Heirloom Expressions: Digitizer's Showcase - Sue Box, Kreations by Kara, Amazing Designs

MACHINE EMBROIDERY TEST STITCH-OUTS

When I first started doing machine embroidery, almost all the "how to" forums suggested that one should do test stitch-outs before trying a machine embroidery design on a project. It was a good idea, and I was quite religious in following this suggestion. Some designs I am glad I did the test, especially on the free designs from new digitizers. Some were just awful and I threw the stitched design away, as well as deleting the design from my inventory. The better stitch-outs I kept and this left me with a stash of nice embroidery pieces. Now what to do with these? Some designs were incorporated into crazy quilt blocks - these are now a new stash waiting to be made into a quilt (sighhhh-more UFOs), others became patches, and some have remained in the original stash pile. Occasionally, I do more stash cleaning and make test projects.

In some of my test projects I like to incorporate a few of the built-in designs from my sewing machine. Now, I don't have one of the super-duper, really nice, expensive machines - so I definitely have to test stitch these designs. I usually end up incorporating the designs in a small sashing strip or edging on a ruffle for a little embellishment. I also like to play with ideas I've seen in other DIY projects or pictures I've seen from other crafters/quilters/sewers. Sometimes the end result is nice, sometimes not. For all my practice projects, I use whatever is in my stash of "left overs." This works for me, especially since I have a hard time visualizing the finished piece with all the embellishments I think would look nice. These finished pieces now become part of my inspiration for the REAL DEAL projects.

I suppose like many other machine embroidery enthusiasts, I am a collector of free designs. Happy to say that digitizing techniques have greatly improved and I found several digitizers whose product is exceptional in quality. I no longer collect free designs from many digitizers, but limit my inventory selections to my chosen select group.

Here are pictures of a couple of my inspiration projects using designs from Sue Box Creations when I first started machine embroidery and quilting. Truly, a learn-as-you-go process.

These designs are from the Timeless Teddy Bear Collection

A nice holiday pillow with one of Sue Box's free designs.

A small pillow with a design from the Timeless Teddy Collection. The ruffle has a built in embellishment from my sewing machine and I also added lace, ribbon, beading and hand embroidery french knots.

Backside of the small pillow. I like the green material, but will probably use different coordinating material - especially for the ruffle and use a machine embroidered edging to add more depth on a product I would offer for sale.

SEASONAL QUILT DONATIONS

I did not post pictures of any completed projects (because they were not completed, duh...) during September and October. So, the little quilts have been completed and are no longer in my possession.

This first quilt is my Harvest Quilt donated to the West Point Friends of the Library for their Harvest Dinner fundraiser being held on November 10th. This is a pieced star design quilt with embroidered leaf and pumpkin motifs panel. It features a design from the Forever Fall Design Collection from Kreations by Kara and designs from the Golden Days of Fall Collection from Amazing Designs. The quilt has a muslin backing. Quilting is an overall leaf pattern. It measures 59" W x 68" L.

The second seasonal quilt is my last quilt donation for this year. It is my embroidered Halloween Lap Quilt. For this quilt I used a selection of Kreations by Kara Web Crawler designs. These are the kind of spiders I like. Kind of elegant. The lap quilt is 56" x 56". It was donated to the local Benefit Club as a raffle prize during their Halloween Ball held on November 2nd.