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!!!!

Tote-ally Tote-able Tote

This was my project last weekend.  It is Anita Goodesign's "Tote-ally Tote-able" Tote.  I just love the way this project turned out.  Don't you love those leather handles with the leather flowers and buttons.  I purchased the handles at the Arizona Quilt Guild Show in March.  I knew I'd find a place to use them and they were perfect for this project.

 

Here is a close up of the fabrics and the embroidery design on each block.  The entire tote is made in the hoop of the embroidery machine.  The fabric is from Granny's Attic.  I purchased it when Karen had her shop in Campbellsville, Kentucky but now she has an online shop.  The ribbon was also purchased from Granny's.  The instructions don't call for a lining in the tote but I wanted a lining and pockets.  So I designed and constructed a lining with pockets.  Now it's perfect.  Now I working on an embroidered pillow top in bright colors.

New Baby Quilt

I recently completed this quilt.  The inspiration was the fabric below.

 

I decided to use some orange fabric my sister had given me for the quilt background.  I used my Go to cut tumbler shaped pieces.  I then added the frog.  It is an embroidery design from Anita Goodesigns. 

 

 

Next I cut out green plants following the design on the fabric.  I used green dot ribbon for the stems. 

 

 I added the name with my Janome 15000 embroidery machine.  Last I added the border and black rick rack.  I'm pleased with the results.  It is bright and colorful for baby Zain.

 

 

 

Baby Quilt

 While we were in Kentucky my hubby asked if I could make a baby quilt for him to give as a gift.  He volunteers each week at an eye clinic in Mesa and one of the doctors and his new wife are expecting a baby boy.  I have a friend in Kentucky that runs an online fabric shop.  I quickly selected the fabric and made arrangements to meet her in town to pick up the fabric.  I finished the top while we were in Kentucky.

I quilted and bound the quilt last week.  You can see some of the details below. 

Aren't those animals so cute.  Love that owl with the blue and green eyes!

 

I used my Janome 15000 AciFil Quilt program to add these little curls in the center of each green diamond.  They are difficult to see in the photo.

I find it interesting that baby colors are no longer pastels or just blue, pink, and yellow.  A friend recently painted her nursery bold gray, green, and blue and it looks lovely.

Sudoku Quilt Finished

I finished this Sudoku Quilt this week.  It is for a granddaughter who is graduating from high school.  I began the quilt last fall and waited until this spring to do the quilting.  We delivered the quilt yesterday and she was thrilled.

You can see one of the squares above.  I decided to use my Janome 15000 to do the decorative quilting.  I used Coats and Clark Multicolor Thread.

 

You can see a closeup of the design above.

 

 

I used one of the decorative stitched on the 15000 to stitch two lines of quilting along the border.

This was a fun quilt to make and I'm very pleased with the results.

 

I have a new computer and photo program.  Please excuse the photos.  Hopefully I'll get better at this.

 

 

 

 

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.

Primitive Snowman

 

This is the project I am currently working on.  I am now the lucky owner of a new Janome 15000.  It is a dream machine and an improvement over my 12000.  Traded in the 12000 and came home with the 15000. 

 

This square will be part of a wallhanging/tabletopper that I am making as a Christmas present.   The design is from Anita Goodesigns.  I just love their machine embroidery designs.

 

 

The snowmen will alternate with the crazy quilt squares like the one above.  This too is an Anita Goodesign embroidery block from Jelly Roll Quilts.  When you make the larger squares, you can't use a Jellyroll because you need wider pieces than 2 1/2".  I found these lovely Christmas fabrics in my stash.  So far I'm loving these blocks.  I have 6 blocks and am working on block 7.  I think I will stop with 9 blocks and then make the borders from the red and gold fabric above.

 

It's still in the 90s here in the desert but I'm ready to begin working on Christmas presents.  I try to give as many "handmade" by Pam items as possible each year. 

Hobo Bag

This is a Hobo Bag I made recently for a friend.  This is an Anita Goodesigns Project Pack.  The quilted blocks are made in the embroidery machine and then assembled into the bag.  I used my wonderful Janome 15000 machine.  I continue to be amazed at the lovely embroidery produced by this machine.  Complete instructions for the bag are included in the Anita Goodesign Design Pack.

 

The fabrics for the bag were included in a grab bag of fat quarters that I ordered this summer from Craftsy.  At first I was disappointed that the bag didn't include 50 different fabrics but now I'm glad it included a good variety but duplicates of some fabrics.  Perfect for this project.

 

I found this button in my stash and it was the perfect addition to the bag.  The loop is made from a hair loop.  Luckily I had a pack that included the perfect blue.