited to have the privilege of attending Brother School for the newest Dream Machine Embroidery Sewing Machine and Digitizing Software for Cowles Quilting in St. Albans.  The machine is all packed up in the car and I will be heading out this afternoon for two days of FUN!!!! 

I'm certain my sister Cathy is feeling a bit apprehensive as we love that we have matching sewing machines, but I must say, I am a-leaning toward this model! I can't wait to see this High Definition LCD screen that is HUGE!!!  And talk about space, this one has 11.25" of workspace.  Julie and I unpacked this puppy fresh off the truck yesterday and gasped as we saw the size of the largest hoop!  9.5" x 14" - big enough to do a great embroidery down the back of a shirt or skirt - easy!

Now the really cool functionality that I MUST see is the automatic positioning available through the scan technology.  Can you imagine, sticking your shirt pocket in the hoop and having a picture of that pocket on the LCD panel under your embroidery? Well that is what happens and allows a perfect placement on that pocket or lapel, whatever you have!  Can't WAIT!!!!

For those of us who LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those decorative stitches, think of all the possibilities with the scanning to position that line of stitches perfectly on the ditch of a quilt block! 

Ok, enough for now, I'm getting the last of my daily tasks done so I can hit the road!  Stay tuned for more!

Oh, this thing called Blogging!!!

It's time, way past time, I suppose!  With much prodding and encouragement from my sister, Cathy (Cathy's Chatter Blog) here I am getting started....

Some cliff notes might be good to start with....

Years ago I had a home based business doing custom bridal dressmaking.  I look back now and think what nerve I had!  I was fearless for sure cutting into all that satin and lace without so much as a hand drawn pattern out of brown paper bags!  My first job was this really cute flower girl dress.  I was shown a picture of the bridesmaid dresses and asked to make a pint size duplicate.  They were pleased and after they walked out the door I sat down and cried in happy disbelief at the success!  Here are the pics from back in the 80's...

Seven years of proms and weddings ended quite quickly one day and my sewing machines went into retirement.

Fast forward to 2010 when my older sister invited me to go on the Vermont Shop Hop with her. Oh, my!  That was all it took.  Next thing I know I have a new sewing machine that did fancy embroidery stitching.  Two months later that brand new machine with fancy stitching got traded in for an even fancier machine - A Pfaff Creative 4.0!!  Now I was on a roll!  Except, that once you get into embroidery, you realize pretty quickly that an Embroidery Software is needed because while you might find some really cool embroideries to use, there is always one little thing you wish was different! 

By 2011 I was well on my way to digitizing.  I hope you enjoy my Digital Doodling!  I like Applique Embroidery and recently I have added font making and others.   I'm looking forward to making new friends, so please do drop a doodle of your own from time to time!!!

Diane