Stitches... Stitches... Stitches

 It's an exciting Day.  You just went out and bought yourself a lovely new machine... It has so many great features that your old singer (or whatever) doesn't have. and all those wonderful stitch patterns that you can do  some wonderful things with...

Fast forward 5 years.

You sit looking at your machine and probably can count on one hand, possibly 2 how many of those wonderful stitches you have used.  Straight stitch, Zig zag, blanket stitch, maybe a basting stitch, a triple stitch, and maybe  the blind hem stitch if you need to hem a pair of pants.

The basic 300 from Bernina has 221 Stitches, so there are possibly 211 stitches you have never used.  So let's do something about that!

This month, the challenge is to find 10 stitches on your machine that you have never used or have forgotten that you used and sew them out on a sample.  I used felt for mine and a nice complimentary variegated thread. I have over the years used about 75 stitches off my machine...  I think there are over 1300 different stitch patterns. So I managed to find 10.   LOL

NO EMBROIDERY MACHINES ALLOWED

Embroidery stitches can be used for many things in quilting

• Quilting
• applique
• binding
• small decorative pieces
• large decorative pieces
• quilt blocks with different decorative stitches
• And many more ideas

My advice for successful decorative stitches

1. Think about backing your stitching area with a stabilizer or using heavy starch to stabilize your fabric
2. Don't try to sew for hours on end.
3. Make sure your machine is set up perfectly for success.   Remembering to change your single hole plate is very important.  (ask me how I know!) The right needle for the thread you are using.   And never start with a metallic thread until you know what you need to know about using metallic thread on YOUR machine.
4. Test everything on similar fabric before using it on your project.  
5. Call a friend to talk you down before you toss your machine!
6. Talk to a machine expert at the store where you bought your machine to get tips and Ideas.

I really liked this girl on You tube... make sure you take time to watch this video and try some of her ideas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcwz1gYXLFg

the special project for September Part 2

 Oh Man!  I almost forgot this, this month.

But aren't we all alike.  September seems like ages away until it's September and it's too late to do anything about it.

Ok.  so last month I got those colour chips.   Have I done anything about anything yer?  Nope. but I am going to do it right now.

So these are the colour chips I choose...

I realized I also have an orange/gold, white, black and Silver on the label.   So I choose a few fabrics that fall in those categories and I can still add, if I want, 1 colour. Purple is not overflowing in my stash.  So a trip to the fabric store may be in order.

• Purple
• Blue
• orange /yellow/gold
• Black
• White
• Silver

I don't think I'll add any more colours...