Leopard

This design stitched up very striking! The leopard has a very realistic look to him when you see this towel in person. The towel was a gift to my daughter in Kansas. She displayed it in a powder room on the main floor, which added a nice decorative accent. The design is a stock design that I purchased from Strawberry Stitch. It has almost 46,000 stitches in it.


Here is a closeup view.

Embroidery Machine is hummin!

I haven't posted in such a long time. I hope to do better in 2010. I love to embroider snowmen, so this year's gift towels will once again have snowmen on them! The designs I picked are quite large in terms of stitchcount, so it takes a while. I have cranked the machine up pretty high...except for when it is stitching metallic thread, which is more fragile and requires a slower machine speed. Just ordered 150 additional microfiber waffle weave towels, with hopes of getting my Etsy shop stocked. I haven't used the cream colored towels before, so ordered 30 of those, as well as some dark brown towels which are nice, too. I am loving the olivey-green ones for these snowmen...the burgundy is a nice contrast. Well, back to the grind. Hope everyone is getting everything done! Seems like December runs on a faster clock! Merry Christmas!

Sunflower Splendor

I think I want to hold on to summer! Sunflowers seem so summery. Lately our weather has been anything but "summer-like". It has been unseasonably cool even for autumn.

This design is another one of Sonia Showalter's, available here.  Lots of pretty embroidery designs to browse through! If you are an embroider, these original designs by Sonia are superbly digitized.

The Etsy shop is bare right now. Hope to remedy that this week! Thanks for stopping by. The sun is out today, yay!

Wedding Cake and Card

This design was embroidered on a beige microfiber towel, using the colors the bride has chosen for her wedding. Lots of texture and dimension in this design. The card has similar browns and pink, and was made using images from a Stampin Up retired set called Natural Beauty. I was pleased with how this gift turned out!

Christmas Horn and Pines

Here is another of Sonia Showalter's embroidery designs. All may be found here. This one was embroidered on a microfiber waffle weave dishtowel, with a fabric panel attached to provide a nice flat area to embroider the design. If you want to do this, just cut a strip of fabric the width of your towel x the heighth of your design, allowing for about 2 extra inches so that the design doesn't sit on the edge of the panel. This also gives you some extra to turn under a hem. My towel was a 15" wide. The horn design was about 4" tall, so I cut my panel 16" x 6". Press under half an inch all the way around the fabric rectangle, and then stitch it to the towel. One nice thing about microfiber is that it tends to cling to the cotton fabric, so you hardly have to use any pins to keep the fabric in place while you are sewing it down. I used a decorative stitch, but a straight stitch would work just as well. 

The horn is stitched with Madeira 1792 as Sonia recommended. I tried to capture a closeup that would show the sheen of the thread. It really resembles metallic. The pinecones have great texture as well. This is the first time I have used a fabric panel on my towels. It really provides a fabulous surface to embroider on. Every tiny detail of the embroidery stands out. Normally, I use topping on the microfiber, but there is no need for topping when you have the cotton panel. Think of all the possiblities when you combine great designs with your favorite cotton prints! Here are a few more closeups.(click on photos for larger view) Thanks for stopping by!

 

A Fabulous Pumpkin

 This is a great seasonal embroidery design, appropriate for the harvest season as well as halloween. The design was digitized by Sonia Showalter. You can see all of her fabulous designs here. I stitched it on a floursack dishtowel, and added a few buttons for embellishment. The little spider card was made from a digital stamp, that will be released later this month at BeanPodFrogShop.

Here are a couple of closeups. Notice the twisty stem on the pumpkin. Photos do not capture all the reflected light and how the embroidery seems to change color as you rotate it towards and away from the light.

Thanks for stopping by. Check back tomorrow to see a pretty Christmas horn design.

Autumn Gift Set

This little gift set went together quickly. The design is one of Sonia Showalter's gorgeous embroidery designs, found here. The design was stitched on a flour sack dishtowel as well as onto a linen square. The little 3 x 3 gift card features a wheat design from Papertrey Ink's First Fruits set, stamped in a subtle Memento Cantaloupe color. A vintage button sits atop a punched paper circle. Quick, easy and fun...and Sonia's designs give the elegant touch!