Yes, It makes me Happy

Last post I said I was going somewhere after work to get something that would make me very happy. I did. It does.

Last Saturday I went to Just Sew Studio in Roseville. Well, actually the story starts last Friday. I went over to the shop and asked Carmen (owner) about the embroidery unit for my Pfaff Creative 4.0. After explaining I was looking for something to speed up my quilting and help with making feathered quilting and other "fancy" designs, she suggested I come to the beginner's class Saturday to check it out. I should just bring my machine and they would let me use their embroidery unit. Cost? free. What materials did I need to bring. Nothing except a couple colors of thread, they provided the material. This, my friends, is good customer service. They made me part of their family before I even bought anything from them.

Saturday a group of us met at the shop and made a pillow top. The material they provided was a really nice large weave cloth. We set up the machines, stitched the design, had questions answered and, yes, I left with a Monday visit set up to pick up my new embroidery unit and the software for creating quilt designs for it.

 

Monday night I brought home the unit and software and played with it all week. I've been on free embroidery sites and downloaded a few and read what I could. I went through the book that came with my software and created a few designed to try out. I'm likin' it a lot.

 

This Saturday I was back at the shop because we had another free class. We brought in our laptops and found out all sorts of goodies about the organizing program.

 

There's a website, Embroidery Library, that has lots of its designs on sale every week. They also have a Christmas club for free with lots of goodies. I'll be sending a lot of time checking out the site. I've already purchased a few designs and I'm making a couple pieces that will in included in a Christmas wall hanging.

 

 

These 2 pieces are on different material, both off white. I'm thinking of something with different size blocks and a half triangle border between the blocks of various sized and - well - it's still in the designing stage,

 

The quilting software is 5D QuiltDesign from VMS. Here's a couple first attempts on some leftover material. I put the top, batting and backing in the hoop and gave it a try.

 

 

The left side is a double stitched design, the right is an applique done on the embroidery hoop and the middle is a design I did following the lessons in the book.

 

Let the good times roll.......