Hoop The Unhoopable? Floriani Perfect Stick to the Rescue :)

I'd like to introduce everyone to one of my dear friends, Karin.  Karin has done machine embroidery for many years and is much more knowledgable than I am currently about the subject.  She has agreed to be my Embroidery Consultant and write guest posts for IHAN blog readers.  So without further ado....Karin...take it away :)  

Hoop the unhoopable?  Yup, it can be done!  You just have to have the right tools to do the job, and Floriani has ‘em!  The other day, I wanted to embroider along the edge of some pillowcases.  But how was I gonna hoop them so they’d stay where I wanted them and the embroidery would still be aligned properly?

Not a problem -- Perfect Stick to the rescue!  

I hooped my regular tear-away stabilizer, then I added a strip of Perfect Stick right down the middle.  How come Perfect Stick doesn’t stick to my hoop?  Because it’s got a layer of paper over the sticky part (which keeps it from accidentally collecting those loose threads, too!).  Here I’ve scored it with a pin & I’m ready to remove the protective paper from my stitching area. 

Because my design was so large, I had to rotate the design so that it stitched from the top of the hoop to the bottom of the hoop, and that made the design read from right to left when the pillowcase was removed from the hoop.  Clear as mud, right?  It’s lots easier to understand by looking at the picture:

That little blue dot is my center (left to right & top to bottom – a lot of people use lines & crosshairs, but I like to live dangerously and just wing it!), and the pillowcase is rolled up in the throat of the machine, to the right of the hoop.  And the checkerboard?  That’s the sun coming through the window & casting a shadow of my rubber shelving; sorry about that.  But, you can see how my pillowcase isn’t really hooped, right?  See the edge of it, about 2 inches from the hoop on the left?  Couldn’t do *that* with just regular stabilizer…not without puckers, you couldn’t! 

OK, now we’re ready to press Start & go get ourselves a cuppa.  ROFL!  I don’t know about YOU, but I *never* go get a cuppa!  I’m the world’s biggest klutz, and I’m married to the world’s next biggest klutz (don’t believe me?  ha – I have stories, and from 500 miles away, I can see Kelly nodding her head in agreement!) so I don’t bring drinks into my sewing room, and I really don’t ever leave the machine untended.  Seems that every time I turn my back on him, I hear ca-chink, thunk, klunk, and brrrrrrrmp….and when I come back, I see the screen that tells me to check upper thread (it’s usually broken, just like the needle, at that point).  So, I just sit & watch it work, or at least stay really, really close by.  Besides, even after all this time, I am still fascinated by the fact that a machine is doing all the work & I get all the credit.

So, we’ve got our pillowcase hooped & sewn, what do we do now?  Because Perfect Stick is tear-away, that’s what we do!  We carefully remove the hoop from the machine, trim the jump stitches & begin tearing the stabilizer away from our project.

See how easily it comes off?  If you’re really careful (and cheap, like me), you can patch those holes with another piece and re-use the larger one.  I can get about 3 uses out of the bottom layer before it begins to lose its stick.

You may notice a layer of stabilizer fused to the pillowcase – that’s Floriani No-Show Fusible Mesh, just to give a little more stability to the pillowcase…I really don’t like puckers in my finished products.  And speaking of puckers, I bet you’ve also noticed that rubber-shelving stuff I have on my hoops….that’s what I use to really secure the fabric in my hoops (when I bother to hoop the fabric!).  That stuff is just like Super Glue, only better, because there’s no glue residue and it lets go easily when I want to remove the fabric.

If you don’t want to use a tear-away product to hoop your unhoopables, Floriani has a sticky wash-away product, as well.  It’s called Wet n Gone Tacky, and it works pretty much the same way….just cut a piece big enough for your project, hoop it up (I won’t object if you whoop it up too!), remove the paper, stick your project to it & sew!  Only difference is when you go to remove the project, you need to cut it off the stabilizer with scissors (not your good shears – use a pair from the Dollar Store!).  You’ll be left with this:

Now, to be honest, I ran my pillowcase under some cold water, and let it dry in the sun.  That didn’t take long; I believe it was about 105* that day!  But, apparently, I didn’t get all the stabilizer washed out, because I was left with a hard & scratchy pillowcase edge.  Not at all suitable for the little punkin-heads I was sewing for!  So, I threw just threw all 6 pillowcases into the wash, dried ‘em, and then pressed them.  After that, the No-Show Mesh was still in place (that stuff is wonderful!) and all the tear-away & wash-away was gone.  I fused another layer of No-Show Mesh over the stitching to hold it all in place and give it a little nicer finish, gave them all another quick press, and I was done!

Not bad for a day’s work, if I do say so myself!  Couldn’t have done it without Floriani’s Perfect Stick tho!

Want to see some more unhoopables?  Check out the lunchboxes I got for my grandkids:

Cute, huh?  Well that little flap is about the ONLY thing that lays flat, and all the rest of it is insulated, too, so if I had stitched there, I’d be putting holes in the insulation…not so smart.

Here’s how I hooped ‘em:

And here’s how they look now:

OK, I lied.  That’s how they looked about an hour ago.  Now they’re all boxed up and ready to ship out!!   Perfect results, with Perfect Stick, every time!

Best Regards,

Karin

http://SewWriteCreations.etsy.com

Thank you Karin!!!  If you would like to contribute to the IHAN blog, just e-mail me at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com and we'll discuss it .

Smiles,

Kelly

Catching Up- Raegen's Purse & Camp Gosip

I know I'm days behind in my posts....so I'm going to do my best to catch everyone up quickly.

Raegen, my friend and neighbor, had a project due for 4 H last week and she had selected this pattern:

 

"The Madison Bag" by Two Peas in a Pod Designs

Raegen is 17 and some sewing experience but not a lot. She had no problems understanding the pattern and I thought it was a great pattern as patterns go.

 She wanted her purse quilted. Here she is drawing the lines to sew on.  I giggled because Raegen was concerned the Sewline Air Erasable Pen  would not disappear.  Much to her amazement, the lines did disappear (these are the times I'm so glad I know which products are the best for particular projects :).

 It is fun to see a young person sewing at my machine.

After two sessions over two days....her Madison bag was finished.  It's not an overstatement to say she loved it and was tickled pink.

As a matter of fact, she was jumping for joy!

Raegen didn't want an embellishment on the front of her purse.  I thought she might like to see what one would look like so I made a flower from the Blooming Possibilities book by Abbey Lane Quilts.  You may remember when I blogged about it HERE. 

I thought the flower looked excellent.  Apparently my taste is not the same as that of a 17 year old, so now I wear the flower on my green blouse :)

I know some of you may appreciate the "normal" activities of the IHAN clan.  You may recall last year when the boys went to camp at the Toledo Zoo.  I posted about it here.

This is a picture from that post.  Yes, this is Zachary and I had learned to "let go" you might say.  I actually have this photo hanging in my kitchen to remind me to just "let go."  

This year all is well, I pull up in front of the Zoo to drop off the boys and Aaron gets out of the van.  I wanted to take a picture of each one of them in front of the Zoo sign.

Little did I know how LUCKY I was last year.  At least Zach had shoes!!!!  How a 9 1/2 year old gets into the van without shoes is beyond me....but apparently it is not beyond Aaron.  You know the camp director had not forgotten us and when I told him about Aaron's perdiciment, all he could do is laugh.  Mr. McSteamy to the rescue!

"Family Emergency" he claimed as he raced to meet us at the Zoo to deliver Aaron not one pair of shoes, but two!  I was sooooo grateful....not only that McSteamy brought the shoes, but also that Aaron chose to wear two of the same shoes :)

 The rest of the day went VERY WELL! 

 I'm so glad they are still young enough to pose for these fun photos.

I sware this was not a posed photo.  Aaron loves the aquarium and he loves the fish.  He walked right up to the tank and the fish swam up to his face and he leaned forward to give that big ole fish a smooch.  Precious times indeed.

Smiles,

Kelly

Back With A Mac

I feel like I've been gone forever.  My laptop died again ....more virus' and problems so I went Mac!  I've been told by my kids, "once you go Mac, you never go back."   We'll see how this goes :)


I'm so far behind I don't even know where to start.  I guess I should start with an update on the Flamingos.  They have been busy the past week.

  A friendly game of corn hole while friends relax and cheer them on :)  Today it is so hot they are trying to keep cool.

 The Flamingo to the far left of the photo is wearing sun glasses....and the water was actually turned on last night.  What fun these Flamingos are having :)

Now on to fun Quilt related fun.  Yesterday a group of us met at a Parks building for an afternoon of sewing.  My friend, Jean Overmeyer, was there and she was working on SewCalGal's Free Motion Quilt Challenge.

 

I dream of quilting as well as Jean does :)   She makes it look so easy and I guess it would be much easier if I spent more time practicing!  

I shared a tip with the gals yesterday and they thought it was a good one so I'll share it with all of you too.  When you are ripping out a seam (as I did yesterday-6 to be exact) what I do is put the fabric under the presser foot.

The presser foot acts like a third hand and it keeps my fabric stable while I take my killer seam rip (Famore Cutlery)and just move it down the seam and the threads just melt away :) 

I've got to get back to writing all the posts I've missed since being without a bot.  You can't begin to imagine how frustrated I've been.  One might think I was born in the age of computers...ROFL....nope...well before!

Smiles,

Kelly

Bigger Pockets of Access

You could say I now have bigger pockets of access....internet access that is....but I'm telling you it is slow as molasses!  My laptop has "gone fishing" and will be staying with her mates over at the Geek Squad until she is ready to come on back home :(   I'm going to have to depend on this big ole slow desktop for the next few days. 

This is a typical view as we drive to our cabin in PA.  Rolling hills and beautiful country side.  I had planned on visiting with MJ and my girlfriends for 2 days as well.

Well....what can I say?  I was ready to go to visit with MJ and the crew had their stuff in the van.....one might say I "dumped my family off" and headed out...LOL

Can you blame me?  I don't get much time to visit with my girlfriends and I was excited to go.  Who wouldn't be when they find a smiling face like this one on the porch waiting for you?

 

Oh and did I mention I have deluxe accommodations at MJ's?  Yep....I slept in this bed....isn't it beautiful?

All hand quilted too!  And...just for the record...I didn't drool on it while taking these photos...ROFL.

 

This is a bed runner MJ is working on....I'm in love with it.  All hand done naturally :)

Everything we did wasn't sewing or stitching related....we actually got out on the town too.

 

We went to Arnot, PA to this lovely little church.

You might say we went for the service.....LOL....it is a restaurant!  I cracked up laughing....the pizza was very good by the way :)

I'm not sure if you could call this a "local attraction" or not....but it did attract my camera on the way to the church/pizza parlor.

Of course we went to Needles in Wellsboro too.  A little shopping and dinner with my girlfriends....what a wonderful  36 hours!

Life here at IHAN is back to normal.  I dropped the boys off at Zoo camp this morning.  I'll post those photos a little later....this bot is so dog gone slow it might take me 20 minutes to get those things on here.

Smiles,
Kelly

Small Pockets of Access

Internet Access that is.  Every time I try to get on line to publish this post I get knocked off.  Lets see if it works this time.

Here I am Zero Tasking :)

Hooking Lip

Hand Catching

Catching Critters

Building New Friends...lol

Our own personal fireworks too!

Now we are on the way to pick up an embroidery machine....I can't help but say, "are we there yet?" every 15 minutes.

Hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Fourth of July.

Smiles,

Kelly

Sizziling

It has been 100 and over for a few days and I'm telling you I feel just like this bacon when I go outside.  My co-workers....well they are having a different experience all together.

 

After being at camp all day in the 100+ weather, they wanted to go back and run the obsitcal course a few more times.   I was just standing watching them and I was puring sweat.  I had to leave so I took them to an indoor play area at a locak McDonald.  Can you believe they played for another hour and a half?  I couldn't believe it.  I want to be a kid again...LOL.

The flamingos don't seem to mind the heat either.

They seem mesmerized by the green glass globe.

On the subject of sizziling....I think the outfit my girlfriend Christine made for her daughter's birthday is just hot, hot, hot for a 1 year old. She even made the hari bow and the tutu...isn't she beautiful :)

Happy First  Birthday Lauren!

It is almost the 4th of July and you know what that means? 

yep....I'm going finshin'.  If I'm fishin' then you know I'm not shipping orders.  I'll be on vacation in PA  and I"m hoping and praying to be coming home with an embroidery machine....hooray!!!  Orders at IHAN will resume shipping on Monday July 9th.  I will be available by phone and e-mail if you need to reach me (I can always put the fishing pole down).

Keep your eyes open for a 4th of July Sale at IHAN as well ....more on that soon.

Smiles,
Kelly

Some Excellent Tutorials

I love to share excellent tutorials when I find them and I have a few fun one's to share with all of you.  If you have seen them before....wonderful!  If not....I'll post the links below for you.

My girlfriend Diane sent me the link to Leila's blog, Where the Orchids Grow, after she saw this beautiful English Paper Pieced hexagon snap pouch.  If you would like the tutorial, CLICK HERE.  Many of you had asked what can be made with the Paper Pieced Hexagons after I did my video tutorial the other day.  Now you have another fun project and the instructions are FREE :)

Leila is the only one I asked permission to use a photo...so the rest you'll have to trust me and click on the link to see the projects :)

Ayumi's blog, the Pink Penguin has a wonderful Quilted Placemat Tutorial- CLICK HERE

For those of you who have been bitten by the Paper Piecing (machine) Bug (that is you Madame Samm!)...you can find a very fun  Juice Glass Tutorial at SewMamaSew Blog.   CLICK HERE to see it.

If you want to make a fabric covered box you'll definitely want to check out the tutorial at Oops-Lah blog.  CLICK HERE for that tutorial.

And lastly, Kimberly over at Bitty Bits and Pieces blog has an excellent tutorial to make a Scalloped Edge Trivet.  CLICK HERE for the tutorial. 

I have admired these tutorials for quite some time.  I've made boxes using artist paper and had a ball making them.  I think it is time to make a fabric covered box to store some fun notions or treasures in.  The Scalloped Edge Trivet tutorial just so happens to spotlight one of my favorite ruler/template designers, Janet Platt.  Janet designed the Quick Points Rulers and now the Scallop Edge Rulers too.  She and her husband, Brian, are two people I always enjoy seeing in Houston for Quilt Market. 

Do you have a favorite tutorial you would like to share with me?  Leave the link in your comment so I can have my horizons broadened.

Smiles,
Kelly

Alphabet Dollars....Have you heard?

I just have to share this with all of you.  If it is "common knowledge" and I'm the last to hear...then feel free to giggle till your hearts content.

Photo Credit Click Here

I was chatting with a gal and she told me she is going to use her "Alphabet Dollars" to pay for something that is currently on her quilting wish list.  I had no idea what she was talking about, so I asked.

It is a way we save money in my guild to shop at shows, etc.  The us mint prints $1 bills with alphabets A through L. (I never found out why it stops at L -- if you have a $1 bill take a look on the right-hand side).  So we swap and save alphabets of our choice...I save Bs and Gs.  B for Bailey; G for GiGi which is what my granddaughters call me.  My friends saves Cs for Carrie; another friend saves A's for Annette.  I save K's for my granddaughter Kyndall and she puts them in her bank.  And we swap with each other too.  If Carrie comes across any Bs or Gs, she saves them for me and I just give the total in other cash.  So when we head out on a trip or quilt show, we have most of our spending money saved up...It might sound weird, but you would be surprised how quickly they add up and I don't miss them because I immediately put them in a compartment in my wallet and dump then in a bowl at the end of week. Last count was $150 since February.  I spend it strictly on quilty stuff. 

 Tell me this isn't clever?  I just loved it.  All this time I've been saving all of the alphabet!  LOL

Smiles,
Kelly

Hot Weather? Hot Flashes? Find Your King Size Solution Here

Hopefully you'll forgive this photo....but I wasn't getting dressed up (out of my pj's) to share this fun information.  I made this neck wrap on Saturday afternoon and I'm telling you.....it is the best thing since sliced bread.  Between hot flashes and hot weather....I am in need of an immediate cooling on occasion (frequent occasion...lol).

I took a strip of fabric 62in x 5 1/2" and made tube....flipped it stitched straight lines about every 1 3/4 inches to make long pockets.  In each pocket I put some Soil Moist.  You can get this or something like it at your local garden supply.

How much did I add...I didn't measure.  I found this little cap sitting on my sewing table so I used it.  I'd say error on the side of caution and use only a teaspoon or so in each compartment.

I had divided the fabric tube into four sections and marked the sections with a pin.  After putting in a little bit of the Soil Moist, I stitched across the fabric to seal that section closed.  Repeat and close :)

After soaking it in water it swelled and swelled and swelled.  That is why it is important not to over-do the Soil Moist....that stuff really takes on the water!!!  Then I put it in the fridge and I've been running back and forth to the fridge all weekend.

I didn't invent this idea....it is used by many folks and I learned about it from a friend who was making them for the folks in our Armed Forces.  Previously I had only made a single section flatter version....this time I made the "King Kooler" because it has been very hot here in OH and also in my personal experience as well (you know what I'm talking about).

I have heard that you should not put these in the freezer....just thought you might want to know.

Today I"m going to make a few more, another for myself and a few for the boys.  They are at Cub Scout Camp all week and I know they'll love having one of these to pull out of their lunch sacks when they get hot.

Stay Kool!

Smiles and Silly Giggles,
Kelly