Block Party Update !!!

Wow! It is September already!  Summer is coming to an end in Beautiful Vermont.  I recently started a new job (you know, the one that pays for my happy hobby!!!!) and every morning I get to round a corner on the only highway that runs through Vermont and see the most beautiful scene of Camel's Hump.  My most favorite mountain in the entire state!  I hope to take a picture but here is one I found that was taken from the 'other side' of the mountain and of course is the snowy scene I just can't wait to see again.  If you are going to live in Vermont, you need to love winters - which I do!!!!

Ahh, but I digress!  I finally finished the Pictogram Block Party Quilt by Judy Nowicki.  What a fun time I had with the class! We met almost weekly through the summer.  We learned so much about our Embroidery Machines!  The placement functionality is so critical in a quilt like this.  Each block had at least 3-4 placements.  We all found the Frixion Gel Pens SO wonderful for these blocks.

Here is the top draped over my couch.  The quilting ideas are flowing.  Each block will be custom quilted!  I have a few quilts to put on Little Miss Lovey before this one.  Hopefully it will be on the machine in a couple of weeks!




I'm already starting the next quilt. I tested thread colors to go with "Walking On Sunshine" by Wilmington Prints.  Fabric is available on www.cadicorners.com. My first sample is shown here on the left.  The CDs and thread packs will be available soon.  I'm going to start with a wall hanging and I want to use the cool new Embroidery Batting

Happy Stitching!!

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:

Design Wall??? Yes!!!

I just couldn't sew long before realizing I really needed a design wall.  I used to just throw everything on the floor, but NOW I have all these open walls!!!! So, off to the store I trotted to purchase Velcro and this is what I ended up with:

Look how nice those first 4 blocks of the Block Party Quilt look on the design wall!!!  I'm not so crazy about block 2 and may make it over again, but I'm giving it some time to grow on me.  Let me know what you think!!!!

And, then of course I needed to slip in a UFO so I could feel productive!  You know how it is.  You get on a large project and feel like you haven't produced anything for all your labors. Well, that is what all those UFO's are for, slipping in now and again so you can 'feel' productive!!!  Finally I managed to get the borders on the Disappearing Pinwheel Quilt.  It's hanging there ready for when I can put it on Little Miss Lovey!!!!!

Do I study OR Sew???? How about BOTH!

Well, as you know, I am taking college classes online and so there has been a daily struggle for when my sewing studio was upstairs alas, I did not have room to study.  I had to run the length of the house from kitchen to sewing room between school work and sewing projects.  And of course the only time I could do both was when I was keeping my machine busy with embroidery.

Well, take a look!  I have room to do both!!!  That great table my dad made me with coffee, homework where I can keep an eye on the embroidery!

All three of these machines got quite the workout yesterday and on the back wall there will be yet a fourth when my Longarm is delivered!!!! 

Look you even get a sneak peak at block number 5 in the Block Party Quilt! Ahh, but there is a story there. The block you see on the machine alas ended up in the 'oops' bag.  I got way to anxious to complete it and on the very last hooping, made a big mistake.  But do not despair, I managed to complete it just moments ago.   It's coming in the next post!!!!

Block Party - Block Number 5!!

There just aren't words!!! This one is SO pretty!!!  Let me know what you think!  Is anyone out there who is doing this quilt or has already completed it?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave me a note!

Also, if you are planning on taking this class, be sure to call Cowles Quilting at 802-524-2551 and sign up. 

In My Studio!!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Dear Readers,

I know it has been a while, but I am happily in the studio and finding it SO nice to have a space that is so organized and spacious!!!!  I just have to figure out what I want on the floor and ceiling. But that can wait because I have sewing to do!!!!  I'm sure you can understand!

Here is the main Work Area.    My dad made the pine table and I love having it in the studio!  My dad was a really wonderful man, full of energy.  He started college late in life and became a school teacher.  He was an awesome wood worker and I am so grateful to have some items he made for me over the years. 

 

 

 This is a picture of the work area from the other angle.  See how much room I have?  Way over in the corner is where I put the shipments together for the Online purchases at www.cadicorners.com.  I even have an antique rocking chair for those chill out moments and hand sewing parts of the projects I work on.  Did I tell you have piped in XM Radio??? I'm so happy about that!!!!

And this, my dear friends is the new home for Little Miss Lovey!!!! My Statler Longarm which is soon to be delivered!!!!  Can't wait for that to be tucked in nice and neat!!!!

 

That is it for this post!!!!!

 

Come back and see what I'm working on!

New Sewing Studio - Moving forward!!!

After a few delays, I am SO happy to report that the electricians are here!!!!  I can't wait to see how everything looks with LED CAM lights all over!!!!  There is SO much room - it is a full three quarter the size of the house footprint!!!  Oh My!!!

So, what have I been doing while waiting on the electricians?  Sewing of course - back on the kitchen table and counter and floor!!!!  Living on Toast and Coffee because there just is no room to cook while doing these blocks! 

Here is block Number 3!  They just get better and better!  Judy Nowicki - beautiful creation!!!!  I took a sneak peak ahead hoping that the center block is coming up soon, but No indeed! It will be the last block in the quilt to be completed.  Oh well.  One block at a time!

Oh, and I made my first big boo -boo and selected the wrong file to stitch first, so all that stabilizer and fabric just went into the scrap heap for Block 4 and I'm starting over!  And keep watching for the Class Listing from Cowles Quilting. These classes will be held at 268 N. Main Street in St. Albans.

Happy Stitching everyone!

Step 3 - Lights and Action!!!!

I know it has been a while, but as you can imagine, there is always the possibility of delay when construction of any kind is in the mix.  But, I have been assured there will be electricity by the end of the day Wednesday this week!!!! Woo! Hoo!!!  With that behind us, then on to setting everything in its proper place!

But in the meantime, I have been painting new shelving, mapping out where everything goes and just having a good time making decisions, and changing my mind, oh yeah, making decisions over again!!! But that is the fun stuff!!!!

To keep my sanity while waiting on the electrician, I have been preparing for a new embroidery club series.  This one is going to be fun!!!  I saw this quilt made up several years ago and have had it on my list of to-do's for the past 5 or 6 years!!!!  Here are some pictures for you.  I have Block 1 and 2 Completed!!!

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!!!!

Riley Blake Inspirations - Part 2

So earlier today I planned out exactly how I would create an Owl Applique file. 

I made modifications to the look of Eyelashes and I had to make a few tweaks to reduce the number of jumps and stops.  There are a few in here - it was a toss up on jumps versus starting up the machine without color changes, the jumps won sometimes and the 'push start' won sometimes. 

Here are the resulting two files I tested out.

The first one I didn't like the way the machine stitched out the eyelashes and there were a few stops that didn't get set properly.  The first one uses fabrics from Riley Blake's Sweet Baby Girl and Lucky Stars.  The background is the Cream Diamond in Lucky Stars.

This is the second attempt.  I used satin bars for the eyelashes and made the beak a little larger.  Here I used the Lucky Stars fabrics and decided to make the feet the same color as the beak and eyes mostly because I like the orange with this fabric line and wanted to see more of it.  The fabric has color changes for each area so people can mix it up a lot depending on the fabrics they choose.  It might be hard to see, but in this one, the background is the Blue Gingham in the Lucky Stars line.

 

 I would love some feedback for this design, so please feel free to drop a comment and let me know if you would like to receive this file for your use.  Just let me know what embroidery file format you need!

Riley Blake Inspiration - Part 1

I had a chance to teach my first class in digitizing this month at Cowles Quilting in St. Albans.  Getting ready for it caused me to get really serious about my own advancement.  While I have not been blogging about my own discoveries, I am taking time now to show the results of my own study and practice.

I love applique and have had the sad experience of getting my hands and wallet on some applique files that were a bit substandard.  This put me on a path of truly examining my own work.  My ultimate goal is to have applique files for sale at www.cadicorners.com.

I'm here to tell you that to produce good top quality embroidery files, you need to start with a good plan.  In order to have a good plan, you need to be familiar with embroidery.  There are no short cuts here.  You must embroider!!!!  I can't tell you how many embroideries I have thrown out!  I wish now I had saved them all because they are great examples of what not to do!!!

Now, I must tell you how very happy I am that my sister Cathy gave me a very thoughtful gift for Christmas the very first year I had my embroidery machine.  She gave me a workbook which I still have where the idea was to not only embroider but to understand how stabilizers, needles and fabric all comprise the formula that can result in top quality or poor.  This introduction to embroidery for me was pivotal in fanning the flames of my desire to create my own digitized files.  It has been a long road at times.  I have SO many files that I now want to go back and do over!!!  And now I can begin to do just that. 

So, what have I learned?  Well, space and time cannot allow a full disclosure here, but here are the cliff notes.

Digitizing requires a plan with the following components at least for a start:
     A.  Determine the Use (Quilt, Clothing, Picture, etc.)
     B.  Based on Use determine Stabilizer
     C.  Obtain or create artwork ( this is where time is critical, if you spend time here, it will save time later!!  Modifications to Artwork can reduce digitizing time. )
     D.  Determine layer Order.  Start planning from the bottom layer to the most forward or top layer.  It is this plan that shows true quality in embroideries.  I think the most important thing to keep in mind is this:  Jumps are more than mildly annoying - avoid them at all costs!!!  How to do that is to keep in mind where each section starts and ends and plan out some running stitch connections.  Now the next thing to consider is to make sure the running stitches are under the top most layer AND that you consider how many times you are laying down a running stitch because it adds to the density.
     E.  Determine stitch types to use and set up.
     F.  Determine where Compensation settings need to be adjusted from the default (this takes some practice and is generally needed where Fills are used)
     G.  Determine thread sets needed.

Sample Plan
    A.  Create an Applique Pillow Suitable for a Child's Room
    B.  Use Batting ( I like Battilizer for this project )
    C.  I downloaded a coloring page from the internet of a cute Owl
    D.  I printed the page out and numbered where I want to lay down fabric and where I want to do fills
    E.   I searched through Motifs, Satins and Fills to determine which I would use where and determined where I would be using Running, Double and Triple Stitching. I have the ability to set the options and then save each stitch as my favorite for the current project.  I keep a book with sample stitches and settings so I can refer to them quickly.  This is a great practice too!
    F.   I determined for this project that the default compensations should work for everything, except if I change my mind on the wings then I might want to change the compensation for those.
    G.  I like the selection of Robinson-Anton I have and will use those for this project.  I selected colors based on the function each stitch will perform for the applique.

So, that is my plan.  Next will be the actual digitizing!!!! Stay tuned!  I promise this time to come back shortly with more of the steps I am doing!!!!

Happy Stitching!

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