The Purple Hat

The Purple Hat is a great machine embroidery design site. Not only do they feature a lot of In the Hoop designs, they are very generous with freebies to test their designs and digitizing process. Many of their designs are for the younger set although currently they are featuring some great In the Hoop purses. They are also having a freebie treasure hunt of alphabet designs that would be perfect for a child's quilt or garments. Visit every week to see what is new. Click here to see The Purple Hat.

Judaica Jewish Machine Embroidery Designs

Over the years, I have noticed that some faiths are not well represented with machine embroidery designs and the Jewish faith is one of them. You can always find Christmas designs all over, but very few Jewish designs. Sew Terrific has just released some great redwork Judaica designs. Check them out here!

Autumn Leaves Embroidery Design

This weekend only (through October 9, 2011) Embroidery Library is giving away a series of Autumn Branches and leaves that would look great on any fall item you want to decorate. The designs come in different sizes. As usual with Embroidery Library, the designs won't disappear after this weekend, but you will have to pay for them later so this is a good time to get them now while they are free.

Freeman Process Services

What in the world does Freeman Process Service have to do with sewing? Absolutely nothing, but what kind of mother would I be if I didn't help promote my son's business? Ron lives in the Columbus, Ohio area with his lovely wife and is happy to help you out in your process servicing needs, especially those lawyers and legal types in other states that aren't hooked in with a process server for the State of Ohio. Get to know more about Ron and his strangely funky views on life at his blog: I Trust Ron Freeman.

I have found that sewing a little bit at a time is great therapy for newly revised knees, but sitting in front of computers isn't the most comfortable thing, so I'm looking forward greatly to being able to do both activities without pain. Tomorrow is exactly 3 weeks since surgery, the bruising is fading and I can finally get my leg in the car without help--at least that is progress. Oh to be free to sew again!

Happy October!

If you haven't done so already, time to pick up your free October machine embroidery designs from Embroidery Library.  While there, you will find a cupcake/ribbon design to honor October Breast Cancer Awareness month. The great thin is, if you need a different ribbon color, it is easy to substitute it into the cupcake. Don't know for sure what color or ribbon you need for your particular awareness ribbon? Embroidery Library's has a project page with a HUGE list of different ribbon colors. Just click here to see all the different ones.

I love Embroidery Library, not only for their generosity, but also for great designs, very usable color change sheets that you can also download as a PDF format. They are everything great in what you want from a machine embroidery site. Absolutely no affiliation with them other than a very pleased customer!

Men's Fleece Jackets

Just listed: Kwik Sew 1553 pictured above. A great pattern for men that includes all sizes in the envelope. We only have one so grab it fast!

Never worked on Fleece or sweatshirt fabric before? You might want to check out one of Nancy Cornwell's books on sewing with fleece.

Piecing Away

Even though this past week or two has been rough due to lack of sleep, I have managed to get quite a bit of piecing done on the wedding quilt that I am making for Ron and Savannah. All the pieces so far are 2 1/2" square and due to the scrappy nature of the quilt and the design, other than chain piecing, I haven't had any quick and easy ways to do what I'm doing. However, I'm piecing the border now and then I'm going to cheat and use 2 1/2" strips of fabric for some of sashing pieces. At this point I have pieced together well over a 1000 2 1/2" squares. Boy do I hope that I got my seams the right size so that everything fits. Once I'm done piecing, I'm going to quilt sections and then sew them together. I've found that now that I'm getting near the end of the piecing I'm getting excited because I know I'm getting near the home stretch. Trying to get as much sewing done as possible this week since I'm having surgery on my right knee on Friday so it won't be much use to me for awhile after that. Looking forward to having some of those squares left over to use in Project Linus quilts.

Halloween Costumes

September is National Sewing Month! what is your sewing project.

For those of you who like dressing up yourself and children for Halloween, we currently have a great selection of Halloween costumes in all sizes and style at our store Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts. If you buy your patterns now you have more time to sew and a better chance of getting the costume you want.

I no longer dress up for Halloween but I always look forward to that day as it is my birthday!

Had a nice day today working on a wedding quilt. Now that I'm past most of the fabric cutting stage and into the sewing stage, it is fun seeing the quilt come together! Pictures will be posted when available.

Pajama Sewing Patterns

September is National Sewing Month. What is your project?

Many people still like making pajamas for Christmas and holiday presents. Currently we have a very large selection of sizes and styles for everyone in the family of pajamas, pajama pants, nightgowns, robes and other nightwear. Check out our selection here. Remember when making nightwear for your little ones to use non-flammable fabric as set forth in the US Government standards. Need help finding it? Just ask your fabric store person or check with your on line fabric store for fabric for children's sleepwear.

Want to add machine embroidery to your creations? Visit our Machine Embroidery Design page here on this blog.

Sew Your Own Hoodie!

Happy National Sewing Month!

It is always great when you can plan a project right from the beginning in the correct size, colors and embellishments. Here is a great idea for sewing for fall. Make your own hoodie. You can buy a pattern here at our store. Then pop on over to Embroidery Library and pick out the machine embroidery design that you would like to put on the front of your hoodie. They have just come out this week with a whole lot of new designs specifically for hoodies. By the way. I don't get a single nickel for promoting Embroidery Library, but as they are so generous with freebies, I try to do my part on paying it back or forward however you think of it. Many of the designs that I have used over the years for my own projects have come from them. Sign up to receive regular emails from them and you will get free birthday presents, notifications of their monthly freebies, and occasional 'just because' freebies. They are a great company with great designs that sew out well.

The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible by Wendy Gardiner & Lorna Knight

The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible by Wendy Gardiner & Lorna Knight  ISBN 9780312676582
I purchased this book the other day and am very pleased that I did. It is certainly a book to keep near your sewing machine, especially if you have a Janome sewing machine. Most of the illustrations feature Janome presser feet which is a rarity to see in sewing books. Other brands of machine feet are also shown so you don't have to be afraid that the book won't be of help to you.
This book is very well set up with Chapter 1 on sewing essentials including anatomy of a sewing machine and the different notions and gadgets now available to help you achieve sewing success.
Chapter 2 presents Basic feet with pictures of each foot being discussed, ideas for at least 6 sewing techniques that the foot can do and step by step instructions on the basic use of the foot. Each different foot section is 2-3 pages long in full color with pictures that are large enough to follow techniques. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 are set up the same way only they deal with Specialty fabric and technique feet, Pretty edges and Fancy Stitching. The last chapter of the book is a buying guide for machines.
Chapters 2-5 are the meat of the book and show many excellent ways to achieve different looks. If you don't have one type foot, you might find that you do have one that can mimic the same thing. You also might find that you will see feet that you want to put on your wish list or go buy immediately, as they will solve a particular sewing difficulty that you might have. I know I saw several feet that are on my wish list and seeing what they do and how they work helps me to know if they is something I really want. Some presser feet can be pricey so you want to be sure they are what you need to purchase.

I have many sewing books and this one is the best for discussion of sewing feet attachments. This book is a keeper. For logical set up, great pictures, and thoroughness, this book gets five stars from me.

August Free Embroidery Designs

Don't forget to pop on over to Secrets of Embroidery to pick up their latest free designs and to see the other great designs that have just been published or are on sale.

Also it is time to visit Embroidery Library to pick up your August freebies until August 31, 2011. After that time they will be available at their regular price. This month there is an anchor and ship's wheel and in their continuing series another flower pot, this one featuring sunflowers and watermelon -- perfect for summer!

Maternity Patterns

Back in the early 1980's when I was pregnant with my two boys, I made all my own maternity clothes. Little did I know then that I would be selling sewing patterns on line 30 years later. Who had ever heard of a personal computer or the Internet? Those were things of science fiction. Several weeks ago I bought some maternity patterns to resell at our store. What a trip down memory lane!

The above pattern, Simplicity Pattern 8606 was one of the patterns I tried to make. Actually I had it almost done. I had made and installed the Peter Pan collar and had trimmed it with lace and was just about done. I had to get up from my sewing for a minute or two. When I came back I found a huge hole in the tummy part from my toddler practicing his scissor cutting! I could have cried as I had no idea how to fix the mess. Strange thing is, I don't think I ever saw Ron with scissors in his hands since. Crafting things didn't interest him.

This pattern, Simplicity Pattern 8381, was my absolute favorite top. I combined the sleeves on the dress with the length of the top. The sleeves had a hem detailing that I had always wanted to try again, so I'm going to take a peak at the instructions before it goes to it's new home. As I got near the final days of my second pregnancy, I had grown out of most of my maternity clothes as babies over 10# can do that to you! So I whipped up a maternity dress like the one pictured. After the baby was born and I was up to going to church for the first time after having the baby, I realized that none of my clothes fit yet so without thinking I popped the dress over my head and was on my way. All was well until the baby started making hungry sounds and I realized my mistake. There was no way to nurse the baby with this dress on and taking your dress off at church is generally frowned on!

Life moved on and my babies are grown up now. One is getting married next Saturday with his younger brother as his best-man. I don't know if other moms get nostalgic when their children are getting married, but I sure have especially when I was faced with memories of the very clothes I wore and made while carrying them.

If you need to make some memories, we have a great selection of maternity patterns in our store plus over 7500 other sizes and styles of patterns.

My latest sewing project - Savannah's Apron

I'm about to have a new daughter and imagine my pleasure when she asked for an apron for her birthday. I wanted to make her more and matching potholders, but my arthritis and other sewing projects got in the way. But her she is modeling it for me so I can see how it fits. Pattern from an out of print McCall's pattern but we have plenty of apron patterns in our store. Looking so forward to her marrying my son!

I Scream for Ice Cream Embroidery Designs

I just love Embroidery Library! They are the most generous company with giving freebie designs that show how great their designs are. I have quite a collection of designs from them. This weekend, they are offering Free ice cream designs here. If you count all the different sizes of the designs, you will be able to pick up 6 new designs. Even though my embroidery machine can't do the extra large designs, when they are free I always pick them up as you never know when you might get to upgrade your machine to one that can take the big designs. These ice cream designs are perfect for hot summer days which we are having here.

I'm having such a nice day and even got to go to my first yard sales of the summer and picked up some sewing things. My dream yard sale is one that is all sewing stuff that no one wanted including a top of the line machine, stacks of sewing books and magazines, fabric, embroidery floss, etc. and they let me have it all for $50. I told you it was a dream. I found some donated needlecraft magazines at our local library this week for a quarter a piece. So much fun to look at and think up new projects for when the current ones are finished. I am making progress on the wedding quilt and finished the ring bearer pillow.

Sewing Ideas and Information

I happened to be at our library at the right time the other day and was able to pick up some sewing magazines for 25 cents a piece. One of the magazines was through the Eye of the Needle a project magazine published by Bernina. I had seen this magazine before and was happy to get it and then looked up Bernina's on line site www.berninausa.com.  I was happy to see that they are now publishing the magazine on line and I was able to download in PDF file the first six issues of the on line magazine and was also able to sign up to receive the magazine via my email.

On the site I also found 'stitch recipes'. Ways of combining decorative stitches to make a larger and more complex design. Since the sewing machine that I got last year, a Janome Horizon 7700, came with a Border foot that helps you combine designs, I'm always on the look out for ways to use the foot. Even if you don't have all the decorative stitches that Bernina used, you might possibly be able to find a substitute stitch on your sewing machine. I was able to download both stitch recipes and sewing projects all in PDF format and can read and study them at my convenience.

Don't be afraid to visit other sewing machine websites to see what information they might have that you can use! I really enjoyed my visit in Bernina land as I learned a few things and I also was able to temporarily forget some of the pain I'm in today.

Moonwishes Sewing Crafts Store Update

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen from Moonwishes Sewing and Crafts. I just wanted to update you what is happening at our store. This past month we had a major computer failure which meant a new computer purchase and since the driver had disappeared a new scanner purchase as well, even though the old scanner was working perfectly well. This has meant that we got way behind on listing new patterns. We are all back up and running as of last night and one of my major goals is to get a bunch of maternity patterns listed from a variety of all decades. For those of you that sew you may not realize that maternity patterns are rarely being published now and so are extremely hard to find. Well, you will find a good selection at our store both now and even more in a few days at this link : Maternity Patterns.

For those of you that have top of the line computer embroidery/sewing machines I wanted to bring something to your attention that I learned in the midst of our computer meltdown. Some of our machines can only have info uploaded to our embroidery machines via a flash card in combination with a card that goes into the machine like a memory card such as the Janome 300E. Well my last computer came with a slot that held the flash card so I had no trouble downloading from my computer all the thousands of designs that I had. This new computer didn't come with that slot, only USB ports. Let me tell you I was in a bit of a panic mode! My husband had asked about getting a port for the new computer that could do this and was told it wasn't available. Yesterday while getting the new scanner I looked through the electronics department I found a gadget that takes up to 33 different flash cards and lets you connect to your computer with the USB port but still gives you the ability to use your flash cards in your embroidery machine. It's brand name is Targus and cost $13 at Wal-mart. They had another one by a different manufacturer that takes up to 70+ cards and cost $17. These were hanging in the photography department. I'm not recommending either but wanted to let you know that these are available and if you think you may need one of these now or in the future it might be good to pick up. I would have hated to have lost virtually the use of my 300E just because I couldn't transfer designs as I certainly can't afford a new machine.

Weekend Freebies

For those with machine embroidery capability on your sewing or embroidery machines, you will want to visit Embroidery Library this weekend through June 12 and pick up FOUR freebies! Since they give them to you in two sizes, that is a total of eight designs and while there you can pick up their regular June freebies. Embroidery Library is a most generous machine embroidery company and I have had great success with all their designs whether they were free or purchased!

If you need more designs, visit our machine embroidery design page here on our blog for a listing of even more great companies.

Pintuck a Ruffle - Threads

Pintuck a Ruffle - Threads Saw this great article on the Threads website for a cool summer skirt with a pintucked hemband. Try it out for your next sewing project.

Embroidery Library

June is here and with it Embroidery Library's latest freebies and some great designs that will appeal to the men and boys in your life--animals and autos. Take a minute to pop on over and check out their newest designs!