Finally Christmas Crafting!

After spending lots of time getting all sorts of craft and sewing patterns listed in my eBay store, I finally got time to do some sewing of my own. I have a long list of things I want to make over the next month. Today’s project was finishing a purse I started yesterday. The basic instructions came from Designer Style Handbags by Sherri Haab, but the flap was my own design.

I made the purse out of red and black Chinese look brocade. I lined it with white satin (leftover from the wedding gown I made my niece). When you open the flap of the purse, there is a little surprise, the recipient’s monogram in black with red flowers entwined. I used my Janome 300E to embroider the monogram that I had downloaded for free from the internet. I sewed the purse out on my Janome 6500.


After being away from doing much creative sewing for awhile, it was fun to be able to once again ‘play’ in my sewing room. I certainly hope the young lady who gets this purse as a present enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it.

The other project that I’m working on is an embroidered clock. We have lots of various sized clocks for decoration in our eBay Store, and I wanted to try out decorating one myself. This one has little bluebirds and flowers. I downloaded the design from Embroidery Library. They have lots of machine embroidery clock designs. One thing to be careful with is be sure you are downloading the correct size. I downloaded two designs. One was a split design that I had to decrease slightly to get it to fit into my B hoop for my 300E. The other design wasn’t split and turned out to be too large to sew out and as I don’t have any digitizing software, I can’t fix it to sew it out. While sewing out the bluebird design I did think up several ideas that I can design myself and sew out.

Scrapbook Clocks to decorate!

Our eBay store Moonwishes Store.com has just listed a very unique item that would be of great interest to those who love making scrapbooks, doing paperpiecing, rubber stamp projects, or those who love unique clocks. We have clock kits in three different sizes that you can decorate yourself for any room in the house, give as an incredible one of a kind gift, or make to commemorate a special occassion. These clocks come with several dials that you can decorate with your own scrapbook, rubber stamp supplies and you will end up with a terrrific one of a kind clock.




We also have a lot of Christmas craft project patterns, Santa Claus dolls to decorate, and patterns for new Holidagy clothes. For gift giving, we have a large assortment of new quilting books, photography books and new Usborne Children's books. Stop in and get your Holiday shopping done without wasting a drop of gasoline. We are always happy to combine shipping and handling on multiple orders!

Creative Tucks and Textures for Quilts and Embroidery

Creative Tucks and Textures for Quilts and Embroidery by Jennie Rayment. 2004 Quilters’ Resource. Soft cover, 128 pages, ISBN 1889682403. Full color photographic illustrations throughout the book.

The first time I picked up this book and looked through it, my jaw dropped and I wondered how anyone could do what I was seeing. Not only was the author using quilting designs, she was using decorative machine stitching, AND using tucks and folds and wiggles in the fabric to create 3-dimensional quilt designs. Many of the designs are shown in plain ecru muslin to show the design details and how light reflects on the design because of the way the fabric is manipulated. Further in the book are quilts designed in color that truly highlight this amazing technique. One of the most amazing things for me was how she became inspired by looking at a mushroom upside down and the tucked circles that were developed because of this sudden spurt of insight.

I love the authors “So what” attitude to sewing "oops". Her belief seems to be, so called mistakes are really just a chance to discover a new way of doing things. I have not yet had a chance to practice any of the techniques of the book, due to my work on sewing quilts for Hurricane Katrina victims, but hope to in the near future try some of this detail work.

Anyone who loves manipulating fabric, would be inspired by this book and would gain some good insight by the directions she gives. Those who are bored with ‘flat’ quilting will find some good challenges in this book. And anyone who is serious about art quilts, would find this a great reference book for their shelves.

Jenny Haskins New Quilt Roses for Mary

Finally had some time to review some more great quilting books. As always, Jenny Haskins' books are a feast for the eyes and fuel for the creative process.

Jenny Haskins New Quilt Roses for Mary by Jenny Haskins, 2004 Quilters’ Resource. Soft cover 103 pages. Beautiful color photographic illustrations. ISBN 199068242X.

This Jenny Haskins book takes you step by step through the process of making the Roses for Mary quilt, which should appeal to rose lovers everywhere. This quilt was designed in loving memory of her mother who died in 2004. The book includes velum templates for laying out the embroidery for the quilt, although the actual embroidery designs need to be purchased separately (Roses for Mary Design CD by Jenny Haskins Designs).

To get you started with the quilt is a detailed equipment and supply list, a discussion on how embroidery works and the layering process to achieve depth and coloring, and a list of important point to achieve sewing success. The first project is a pillow/cushion and table topper to make, which will give you practice with the embroidery designs and with the quilting process.

Then you get step by step instructions for this lovely quilt. The finished quilt measures 74 ½” square. It has a center spray of roses, surrounded by four bows and then corner sprays of roses to make a center medallion. Two small plain fabric borders are next. Large corner bows (12” square) in each corner and along the edge of the quilt a 41” long spray of roses with large roses in the middles, tapering to smaller rose buds at the end of the spray. Again, two plain fabric borders make up the final border of the quilt. The embroidery threads used in this quilt are Robison-Anton threads with both color number and color description given in case you need to substitute a different brand of thread or choose to make your quilt in a different color palette.

As a special treasure at the end of the book are pages and pages of actual sewn out projects using both the Roses for Mary CD, including a glorious wedding dress, and other Jenny Haskins designs that should spark a flame of creativity in any machine embroidery enthusiast.

Finished piecing

Just finished piecing the second patchwork baby quilt. Now I have to find the time to put the borders on and quilt them to their backings. My new Janome 6500 just whizzed through the piecing. I was wondering if I would really be able to notice the speed difference in my new machine (it can sew up to 1000 stitches per minute). Sure enough I could. Wow! It is the one place I can really have a 'lead' foot.

I received some more quilting and machine embroidery books in the mail this week. I have gotten way behind with my reviews, but hope to have a new batch up soon. I am very impressed with what people can come up with to be creative when making quilts. Quilting just isn't about sewing two pieces of fabric together anymore. As our technology changes, our ability to manipulate fabric and threads grows also. My fingers are itching to try some new techniques, but I needed to stick with easy piecing for the current projects I'm working on. I would hope to have at least three baby quilts in the hands of children affected by Hurricane Katrina before winter hits.

Please remember to help out with Project Hurricane Katrina: Books for Kids if you can!

Another quilt pieced

Just finished piecing another child sized quilt to donate to the children affected by Hurricane Katrina. I have been doing assembly line piecing so it has been going really fast. I have another quilt already cut out, so I set everything out to begin piecing the next time I'm back in my sewing room. I am amazed just how fast you can piece a small quilt if you are organized and take advantage of spare minutes here and there. After this next quilt is pieced, I put them together with their batting and backing and then bind them. I plan on doing that assembly line style as much as possible. Then they will be done I can send them off. I still haven't researched where to send blankets, so if someone knows, please drop me a note in the comment section. This is one of those weird times, where you know the item is needed, but not quite sure how to make sure it gets to where the need is the greatest.

Please remember to help out with Project Hurricane Katrina: Books for Kids if you can!

Piecing another quilt

Got up early (for me) and started piecing together another quilt to donate to the children affected by the hurricane. I'm so glad that sometimes I just spend time cutting out fabric, as today I was quickly able to lay out 6 16" blocks (enough for a large crib sized quilt). I think I had about 1/4 of the piecing done before the washing machine finished its first load and I had to go on to do other things. Hopefully I can do the same tomorrow.

Please remember to help out with Project Hurricane Katrina: Books for Kids if you can!

Helping Others

Some times we want to be able to help others and aren't sure how to best go about it. Many times when a need is great, like now after Hurricane Katrina, I am burdened by what can I do and how can I make a contribution that will help. I am a hands on kind of person and so that is what I am concentrating on. I just finished making a baby quilt and will try and get several more done that can be given to children who have lost their own 'blankies' during this tragedy. I realize that currently most relief organizations are asking for money, but eventually no money in the world will replace lost comfort objects and every child deserves their own blanket.

In like manner, as a committed reader, I am concerned about the loss of books these children and their schools have suffered. In that regard, I have set up an e-book fair titled Project Hurricane Katrina: Books for Kids. Please visit the website and purchase books for your own children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews. ALL profits from this sale will be used to purchase and donate quality Usborne books to children affected by this horrible storm. This sale will be going from September 4 through September 30. These books make great holiday gifts and with the ability to be shipped to your home will help you avoid the cost of gas to drive and pick up gifts at the store.

I will be researching the best organization to receive these books over the next couple weeks so that we know they will all be going to a good home. Please join me in this worthwhile mission of providing books to needy children.

Another Embroidery Design Link

Here is another great design link for machine embroidery designs .Gosia Designs. Besides having a large variety of design styles, they frequently have several FREE embroidery designs for you to download. You can download around 1000 different designs from their site for $25 which is obviously a great bargain. They also have dollar packs for downloading. Their designs come come in most home embroidery machine formats also. Stop in and visit and try out one of their designs.

The Accidental Quilter

Just had a visit from another blogger called The Accidental Quilter. Drop in and visit and find out how to make blocks that just won't come together correctly behave. I'm sure you will enjoy her posts!

I'm waiting for the month of July to be over with and hopefully with it all the sickness, accidents, and nasty hot weather that seem to be holding me up from getting back into my sewing room. I have lots of ideas, but hard to accomplish when sweat is dripping off your nose!

Sewing Along

What a week last week was! First the washing machine up and died and in the process flooded the house and we got to meet the nice guys from Bonded Services who cheerfully sucked up gallons on water after the washer fiasco. Then the computer broke down and we ended up having to call the Geek Squad. "Special Agent" Adam came and figured out what was wrong with the computer (new last November) and now we are back on line. Due to all the problems we had last week, we also got to see some real live, wonderful customer service from both of these services.

I did manage in all the chaos to sneak back into my sewing room for several sessions with my new Janome 6500 and made a new summer top. This machine is a dream to sew on. One of the huge pluses for me is the extension table that comes standard with the machine for doing quilting. I have it in place all the time and it has been great to be able to rest my arms and wrists on while feeding fabric. My arthritis is so bad, I need to prop my arms all the time to prevent pain, so with the extension table I can sew for longer periods of time. I took the time to really follow the instructions, such as measuring accurately the 3/8" hem instead of eyeballing it. Sounds crazy I'm sure, but between the excellent stitching of the machine and my being more careful, this top turned out better and more comfortable than the one just like it I made three weeks ago! There's something to be said for following the rules. Over the years I got so used to whipping through projects just to get them done, that I had been forgetting that the process to getting to the end, can and should be enjoyable.

Another great feature on this machine is the automatic thread snipper. At the end of a seam, just press the button and the threads are clipped and you are ready to go on to your next seam. No need to find the ends of the thread and get them in position before sewing. I am planning on having a lot of fun sewing on this machine.

At a yard sale the other day, we found an old 1950's Singer 306 sewing machine in its own sewing table. As we explored the drawers of the cabinet, we found that it contained 'fashion disks' to make different decorative stitches. Up to this point, I had always thought that decorative stitches hadn't come out until the 60's or 70's. Well, we bought this baby and brought it home (I think my hubby wanted it more than me). Once we got it home, I had a chance to go through the accessories better. It has a tremendous amount of pressor feet, plus the original fashion disks that came with the machine and the prior owner had bought a lot more of them. It also has the original instruction booklet. I sat down and read through the instruction manual and it was a real learning experience. I think as this was a very new style of machine, they took a lot of time in writing the manual so that women would understand what each pressor foot was for and when to use the different stitches. I have a lot of utility stitches on my new 6500 but not a lot of knowledge for what they are all for. I got a better understanding of using my speciality pressor feet and utility stitches for using my sewing machine built in 2005 from reading a manual written in 1955! We are planning on getting the old machine cleaned and in working order and then I would like to find some vintage fabric, with a vintage pattern and sew it up on my vintage machine. What fun!

Christmas in July at Embroidery Library

So many designs, so little time to sew! Embroidery Library has just come out with a huge batch of Christmas designs including patchwork reindeer to make a Christmas quilt. Each of Santa's reindeer are represented in different blocks, plus additional designs are available to have a complete co-ordinating quilt or other project. In the hoop Christmas stocking designs are now out with all sorts of styles of stockings that can be made in your hoop and then hung on the tree with small gifts or gift cards. Another large selection of outline quilting designs are also now available. Now ready for download are their two FREE July designs.

Embroidery Library has also changed their main URL to http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/Default.aspx so if you have Embroidery Library bookmarked, you will need to change it.

Prepare to spend some time at the site when you go as there are so many new embroidery designs to look at, and all at great low pricing!

New Sewing Machine

Well, I took my sick, old sewing machine to the fix-it man yesterday. While there I just had to sit down and play with the Janome Professional 6500. Turns out it was on sale! Certainly was a sign for me that I needed to buy now. After all my, husbands jeans still needed hemmed up. Five minutes later I was walking out of Super Stitch with the last 6500 that he had.

When I got home I casually told my hubby to bring the sewing machine back in the house. He wanted to know if the old one had been pronounced DOA. Nope I said with a twinkle in my eye. He jumped right up and brought my new baby in the house. What a great husband I've got. He helped me get it out of the box and set up on the kitchen table. Then he sat and discussed the fine points of what makes this a great machine. And just to show what it could do, I followed the threading diagram, changed the needle to a jeans needle, figured out what stitch I wanted to use and went to work on those cut-off jeans. This machine went through that heavy denim like butter. Even with going over doubled seams, by slowing down and carefully sewing coaxing the seam under the foot, it sewed through eight layers of HEAVY denim with no problem.

Depending on the stitch, this machine can sew 1000 stitches per minute. I spent a lot of time playing with the machine yesterday and seeing all the decorative stitches it can do. It wasn't until I went to bed that I realized the one thing I hadn't checked out was the straight stitch going at 1000 stitches per minute! Guess that means I get to do it today.

I'm going to try to find the time in the near future to do reviews on both my new 6500 and my Janome 300E embroidery machine. These two machines do just about everything you could ask a machine to do except cut out the fabric or fit the pattern to your body!

Feeling Better

Feeling better this week from the tummy troubles and our dry hot air has been making my joints feel a lot better. So to make use of the time, I've been sorting out the wonderful purchases from the last two weekends of yardsales and booksales. Lots of good stuff has been put up for sale on my book sites and in Moonwishes Store. For those counted cross stitch people, we found several lovely counted cross stitch kits, including one of Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind Ebay auction #8202093887 which ends July 5. Soon we will also have boxes of craft items up for auction for those who do plastic craft, crocheting, knitting, quilting, cross stitch, punch embroidery, and other fun things. Visit our store and click on the favorite seller link to be informed when all these goodies go up for sale.

I haven't done much machine embroidery as my sewing room has no air-conditioning and is like sewing in a sweat box. I did attempt to hem up a pair of shorts for the hubby, but my sewing machine kept overloading--I need to take it to the fix-it shop.

Don't forget to sign up each month to win $50 worth of free children's books at Rodgers Educational Books. You can even earn more free books by signing up to be a hostess for an e-mail book party. This is an easy way to get your holiday shopping for kids well in hand without venturing out into the heat!

Sick Today

Having one of those days. Head hurts, tummy hurts, bones ache. Totally lousy today. Got tired of laying in bed so I've been quietly surfing the net. Unbelievable how far we have come since the early 1990"s when personal computers were just coming out (and horribly expensive).


My good news for me is hubby has given the okay for me to save up for the new sewing machine that I want, which is the Janome 6500. I've been wanting one for a while but other financial commitments have gotten in the way. Now is the time! All my blog readers can help me earn my machine. Click on Google ads, Click on Amazon ads! Buy something from Moonwishes Store! Check out Rodgers Educational Books and buy some great children's books! I thank you and the quilts I make (many are donated to charity) will thank you.

New Janome Machine

This just in this afternoon from my Super Stitch newsletter.

"Janome News

As previously announced Janome will be introducing a new top-of-the-line sewing/embroidery machine in August. Janome has just announced that the new Memory Craft 11000 will be unveiled in a live webcast on August 20, 2005. Everyone who registers for the webcast will be entered in a drawing to win a Memory Craft 11000! Be among the first to learn about the new machine, and you could be the first to have one in your home!

Visit www.mc11000.com to register for the live webcast and a chance to win Janome’s new Memory Craft 11000."

June 16

Well I got my summer blouse finished last night. First time in years I have set in sleeves and I actually did an okay job of it. Next time I use the pattern, I have adjustments to make, but for now I have a nice, cool top to wear for this summer. My husband likes the top also which is always an added bonus. I'm home most of the time and he sees me more than anyone, so I dress to please him and me!

Just an FYI for those with Janome embroidery machines. Currently at their website, you can download a free summer Christmas elf. He is surfing on a Janome surfboard. Check it out: Janome elf!

Just a reminder also that my ebay store has lots of new sewing patterns for sale. Right now we also have some great auctions running on cross stitch and needlework kits. Those auctions end on June 18. For the knitters out there, we also have an Alice Starmore knitting book Sweaters for Men up for auction. That auction ends June 20. Alice Starmore books are difficult to come by, so we are very happy to offer this one for sale.

I got my consultant package in the mail for Usborne books and I am very impressed with the quality and content of the books. They are crammed with pictures, good writing, and always something for the child to relate to and learn from the book in the book. If you are looking for quality books for your children, grandchildren, or any child you know, please stop in and visit the site. You can even earn free books by hosting an online book show. Just email me from the website and I'll tell you how!

Need Patriotic Designs?

Need patriotic embroidery designs with the Fourth of July coming up? Pop on over to Free Embroidery Stuff and take your pick from their free designs, available in many different formats. Don't need patriotic designs? Go visit them anyhow and search for the type of designs you are looking for. All the designs on the site are free.

Upside Down and Backwards

I'm having one of those days! I'm trying to make a summer top to wear to a family party tomorrow. My sewing room is sweltering in the heat, so I'm only in and out for 15-20 minutes at a time. Obviously a bit of a distraction. The top I'm making has two piece sleeves and of course the pattern forget to color in the one piece to show that it needed to be reversed! I ended up with a mess. Have I mentioned I tend to be dyslexic and have trouble with anything in reverse? I cut out a new piece and of course it was backwards from what I needed. Thank goodness this was an extra large piece of fabric so I had enough of it to keep cutting until I got it right. By then, I was sweating again so had to take a break and catch up my blog!

I've been busy with the book and craft business that I do and just decided this week to sell children's books from Usborne books. They have over 1300 items for all ages of children, all fun and educational. I'm a huge supporter of the homeschool movement and these books will fit right in as a side line to my business. Check us out at Rodgers' Educational Books if you have a minute. I'm sure you will be pleased with the huge variety and reasonable prices.

Embroidered Embellishments--A Review

Embroidered Embellishments: Innovative Ideas for Machine Embroidery by Lynne Redman. Published 2005 by the Embroidery Studio. 82 pages, spiral-bound soft cover, full-color illustrations. Includes CD with three designs used in the book in the following formats: .csd, .dst, .exp, .hus, .pes, .pcs, .jef, .sew, .art. The CD also includes a JPEG file of each design with thread colors using Robinson-Anton thread colors. This book is self-published and is only in available from The Embroidery Studio.

This is a delightfully different book on machine embroidery from somebody who is a self-declared "terrible seamstress." Coming from a long background of doing many assorted crafts, Lynne Redman has developed her artistic ability into both embroidery design and embroidery embellishment. Other than the machine embroidery itself, many at the designs in this book have no sewing attached to them. Lynne has developed them using different glues or other sewing aids. She uses her embroidery designs to embellish scrapbook pages, photo albums, Christmas ornaments, and other decorative items. With this book you will learn to use many of your bits and pieces of craft items such as beads, extra fabric, vintage linens and other supplies from your craft area to create unique and exquisite projects.

In this book the author assumes that you already know how to embroider, so there's no discussion on appropriate needles and stabilizers and how to hoop. She does discuss some basic techniques that she uses in making her projects and also some items that are handy to have for the different projects in her book such as rubber stamps, decorative scissors, plastic templates, different types of glues and adhesives, and her favorite Steam-a-Seam. She also tells you how to make an inspiration Journal, using pictures that you find in magazines, different fabric and threads, beads and assorted other bits and pieces.

She has found that she uses the same creative process as she works through her projects and explains each one of them in a different chapter with projects that illustrate the concept. They include layering, embellishing, composing, and coloring. She is not afraid to combine several different techniques in one project, which makes them look like they were very difficult to do, but they are not as she explains the techniques. Many of them are fairly quick and easy once you understand the philosophy and technique behind them.

I was especially interested in the chapter on coloring, as it explains the color wheel philosophy, and why depending on your background color, you may need to change the colors in your embroidery design. I know many people are scared to take that leap and change things from what they're told to use. But sometimes just changing the shade of a color will make all the difference in making a designs stand out.

At the back of the book is also a one-page bibliography of books that she likes to use for instruction and inspiration. Most of them have to do with color.

I enjoyed reading the book and found it quite inspirational. I would highly recommend it, especially for those who want to use their embroidery machine but do not want to be sewing up large projects. The fun of an embroidery machine many times is letting it do most of the work while you concentrate on designing your project. I look forward to using some of the techniques in this book for my own projects.

Please remember this book is only available from the embroidery studio web site.