Western Themed Towels

Christmas 2014 was a Hand Made by Pam Christmas at our house.  Everyone received something handmade.  I shared the mug rugs for nieces and nephews earlier.  Today I am sharing a set of Western themed Christmas towels I made for my sister.  She recently decided to decorate her home with a Western Theme.  This embroidery by Anita Goodesign was a perfect fit. 

The towels were purchased from Bed, Bath and Beyond and embroidered on my Janome 15000.  I love that machine with it's large hoops.  Below you will see each individual design. 

Bath Towel

Hand Towel

Wash Cloth

 

If you are a machine embroidery person, you know that sometimes it is difficult to embroidery with metallic threads.  I have found that the Janome 15000 does a wonderful job using metallic threads. 

 

This was a fun project and my sister loved her towel set.  She wants another set!!!!

First Project with my new Janome 15000

I purchased a Janome 15000 last fall and immediately left for our vacation home in Kentucky.  My lovely machine stayed in Arizona.  I completed my first class for this machine on Saturday at Mulqueen's Sewing Center in East Mesa.  The class was very informative and I learned some of the many features of this machine.  Our assignment before the next class was to come home and make a project using some of the stitches we learned in class.  This is my project.

I used the rolled hem foot to make the hem on each side of the tea towel.  I used my 1/4" foot when attaching the  borders.  I sewed a decorative heart stitch when top stitching  the narrow border (using the appropriate foot!).  You can see the stitch below.

 Our next class will include embroidery.  I decided to go ahead and add the embroidery hearts to the tea towel.  I'm hoping to learn how to add names to the design at the next class.  Wouldn't  it look great to have names in the two outside hearts.  I saved the design to my machine in hopes I will be able to do this.
 

This machine does a wonderful job on embroidery.  The stitches are beautiful.  The design if from Anita Goodesigns.  Anita Goodesigns is celebrating their 10th Anniversary and I'm attending one of their parties on Friday and Saturday.  I'll be posting about this fun event this weekend.

A New Quilting Project

This is my current quilting project.  It is a baby quilt for a new grandniece.  The embroidery designs are Anita Goodesign Oodles of Doodles.  The fabric is 30s reproduction fabric and they are stippled using Anita Goodesign Foundations embroidery.  In keeping with my word for 2013 "frugal", all the fabric is from my stash.

I wanted to use the same color threads through the quilt so I selected a variety of thread colors prior to beginning the project.  I used my fabrics as a starting point for thread color.  All threads were in my thread stash.

 

When the quilt top is finished I will use a pink flannel backing and pink polka dot binding from my stash.  I'm hoping to use up much of my fabric stash this year.  It was a goal last year but it seems that I added more fabric than I used.  I'm hoping to do better this year.

Christmas Hand Towels

 

Here are the three Christmas hand towels I made from the upcycled linen table cloth I mentioned yesterday.  This design is also from the Anita Goodesign CHRISTMAS CURLS.  I decided to use the same design and embroider it in red, green, and gold.  I love the stitching along the hem line.  So glad I found that little tablecloth at Goodwill.  I was able to make these linen hand towels from less than a $1.00 each.  These will be a Christmas gift for a family member (can't say who).

 

I purchased an apron at WalMart today to make an apron to go with the bar towel I made this week.  I think I'll make three of the towels and the apron.  Gift for our family's party animals.  Maybe I'll finish this weekend since we aren't going anywhere for the holiday. 

 

Completed my second class with my new machine today.  Can't wait to use some of the features we learned today.  What a wonderful machine it is. 

Redwork Quilt Block

This week I am working on a redword mini-quilt.  My first block is completed.  I am using designs from Anita Goodesign's Baltimore quilt collection.  I am using cotton Size 30 red thread as recommended by Martha Pullen.  I attended one of her workshops years ago and she made this suggestion.  I think it gives it more dimension with the larger thread.  I also purchased red bobbin thread for this project.  I haven't decided on the red fabric for the fabric squares.  I have a few reds in my stash and will audition them when redwork squares are completed. 

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day.  We did breakfast with my son's family.  Of course, one of the great things about is being a mom is that then you get to be a grandma.  I truly enjoy spending time with the two granddaughters. 

Machine Embroidery Patchwork Tote

Below are close-ups of the two sides of a machine embroidery tote that I recently made.  The tote was a birthday present for my sister.  The designs are from Anita Goodesign.  It is from their Projects series -Patchwork Tote.  Each of the quilt blocks is embellished with machine embroidery.  I think my favorite is the bird but I also like the tapestry blocks.  Even the patchwork blocks were created on my Janome 11000.

The fabric for the tote was left over from the Chestnut and Vine Block of the Month Quilt.  It was the perfect fabric for this tote. 

The tote is lined with a pocket.  I'm hoping to make one for myself at a later date.  Each of the detailed embroidery blocks takes approximately an hour to complete.   Maybe I can work on it a block at a time.