Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Day 12 of Christmas Stitching

Day 12 - A quick and easy gift idea is this napkin holder made from an 'in the hoop' quilt block. This is the Diva class for December and the class for Saturday has been changed to December 22nd.  So there is still time to sign up and finish it before Christmas.


This napkin holder starts as a basic 8" block found in the Quilt selection of my icon.  I then added the Star #4 design from the Holiday selection of the machine.  I rotated it and centered it within the block. I love all of the selections in the Holiday category of the icon. You have already seen a number of them stitched up in previous posts these twelve days.


I had a small class this morning but both of them finished their project and I even had time to take a picture.


Jennifer G used a new gold metallic fabric as the  center design along with the flower B94 on the Epic. This size fits a package of store bought napkins perfectly.


Ondrea D design is a combination of Basic Grey fabrics.  Her gift is ready to send off to her mother-in-law.

I hope you can find time in your schedule to sign up for the class.  I would love to have you.


Now it is time for me to get busy and finish up my stitching for the holidays!

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Day 11 of Christmas Stitching

Day 11- Christmas Ornaments

Scrap & Sew is all decked out for the holidays.  Our table top tree is decked out with some free standing lace ornaments stitched on Mylar.






Don't forget to look in the Holiday selection of your machine and see what designs are built in.   


Don't forget Pinterest, I found this gem here on the Squirrels Do Sew blog.



Be sure to look for the latest projects on the Pfaff web site here. Here is a Card Holder project that was posted in December.



Here is hoping your holiday stitching is enjoyable and without stress!



Monday, December 10, 2018

Day 10 of Christmas Stitching

Day 10 - Holiday Joy

Last year I created this Joy pillow using the Craft n Cut software and my Silhouette Cameo 2 machine.



I am excited to share that Scrap & Sew is now carrying the Silhouette Cameo 3 and accessories! Plus a colorful assortment of Glitter Flex and Foil. In January 2019, the Sewing Sisters theme will feature digital cutting in tandem with your applique embroidering.  



There are many patterns today that offer SVG files for cutting your applique shapes. The Premier+2 software also can create files for both the Silhouette Cameo and the Brother Scan N Cut.

It is also possible to create rhinestone template to add rhinestones to your projects. This makes it much easier to place the rhinestone rather than one at a time.

I look forward to sharing my cutting expertise with you all, so please join us in January!


Sunday, December 9, 2018

Day 9 of Christmas Stitching

Day 9 - Gift Card Holder - one of the quickest and best gifts for my daughter-in-law is a gift card from Target.  She buys many of her clothes there and of course I would never begin to pick the right sweater for her.



This little design was created in Applique Creator and it was quite easy to do.  Here is a quick You Tube Video featuring the Applique Creator on the Pfaff Creative Sensation .  The steps are basically the same on all versions of Pfaff machines which have this feature.


          

I really love this unique feature and I use it often when creating my different projects.  Here is one of the projects for an upcoming class that I am teaching in the new year. No little boy in your life?  No problem!  I will have several different suggestions for you.


Be sure to unlock this unique feature on you machine and add creativity to your holiday stitching.



Saturday, December 8, 2018

Day 8 of Christmas Stitching

Day 8 - Christmas Bunting by Cindy Sarabia

Cindy is our expert on all things about software.  She teaches our Premier+ classes and for December she created this very festive bunting.


This features the Christmas font found in the FUN collection of Lettering in the software.  While looking for ideas, I came upon this bog site (love Pinterest!) called "Squirrels Do Sew" .  She is a super creative designer name Lotta who lives in Sweden and loves squirrels!  I found her tutorial for her clock here.  How clever!  She has directions in both English and Swedish and they are very thorough.


I followed her tutorial and it was easy, even for a novice like me.  Here is my sample.

Now to find the TIME to stitch it out!


Friday, December 7, 2018

Day 7 of Christmas Stitching

Day 7 - Quick and easy holiday decorating is all I have time for right now.  I suspect I am not alone.  A trip to the Dollar Store garnered a few plain red placemats.  Scrap and Sew has the perfect holiday collection - #477 Holiday Line Art by Pfaff.


A set of quick embroideries can be used in a number of different ways. 

Placemats, table runners and cards can all be quickly stitched with this collection.  They all fit in the 200 x 200 Quilt hoop or the 120 x 120 hoop.


Here is a card idea from Pfaff.com


And my Dollar Tree placemats.


May all of your holiday stitching be quick and easy!



Thursday, December 6, 2018

Day 6 of Christmas Stitching

Day 6- Do you send Christmas cards?  It is no secret that sending Christmas cards in the digital age is declining.  As a child I remember my family receiving so many cards, they covered the hallway door frames and the stair steps wall.  So far I have received 2 cards this year.  Today's project is the perfect size for the small amount of Christmas cards that I will receive.


I used the natural linen and a 14" wooden embroidery hoop.  I cut two 18" x 18" squares and folded one in half.  I placed the design by centering it in the folded 9" x 18" linen.  Once I finished the embroidery, I hooped the fabric pieces together and trimmed the excess fabric.  I used a glue gun to glue the fabric to the wooden hoop and added a ribbon bow and greenery.

To create the center design, I found the Santa hats design in the Holidays section of the icon.  I mirrored it left to right, and moved it to the left of the screen.

Then select the Fonts, Curlz 20 and type in "MERRY CHRISTMAS". 


Then open Shape Creator and select the circle shape counter clockwise. Select the spacing in Positioning > Left justified in the group.  Resize to 240 x 240.

Rotate using the fine tune to 335° . Touch OK to exit Shape Creator. Center the Santa Hats and the Merry Christmas. Select the Color edit Window and all of the letters and changed them to green.  There is one blue color and I am guessing that is the space.?


Center the lettering with the Santa Hats and in the Layers screen, Select All and Group. Save your design.

Here is a project I made two years ago with the same design.  One can never have too many pillows!


I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.  Please leave me a comment if you are enjoying this series of the 12 Days of Christmas Stitching.





Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Day 5 of Christmas Stitching

Day 5- Festive Wrapping is quick and easy with your embroidery machine.  Here is another project from Embroidery Designs.com  I found red mylar wrapping paper at the Dollar Tree and wrapped just the top of the box.  I added strips of peppermint washi tape as the ribbon hangers.


The FSL stars can be found on the Viking Epic in the Holidays section.  I selected the star as set by the machine.  I then made two copies and rescaled them one larger and one smaller to stitch out the three different sizes.

Another festive accent for your holiday gifts is to add Sequin embellished ribbons.


 You can find the direction to embellish the ribbon hereIf your own a Viking Epic or Brilliance 80, your machine includes these sequin stitches.



Wrapping presents is one of my favorite tasks and was assigned to me at an early age by my mother.  I love playing Christmas songs and drinking hot cocoa.  Hopefully this year, it will be cold enough to drink hot cocoa!








Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Day 4 of Christmas Stitching

Day 4- When is a Christmas stocking not a stocking?  Today, of course!  I found this really cute project on Embroidery Designs.com here.  



It is made from a purchased Christmas stocking found in every store at this time of the year. The directions are very thorough so be sure to DL them and print them out.  I selected the snowman from the Pfaff icon found in the Holidays selection.  It is an appliqué design and I used a furry type of felt for his body.
There is also a really cute appliqué snowman in the built-in designs on the Viking Epic that would work as well.



I added my granddaughter's name to the cuff of the stocking and instead of a decorative cording, I used a grosgrain ribbon and embellished it with a ribbon stitch.


Since the fleece is difficult to hoop, I used Floriani's Perfect Stitch and then add Floriani's Water Soluble topping to the top of the fleece.  This is a very festive way to give a gift to any little girl.  Are your stockings hung by the chimney with care, yet?







Monday, December 3, 2018

Day 3 of Christmas Stitching

Day 3- Angelic Topper created by Pfaff.  Many times I will look for ideas on the Pfaff and HusqvarnaViking web sites and I found this beautiful project on the Canadian site here.  I created this on My Creative Performance Pro II and but you can adapt the directions for whatever machine you are using.  Instead of the ribbon stitches, why not use a decorative stitch?



Ironically enough the lace designs can be found on this collection#466 All about Lace. Isn't it amazing how Marie Duncan saw this collection and thought of an angel?


The two designs are included in the Canadian post so be sure to click on the link above for the supply list and project directions.  Here are the designs for this project.

         


Here is how the designs are used to create the angel.  Fair warning- only lightly rinse out the WSS or your lace will be too limp.


Don't forget to check out the HusqvarnaViking Holiday inspiration site here.

Why not listen to some festive music to inspire you while you create your angel.






Sunday, December 2, 2018

Day 2 of Christmas Stitching

Day 2 - Free Standing Lace designs are very popular to stitch at this time of the year. Be sure and check your built in designs on your machine.  This angel can be found on your Pfaff icon in the Holidays selection of designs.



Be sure to hoop at least two layers of Floriani Wet n Gone or Inspira Aqua Magic.  After embroidering the design, cut away of the stabilizer as much as possible and then rinse the design in warm water.

Not only can they be used as ornaments for your tree, but you can add them to your holiday cards and the recipient can then add the ornament to their tree.  These two designs stitch out best when adding mylar to the design.  I used gold metallic thread in the needle and a matching gold polyester thread in the bobbin.  These two designs can also be found in the Holiday section on the Pfaff icon.


 

Here is some holiday inspiration from Paradise Sewing


These designs are from the Pfaff Sheer Christmas collection.


                                         
Scrap and Sew carries the entire line of Robison-Anton Metallic threads and they embroider beautifully. 


                           Be sure to add these products to your holiday list.






Happy Valentine's Day!

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