Machine Embroidered Monogram Pillow

Trial stitch out 

Goal number one on my September list was to document the pillowcase that I made for my youngest granddaughter.

She was moving to a loft style bed and her mama wanted to decorate her daughter's new bed with a monogramed pillow containing her initials. I have Bernina embroidery software which I hadn't opened in a couple of years. It was time to reacquaint myself with the program.

I played around a little with the fonts and liked at the library of monograms available. I decided I wanted to make my own monogram. My software included a few templates. I used one of the templates. I picked a font that felt a little Asian since I had used a scrap of panda fabric. 

It was fun to play in the software. I found that I needed to refresh my skills because I had forgotten a TON!

Then it was time to choose thread and stitch a sample. People often think that you pick a pattern and the machine automatically stitches the design perfectly. Not so!!!

In the trial stitch out, I could see that I needed more stabilizer, better alignment and a tension adjustment. I also decided to leave the cut away stabilizer in place around the smaller motifs. When I cut away the stabilizer in the second sample, I nicked the threads and had some of the motif unraveled.

Third sample

By the third sample, I had figured out the alignment. I had determined the best tie to cut the jump stitches.  I determined that I liked the colors and the order I stitched the colors. 

The monogram on the pillow case

The fourth time I stitched the monogram, was for "real!"I made the pillow case and topstitched the monogram to the pillowcase. I like how it turned out. My daughter liked it so much that she asked for a second pillow.

Two days later, I embarked on a second pillow. This time, when I went to embroider the monogram, the machine wouldn't recognize my hoop. I hadn't changed any settings so I didn't know what that was about! I took some time to research what could be going on and tried a fix through my settings. It worked,

Stitching the design, the thread broke and the program wouldn't allow me to restart the machine to finish the stitch out. I had surgery and when I'm ready, I'll poke around and see if I can figure out what happened. It likely is an easy fix since it was working great before!

Linking to Finished or Not Friday and Patchwork and Quilts.

Cataract Surgery and Embroidery Software Lesson

Leaf design for a jacket front

July 1, I had cataract surgery on my right eye. Of all the surgeries I have had, this was the one I was concerned about having. Eyesight is such a necessary part of life!

Christmas tree with berries

We left home at 9am and didn't return until after 4:30pm. There was a general delay because a surgery or two went over the 15 minute mark. I was okay with the extra wait. If my eye needed a little extra attention, I'd want the surgeon to take the time to attend to the issue. After waiting an hour and a half for the surgery--the paperwork says to plan on two hours, I had a chat with my husband. He, of course, thought I was finished, so taking the time to let him know is I was still in the queue was good.  If I hadn't been out at two hours and five minutes, he would have been asking what was happening!

Watermelon for a placemat

A few minutes after I had returned to the waiting area, the surgeon moved through the area checking everyone's eye. She made a notation on a piece of tape on each of our foreheads. From there, we each met the anesthesiologist. I chose to have my eye deadened as I couldn't imagine holding my eye still while the surgeon removed the cataract and replaced the lens. The deadening process was painful. Not kidney stone painful; but, close. The needle insertion wasn't bad. It was the contents of the plunger going into my eye that hurt. The anesthesiologist said the worst pain was over and she was right. Getting our eyes ready for the surgeon happened about 15 minutes before the surgeon was ready for each of us.

I learned that it was a slow day with 29 surgeries. I can't imagine doing the same surgery 29 times in a day, let alone doing it day after day! Twenty-nine seemed like a full day to me! The surgeon operated out of two rooms. When she was in one room, staff were cleaning and prepping the other room for the next patient. The staff stayed with their assigned room. 

Flower with filler stitches  

When the room was ready, they brought in the patient to get ready for the surgeon. The surgeon entered. She put on fresh gloves,  gown and mask.  There were at least two other staff in the room. 

The surgeon doesn't say much. The staff must be used to her terms and approach. A nod, a word is all they need from her for them to retired the object that she requested. I found the position my head needed to be in was painful after about 15 minutes. I developed quite a headache before the surgery ended. I think the positioning aggravated the previous car accident injuries of my neck/spine. When she removed the cataract, I was amazed at how bright the light seemed. 

Flower stitched as a postcard

She took quite a bit of time in the removal. There were some actual conversations when it came time to place the lens. She placed it several times. Every time there was movement, it made me feel queasy. No way would I have imagined I'd be wanting to vomit during this surgery! I barely made it. Once she had positioned the lens to her satisfaction, the nausea stopped.

She said that when she lifted the last corner of the cataract from the sac or the lens capsule, the sac tore. She wasn't able to insert the lens into the capsule as she normally does. Instead, my lens capsule created a "hammock" for my new lens. My session lasted about 20 minutes plus the 10-15 minutes of prep time.

Because of the tear, I "got" to return three hours later to have my eye rechecked. The surgeon was concerned about my eye pressure and the stability of the lens. Both were good. Trying to use my eye was another story. I was seeing double; the view was also "slanted," The effect it had on me was . . .nausea. I had no idea my eye could cause me nausea! 

Staff taped my eye closed to give it more time to "wake up." Several hours later, the double vision and odd angle views were in my past. Looking with that eye was amazing. I couldn't believe how bright the sky and grass were. I looked at our dog and was shocked at how iridescent white she was! 

The day after appointment went well. I was told the lens was perfectly centered and that my eye was "still waking up" from surgery. The pupil was still a bit dilated. 

I was scheduled to have surgery on my left eye a week later; but, I came down with COVID and have spent the last ten days laying in bed. I'm on the mend. I tested negative yesterday. Thankfully, my husband has remained COVID free. I'm glad as this is a nasty bug.

I was able to reschedule surgery on my left eye at the end of the month. I hope every aspect of the next surgery is boring! Writing about my surgery was goal number 11 on my July list.

Goal number one on my July list was to finish the June software lesson. I did complete the lesson and the challenge. I liked learning about different options to automatically digitize a drawing for embroidery. I didn't stitch the January lesson. Perhaps, I can do that next month when I'm not recovering from COVID!