Category Archives: linen blanks

Sewing Non-Stop

Sew busy!   Lately, of course, I’ve spent a lot of time getting acquainted with my new Brother Dream Machine.  But before my Dream came true,  I was kept busy with several small but important machine embroidery projects, like this one.

 

com bag text 2

The Scripture design is from Designs by Juju, in her collection Heavenly Inspirations 1. It was slightly modified to make room for the addition of the Bible design.

 

This was made for our 10 year old granddaughter, Laurel, who needed a bag to carry her sizable notebook and Bible to her weekly Communicant Class (read “confirmation”) at our church.

 

com bag mono 2

 

As you might expect, a monogram was added to the other side.  The bag has seen heavy usage these past weeks.

Another quick project was a set of whimsical luncheon napkins.   They coordinate with the Seaside Madeira Table Linens I stitched last summer.

 

The embroidery and gingham made this a more casual setting than the hemstitched linen napkins shown here.

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Monogrammed Wedding Gift

Weddings are important because they celebrate life and possibility. Anne Hathaway

twelve dinner napkins like this one

The wedding gift includes twelve linen, hemstitched dinner napkins like this one.  And in case the bride or groom read this post, please note that nothing else in the picture is part of the gift 😉

 

These napkins were stitched for a couple who embrace both life and possibility.  They seem to know that

“In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities.” —Janos Arnay

And for them, one of those possibilities is a great deal of entertaining.

The gift includes 12 hemstitched linen dinner napkins monogrammed with designs from JuJu’s Adorn Trio Ornamental Monogram. This set comes in 4 sizes and is now marked down from $20 to $5!  I love this collection and Juju’s other designs.  Note: I have no affiliation with JuJu except as a satisfied customer.

Along with the dinner napkins, there are 12 monogrammed cocktail napkins, too many to include in the photo. Continue reading

Church Linens

nap lavabo CR

 

I was honored to make these church linens for a mother to give her son upon his ministerial ordination this very Sunday.  This thoughtful mother has made up a gift package that includes these and other items her son will need as he pursues his calling.

Made of very fine linen, two communion napkins (or “veils”) to cover the elements were embroidered, hemstitched and edged with tatting. The napkin corners were rounded because mitering tatting is way above my skill level.

Pin stitch was worked around the perimeter with a #100 sharp needle.  I’ve learned that using a wing needle with tatting is a recipe for disaster.  But stitching slowly and carefully with the sharp, there were no tatting casualties.

 

slightly modified design is from ABC Christian Symbols collection

slightly modified design is from the spectacular  Christian Symbols collection of ABC Embroidery Designs

 

The baptismal lavabo is made from a blank linen guest towel with three rows of hemstitching.

 

lavabo

 

I had a hard time coming up with a design that suited me.  What I wanted was a simple baptismal shell with three water drops symbolic of the trinity.  After an extensive and unproductive search of both my design library and on-line designs, I finally bought this  design from Embroidery Library, deleted the green scroll and rotated the shell. Continue reading

AWOL or MIA?

I hope you all had wonderful Christmas and New Year  celebrations.  After the church musical Christmas Gala 10 y0 granddaughter Laurel was so happy that she literally danced along the path to the parking lot.  Her delight ended when she twirled and fell, breaking her wrist.   Thank heavens for the Children’s Urgent Care Center!  She’s on the mend now and other than that unfortunate incident, it has been a joyous holiday.

We enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner, gift exchange and church with our son and his family then drove across the state to spend Christmas Day with our daughter and hers.

This is her  2 yo carnivore,  Vivian Rose, enjoying her Christmas goose drumstick, collard greens, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding and mashed potatoes.  She loves to eat!

 

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Vivi drumstick 1

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Christmas Pillow–not ME

no embroidery machine needed!

no embroidery machine needed!

 

It’s not too late to whip up a holiday pillow.  Brother asked me to design a simple Christmas project that did not require an embroidery machine and this is what was created.    A dishtowel with a decorative hem is  teamed up with a bevy of buttons to create a whimsical Christmas tree pillow. It’s a quick and easy way to add a fresh look to your holiday décor and have fun doing it.

The template is at the end of this post, but you could just as easily draw your own.  If you download the .jpg and print it, you can resize as needed. Continue reading

Halloween “Jane”

corn pump cr

“Candy Corn Cutie” design is from Embroidtique.

Children’s Corner Jane has got to be one of my all-time favorite patterns.  When it comes to play clothes or holidays with a short-wearing season, this is my go-to.

It is so quick and easy that I made two Jane tops for toddler granddaughter Vivian Rose.  Two!!!!

candy corn emb

Poor placement of text on fabric.  It would have been so much more readable if it had been embroidered on the almost white stripe.

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Expo Inspiration+Free ME Yo-Yo’s

Pattern: Flamingo Cove

Pattern: Flamingo Cove    Notice the yo-yo’s on the fish, turtles, crab, pelicans, flamingos, bush and more.  My favorite is the sun yo-yo, surrounded by rick rack.

 

The Lakeland Quilt and Sewing Expo in Lakeland was the highlight of last week for Suzanne Sawko and me.  We were swamped with inspiration!  Our last minute trip was scheduled too late for us to register for classes, but the vendors and quilt displays made the trip more than worth while.

 

Lion's Den

Lion’s Den pattern

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Washaway Thank You Gift

apple bag-001

 

 

When you need to give a little thank you gift, this quick, fun little item is just the ticket.  It’s the kind of thing  that won’t make the recipient feel beholden, like the offer of a kidney or your  firstborn.   It’s a dishtowel, sewn with washaway (water soluble) thread into a bag that holds apples or whatever, but only temporarily.

My friend Pat did me a great favor and I needed to thank her.   Your lives are probably as tightly scheduled as I mine, so you will understand that when I decided at the last minute to take a trip to North Carolina, there were complications.  One of these complications was that I had to find someone to take my turn to bring dessert for 20 ladies at my monthly church circle Bible study.  My friend Pat was that someone.

As a thank you, I brought some crisp North Carolina apples for her.  But I needed a nicer presentation than a plastic WalMart sack so I embroidered and sewed this bag from my oh-so-handy stash of vintage gingham trim dishtowels from All About Blanks.  I keep a hefty supply all washed, starched and pressed in my sewing room and find so many uses for them. Continue reading

Readers’ Creative Projects

The past week has been a blur!  We had our precious 3 yo grandson Alastair with us for 5 days, that big estate sale that I couldn’t keep myself away from (more on that in another post), and a family cold that clobbered me.

 

Alastair just gave out, clutching his beloved E=MC2 (squared) blanket.  His mama calls it his nerd blankie.

 

Six year old grandson Robert,victim #1, had it first and shared it with  #2 Cousin Alastair  who spent two of his 5 days with us in abject misery.  Then a day later, my number (#3) was up and Bad Bug morphed into bronchitis and Black Plague.  Well, it felt like what I imagine Black Plague did.

Now, hale and hearty Granddad (#4) is sneezing.  Even Alastair’s father Harvey (#5), an aged-out Eagle Scout (motto Be Prepared),  keeps his handkerchief handy. We’ve gone through A LOT of orange juice, Kleenex and vitamin C.

The really good news is that my PREGNANT (hurrah!!!) daughter has nary a sniffle.

But I am eager to get back to blogging.  One of the best things about this blogging activity is viewing the photos of projects made by you dear readers.  I love getting these pictures!

Today, I’d like to share a few with you.

 

Shirley made the doll dress with designs from a Custom Keepsakes collection. The sweet doll was rescued from a thrift shop.

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Last Minute Flights and Late Night Projects

UPDATE: Alastair was precious in his Christmas suit and loved the design! None my fears were realized.   I shouldn’t have worried about him not liking it.

burgundy velveteen shorts, ivory linen shirt

I knew I was cutting it very close this year.  One thing and another kept coming up, thwarting my plans to finish up Christmas gifts.  Yesterday, I had the entire day free to finish up.  But then…

 

My pilot son invited us to join him on a shake down flight on his new jet.  Well, it’s not his to own, but his as the captain to fly and schedule. So we were off to Ft. Lauderdale for lunch, except that there were some technical glitches and we had a late supper there.  It really was delightful, but the whole day was used up.

my handsome pilot son and his family

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