Embroidery Library Christmas Club 2018

Would you believe that Christmas is only about 140 days until Christmas? Hey folks, if you missed your email or have never signed up for, its that times of year to sign up for Embroidery Library's Annual Christmas Club 2018! This is your chance each year to get Christmas designs that are exclusive for the club. After several years have gone by, I see some of them in the designs that you can buy, but it is much nicer to pick them up when free, even if you don't have an embroidery machines yet or contemplating upgrading. I won't be upgrading my embroidery field size with a new machine, but I still download the bigger free designs "just in case". One never knows when you will find a great deal at a yard sale! Just so you know, I get nothing for promoting Embroidery Library, I just find them to be a great company and I have received oodles of free designs and I do this to help pay back what I have received from them.

Apron Machine Embroidery Design

Even though I haven't been posting a lot here, I have done some projects. Those with machine embroidered designs from Embroidery Library, I try to turn them in for their showcase. I have had several posted on their Showcase over the years. Today I received another email saying another item has been posted. Click this link to Embroidery Library, click on the inspirations button and then Showcase. Or you can click on this link to see it:  My project is the Peace, Love and Bacon design and my name Gail to identify it.

My oldest son loves bacon and eats it in many ways that would appear to be weird to most of us, so when I saw this design, I knew I had to use it for him! It was easy to embroider onto this apron that I had gotten to review for the Amazon Vine program. So it was a fun easy project to do. And yes, shame on me for not ironing the apron before taking it's photo!

Embroidery Library Christmas in July Machine Embroidery

I know I am way behind on my posts here as I have been super busy adding listings to my pattern store and trying to get all my Christmas related patterns and craft items listed ASAP. However, Embroidery Library has just announced a Christmas in July sale with some fantastic items to make, including the above angel. Currently through July 25, 2017, she is on sale for $1.39. There are many other Christmas designs as well for $1.39 until that same date. So stop on in and pick out your favorites to get your Christmas sewing going!

Pretty 3-D Machine Embroidered Flowers

Embroidery Library now has some great 3-D flowers that they have just brought out. Each come in two sizes. They are also currently on sale for $1.39 each design. So if this is something you have been looking for, your time has come!

Also time to get their May freebies if you haven't done so already and tomorrow or perhaps later today they should be posting the June freebies. So stop in to Embroidery Library today!

Catch Up Time

 

 

 

 

The last few weeks have been busy and I haven't been able to post much. Hoping that will change since I now have the taxes finished! Yeah for me :) . In February for our anniversary, my hubby allowed me to swap out my Janome 7700 for the new Janome Skyline S9 which is both a sewing and embroidery machine. I still have my 300e, as I haven't had time to put it up for sale yet.

Did I really need a new sewing machine? No, of course not. However as this arthritis takes more and more out of me and makes common things painful, I found when test sewing on the Skyline that it has features that cause it to be a very good machine for those with disabilities. One of my favorite features so far, is the button in the front of the machine to press to lift the presser foot, although you can still reach around to the back to lift or depress the lever for the presser foot. You can also use the knee lifter as well. Since the outer sides of my knees are numb from my knee replacements and those knee lifters take me immediately back to 8th grade home ec I tend to push it when I want to go faster which doesn't work out so well! LOL. When I was doing some 'trying out the machine' sewing the other day, I lost track of the time and an hour had passed! For the past several years 20-30 minutes at a crack was about the best I could do sitting at the machine.

Over the years whenever I traded in a machine for a newer model, the learning curve wasn't much of a curve. I was up and running in minutes. This machine is going to take some time to learn all the great new features. I've read through the manual several times and have tried some of the new things that I now have access to, like 9 mm wide stitches - yahoo! I am planning on having an exclusive page in this blog for hints and tips and problems as the Skyline and I get aquainted. One thing I am needing to go visit Super Stitch about is threading the needle. I've seen it work and it is easy, but I think I am just tall enough that I can't see the whole threading path at the needle junction and am missing something.

My hubby had to help me get the design transferred right for my first embroidery project, but then it was terrific. No jump threads to trim, When the design is finished the presser foot raises and the thread is cut cleanly. I was doing a set of 6 placemats with the Inky Heart G8912 from Embroidery Library . After the first one finished and I went to do the next one, I was all set up and ready to go. I couldn't do them all at the same time, so almost a week later when I went to do some more, the first thing that popped up was the same design all ready to go. Check them out! I did use iron-on tear away Solvy on the backs of the placemats. I'm not sure if I really needed to, but I wnted to make sure these would turn out well since eventually they will be given as a gift or used for charitable purposes.

The placemats I used were from Amazon and they are called  DII100% Cotton, Ribbed 13x 19" Everyday Basic Placemat Set of 6, PrintedHearts . I got them through the Amazon vine program. I have gotten quite a few 'blanks' this year and for my review, I like to show them embroidered and 'fancied' up. I have a whole stack of things now to embroider that I don't have to make before or after the embroidering. Embroidery Library has come out with some really gorgeous designs lately that I have wanted to try, so looking forward to the next project. I used Robinson Anton cotton thread (Foxy Read) until the spool ran out and then I fortunately found a substitute thread of an unknown brand that was close enough you can't really see the difference in colors. I always use Schmetz needles with my machines with no trouble - just need to remember to change them as needed, usually after about 8 hours of sewing or less than that if a giving them extra hard use like embroidery or quilting.

It's March and that means New Free Embroidery Designs!

Embroidery Library has always given out some great free designs each month, and so since it is March they have posted two new designs. They are free for only the month so don't forget to get them.

The first design which is my favorite is this filigree butterfly design. Isn't it gorgeous? It comes in four different sizes which you can download all of them.

The next one is this Shamrock. I don't go in much for Shamrocks, etc. in March, but if you do, this is a lovely one. It comes in two sizes. So these two designs give you 6 actual free designs. I have a huge collection of embroidery designs from saving all the ones I have gotten from Embroidery Library over the years, and I recommend downloading them even if you don't have machine embroidery capabilities yet but think you might in the future.

If you didn't get February's free designs, they are still posted so you might be able to get them yet today. I only had a chance to glance at the email that I got from Embroidery Library today (it is my day to go get my IV so I don't have much time) but it looks like they have some beautiful new designs, including some lovely cutwork.

Jewish Holiday Machine Embroidery Designs

When I see new machine embroidery holiday designs that come out, I have noted for years that there is a bit of a lack, actually for some holidays a BIG lack, for those other than of the Christian faith, or those of no faith that celebrate the traditional US holidays anyhow. Embroidery Library, that anyone reading this blog know that I love, has some great new, quick sew out Christmas Doodle designs. If we can get past the name Christmas for a moment, there are several designs that are perfect for Hanukkah designs as well as some designs that have nothing to do with Christmas but just winter in itself such as snowflakes, ice skates and hot chocolate.

There are more designs than those pictured that you can get. Right this weekend, they are on sale for $1.25 for each design and they come in four different sizes. You can also see the large selection of Chanukkah embroidery designs here.  We hope that bringing these designs to your attention will help you in your celebration this year and many more to come.

Christmas Gift Sewing #1 - Sweatshirts

With Christmas and other Holidays coming quick it is always nice to find some ideas and instructions for projects to make and give. Embroidery Library has produced a great digital Lookbook on embroidering on sweatshirts and ways to decorate them. You can see it here.

September is National Sewing Month! Get your Patterns 25% off!

Get some patterns and pull out your sewing machine if you haven't done any sewing for a while! Even if you have done some sewing, get some patterns that are on sale. It is National Sewing Month and we have put all our sewing patterns on sale 25% this month. We have never reduced our pattern prices this much. We have a huge collection of sewing patterns in all sizes and styles at Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts at our eCrater store. I'm not positive that I got Amazon discount correct yet, but you can see our or patterns here.

Shhhhh! a little secret, part of why the patterns have been reduced so much is I want this machine and the only way to get it is to sell LOTS and LOTS! Help me out here! This machine has several features that will make life easier for me and my arthritis while sewing even more so than my 7700 does.

 After seeing the Janome Skyline S9, I am in love with the machine and want to get one and sell my other machines as needed. It is a combination sewing/embroidery machine. It was nice to see that although The Skyline S9 doesn't have the biggest hoop possible, it's biggest hoop is 6.7" x 7.9" (170mm x 200mm) compared to my current 5.5” x 7.9” (200mm x 140mm). That bumps up the sizes I can download from Embroidery Library quite a bit. One of their new designs that comes in 5 sizes, the size that would fit the Skyline hoop is an inch bigger in both directions than what I can usually sew out which is great for making a quilt blocks etc. Anyhow I'm in love with this machine. It has some tremendous features that even their top of the line Janome 15000 doesn't have! If you haven't checked it out yet, here is a link to the page it is featured on in the Janome website: Skyline S9  I have been singing it's praises enough, I think I deserve a free one as a commission at this point!

Also don't foget to download your Embroidery Library September designs. There are three of them this month for a total of 15.

Looking for inspiration for Denim? Check this out!

If you need some inspiration for embellishing your denim clothing or making something from cast off denim clothes, you need to check out Embroidery Library's newest Look Book called All About Denim. You will see some bright ideas and also links on how to make the projects and tips and tricks for using denim in your projects. Now I have some new ideas for using Steve's old jeans that he has grown out of. Don't forget that even if you don't have an embroidery machine, you can hand embroider designs or use applique to mimic the projects.

Embroidery Library August Free Machine Embroidery Designs

The above design, 'But First, Coffee' that is one of Embroidery Library's Free designs for the month of August 2016, I'm sure many of you can relate to. I'm now coffee drinker, seriously, but I've been around enough of them to know this is truth for them! This design comes in five different sizes so if you have a machine that can do any size you want; wouldn't this look great on a T-shirt or tote bag. Even with the smaller sizes hoops you can make some great dish towels, pot holders, quilt squares or anything that you can think of.

 


This Cameo Limes motif if part of the continuing series of fruit in cameo frames that they have been doing all year. If you have been following along getting the free designs, then you should have 8 designs in the series at this point.

With my Janome 300e the largest motif I can sew out at one time is 5.5" x 7.9", or I can combine 2 designs that size in the giga-hoop. It has been replaced by the Janome 500e  with a maximum embroidery area of 7.9”x11” or the Janome 400e with a maximum embroidery area of  7.9” x 7.9”.  I do wish more of these larger size designs came split for those of us that do have embroidery limits. One embroidery design company that is good about that when selling sets is Hatched in Africa such as this design called Summerfields.

I did want to bring up one point here and that is I get NO compensation from Embroidery Library at all for featuring and talking about their products which I do so often here! I talk about their products because they are great, the company is extremely generous with freebies and I have never had a single problem with any of their designs not sewing out correctly. I have had problems with designs from other designers that didn't come out correctly and when I wrote them and told them of a problem with a design I never got so much as a thank you for letting them know! When I write to Embroidery Library for any reason I get my email acknowledged within the first 24 hours. I know that designing or making crafts to sell on line can be a daunting task so when I see an error, I write the person. Did that yesterday to a seller in Dublin and got a reply back. She was happy to have a chance to fix a spelling error that changed the whole description of an item. When you find a good vendor of a product on line, be sure to let others know so they can also use the vendor.

Remember:

For the month of August 2016, ALL our inventory has been reduced by 10%! This includes our Amazon and eCRATER stores. On Amazon I have finally been able to figure out how to give a shipping discount for those buying more than one pattern at a time. Almost everything listed on Amazon from Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts is in my eCRATER store and if it isn't, it can be. For the most part eCRATER charges no fees, so it doesn't cost me nearly as much to sell on eCRATER. So if you see something you want in the Amazon store and can't find it in the eCRATER store ask me and I will list it at eCRATER for you.

 

See our eCRATER store here:  http://www.MoonwishesSewingandCrafts.com
See our Christmas Store here: http://moonwishesstore.ecrater.com/c/2058415/christmas-store
And our Amazon store here: http://www.amazon.com/shops/moonwishes

Here are some machine embroidery supplies that you can get through Amazon. They have just about everything you need without having to go out in the car. I love being able to shop any time I want to. I got a discounted Prime membership this past year and I did appreciate not needing to worry about shipping costs for most items that I bought. Plus I got free books to read each month on my Kindle! I have found I love the Kindle for reading these days as I doesn't hurt my hands to hold it like other books.

Even More Christmas in July with Embroidery Library!

Christmas Lights and Santa


I hope all of you have signed up for Embroidery Library's newsletter and Christmas club already. Christmas goodies have started already and you don't need to be a member to get them. They have four freebies in three different sizes, so a total of 12 designs for this weekend. Besides the Santa above, there is also a Rudolf, Penguin and Owl designs. They are free through July 31which means only a few days to get them for free! So don't wait. Personally I hate owl designs and have ever since they were a popular decorating element back in my childhood, right along with mushrooms all over someone's kitchens. Now though, owl designs are huge and if you like them, here is a chance to get one in three sizes.

Also there is a coupon code to take $5 off of a $10 order which you can use up to three times on merchandise either regularly prices or on sale and there are some great Christmas designs on sale right now. The coupon code is also good up through midnight July 31 so don't delay.

There is also a new Christmas Gift Guide Lookbook that you can use to get your creative juices bubbling and giving you a whole bunch of ideas. Embroidery Library now has quite a few Lookbooks with all sorts of great ideas. If you see a design that you like, you can click on the photo and be taken to all the relevant designs and if needed tutorials for making the project or making similar projects on Embroidery Library which saves you time in searching for them. Of course you can always substitute a different design depending on who you would making the gift for.

I do want to mention one thing that I have found with the Lookbooks. At times I can not open them up in Internet Explorer, so if yours doesn't work correctly (you can't turn the pages), try a different web browser.

Need to put an Embroidery machine on YOUR Christmas Wish List? You can get several kinds through Amazon at the links below.

More Christmas in July from Embroidery Library!

If you do machine embroidery, Now is the time to hurry over to Embroidery Library and sign up for their 2016 Christmas Club! You can either click on the tab on the far right side of your screen that is red and says Christmas Club or just click on the link. You will need to go into your profile and at the bottom of the page is a box to click saying you want to join (if you were a member of the club last year, you have to sign up again). Save your profile after clicking the box and you are done. Their first email newsletter should be coming out August the 5th, so don't delay.

If you haven't been part of the Christmas Club before, you will get lots of Christmas discount, your purchases for the next few months will earn you a gift card depending on how much you buy. You will get Freebie Christmas designs along with your usual monthly freebies, and you will get members only designs at a discount.

Embroidery Library Free machine Embroidery Designs through July 4, 2016

Hey machines embroiderers, Embroidery Library has some really cute ice cream and popsicle designs for free in several sizes each, thrugh July 4, 2016. Each design comes in three sizes and there are four designs which makes 12 designs to download. Remember my mantra? When it is free download it anyhow even if you don't have the ability to sew out that size yet. Maybe someday you will.

Today is also the last day for their June designs and the new July designs are up -- two designs in 5 sizes each. So July designs you can get a total of 22 designs and if you don't have the June ones yet and can download them tonight, you will get 32 designs. How awesome is that??

Want to be able to sew out those bigger size designs? Check out Janome's 500e or 400e at your local dealer or you can buy on line through Amazon. I espeically like the looks of the 400e after studying the manual and that is a someday, maybe machine for me. Currently I use my 300e and it works for me although to be able to embroider out the really big designs would be fun! I found a Clothsetter 10000 at a yard sale the other for a really good price. I haven't had one all this time, but since I am anticipating a large embroidery project, I think it will pay for itself pretty quickly in helping me line designs up. I'm just about done cleaning up my sewing room so I can start getting some new projects going in a bit.

Me and My Sewing Room

For awhile other than to continue sorting out and cleaning up, I haven't gotten much done in my sewing room, then I had the chance to review some items from Amazon that were good 'blanks' for embroidering on. So I have been doing more sewing, but running out of time for posting. I'm not sure how others find time to post so much.

One of the first things that I got to embroider on were these lime green towels that if you are a regular customer you get your pick of colors, but if you are a Vine reviewer you get what you get. Of course I found that the lime green went great with the Project Linus frog quilts that I haven't gotten finished, but I embroidered the frogs from Embrodiery Library and used the lettering in my Janome 300e to write on the other end, Burp Baby Burp. I did this one in blue to go along with the quilt, and the next burp rag will be in pink lettering since the quilt will be more pink. I think I have enough of the frog fabric and coordinates to make at leat two more quilt tops and happy to say I have two more lime green towels too so I can make burp rags to include with those quilts as well! I know when my boys were little they were champion spit-up kings so spare burp rags are always welcome.

In the midst of the sewing I got another addition to my sewing room courtesy the Vine prgram. It is a bedside stand, but as far as I am concerned it is making a great stand to hold my Janome 300e at the proper level. No more stretching my arms up to thread it. Beautiful isn't it?

Then I got this great set of placemats and napkins. I didn't attempt trying to embroider the placemats as they were woven and seemed pretty thick, but I did embroider the napkins. With a niece getting married, it seemed appropriate to embroider their monograms on the napkins using a design that has been built into all Janome embroidery sewing machines since the first 8000. It isn't like I don't have more lettering and wreath styles to enclose them, but as the years have gone by, the software for manipulating designs on the 300e it has become harder and more time consuming to transfer designs to the machine. So I always end up with the default designs. If I had my druthers, I would upgrade, but don't have the finances to do so at this point in my life.

I also got a set of two black butcher aprons. I wasn't real impressed with the weight of the fabric or the construction, but sufficient if you need some colored aprons for a one or two time event. So for the newlyweds I embroidered their name on each apron, the letting again from the 300e and I appliqued the free-hand cut heart on each apron. Not even sure if either cooks but trying out their aprons might inspire them.

I also got in two different sets, one was a set of six purple tea towels and several weeks later a set of purple and white zig zag pot holder and oven mitt. This was great as I got some items that coordinated. This afternoon I embroidered the curvy lines on the towels using my Janome 7700 stitch #149 on the default settings. I used the cloth guide to keep me sewing straight as I didn't want these lines going all over. Some people complain about not being able to draw a straight line, I can't sew a straight line without a little help! I do wish that there was a stitch like this one only more pointy like the zig zags on the pot holder and oven mitt. Maybe some machine have them. Mine don't.

I also tried out Embroidery Library's Wild Rose Spray on one of the towels. These towels really embroidered easily, just be sure to use the right stabilizer behind it. I still have three more of these towels to embroider, but not quite sure what exactly to do with them.

I was just happy to be in my sewing room more than I had been in a very long time. I'm feeling much better than usual. I don't know if it is the Remicade IV I get every six weeks, the warmer summer weather or the fact that I have been cutting out a lot of chocolate out of my diet. Could be all of them or none of them, just happy for each day I feel fairly well. I'm even trying to push myself to take extra steps as much as possible each day. They say with RA it is important to exercise but it is so easy to go too far and end up not being able to move for the next couple of days, so I'm trying to 'sneak' the exercise in! Hey thanks for reading.

My latest on my wish list of machines I would like to have. They also have a new Janome 9400 out but doesn't look like it is currently for sale at Amazon. What can I say, I love sewing machines and the fancier the better. With our current family economics, these are just dreams. I'm fortunate to have a great dealer in my town where I would buy my machines from, Super Stitch in North East, PA, but for those that aren't that fortunate isn't it great to be able to buy something like this on line?

Machine Embroidery Ring Bearer Pillow

I was very excited to have my project featured today on Embroidery Library. It is the ring bearer pillow I made for my son and daughter-in-law back a few years ago. I submitted it to them but because of how many projects they get, it can take awhile to be featured if they pick your item. You can see it at http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/showcase.aspx?page=sh_042916_d . The lace heart that I used to make the pillow is on sale for 50% off today only. Any design that is featured on any day is on sale for that day.

Free Machine Embroidery Designs

Yet again we are happy to tell you about some Free Machine Embroidery Designs that Embroidery Library is giving away this week-end through March 28, 2016. They are three lovely wreath designs and in 5 sizes each, for a total of 5 designs. They also have some new, beautiful spring designs with lots of flowers. Even though we have had a fairly mild winter as winters go, I'm ready to see my daffodils blossom. I've already seen some crocuses in bloom as well as three robins, so as far as I'm concerned spring is definitely here. It was even 73 degrees in town yesterday! We won't talk about the fact that it is currently 32 degrees.

So go to Embroidery Library and get your free designs now and if you haven't picked up your free monthly ones, be sure to do it now.

In other news our local library, McCord Memorial Library had their semi-annual book sale. I hit the jackpot as far as I was concerned and was very glad that my younger son was their to help tote my purchases out. I found stacks of quilting, sewing, and knitting magazines plus quilting books. I paid $29 for what was at least $500+ retail value. On Saturday, which was bag day ($1 per bag of books) I found even more. Yesterday I had to stop into the library to find something and found 12 more magazines for 25 cents a piece. Some might wonder why I needed to buy these as I have plenty of books and quilting magazines already, but I love keeping my brain active and on days when I'm in really bad pain, I can't focus in on reading a regular book, but looking through magazines actually helps get my mind off the pain.

Since I'm slowly changing my focus of what I do in my sewing room to smaller projects that are more easily accomplished, I put a Post-it(R) note on articles that have quilts that would be perfect for Project Linus quilts or making something special for charity fund raisers as I'm able. And I still note any quilt in my colors in a design I like as they speak to me. I know most of the things I will never do, but it is nice to make them in my head. Here is a peek at SOME of what I got. To make things even better I got my latest issue of Stitch magazines, all the way from the UK, with some great but easy looking hand embroidery designs.

Dish Towel Decorating

Pop on over to Embroidery Library to see their New Look Book showing great ways to decorate your dish towels with machine embroidery designs. Make some matching potholders, placemats and napkins, etc. and you could have Christmas present al 'sewn' up!

Free Fruit Cameos Machine Embroidery Designs

As always, Embroidery Library delights us again with their free machine embroidery designs. This year they will be releasing a new fruit cameo for free every month for the whole year. That will be 12 designs. This month's cherry design comes in 5 sizes. Don't forget even if you don't have a machine that can use all the larger sizes yet, download them while they are free just in case some day you get a machine that can handle the size. Don't forget to sign up for the Embroidery Library newsletter so you know what is on sale and when you can get some freebies.

Don't forget to get this free design during January 2016 (available now) also. It comes in two sizes and is perfect for kitchen towels or aprons.

Happy New Year to all of you! Let's hope we all have plenty of time to be creative and sew this year.

Embroidery Library Pillow Party Look Book

 

Embroidery Library Pillow Party Look Book

 

 

Embroidery Library does it yet again with a wealth of design ideas. If you are already crafting presents for the holidays for your home or to give as gifts, you will want to look at this Pillow Party Look Book . It not only has an abundant showing of great pillow ideas, you can also find the instructions on how to make each of these pillows. There is no charge for the Look Book or the instructions and if you have been collecting embroidery designs, you might already have some of the designs that you would like to use. Currently a lot of the pillow embroidery designs are on sale with the sale ending today (9-13-15) but the designs won't disappear. You can always find them to buy on Embroidery Library and if price is a factor, Embroidery Library has frequent sales and monthly freebies.

 

 

And folks for those of you that don't know, Janome is coming out with a new embroidery machine, the Memory Craft 500e. The MC500E has a maximum embroidery size of 7.9”x11”! and it comes with 4 embroidery hoops; RE28b 7.9" x 11", SQ20b 7.9" x 7.9", RE20b 5.5" x 7.9" and SQ14b 5.5" x 5.5". Designs are easily imported through a USB and edited through the machine's advanced on-screen editing functions. Navigation through all of these features has become easier with the MC500E’s new LCD color touchscreen. And Yes, I'm drooling! Can't you just imagine embroidering large designs and quilting in one go a 8" X 8" quilt block which is one of my favorite sizes to work with using my 2 x 4 pre-cuts that I make myself. One of these days I would like to make one of these machines mine and this is why I always encourage downloading free embroidery designs that you find even if you don't have the capacity to do it yet. Some day your prince, er. machine will come!.