Stella Sleeps In

For the last several days, I have been attending certification training for software - big thank you to Julie & Jack Pierce of Atlanta Sewing Center.  

Stella was exhausted by the lack of attention while I was in classes but she has had her way to get even.  She is not suppose to be on the bed, and look who tucked herself in.  She didn't even open her eyes while I ran for the camera.  

I did several projects this week so I need to set up my "serious" camera and get them up here on Monday!  And so I will...

Happy Mother's Day

Right now I can hear pots and pans stirring in the distance with my daughter and husband creating breakfast. The flowers in that vase are gorgeous, thank you Ryan and Brooke - I wish you were here.

Bentley (my wonder poodle) welcomed me this morning by kicking me with his back right leg... I mean actually kicking me. Do you think it was a nervous twitch? Can dogs actually do that? Does Bentley know he is a dog? Oh, and his tail was wagging furiously.

Stella on the other hand has been sitting by me sedately. I am going to see how this day unfolds.

Update, brunch was excellent - vegan French toast with a dash of chocolate and raspberry! The brunch was followed up with a great show at the Cobb Civic Center, featuring beads, mineral rocks, jewelry.... And the winds in Atlanta only knocked down three of our trees upon the return. Considering the damage across the US, it was minor.

I hope that your Mother's Day was special and fun.

An Email Interview

With Loes van der Heijden of Artistitch.com - the maker of my favorite drawing program "Pre-Design"
___________________________________

Greetings Loes!

Could you share how one goes about designing for the long arm quilting machines? What does one need to own and how expensive of an investment are we talking about? I also realize that there are those who are involved in both embroidery and with this type of quilting who may not realize that the Pre-Design software they already own, can integrate with both of their creative outlets. I am so impressed with all the capabilities one has with Pre-Design and this truly adds another dimension to the joy of ownership!

Thanks! Cookie

Loes’s Responds:

"About getting into longarm quilting: check out the websites of MQS and MQX. Those are two of the largest longarm quilt events:

MQX is at http://www.mqxshow.com/newhome.html
MQS is at: http://www.imqa.org/MQS2008/MQS-Show2.htm
And the major "classic" quilt shows like Houston and Paducah now also having more longarm quilt booths. Plus longarm quilted quilts can be entered into quilt challenges too: lots of beautiful winners :)

From what we learned over the last year, longarm quilting is a profession, not a hobby ...yet:
the longarm machines start at 10,000 US$ up to 30,000 $, computer systems come on top of that. So most longarmers have a home-based business and quilt for others; which is a very successful combination! Most quilters love to create quilt tops: find fabrics, choose colors, cut and sew hundreds of patches together to make a work of art, but then..... The top has to be quilted together with batting and backing fabric and that is another story. Many, many quilters really would like to start creating another top, instead of quilting the parts together and many quilters have lots of UFO's: beautiful tops waiting to be finished.

And that is where the longarm quilters come in more and more: they can do that quilt job. Up till now with a choice of paper pantographs which they follow with a laser stylus on the longarm machine, but there's a growing community of quilt pattern designers offering digitizing quilt patterns.

Since Pre-Design entered the market early 2007, the longarm quilters are noticing that they are capable of creating their own patterns too, as Pre-Design is so easy to use. So instead of spending hours to find the right type of pattern for a special quilt, they can just make a photo of one of the fabrics, trace it in Pre-Design and create a matching quilt pattern.

Pre-Design can export to DXF format, for the computerized quilt systems, but it can also be used to draw quilt patterns and print at actual size: then take a tracing wheel to punch holes in the paper pattern to turn it into a stencil, and chalk spray to transfer the pattern onto the quilt, or use the print to trace with the laser stylus. That makes Pre-Design suitable for all types of quilt systems: longarm machines with or without a computer and domestic machines too :)

See http://quilters.pre-design.eu/screenshots.htm there are 2 slideshows how to create quilt stencils: for domestic machines and for longarm machines and slideshow #3 shows how to create a panto roll with Pre-Design.
We feel that the quilt world is now at the point where the embroidery world was about 9 years ago: more people will start digitizing their own patterns now. And they still will purchase patterns too (same in the embroidery world: almost everybody has some sort of digitizing program and still the design companies are doing great).

In the past year we saw that more companies are launching quilt systems for the "midrange" quilters, at a lower price setting, like the HandiQuilter and frames for domestic machines. The MQS in Kansas even has a new type of classes, the "Just for Me" classes, as there are more quilters now, who get a longarm machine for their own quilts, not so much to quilt for others.

So the longarm and midarm quilt world is rocking and rolling.
I am a member of several longarm quilt Yahoogroups and it is so much fun to see familiar names: people who own an embroidery machine and digitizing software, who already have Pre-Design and who use it now to create their quilt patterns. And the funny thing is that more quilt pattern designers are now also starting to offer their designs in pes-format :) and you can combine patterns and save those as one new pattern:)"

The other way around could be done too (finally starting to reply to your question ):

people who are serious about digitizing quilt patterns should visit a longarm quilter, just to see how the machine works, what a pattern should look like (there's a big difference in effect between open and closed parts in a quilt pattern: open parts will sort of pop-up in a quilt). They will have to know the size of the blocks which can be quilted without rolling the quilt frame etc. Then in fact all they would need is Pre-Design and they could sell their DXF patterns, which will work in most longarm quilt systems, (provided they drew the patterns in the right sequence) but.... by selling the DXF you are sort of giving away your source format, as the DXF is fully editable in AutoSketch. So the best choice is to invest also in Pro-Q Designer, where you can save the pattern in the format for all major machines (and you can combine patterns are save those).


Oh, and if you think that digitizing a manhole cover is nice, I can digitize a cup of cappuccino too :) See
http://www.apqs.com/quiltboard/viewthread.php?tid=8706
and http://quilters.pre-design.eu/mqs_class1.htm And now Theo is addicted to drawing too -"

------------------------------------------- Some thoughts on this information:

I gave this drawing information serious thought and realized that while I save my own pennies to embark on a new "interest" aka Longarm quilting, that I was not using my Pre-Design tools to all its advantage for my own needs. So last week I decided to try it for illustration purposes with one of my projects by taking a picture, tracing it, and then coloring in sections to make a set of directions easier. It's actually for the denim bag I did for AEC. I was amazed how I could create an illustration that simplified things for my students. So let's add illustration to the list of can-do's! Granted it's not cappuccino but I enjoyed my cup of coffee while drawing this.

More information on the software is also on the cookiescreations.com website.

Bunco Door Hanger - Girl's Night Out

One of my friends is quite involved with her bunco group and wanted a door hanger for the party night. Quickly I copied and pasted little poodles from my mini design set, and added the lettering from the bunco design set that is available free on the cookiescreations.com website. With a little stuffing and a quick whip stitch this went together in the hoop in just a matter of a few minutes.

Bunco is a parlor game involving 3 dice. It is amazing how many ladies are involved in a once a month bunco get together. There are many websites discussing how to play bunco.

If you need the free designs for your embroidery machine then you should click here and if you want to read more on bunco check out this link...

April's Project being featured in the newsletter...

For months I have been working on moving my website to a new server while preparing to teach at several events. I have learned several lessons along the way and have had set backs from time to time. But my own club members and students have weathered through it.

To celebrate the survival for so many of my list members, this months fun newsletter email gift is a sleep mask which stitches out completely in the hoop, and you can even add the elastic at the time it is being embroidered.


Now here is my really dumb moment. When I finished making these masks a couple of years ago, I thought they were such fun that I raced to mirror to try it on to see how they looked! Duh, I couldn't see a thing obviously. Even Bentley stared at me in disbelief!

Now that is what working until the wee hours of the night will do to you. So get your sleep and celebrate the move with me.

If you own an embroidery machine and want to enjoy making your own sleep mask, simply subscribe to the newsletter on the cookiescreations website before April is over to get yours.

Embroidered Socks Made Simple

After five days at the American Embroidery Conference, I am finally home and unpacked, ready to begin my local classes once again. The featured socks on the left were embroidered with designs from Cookie's Creation's mini boys collection Snips & Tails. A big thank you to Donna Hoffman and Beverly Willingham for their hard work in helping me make samples.

The next big event is the Indiana Embroidery Conference (July 16-19, 2008) where I will be holding a "sock hop in the Hoop" using the Sock Easy embroidery tool. This little Sock Easy device holds one side of a sock completely out of the way for embroidery to be completed. It is so simple to use that I actually made 36 pairs of socks in an afternoon.
To make the class more fun we will be adding all kinds of trims to create one of kind socks which will delight whoever receives them. You can also use the sock easy on ribbed cuffs and the cuffs of little gloves... Leave it to my girlfriends Donna and Beverly to encourage "experimentation".


I love living in the South. In the five days I was away, my yard went from dreary winter to cheerful spring. My favorite tree is now filled with gorgeous flowers and the azaleas are just coming into bloom. My puppies greeted me with great enthusiasm and looking into their happy eyes removed any exhaustion I was feeling.

Time to get busy as I have several files to work on tonight.

Felting - A Fun Adventure whether you sew, knit, or scrapbook!

Fun "Wristlet" Bag to make in an afternoon!


I use to believe that if the object was not moving that you needed to embroider it. It made my poodles very nervous as well as it kept them moving.

But my latest embroidery projects are different. I love to take roving, which is wool that may be dyed but not spun into yarn (available at sewing and knitting shops), and with the help of a felting machine, I create my own fabric to embroider. In this case, I used the babylock Embellisher machine, with roving and created plaid fabric. I embroidered it with one of the designs in my decor1 Kaleidescope collection and added some fun crystals. The wristlet strap, which is attached to the zipper closure, is made out of alpaca yarn that I knitted with double pointed knitting needles rather quickly. I then threw the "knitted strap" in hot water with a little soap, added some agitation and gave it a quick spin in the dryer to felt it as well.

This project class is being featured at Atlanta Sewing Center, in Marietta on April 12th at 10:30 in their "I Love to Sew" Club. The class is open to the public but you must call in advance and reserve a spot. I love felting because it is relaxing. There is no threading involved. Felting machines have little barbed needles that tangle the fibers in such a neat manner forming fabric. You can also manually felt projects by using a hand held tool but that takes much longer and for me it is a bit tedious. Felting machines are great for embellishing home decor, clothing... the possibilities are endless. Making your own fabric is just one project idea. I have other past projects in this blog if you are sitting home with your felting machine crying out to you. Check them out.

In three days, I will be teaching at the American Embroidery Conference and I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the event. Happy Felting! Cookie!