August Embroidery Lesson

Six of the examples of the lesson

This week, I learned that a dear friend will be moving far away. I am excited for her to begin new adventures. I am going to miss our little get togethers and brainstorming sessions.

I've always said change is the constant in life and the more flexible one can be with change the easier the transitions. Perhaps, I will eventually be able to conquer the embroidery software without her insight. For sure, I need to keep doing the lessons!

The August software embroidery lessons was about having fun with repeats. Stitching out the examples of the lesson took a long time stitch as there were a lot of parts to the lesson!

In the first exercise, I made a sheet of patches. I practiced how to make repeats, how to add some words and how to add a little design. I decided to stitch one example. Another time, I would put this project on water soluble stabilizer and I would change the lettering as the letter e is a bit difficult to read. I don't know how I would use this or how I would use a whole sheet!

Color blending and pebble exercise samples

In the second exercise, I made a bunch of blocks to use as a stitch sampler. The exercise was to create the blocks. From the written directions, I couldn't understand how to play with the color blending so I used the file provided so I could see what the result of color blending was. The set up was for a jumbo hoop. I decreased the size of the squares and I reduced the squares to three in a row so I could stitch the sample in one setting in my hoop. It took about an hour and a half to stitch that one sample! I was amazed at how flexible the stitches are and I love the shading.

The third exercise was to do some grid quilting on point. After I stitched it and the spoked pattern (the fourth exercise) out, I realized that if I really wanted to test it I should have set up a quilt sandwich. That was how I stitched out the pebble quilting which was the fifth exercise.

While I find the pebbles and grid designs cool; I don't know that I would use them. I could see using the spoked pattern. I do wonder how I would hold the remaining part of the quilt while it stitched and I do wonder how challenging hooping would be.

The sixth exercise was about how to repeat and move objects into a border. The seventh exercise was how to create a flower using the weld feature and the ripple fill. The eighth exercise was how to create a kaleidoscope flower. I was able to follow the directions without too much trouble. Over all, I enjoyed this lesson!