Happy Shamrock-ing Applique

HAPPY (LATE) ST. PATRICKS DAY! 

This is one of my favorite holidays! 

Why you ask, well.. as my four year old will tell you, "Mommy loves Green!" It is true. I do! 

So, what better way to celebrate a happy day filled with everything green then to create something Green I can enjoy year round. The technique used for this project is found on Urban Threads (Big Surprise, huh?!) under Tutorials, or click this link to check it out! 

We will be using a low density embriodery design to create an appliqué embroidery design. I feel like I should've known about this technique before now, but oh well, I'll make up for lost time and start stitching! 

Here is the design I stitched. I just couldn't help myself! 

Find it here. 

Cute little shamrocks! 

What a great design, such nice detail! 

I had so much fun stitching these guys out. 

I ended up using a nice Kona Cotton for the base and some scraps of silk dupioni for the "appliqué" base on the shamrocks. The coolest thing about how these stitch out is that it looks variegated. To get this look you will want to make sure you have three thread colors that go from light to dark. I did my lightest in the middle but you could get a cool effect by doing it in the reverse. If you look closely at the silver background shamrock you can see I actually used a variegated thread, which I think came out pretty cool looking too. 

Once you read through the tutorial you will probably be surprised that you didn't think of doing this earlier too! I love how easy it is, though I do have to say that a nice pair of small embroidery scissors makes a huge difference when you go to cut around the edge of your design. 

I'm sure you are wondering what this beautiful design will be made into.. well, you'll just have to check back next month to find out! Stay tuned because it is a great little project from another of my favorite online sources! 

Here's hoping to seeing a bit more green outside! 

Until then Happy Sewing,

Enjoli (and Gertrude) 

The Giving Bunny Project

Hey Gang,

This project is not only cute, but also has a great story behind it! 

Click here to read the story 

Check it out and then download the design to make a few of your own! 

Here are a few step-by-step (ok, maybe every other step) of photos to help you along; though Urban Threads does have a great tutorial for the project. Click HERE if you would like their instructions! 

I decided that my little bunny needed to be pink! Partly because I didn't have any white when I was sitting down to make her! :P 

You'll want some cut away/tear away stabilizer (I used Cut-Away), some white fluffy material (flannel, minkee or felt), thread for the eyes and nose and of course an awesome embroidery machine helps. Love my Gertrude!

Step 1: Gather Supplies

Step 2: Let your awesome embroidery machine trace your pieces out for you!

Step 3: Cut your pieces out on the stitch line and then let your machine stitch down the front of your sweet little bunny.

Step 4: Admire how cute your Bunny is turning out!

Step 5: Lay your second Bunny piece right side down on your "face" piece and let the second stitch line work its magic.

Step 6: Release your little Bunny from the stabilizer, turn, stuff & embellish her!

There are really only a few steps to this awesome little project, you could whip up a bunch in no time! I know I will be making a few more of these cuties to leave places. Maybe even a few will make it to Pittsburgh (for Market) and Nashville (for Bernina University) this summer! 

So, I'm thinking that to encourage you all to share your Bunnies with us, I'll give you a two weeks to whip up some of these cuties and post a picture of them to the Seams Like Home Facebook Page! After the two weeks anyone who has posted a picture to our page will receive a $10 gift card to the store! 

The Rules:  

1) You must put a tag on your bunny so that the person who finds it knows what the heck it's about.

2) You must post the location of your bunny along with their photo.

3) This one is not necessarily a rule, but would be fun. Go to Urban Threads and open their Google Map to add your bunnies location!

(Contest will close on Friday, April 4th, 2014 at 11:59pm; Gift cards for participants will be at SLH in our hold box and will be available on Saturday, April 5th; one gift card per participant)

It will be fun to see if any other SLH customers find them! They also make great gifts for any kiddos in your life. (My oldest has asked when she can have this cute little pink bunny!)

I'm looking forward to seeing these bunnies multiply! (Like Bunnies do!)

Happy Sewing,

Enjoli (and Gertrude) 

Embroidery and the Enabler

So here's the thing about Gertrude... she is an enabler.

She makes so many things easier and therefore so much more fun! She calls to me while I am cleaning or doing laundry. She says, "Forget those ridiculous household trivialties and come have some fun with me!".

And let me tell you, she is quite convincing. So, I put down the sponge and push the laundry pile further into the corner and run away to hide in Gertrude's company.

Right now we are in an Embroidery phase. There are just so many things you can do with Machine Embroidery. And of course with sites out there like Urban Threads (www.urbanthreads.com), I cannot stay away.

Gertrude and I have decided that this month we will play with some new embroidery projects. There are so many things I've not done yet with embroidery. So of course I headed over to Urban Threads and found a few things that looked like fun!

Today, I'll show you some fun Embroidered Tags, because who doesn't love putting a sweet little label onto a quilted gift. With the design pack chosen, you can also create a gift tag or ribbon tag! So much fun!

Then, we'll try an In-the-Hoop project. If you've never done one of these, OH MY OH MY, you must give it a try. So easy and so fast! This awesome project is called the Giving Bunny Project, and is such a cool idea! You'll want to make hundreds of these little guys!

And last, in celebration of St. Patricks day, we will play with turning any lighlyt stitched design into an appliqué design! A great excuse for me to use LOTS of green!

Fun with Embroidered Tags

One of my all time favorite embroidery websites is Urban Threads. They have machine embroidery and hand embroidery and LOTS of them! So, conveniently they have a "tutorial" on different tags you can make with the design pack, "Made with Love". This really is such a cute design pack, you'll want to start putting labels on everything!

The first tag I made was a stand alone tag. I decided to finish mine off by sewing a back on it so that you cannot see the stitching on the back of the tag. This one is great for putting on a package when giving a hand made gift! 

This one is perfect for sewing onto the back of a gift quilt.

Here is another label that I made, stitched onto a baby quilt for a friends little girl!

There is a third type of label you can make with the designs from this pack, but I never did get a chance to pick up some ribbon to give it a try. Maybe this weekend some time will magically appear! 

If you love these labels and want them for yourself, head over to Urban Threads and check them out. The pack is called, "Made with Love".  Oh and you can find the tutorial for all the tags HERE. They also come in hand embroidery format for those of you who prefer that embroidery method! 

Hope you get a chance to play with some machine embroidery this weekend!

Happy Sewing,

Enjoli & Gertrude