Welcome to the IHAN® Machine Embroidery Blog Hop Sponsored by Anita Goodesign

Hello, this is SewCalGal back as a guest blogger today.  And, Jean is also helping out with this post too!

Kelly has organized a wonderful blog hop this week that we hope you'll enjoy.  Before I share insights with you, I do want to invite you to join us in wishing Kelly a Happy Birthday and hope all her special wishes come true!  SewCalGal and Jean also hope you'll leave a comment on this post to wish Kelly a Happy Birthday too!




Time to talk about the blog hop.  Anita Goodesign is the sponsor for this wonderful hop and they have also donated prizes that will be offered on the blogs in this hop. Everyone is invited to join the fun this week and we encourage you to visit all the blogs for inspiration, tips, some tutorials, as well as more opportunities to win a great prize!

SHHHH....Kelly here.....
I snuck into this post, those girls thought I had my plate full (I have some of the best friends on this planet) but I just have to share with everyone what I made on Sunday for my Mom.  I choose the "Art Quilts" designs by Anita Goodesign for this blog hop.  

"Art Quilts" a Premium Design Collection from Anita Goodesign

I'll show you more of the designs later....now I'll share my process with you :)

The instructions for these designs come in booklet form as well as on the CD. The instructions were very easy to follow.  The recommended stabilizer is Floriani No-Show Mesh.  I hopped it with some muslin as suggested.

Then I put some batting on top of the No-Show Mesh, the machine basted it in place.  Then I laid the background fabric over the basting stitch lines.  (It doesn't get any easier than this.....really.)  

 Lucky for me, the software  indicates which colors of Floriani Embroidery Thread to use.  I just had to change a few based on the colors of fabric I choose for the appliques.  All of the thread in this design is Floriani Embroidery Thread other than the bobbin thread.

I use Wonderfil Prewound Bobbins when I do machine embroidery....I like the convenience.  Winding bobbins is not anywhere near the top of my list of fun things to do.

The quilting lines were stitched first and then an outline stitch showed me where to place the fabric for the background of the angel's wings.  After they were stitched down, I simply cut around the outline.

Taking photos of every step would have bored you to tears so I've jumped forward a bit.  I used silk for the dress and the skin on the angel.  

Knowing silk can fray, I decided to use some Mistyfuse and fuse the No-Show Mesh to the back of the silk.  I could have used the Fusible No-Show Mesh but I didn't have a package open at the time.  

It always seems that I am stitching a project when the local quilt shop is closed.  I didn't have any flesh colored fabric but fortunately I remembered I did have some small pieces of silk dupioni. 

Believe it or not, I actually got all the way through most of this design without any mistakes....up until step 30 something.  The thread color that was indicated was a dark brown and it said it was for an outline.  Thinking it was for the bird, I just put it in the machine and hit the button.  YIKES....in a minute or so I noticed the dark brown was outlining the hair.  I specifically made the angel with red hair and didn't like the dark brown outline.

The most difficult stitches to take out, in my opinion, are machine embroidery stitches.  I used my Famore Seam Rip and Famore Micro Fine Tweezers to remove that dark outline.  Where would I be without those tools? 

Here she is, a beautiful angel holding a dove....sans the dark brown outline!  

As promised, here are the other designs included in the Premium design collection, "Art Quilts."

 

The designs can be made into greeting cards, wall hangings, post cards, mug rugs or added into quilts....your imagination is really the only limit.

I hope you have enjoyed this little journey with me....I sure had a great time making this angel for my mother.

Now....back to post written by SewCalGal :)

Schedule for this blog hop that will share tips, tutorials, inspiration and oodles of giveaways:

Mon., March 18th 

          I Have A Notion® aka IHAN®- Kelly Jackson

SewCalGal

Tues, March 19th

Cindy - Sew Cindy
Trish - AllThingsCrafty.com

Wed., March 20th

Marjorie's Quilting Bee
Margaret - The Average Quilter

Thurs., March 21st

Rebecca Grace - Cheeky Cognoscenti

Fri., March 22nd

Gene Black - Alabama Artist
SewCalGal

And, don't forget today is sweet Kelly's birthday.  Happy Birthday Kelly!

SHHHH...it's me again....Thanks for the Happy Birthday thoughts....I've been bowled over by people remembering my birthday.  Sure does lift the spirits :) :) :)

If you leave a comment on this post you will have an opportunity to win a Special Edition Embroidery Software from Anita Goodesign.  (Value: $99.95).  Make sure you leave a comment on each of the participants blogs....there will be one winner from each blog!   Please join me in thanking Anita Goodesign for their incredible generosity.

THANK YOU ANITA GOODESIGN!!!!!

Smiles,
Kelly

"Look At Me"

I promised when I was finished with my Power Suit Challenge Piece I would show everyone a photo.  Here it is, "Look At Me"

The Theme for the Power Suit Challenge is:

What does “Power Suit” mean to you? Does it conjure images of smoke-filled rooms where deals are made? Is a Power Suit a garment or a person? Do you plug in a Power Suit? What if a Power Suit gave you Super Powers? Using Power Suits as your inspiration, create an art quilt that expresses your point of view.

Here is my "artist statement"...I say that lightly...very lightly!

This is a picture of the entire back.  This is the first time I ever sewed a facing on a quilt...I was so proud of myself.  I used Susan Brubaker Knapp's tutorial....click here if you want a great tutorial on facing a quilt.

Remember when I said I would NEVER enter another challenge as long as I live?  Well, my lesson is "never say never." 

"Look At Me" is my very first finished art quilt.  It took me longer than I would have ever expected.  If something could go wrong....it did and I'm not kidding.

Before you scroll down and see some of the "process" pieces I thought I'd tell about the process.   I got a great idea from Ricky Tim's Grand Finale DVD.  He suggests making a mock up so you are not attempting something on the final piece.  EXCELLENT advise!!! I did many mini mock ups of different steps to see what I liked and what looked good to me. 

Yes, this is a bold of Mistyfuse.  I went through two packages of Mistyfuse and decided at the rate I use this amazing fusible....I better just have a bolt.  I'm in love with Mistyfuse....I was able to get many layers of fabric fused and it remained soft....oh yeah!!!

An entire bolt....pinch me....I think I've died and gone to heaven :)

This is Mr. Peacock's third head....he had two others....but for various reasons....this was the almost final version.  I added Swarovski crystals to his eye and stitched his beak....well...you saw all that in the pix above.

I think I may have 8-10 feather mock ups....where I tried all sorts of threads, stitches and even paints.
I'm only showing a few here.

 

 

Thread?  I'm telling you if you want to make art quilts....you better have lots of thread....and embellishments.  I'm telling you I used some of every brand I own....not all ended up in the final piece....but I sure did try lots of different threads with several fabric colors to see how they stitched out.  Save all those strange little items you find....you just may need them for an art quilt one day.

Yes....you need to have lots of space for a huge mess....if you are anything like me anyway.  I can make an enormous mess when I create....I pull everything I think might even remotely work, out of the drawers, off shelves and out of closets.

  

Believe me, I'm sparing you tons of other mess that I made....however it is all put away now.

I learned that it took a lot of determination to keep going every time something didn't work out.  I tore out and tore out and tore out.  I had a puckered piece and had to block the piece no less than 4 times to get it to lay flat.  People say, drink a glass of wine before you do free motion quilting.  My advise is wait until 12:30 am when your defenses are low and go like a bat out of H E double hockey sticks...LOL.  I tore out lots of free motion quilting that didn't look good....went back and re-stitched it.  I have a very personal relationship with all four of my Famore seam rippers....yes I have four (because I misplace them and get frustrated so I have one on each surface).

I used my new Portable Handi Iron and I'm still in love with it.  I noticed another feature that I missed when I reviewed it a week or so ago.

Check out the groove on the back of the handle....guess what goes in there?

The cord.....I didn't notice that before....how cool is that?  The cord stays out of the way and its perfect for right and left handed folks!

I put it on my ironing surface upside down....no I didn't use it for a elbow rest!  YIKES

I put my hot fix Swarovski crystals on it and heated them....used my tweezers to transfer them to my piece and they were ready lickity split.

I encourage everyone if they haven't entered a challenge....jump in....it can be very difficult but I think going through the process is well worth the lessons learned.

Smiles,

Kelly

Playing with my Appli-K-Kutz

I wanted to play with some of Patsy Thompson's Feather Dies so I searched some dyed fabrics in my stash.  Once I found a fun color combination I got out my Mistyfuse and fused it to the back of my fabric.  I prefer Mistyfuse because it is so lightweight that I don't feel it behind the fabric.  I've used even the lightest of the other brand fusibiles....still stiffer than Mistyfuse....that is why I like it (in case you were wondering :).

This is a pix of Mistyfused laid over the fabric before I pressed it.  Since Mistyfuse doesn't use paper people often ask how I get it fused to my fabric. 

I lay the Mistyfuse over my fabric and cover it with my Goddess Sheet and press.  Once I pull the Goddess Sheet off....this is what it looks like.

Then I take it over to where I'm cutting out my appliques.

So many people say using Dies wastes fabric.  Not for me.  As you can see her I cut out a paper Small Feathers  and  I laid  it over the fabric to pre-view where I thought I might like it on the dyed fabric.  I also could have used the negative space of my paper feather but I chose the positive

Then I cut out the fabric and lay it over the die and put my recycled paper over it and put it through my Sizzix Big Shot.

It was that easy....I just took the applique over to my design area and started to play.  This is when the real trouble started....Way too much fun and too many choices.  I could have played with this for days.

I wanted a very large flower so I used the Sizzix Flower Album Die.  This die was clearly made for small albums....but I wanted it for an applique die.  So, I hammered down the area of metal where the small circle was so I would not cut a little hole in my fabric.  Important Note: This die was made for making photo albums. I bought it and hammered down the metal in the small circle so I could use it for applique in quilting. Once this is done, the warranty is VOID. Just thought you should know :)

That is how I got the larger flower below.  I started playing with all the options to find a color combination I liked....this is what the process was like....first I changed the orange background fabric to black.

ONE

Then I started playing with options for the flower colors and shapes.

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIV E

SIX

SEVEN

After awhile they all started to look the same so I separated out all of the flowers I made and went to bed.

Today I walked over and started playing again....I think I like this combination the best....what do you think?  The first one or the second one with the yellow circle center?  Do you like these combinations better than the ones above?  I've not exactly decided on the placement of the feathers....weather to have them connect to the flower or not....that will probably be tomorrow.

EIGHT

 NINE

I wanted a flower larger than the Flower Album Die so I took the dark purple flower I had cut from the Flower Album Die and took it to my printer.  Thankfully I now have a printer that will reduce and enlarge (thanks to MJ:).  I enlarged the flower by 110% then loaded a piece of PrintNFuse into my printer.

 I copied that flower onto the PrintNFuse and fused it to the orange fabric and cut it out.  Now I have an exact copy of that flower but larger.  I'm one of those folks who can't stand being frustrated and I want it to come out nice so I have learned a variety of ways to change the size of various shapes.  

I store my un-used appliques in an acid free envelope that I borrowed from my Scrapbooking Supplies.

 Another question I get asked often is how do I store my dies.  You already know I'm a visual person so it does not exist if I don't see it.  I tape the paper inserts from the packaging to my dies and then I put them into my Sizzix Storage Boxes.  I like these boxes because they stack nicely and it helps my work space tidy.

 There are trays in the bottom of the heavy boxes ....hopefully you can see in this photo....

and I just store them like that....no rocket science here.  If you are still reading, I'm curious to hear if you like the flower with the feathers and if so, which one is your favorite.

Smiles,

Kelly