February News

A lot has happened since I last posted.  Due to the huge loss of the 50 movies and the printable lesson for the PE-Design NEXT/Palette 9 tutorial, the tutorial will not be produced.  I'm sorry to all of you whom have been waiting for it to be finalized.  This tutorial was started in January, 2012 and over 600 hours was put into it.  Everything was saved to an external hard drive, which failed miserably.  I also experienced quite a few problems with my laptop at the same time.  Because of the loss in time and data, I decided that I could not go back and start over from scratch.

The web site has been updated and all embroidery related pages have been removed.  I'll continue machine embroidery, but only to enhance personal clothing and home decor as well as gift items for family and friends.  I am no longer digitizing designs for sale because there is so much theft and sharing out there.  It's disheartening to spend hours, days and weeks perfecting collections of designs, only to have them shared in groups.  I'll still digitize designs to use for my own projects because I really enjoy the creative process.

After taking some needed time off following the mishap with the software tutorial, I have re-immersed myself into my gourd art.  I haven't carved on a couple of previously started gourds in several months and I really have missed that.  Hopefully I'll have some progress photos to share soon.

I also participated in an AGS Certified Judge's course hosted by the Florida Gourd Society recently.  Although I've been a judge at gourd events in the past (not promoted as AGS competitions),  I thought it was about time that I became certified.  As a member of both the Florida Gourd Society and American Gourd Society, I'm looking forward to getting involved with events and competitions, making new friends and helping to promote the incredibly satisfying world of gourd art.

I'm taking a class to increase my wood burning skills by learning how to create faux leather tooled designs on gourds.  This is something I've wanted to learn for a number of years, and now I have the chance.  I'll share some samples as soon as I have something I'm proud of showing!

Hopefully you're involved in learning either a new craft or technique to expand your artistic horizons!  Until my next post, I wish you well.

Shari

PE-DESIGN NEXT / Palette 9 Software Tutorial

The movies are coming along really well for the tutorial although I wish there were more quiet times for recording!  With summer in full gear, lawn mowers and other machinery are interrupting my recording sessions. 

In the meantime, a question came up in my Yahoo group yesterday about hole sewing.  Since there are so many new embroiderers out there using the PE-DESIGN NEXT or Palette 9 software, I decided to create a quick movie clip illustrating the processes for hole sewing and removing overlap.

I hope this movie clip will help you.

PE-Design NEXT/Palette 9 Tutorial

Greetings! I've been working every possible moment on the tutorial and am pleased to say things are moving along quite well. I'm currently working my way through recording (and editing) the movies for Layout & Editing. There are 53 movies just for this application alone. As soon as the movies are completed, there's just a matter of double checking that everything is together to put on the DVD's, create the DVD jacket sleeve and make the announcement! It was decided to divide the tutorial in half, so once the first part of the tutorial covering Layout & Editing, Programmable Stitch Creator and Font Creator is complete, I'll be starting on the printable lessons and movies for Design Center and Design Database. I'll keep you up to date on the progress and please know that I am really anxious to complete these as quickly as possible. Have a great week!

I'm back with new News!

Wow, how things change when you're not around! But, I've been busy, really :) I've been updating the web site and was really sad to realize I lost a lot of new pictures of baskets and gourds that were stored on an external hard drive. That will teach me not to back it up onto a DVD! In any event, there are some major changes that I thought I would share with you. First, I am no longer digitizing designs for sale to the embroidery community. There are so many designs out there, and lots of uninformed (or uncaring) people who are sharing designs wherever they can. I worked too hard (as many digitizers) on my designs to have them shared, so I've decided to stop selling my designs. I am hard at work on the PE-DESIGN NEXT / Palette 9 tutorial, which has taken longer than I originally anticipated. It's extremely comprehensive and thorough, which is more important than speed. So far, I've spent over 500 hours...and that's only the printable lessons. There will be dozens (and dozens) of audio-visual movies for each application, and digitizing lessons. I've also decided to limit the embroidered gifts and home decor items so that I can spend a lot more time on my gourd art and pine needle baskets and sculptures. I truly love this creative passion, that I've decided this is where I'll be putting all my efforts. I'm working on a new gourd, similar to one (but yet different) that was sold. It's one of the dozens of pictures that was lost. Below is the gourd in its early stages (along with me of course). I've also restarted a pine needle basket with a gorgeous agate center. Originally, I intended to coil something sculptural with this and an antler, but have decided to just let the basket take me where it wants to go. Hopefully, now that I've simplified my days (and weeks) with a leaner business, I can blog with you more often. Well, there's always hope :) Have a creative weekend!

Coffee Anyone?

Below is an image of the towels I made using 4 of the Funny Coffee Bean designs I've been working on. Notice the border fabric! I like making things that are different than what you can find in the stores or through other sources. I used a coffee themed fabric by Timeless Treasures in a really yummy shade of brown with darker brown coffee related terms printed all over it. It adds a punch to the really cute embroidery designs, don't you think?

The towels measure 26" long x 14" wide; the border measures the full width of the towel x 1-1/2" high. The towels are a wonderful, soft and thirsty cotton in an off-white.

These will be added to the web site tomorrow. If you are looking for something different for that coffee lover you know, why not give them something not only practical, but a gift that will provoke a smile!

Unfortunately, we are not able to accept any more orders for this holiday season. We're getting ready for the Christmas holidays ourselves. Our office will be closed officially on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 and will reopen on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.

As this will be our final blog for 2011, I'd like to extend our wishes to all of our customers and friends for a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and a New Year filled with the very best of everything!

Christmas Placemats

Well, December has arrived and Christmas shopping is in full throttle! Happily, the Christmas placemats project was finalized and my customer is thrilled.

I had to make some changes to the original idea that I blogged about back in October. The designs I selected are wonderful, but for this project, they were too dense for the quilting fabric I used. No matter what tricks I tried, there was too much puckering and I didn't think that adding the stipple stitching would help. So, I came up with Plan B.

As you can see in the image below, I opted for appliques in three different Christmas themes, a star, tree and gingerbread. I had digitized the gingerbread design back in 2004, both as a filled embroidery design and an applique. I went back to edit it a bit more for this project, digitized the tree and star appliques and was able to finish the project in record time!

Unfortunately, you can't see the quilting stitches, but I stipple stitched around the appliques and went with a simple stitch in the ditch method for the quilt block area. Rather than competing with the bright fabric colors and matching (or close to it) threads, I opted for invisible thread and it worked out perfectly.

Now that this project has been completed, I'm working on several other projects. One, that I will post a picture later, is a set of Coffee Bean towels with a wonderful coffee themed border. I think that adding a lovely fabric border that matches the theme of the embroidery designs is a great way to finish off a set of towels. The other project is to finish up this lovely FSL Christmas bowl. I actually have several to do, so I'd better get my "thread" on!

Hope you are having a creative day.

New Christmas Towel Set

Oh yes, the holidays are fast approaching! Decorated kitchen towels are a very popular gift item. Kitchens filled with the scent of baking cookies, pies, and breads are in need of a constant supply of clean towels. Decorated towels are perfect as they add to the festive activities.

Here's our newest set that will be added to the web site today. The set of 3 towels features North Pole "helpers" such as the Cookie Taster, Snowman Construction Worker and the Executive Elf. We have additional designs, but chose these three adorable designs to kick off our new towel set additions.

The towels are 100% cotton, measure 26 1/2" long by 18" wide, have a wonderful green check border on the bottom and feature a hanging tab on the upper corner of the backside (clever option for those who don't have a towel bar). We laundered the towels so that all the shrink has been removed, so you can launder them as you normally do for towels.

We think these are so cheerful and we're sure you will too. Not only will these help make your holiday kitchen festive, they would make the perfect gift for anyone you know who loves to spend time baking up a storm for the holidays!

Keep watching as I'll be adding more goodies to the web site in the coming days.

Funny Coffee Beans Newest Design

Just thought I'd post a quick note to let you know that the next design (FCB07) of the Funny Coffee Beans collection has been completed. I've posted a picture of the stitch out on the site, but am including it here in case you don't have time to visit the web site right now.

This one took a little longer to perfect, but I think he's a cutie. Perfect for decorating napkins or kitchen towels, especially for that bachelor you know who loves coffee!

Have started the next design, so please stay tuned. As soon as it's ready, I'll post it here.

In the meantime, the placemats that I posted about last month have become a hit, even before they've been added to the web site. As soon as the new set is completed (first set has been sold), I'll upload a photo to the site on the Kitchen Decor page - http://www.sharianndesigns.com/kitchen-decor.html .

With the holidays arriving in less than 7 weeks, now is the time to plan those gifts. If you have something special in mind, give us a call so we can make you a hero for gift giving! Why not choose something that can't be found in the stores that everyone else will buy.

In the meantime, enjoy the beauty of the Fall season!

Holiday Project

Late last week, I realized that it was October and my new Christmas projects were not completed for the web site. In my defense, my excuse is I've been busy working on my new design set, working around the garden getting rid of weeds that seem to flourish, researching a new hobby (being mom to orchids) and also getting some carving done on a gourd I'm eager to finish. Does that work for a good excuse? It will have to do for now!

So, I gleefully sorted through my stash of holiday fabrics and realized I was lacking in some contrasting fabrics...sure, any excuse to buy more fabrics, right? This is spoken like a true fabricholic :)

Before heading out with my debit card polished and ready, I put some finishing touches on the pattern I created in EQ6. When I originally created this project in my mind in the spring, I hadn't completely decided on the embroidery designs I was going to use. Yes, I know, the time to complete this project should have happened in July, but with the move and setting up the new house, there were too many distractions.

After printing out one of the images of the project, along with the yardage I needed, it was time to head out to audition all the possible candidates for this fun project. It didn't take much effort to find the right selections, which seemed to eagerly jump into my cart. Although I may still need to hit another store or two "just in case", I think I made some jolly selections.

With fabrics happily in hand, I headed home and began the process of laundering everything so I can begin cutting these festive fabrics into strips, squares, rectangles and hst's. Soon I'll be busy embroidering the designs, which I purchased from Embroidery Library - http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/new.aspx?date=071311 - check out the stackable designs. They are so cute!

Here's a sample of 8 placemats I finalized in EQ6, complete with the embroidery designs I selected.

On another note, the next design in the Coffee Bean collection is ready. For a coffee bean, she's rather stylish, don't you think?

The next design is in the works, so it looks like I'll have to bring out the extra embroidery machine so I can multi-task between both projects!

Hopefully you are having an equally creative time, and if not, remember, the holidays are less than 11 weeks away!

Shari

Coffee Bean designs

After having some difficulties with my digital camera, I was finally able to upload the newest design in the Coffee Bean collection. I feel that it resembles many of us coffee lovers checking our email!

While I was back in Illinois during August, I worked on design #6, and it should be ready sometime this week. So please stay tuned :) And I have some cute plaid trimmed towels that I plan to embroider these designs on for the web site. Those will be posted on the site on the Kitchen Decor page - http://www.sharianndesigns.com/kitchen-decor.html .

I've also been gearing up for Christmas, my favorite holiday of the year. I have a new machine embroidered lace ornament that will be uploaded to the Holidays page - http://www.sharianndesigns.com/kitchen-decor.html.

I hope you'll check back often to see all the new things that are being added to the site! In the meantime, have a terrific week.

Changes To The Web Site

Time just seems to move by much too quickly these days! It's now September, we are moving closer to the end of summer and the beginning of my favorite season, autumn. Although we are now Floridians, and won't see the glorious colors of the season in the Midwest, we'll be able to enjoy less humid air, slightly cooler temperatures during the day and a crispness in the air in the evening.

I'm moving away from some of the embroidered gifts I've offered and will be concentrating more on my baskets and carved gourds. I will still digitize new embroidery designs as well. I won't be offering aprons or embroidered frame inserts any longer, so those items will be removed from the web pages. Since the response to our variety of embroidered towels is wonderful, I will continue these, as well as adding new sets in the coming weeks. The lace ornaments will also remain as lots of customers have not only ordered them for their own holiday decorating, but also as gifts.

My new set of embroidery designs that is in the works, Funny Coffee Beans, is such a fun group of designs for those who love anything coffee! These designs can be used on towels, aprons, covers for small kitchen appliances, napkins, a quilted wall hanging or anything else that suits your fancy! Below is one of the latest designs that I've completed so far.

There will be 30 designs to this set when completed, 10 small (4"x4") filled designs and then 10 designs in redwork in two sizes (4"x4" and 5"x 5").

Finally, our fax option for ordering will be available as of September 13, which will make ordering either designs or one of our other products easier. Of course, you can still reach us by phone to place your order!

Have a terrific week and I hope you'll check our site often for new gift ideas.

Shari

New Location

We have moved to a new home in a new state!  It will take a little while to get unpacked and completely organized, but it’s an exciting new adventure.

Over the next couple of days, I’ll be making some necessary changes to the web site, such as address and phone.    In the meantime, we’re enjoying the sunshine and warmth of Florida!

We’ll chat again very soon,

Shari

New Year and New Changes

Can it really be true I haven't posted to my blog since last September? I've been extremely busy, but I had no idea it has been that long.

I have added a new basket to the web site and thought I'd give you followers a peak at it here. This basket has a hardwood base and is woven with flat oval and round reed, in a combination of natural and smoked reed, in a pretty double arrow pattern. It's perfect for fruit or other things you need to store in a decorative basket.

I like this pattern by Dianne Gleixner so much that I need to make a basket for my own kitchen in blue and natural.

And for those that emailed me about the embroidered picture frame inserts, the page is back on the site! As soon as I have some free time, I'll be adding a few more designs.

Free time is going to be very limited in the next couple of months due to our buying a new home in Florida. We'll be busy packing and moving down there in the coming weeks, so I'll post here when that takes place. All my quilting projects and gourds have already been moved into the new house. We aren't sure who will be moving down first, my DH or myself. My DH has applied for a transfer position to Orlando, but hiring is notoriously slow with the government agencies, so I may be down there first while he continues working here in Illinois and trying to sell our current home. There's so much involved that it sometimes seems overwhelming!

Well, I hope to be back in a week or so with more news. Until then, I pray the snow stops falling and that I'll have time in between packing to create some new baskets or embroidered treasures to share with you.

Stay warm :)

Learning New Techniques

It's hard to believe I haven't posted since the beginning of August. Summer is now behind us and the crisp and colorful days of Autumn now greet us. This is my favorite time of the year! I love to take long drives or walks with my husband just to gaze at the rich colors of the leaves against the contrasting skies of varying shades of blue. Soon it will be time to start planting for the spring that will follow yet another unpredictable winter.

One of the most fun adventures I've had recently was attending classes at the Michigan Festival of Gourds. Those that know me well are never surprised at the arts and crafts I pursue. I've been decorating gourds in different ways for over 12 years (maybe longer), but I've been needing to be challenged so I could take my gourd art to a new level.

Not only did I get to meet one of the best teachers and unbelievably gifted artist, Bonnie Gibson, I took four of her classes during the festival. Before leaving for the festival, I took three gourds, two of which I drew out my designs based on the skills I was about to learn. In the first class, Bonnie taught us how to carve 3-D feathers into our gourds using our rotary tools and a variety of burs. Since I've carved Eagle feathers into antlers many times, I had a feeling there wasn't going to be much of a difference carving on a gourd. There are some differences; first is that gourds have a rounded shape, whereas many antlers have simpler curves. Another is that antler is made from bone and gourds are "woody". No matter, this experience is going to lead to buying lots more gourds!

Below is a picture of the gourd I've started with overlapping Eagle feathers. I've drawn out other elements I'm planning around the gourd, but for now, I want to show you the "before" picture of the feathers.



Hopefully you can see the defined, but not completed, feather on the right and the uncarved feather on the left. There's a lot of work yet to do before this will satisfy me!

The next class was all about carving faux basketry into our gourds. I love basketry, especially those coiled with pine needles from South Carolina. The first gourd I saw of Bonnie's on which she had carved this technique was something I knew I had to learn to do. While trying to adjust to a Dremel for this technique wasn't easy, I'm learning to adapt. I've used a Dremel for roughing in carvings on antler, but have always preferred my high speed air carving tools for the majority of the carvings!

Below is my gourd that has the center carved out with the "coils" visible. Of course, this needs further sanding and then the burning technique will give the coils the look of basketry. If I achieve what I'm after, the basketry will look real. There's a second circle on the backside for the same technique and then two other circles which will have another carved treatment on the opposite sides.



If you look closely at the top border area, you'll see that has also been carved out. There's a matching border beneath the basketry area that needs to be carved and made ready for another technique, Inlace Inlay. My third class was learning how to carve recessed areas for inlays. The Inlace is a pigmented resin product that gives the same illusion as stone inlay that jewelers produce.

My 4th class was all about learning to do 3-D carvings with cutouts. I didn't take a picture of that gourd as it still needs quite a bit of work. Plus, I need to finish drawing in the designs that will go around the rest of the gourd. With this technique, you actually cut through the gourd to create voids within the design. I chose a design with cardinals, birch trees and leaves as I love birch trees and our oak trees here are home to several "families" of cardinals. Hopefully I'll find some time very soon to continue working on this wonderful technique!

I hope the balance of September will be good for you and that you'll find something that can inspire you to learn new techniques.

Quilting and Decorating with Machine Embroidery

I've been so busy getting lots of "to do" projects done plus a bunch of customer orders and realized I hadn't posted to my blog in a while. Well, today I'd like to show you a quilting project I'm working on, and maybe you'll become inspired to create your own quilt with machine embroidery.

Yesterday I finally auditioned some embroidery thread colors for a quilt for our master bedroom. This color scheme is out of my norm, so I conferred with my DH as, after all, it's his quilt too! The fabrics are from the Robert Kaufman Floral Fusions line, Beige and Wheat. The beige has soft off white and cream tones while the wheat has a light and medium shade of golden tan plus cream throughout in a sort of mottled pattern. If you'd like to see the fabric closer, check out http://www.robertkaufman.com/fabrics/fusions_4070/ and scroll down the page, close to the bottom. (Sorry, I just cannot get these links to work!)

Below is a photo I took of the sample block next to the wheat fabric contrast. I auditioned two different embroidery colors for the flowers, a peach and a golden tan that has a hint of peach. The other colors are a light golden tan for the swirls and a heathered sage for the leaves and I will use a light creamy yellow for the flower centers.



Since we can't decide on the colors for the flowers, the project will be a UFO for the time being! My DH likes the peach flowers, I like the golden tan. We don't have peach in our bedroom, but it is a color that both of us were thinking of infusing into our room...maybe. But for this quilt, my eyes are just not loving the peach.

While I was waiting for the digital camera to charge up (so I could take the picture), I decided to tackle my new kitchen curtains that I embroidered a couple of months ago, but hadn't hemmed. Here's a close up of the embroidery.



Originally I thought I would use just two panels, but after I hung them, I realized I would need to make another panel to fill things out. The fabric is a very light creamy yellow, tone on tone print and the slightly darker creamy yellow embroidery is cutwork tulips and a cutwork birdie from www.s-embroidery.com. I fell in love with Stacy's cutwork designs and they stitch out so beautifully. I don't digitize cutwork designs, so I'm very happy to share Stacy's web site information with you :) Once I have a little time, I'm going to create that extra panel with just the tulips because the birdies are already mirrored between the two existing panels.

In the meantime, now that I've caught up with all my large orders, I can get back to digitizing the Baby's World designs I started weeks ago.

I hope you have a wonderfully creative day!

Must Read Interview for Quilters

I read the most fun interview today and wanted to share it with all my friends and fellow quilters. Hopefully the link above will take you to the Connecting Threads blogspot page where the interview is displayed.

Quilting is a passion I wish I had so much more time for. I can't tell you how many books I've collected over the years, but there's one more I must add to my collection. Connecting Threads has interviewed a wonderfully talented quilter, Anita Grossman Solomon, who has authored a new book, "Rotary Cutting Revolution". When you check out the interview, please notice the fantastic quilt on the upper left with the book. The quilt is called The No Waste Windmill, made entirely from scraps! Now that's my kind of quilt.

Something else that I'm drawn to is Anita's style for pineapple quilts. For those of you who know me, my love of log cabin quilts is over the top. Well, pineapple quilts are log cabins with the blocks of fabrics turned in a different pattern. To see her variations of pineapple quilts, you need to visit her blog - http://makeitsimpler.blogspot.com/ . Sorry, I can't make that a clickable link. I've already saved her blog as a favorite and became a follower so I can visit time and time again!

If you are looking for a new and simpler way to quilt, read Connecting Threads' Karen Johnson's interview with Anita and then head on over to her blog for more inspiration!

Happy Quilting :)

Hawaiian Goldwork

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted to my blog. It's been busy around here, that's for sure.

I've added two sizes to the Hawaiian Goldwork design patterns that have been on the web site. It gives the options to create more projects, from small bags and even your own tropical tee shirts using the new 3" designs, to quilts featuring the 6" designs.



I'm busy drawing motifs to add to the corners of the 8" block designs, but I may just leave these designs the way they are. It would allow the user to add echo stitching, which is the way most Hawaiian quilts are enhanced. As soon as I have decided, the designs will be released.

Summer arrived this past Monday, so I've been busy making and embroidering aprons for a long list of happy customers, just in time for the outdoor grilling season! It seems that aprons have continued to be a very popular kitchen "staple". I've been promised photos of those who have received an apron I've custom made for them, and as soon as they arrive, I'll upload them here.

Enjoy the rest of June, and I'll be back with more great ideas for decorating your home and fun gifts for those hard to buy for people in your life!

Shari

New Apron Set - Correction

I'm not sure how it happened, but the picture of Ava in her apron set didn't get posted (it was there in the preview). So, let's try again! Here's a picture of my adorable 4 year old granddaughter.



Maybe it's me, but the photo of the embroidered apron ties didn't make it either, so I've uploaded that again as well.



There, that's better :)

Shari

New Apron Set

I have been swamped with apron projects lately, but one that I was excited to do was for one of my darling granddaughters as a birthday surprise. Ava loves anything related to fairy princesses, but she also loves purple and dressing up to play.

Here's a picture of Ava modeling her apron set and below that is a larger image of just the apron and hat.


I used two different fabrics in the same color family, but the contrast has some sparkle, something required by every princess! Unlike her cousins' apron sets I recently made, this one has a rounded bottom section and gathered pocket.

Another recently apron project features a nautical theme. The original design needed to be edited slightly to mimic the owner's boat a bit more realistically. The boat name was added to the design and the tie ends were also embroidered with the owners' first names.





With cooking shows gathering more audiences these days, people are finding pleasure in spending time with their families cooking up fun and wholesome dishes, indoors or out by the barbeque. Aprons, whether simple or decorated, have grown in popularity over the past few years and I don't see the trend fading anytime soon.

Why not check out some of the design ideas we have on our web site, or have us embroider your own idea? There are so many fun, washable fabrics to choose from, we're sure to find something novel for you and your family! Our aprons are adjustable and can be outfitted with your choice of one or more pockets, or even a wide single pocket that is divided. And if you're not into cooking but love to garden, we have lots of different apron options for whatever hobby you're into.

As Julia Child would say...bon appetit!

Shari

Night Fairy Designs

I've completed the Night Fairy designs and have uploaded the images to my web site so you can start dreaming how to use them in your own project. I've done them in two different color schemes so you can be inspired to choose different colors, giving you lots of design options. And, I've also used Swarovski hot fix crystals to add some bling to the designs. I can see these designs on curtains for a little princess' bedroom, or even on a fairy princess dress for that sweet little girl in your life.

The designs are quick to stitch, consisting of a fill for the fairy and a triple stitch for the decorative lines. I use Swarovski hot fix crystals from Design By Dawn - www.designbydawn.com - as they are the best quality crystals. If you've never tried them before, Dawn also sells the tool to apply them, along with easy to follow instructions. Careful though, adding crystals to your projects is very addicting!

The designs are on a special introductory price through May 31, so you'll want to order them before the price goes up. You get 20 designs in the complete set, one each in small and medium. The individual design prices is also lower during the introductory price period, and for each design you purchase, you'll get a small and medium for one low price!

For those who don't embroider, but would like to have these lovely designs stitched on something for you or as a gift, please email me with your idea or request at sharianndesigns@comcast.net.

I welcome you to stop by and browse around.

Shari