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FYI
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This week we received many emails regarding the free designs I’ve been sending out with some of my updates. With over 11,000 members we cannot respond to all this mail.
If you are a member of my Yahoo group and your settings are set for “Individual Mail’, you will automatically be sent the update with the designs attached. Be sure to read the info about it on the freebie page
If your settings are on ‘Individual Mail’ and you are not receiving attachments from me contact your isp provider to see if they are stripping the attachments. It could be seeing it as spam or potential virus’.
There is nothing else I can do on this end that can help you recieve them.
However, I will start adding to the body of my updates whether or not there is a freebie attached. That way you will know if one was sent and you did or didn’t receive it
OR
If one wasn’t sent and you don’t have to worry about it.
I hope this will make it easier for you to troubleshoot.
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Newest Products
Mehndi Body Art Machine Embroidery Designs
The Big Easy Purse Pattern
The Hex Flex Frame
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Where are our trunk shows?
Oct 1-23 Somewhere Sewing, Johnson City, TN
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Featured Project
For the next few weeks I will be featuring NEW projects made using the techniques and designs from my TOUCH OF NATURE book.
This is the fifth & final week in a series featuring this project
Week 1 here
Week 2 here
Week 3 here
Week 4 here
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TOUCH OF NATURE: Textured Applique Machine Embroidery Techniques & Designs has been well received by you folks and I want to thank all of you who bought the book. Of course, I could only touch on the potential of this art and still be able to get the book into print. Therefore, for the next several issues of this newsletter, I would like to show you the versatility of the “Touch of Nature” concept.
This week I’m featuring another patch from our Periwinkle Dot top.
All of the projects in TOUCH OF NATURE are embroidered as patches. In fact, all of the applique designs included on the CD in the back of the book can be made as patches. What does this mean?
It means when you hoop your fabric to sew the designs you don't worry about design placement. Just sew the design. Once the patch is made, you audition them onto your project, playing with the arrangement until you are happy with the placement. Pin them on the project. Sew them on. It doesn't get any easier than that!
Use the applique designs included on the CD or use ones you already own.
In your book, look under “Applique Patches”. These instructions tell you how to make patches with appliques and what type of applique designs are appropriate for the “patch” technique.
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Featured Project
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This is the FINAL WEEK of this project
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Periwinkle Top with a Touch of Nature ‘Spray’
I found this cotton knit top at my local Kohl's store.
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I thought it would be nice with lightweight 3D floral applique's.
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Rummaging through my fabric stash, I found blue and white organza and a shiny sparkle blue fabric. Next, I matched up some threads. I picked a blue and white to compliment the organza fabrics and a nice yellow for a little contrast - but not too much.
In your copy of Touch of Nature, look in Appendix A at the pictures of the embroidery designs included on the CD. Notice the instructions for each design include what each color stop sews. Keep your book open to these pages, so you will know what sews next. In this series we’re going to do some mixing and matching of the designs and their parts.
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I made 2 butterflies, 2 large flowers, and 6 small flowers (4 are shown here) before I started auditioning them onto the top. Fringe covered buttons were added last.
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This week’s featured patch
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This is the final patch in this project series
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In Appendix A, look for this design
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Follow the directions in Appendix A for sewing this design in the colors of your choice or use my variations.
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Hoop 2 layers of organza.
Following the directions in Appendix A sew the Butterfly without adding any applique fabrics. Sew with the colors of your choice. I chose all 1 color for the wings and a 2nd color for the body.
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Once the patch is made you can then audition it onto your project or wait until you have several appliques ready to apply.
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I attached this patch to the garment not by sewing it on around the outside edge of the whole patch, but only the body & tenacles of the butterfly. In this way the outside fabric (the organza) is left free for a 3D look.
If your butterfly is ‘too’ 3-D for you then stitch it on a little more with a straight line about half way up the wings from the body (top, center and bottom wings).
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Hint: To wash this project turn it inside out and wash on a gentle cycle.
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Although I have used these patches on a knit top, they can be used on purses, skirts, jeans, etc - anywhere you want to add a little flair.
I hope you have enjoyed this project from our TOUCH OF NATURE book. I hope that it has inspired you to create textured 3D designs for your wardrobe and home dec.
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Next week I’ll feature some Christmas Outdoor Quilts
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Albert’s Cubicle
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Backing, Part II
A few weeks ago we explored the world of the hand-held, USB drives. They're small, light, and pack a big, storage-capacity wallup, with some models holding up to 8GB. However, with the explosion of digital photography and graphics programs, even an 8GB backup can seem paltry. If the budget supports it, consider connecting a full blown external hard drive to your PC's USB port. The combination of USB2 and these luxuriously large, self-contained IDE drives has taken the pain and toil out of PC backups. For as little as $100, you can connect a external hard drive just like the one in your computer. It will have the capacity to copying the entire contents of most PCs. Look for one that includes full-system backup and/or data synchronization software. Remember to turn it on for each backup. While some models can run indefinitely, turning them on as needed, adds protection and longevity to the drive. Anyone who's ever lost a computer to a drive failure, power surge, or other unscheduled calamity, knows the painful journey to PC recovery. Re-installing applications is slow. Recovering personal files can be impossible, or very expensive, without a current backup.
An external IDE drive won't protect a PC from a virus. Still, it can give peace of mind and a quicker recovery. We've used these drives in combination with other data protection for years and they've saved my bacon more than once. Even when every other piece of computer equipment spewed blue smoke and winked out, our external backup drives were ready for action.
While I've not evaluated the models below, here are some $100 contenders you might look over. Read the product reviews before you buy.
Iomega 33215 250 GB External HD
LaCie 250 GB USB 2.0 External HD
SimpleTech 160 GB USB 2.0 External HD
Fantom Drives TFDU20072A Titanium 200GB External HD
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