So I cut out 10″ squares of Snow White and Red fairy frost fabric (love the bit of sparkle in those pieces!) which allowed me a little extra room as I would be cutting the squares down to 8″ before folding.

Then I cut the same size squares of Ultra Heat’n'Bond and fused the red to the white fabric.

And then started folding…

…and folding over again….

And then folded the top down to see the white overlaid with the red.

I did glue the top white flaps down on each side of the basket. I also decided they needed a bit of embellishment….

After digging around in my stash of buttons and not having much success, I finally raided my sister’s supply of scrapbooking elements and found these little red jewel hearts which were perfect! And that little bag of hearts had just enough for the 20+ baskets I made.

Fill with chocolate and they’re done! Beautiful!!

Thanks to Alison for the idea and tutorial on her blog! Add ribbon, buttons and embellishments to your heart’s content and then have fun filling with fun treats!

I’ve been playing with envelope templates and printing various sizes on paper and decided that I had to try a fabric envelope! If it works with fabric, why won’t it work with fabric?! Normally I stick to the same kind of projects, but every once in a while I have to try something different and unique.

I found this simple envelope template and printed it on a piece of scrapbooking paper and put it together. Loved it!

Now to try it with fabric.

1. Fuse HeatnBond Lite wonderunder to the fabric.

2. Bond the fabric to a piece of card stock. I just used white; but if you want the interior of the envelope to be colored, use colored or printed card stock.

3. Open the pdf template (can be downloaded here), place the fabric/card stock into the printer so you are printing on the card stock side and click print. (And yes, I did this with my laser printer and it worked GREAT! No printer error this time! :))

4. Cut the template out following the lines and fold it along the dashed lines.

5. Cut a piece of card stock that is slightly smaller than the front of the envelope.

6. Place on front of envelope and stitch a decorative stitch around the card stock. Be sure to select an open and light decorative stitch; if it’s too dense like a satin stitch, it could tear the card stock. (I used flat tape in a couple places to hold the card stock in place while stitching.)

7. Glue the side flaps and bottom flap to create the envelope shape and placed it under a heavy book until it is dry. I also folded down the top flap to give it a crease, but did not glue it shut.

Now it’s time to insert the card, glue down the top flap, address it and mail it!

And surprisingly enough it went through the mail without any problem with only a first class stamp, although depending on the bulk of your fabric and card stock, it might require extra postage.

Version 3 and 4 of my Bernina DesignerPlus software, I know like the back of my hand, but V5…that I’m still learning all the *new* things that have been added! (I know, I know….V6 is now out, but I’m still loving V5 features! And when I install V6 on my computer in a couple weeks…well, I’ll be wowed away by all the new stuff in it as well!)

But take a look at this! It used to be back in the old versions of software that I would have to manually digitize an applique shape or design. You know, digitize the placement line, cutting line, tackdown stitch and then the cover stitch. Each. One. Separately.

Then the auto applique tool was developed and oh, did that ever speed up the process! And now the partial applique and advanced applique tools have been added, but the thing that caught my eye today as I’ve been designing is this: bringing the fabric into the applique so it shows onscreen.

Yep, that’s right! Here’s my design and inside the square on point, I can see the fairy frost fabric in my head, but I can’t actually SEE it onscreen.

Until I bring in that little scanned fabric swatch. See?! How cool is that!

I like the purple fabrics and threads, but really loved the flower once it was stitched!

And the teal flower was just as beautiful!

30 hours…606,045 stitches…3,312 yds of embroidery thread…24 bobbins…9 yards of stabilizer later……..all three center medallion blocks are stitched! Whoohoo!!!

Here’s a few of the pics of some of the designs I’ve stitched so far. My goal is to have three embroidered center medallion blocks stitched. And yes, that is LOTS of embroidery!

The start of the center appliqué design for the center medallion.

And I just can’t resist trying another color – purple! Love it!!!

Center appliqué design in the center medallion block.

It’s usually a good idea to completely cover the appliqué area with fabric. Works much better; trust me on this one! ;)

Ahhh….yes! Much better!

Looking wonderful!! Teal colorway for the quilt and this design is in the center of the center medallion block.

Thread nesting – it’s something that happens to everyone and can be very frustrating! Here’s a tip from OESD that will help!

I know this question is a bit different but I do need your help. I have an embroidery machine. My problem is I keep getting bird nesting. I have followed all of the instructions that I have and I have cleaned and oiled the machine. I have changed needles three times, changed thread, bobbins, and I have even unplugged everything that is close to my machine except for the computer of course. Are my embroidery files messed up? Or what else could be the problem? I can sew on the machine fine. It is only embroidery that is causing me grief. Can you help me? Thanks, Peggy

Peggy, Bird nesting is almost always a threading problem. I know that sounds way too simple. Be sure that you ALWAYS thread with the presser foot in the up position. This will allow the needle thread to position itself properly in the tension dial. When the presser foot is down, the tension dials will then exert the proper tension on each side of the thread. Also check to make sure the thread is properly inserted in all the thread guides. If you thread with the foot down there will be no tension on the thread for the first few stitches. This will send a whole lot of thread to the bottom (thread nest). After those few stitches the tension may correct itself since the thread may be pulled into the tension dials as a result of the knot of thread. Check to make sure the number on the tension dial is set to the correct number for your machine. There is a possibility that there could be something wrong with the tension dials themselves, but if that is the case, your tension would probably be off for regular stitching also.

For more embroidery tips, visit E-Tips at EmbroideryOnline.com

The tablecloth – This is the first thing I thought of doing with the beautiful borders in this collection. Those large, beautiful borders on that bolt of fabric are just calling for mitered corners!
The red background with the holly on it will be on the outside and probably on the other side as well that joins the border to the rest of the tablecloth.

The edge is figured out, so now it’s time to make a decision as to what’s in the middle. Here’s some of the images I played with in BQ and I think the choice is pretty obvious. I put the placemat with red borders on top to see the results. The red version also has the placemat with green borders on it because the red borders just get lost.

What do you think?

ivory center

red center

gold center

green center

Something else I’ve been thinking about is how to finish the tablecloth. Here are my choices I’ve been considering as I stitch the borders to the center and miter the corners:

1. Stitch 1/4″ seams and serge the seam allowances. It will be on the back, so it shouldn’t show, except for perhaps the corners where the fabric drapes off the table.

2. Stitch the seams in a french seam so the seam is completely enclosed. It would just make for a nicer finish if the back did flip up. Or I could do a stitch and serges seam on the sides and just do a french seam on the mitered corners.

3. Line the tablecloth, so then the seams would be inside and enclosed and the back would look nice. But if I do that, I need to do some stitching in the ditch and other stitching in the center to hold the layers together and keep them laying flat on the table.

Then for finishing the edge, I also have a couple of choices:

1. Roll hem the edge. This is quick and easy and I really like a rolled hem edge, but it’s not quite as durable as a turned under and under hem.

2. Turn the edge under and under in a 1/4″ seam and straight stitch.

3. If I line it, I can stitch the edges together with right sides together and then turn it to the outside for a finished edge.

4. Or if I line it, I could also stitch a binding around the edge. This would add another fabric into the mix and would add a little weight to the edge to hold the tablecloth down which wouldn’t be a bad idea. Of course, this would also be the most time consuming.

Hmm…..choices, decisions….I’m going to start cutting the fabric on these next week, so I still have a little time to make a decision.

You can see close-up photos here with details on the embroidery and quilting.

I’ve been wanting for the last couple of years to make a table wear set with a Christmas theme, but haven’t found the time (imagine that!) or haven’t found the fabric that I thought was just perfect….until now!

This is the embroidery design I am going to use that matches the print fabric. It’s OESD design FP044 and I took out the upright flower and extra stem cause I wanted this floral to be the focal point. I love being able to do that – match the motif in the fabric to the design. It makes it look so neat!

A great thing about this design is that it is not filled in, so it is not as dense as some others. That will (1) make it quicker to stitch and (2) will not add the bulk of stitches to the place mat which plates and flatware will have to sit over.

I played with some design various for place mats in my Bernina Quilter software and here are my favorites.

This one is design 1 with red borders:

This one is design 1 with green borders:

I couldn’t decide if the triangles around the center block added to or were distracting to the rest of the place mat. So I did this one with red borders eliminating the triangles:

And the same design with the green borders:

I think I do like the mats better with the triangles surrounding the center block. It seems to keep the colors blending together.

What do you think?