Tutorials
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How to do Machine Embroidery on Cardstock
With so many amazing embroidery designs out there, creating awesome and very personal cards can be easy and fun! When I started doing research about this, I discovered that most people were saying that you could only use certain kinds on designs if you want to do machine embroidery on paper. The rebel in me couldn’t help but figure out how to do ANY design on paper. I mean, why not! Who says machine embroidery is just for fabric? People have figured out how the do embroidery on toilet paper for goodness sake, why not card stock and any design? So I figured it out and here is the tutorial…
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Heart Mug Rug and Placemats – Tutorial
‘Sew’ many hearts, ‘sew’ little time! Here is a quick little heart mug rug and placemats. Supplies 2-1/2″ strips of fabric in white, pinks and reds (or scraps. The stripes don’t have to be the same if you want a scrappy look) Backing fabric Sulky Totally Stable® Stabilizer Sulky Soft ‘n Sheer™ Stabilizer Sulky KK 2000™ Temporary Spray Adhesive Sulky 60 wt. PolyLite™ Thread – for piecing Sulky 30 wt. Cotton thread – for decorative stitches Batting Backing Pencil Chopstick – just one (or turning tool) Start by folding a piece of Sulky Totally Stable in half with the slick sides together and draw half of a heart on the fold. (Yes, you…
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Calendar and ‘To-Do List’ Organizer – Tutorial
Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? I try to set a couple goals that challenge me throughout the year. For 2015, my goal was balance. For the most part I did well and at times I failed miserably :). One of my goals for 2016 is to be more organized and productive in my daily life, so I decided to start the year off by making a cute holder for my calendar, notepad and daily to-do list. Here is the tutorial in case you want to get more organized in 2016 too! I put my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quote on the front of my organizer just to remind me of…
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Quick Thanksgiving Project to Complete Before the Meal is Ready
Quick Thanksgiving Project: Framed Embroidery A quick Thanksgiving project is order because we blinked and Thanksgiving is here! I’m sure you’re busy preparing to eat your way through Thursday, but just in case you are itching to do one last project, here is a quick Thanksgiving project for you. I made this last year just before Thanksgiving and it was a big hit on my table. This year, I decided to make a few more to give as gifts to the people who come for Thanksgiving dinner. Go here for the free pattern download and complete tutorial for the quick Thanksgiving project. Project Details It’s a free-motion embroidery project that…
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Cancer Fighting Zipper Bag Tutorial
When we think about Breast Cancer, we naturally think about the 1 in 8 women that will be diagnosed with this disease, but did you know that approximately 2,190 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year? Not only that, men with breast cancer have a higher mortality rate than women because they are less likely to suspect breast cancer and therefore get diagnosed much later. There are a lot of myths about breast cancer, you can read about them on the National Breast Cancer Foundation website here. This week, I decided to make a little pink zipper bag. This is a great little bag for all kinds of things from sewing supplies to…
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Cancer Fighting Wall Hanging Tutorial
Cancer Fighting Wall Hanging Tutorial I went and got my mammogram a few weeks ago. I have to admit, they are not fun but they aren’t the end of the world either. The nurse was really sweet, they got me in and out pretty quickly. Truthfully, I’d rather get a mammogram than go for a 5K run :). The results came back normal, which is great. Have you gotten your mammogram done? One of the things National Breast Cancer Foundation does is help women get their mammograms through a National Mammography Program. They partner with medical facilities across the country to provide free mammograms and diagnostic breast care services to…
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Sandpaper Seashell Coasters
Yesterday, I did a tutorial on Sandpaper Crayon Art and I ended up with these lovely seashells. I decided they would be perfect coasters and a great way to practice my free-motion quilting skills! I took the fabric and layered it with batting and backing, securing everything together with Sulky KK 2000™ Temporary Spray Adhesive. I also picked some thread colors. I used Sulky 30 wt. Cotton Blendables in Hyacinth #4079 for the shells and Foliage #4009 for the quilting. I used a Sulky prewound bobbin the the bobbin. Set up your machine for free-motion. For my machine, I lower the feed dogs, put on the free-motion foot and use a…
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Sandpaper Crayon Art Tutorial
Sandpaper Crayon Art Sandpaper Crayon Art is a unique technique for embellishing, and even the kiddos can get in on the action. I am still in a ‘beachy’ mood so I thought it would be fun to try doing the Sandpaper Seashells from the free pattern that we have on the website. I realized as I was doing it, the step-by-step instructions for actually doing the Sandpaper Crayon Art is no longer available on the site. This kind of thing happens when redesigning a website but we were all surprised that none of use has noticed this sooner. So we decided this was the perfect opportunity to update that tutorial for you here.…
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Christmas in July – Mug Hug tutorial
COFFEE SLEEVE MUG HUG PATTERN Earlier in the month, I made this Mug Rug using the scraps leftover from making the Speedy Spiral Christmas Tree Skirt. One of my wonderful readers asked if I would do a tutorial for a Mug Hug pattern as well. Without further ado, here it is! TO satisfy all coffee (and hot beverage) drinkers, I did 2 Mug Hug pattern sizes. The first is the kind you use on a tapered cup, like the kind you get when you go to Starbucks. Why use that silly cardboard sleeve when you could use one of these! These are pretty easy, first download the mug hug pattern…
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Christmas in July – Spool of Thread Stocking
As I was preparing for this series, I knew I wanted to do some kind of fun stocking. I love hanging the stockings on the mantel every year. I love opening my stocking on Christmas morning! In my house, everyone gets a stocking, even the dog. But during my search for inspiration (and I was spending way too much time on Pinterest), I began to wonder, why are almost all the Christmas stockings shaped like…stockings? I found tons of creative ones: R2D2, Minions, funny boots, even snowmen, but they were all shaped like a stocking. So I made a decision: Stockings in my house will no longer be shaped like…
