Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that I have moved my blog to http://karil.ca. Please go have a look and let me know what you think. I am looking forward to continuing blogging at this new site that has more features.
Photo courtesy of fPat Murray on Flickr for this photo ("red dog rescue").
The wind is really blowing today and everything is soaked outside. My friend called me to say that she was just freezing. My solution is below:
What do you do to keep warm on those cold days? Do you drink warm beverages like tea or hot chocolate? Or do you wrap up in a blanket. I hope this works for her. I think I am going to make one for me to keep warm while watching the latest episode of Bones. How about you?
Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
It's Friday and I wanted to share a Facebook page I discovered the other day. Express Your Walls is all about customizing your space with words. You all know that I believe in personalizing or customizing your space. My medium is machine embroidery. This company does it with words made of custom vinyl lettering. What a great idea to give your personal or your professional space that special personal touch.
Do you have expressions that inspire you? One of my favorites is 'Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much'. Words to live by, I think.
Or do you have a quote that would be perfect in your child's room. What about matching it with an embroidered fleece blanket? Perhaps the sentiment of Born to be Wild is not quite what you want, but I bet you have lots of ideas.
Anyway, go visit them. I don't know about you but I am thinking about what saying I could use to bring continual inspiration to my machine embroidery studio. Do you have any ideas? Would love to see your comments.
Love 'em or hate 'em, there is one thing that comes every year, birthdays. Here's one way to celebrate the day - a personalized fleece jacket. In this case, the jacket was a 1st birthday gift for a little boy named Griffin. When searching for a gryphon design to honor his name, I found this information regarding gryphons:
" Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle was the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature." (courtesy of Zundt Designs email newsletter*)
I hope you had a wonderful 1st birthday, Griffin, and like the gryphon described above, a wonderful and majestic life!
* I was so excited about Griffin's jacket that I could not resist the Zundt Designs version, which I purchased to put on a jacket for me. Have a look: http://bit.ly/Zundtgrphyondesigns.>
I know this is not true, but it seems that babies arrive in groups. Or, at least, that is how I hear about them. A fleece blanket, personalized with a name or to match a particular nursery scheme can be a terrific idea. What baby does not like a cuddly blanket.
I was thrilled to learn today of the birth of baby Danica! I was asked to create a baby blanket as a shower gift. The blanket had to have a motorbike, so I guess Danica will be riding the trails soon, as long as her bike is pink!
Congratulations to her Mom and Dad!
I recently read a great article that I wanted to share with you about how you create. When people ask me to embroider for them, I am usually asked for my ideas - how can I express with lettering, monogramming or design, what they want to say.
In his article, "Running to Create", Jonathan Fields talks about using movement to stimulate thinking and creativity. While I had never thought about this link, I believe that it is true for me. Pushing myself with physical activity clears my mind for creativity.
Please read his article and comment here about how you create. I would really like to hear your ideas.
Monograms are everywhere – from shirts to totes to napkins to hats. It’s just a question of your imagination. I was recently looking for a source of tiny lettering for a project and came on this web page from http://EmbroideryArts.com where they show screen shots from movies since the 1930’s to today where an item is monogram. Go have a look - http://embroideryarts.com/monograms_in_movies/ - and let me know in the comments what type of monograms you like.
It’s raining out there today in my neck of the woods. Did your canine friend run happily through the mud and into the house? Are you ready to throw in the towel? Don’t!
Instead why not give your dog dedicated paw wiping towels. These towels can be hung on a hook by the door, ready for action. What dog wouldn’t like to see their name in stitches?
As I sit here staring out the window, my embroidery machine purring in the background and the rain pouring down, it occurred to me that summer is now ending. While for many this means the back-to-school season, to me it means attacking the long list of “to-do’s” that I created over the long hot summer days.
Several years ago, my father-in-law, Mel Rilstone, gave me a Round Tuit. So in his honour, I created this quick design and stitched it on a kitchen towel. Here’s the saying on the Round Tuit:
“At long last we have a sufficient quantity of these so that each person may have one of his own. Guard it with your life. These <<Tuits>> have been hard to come by.
Especially the round ones. This is an indispensable item. It will help you become a much more efficient worker.
For years you have been saying: “I’ll do that as soon as I get a <<round tuit>>. Now that you have a <<Round tuit>> of your very own, all those things that have been needing to be accomplished will surely get done.”
Thanks, Mel, for the inspiration. Do you need a round tuit? Let me know......
The ladybug towel that I showed in the last post was made to test a monogram that I made using Monogram Wizard software as well as the addition of the ladybug design in Husqvarna Viking's 4D Pro embroidery software. These are the two main software programs I use to customize and personalize all the embroidery that I do. When creating a new design, I test sew it to ensure that the final stitching will work perfectly on the item or garment that the embroidery is placed on.While the 4D software allows me to see on computer how the design will stitch, nothing can replace stitching out the design on fabric.
I wanted to show you how the machine ties off each colour and switches to a new colour seamlessly. The Babylock BMP9 machine has six needles, each able to hold a different colour thread. Also, you can see the LCD control screen which shows where the stitching is taking place on the design, the colour number being stitched and the time the design will take out. I have to admit that I feel a bit like Captain Kirk from Star Trek when manipulating the controls. Pushing 'go' is still an adventure.
Please share your comments or questions. I would love to hear your what you want to learn about machine embroidery and any ideas you may have for future projects.
