Baby Stuff and shopping at Fabric8

Although a few weeks has passed since my previous post, I have been steadily busy embroidering, quilting and knitting as well as with Embroidery Girl's designs and Lemon Tree fabrics.  Busy, busy, busy.

First up was a teddy bear I embroidered for a very good colleague and dear friend's first grandchild.

I also embroidered a banner for my husband's niece who always order gifts for babies.

My Neighbour needed two spit cloths for a baby shower, and I had a real hard time embroidering them with my Brother 4000 acting up the whole entire time.  Turning embroidery time from 20 minutes into like 2 to 3 hours.  That was not so nice. 🙈  Going back to Dynamic Sewing Machines for the 3rd time this year.  

With our quilting group expanding to 9 members this year, I had to buy some more presents as I like to give them each a gift on their birthdays.  So, shopping at my favorite online sewing and crafting store Fabric8 I went where there is ALWAYS something I need.  You really should support this small business for the sheer amount of habby items they offer and extremely fast turnaround time.  I mean, who wouldn't love to receive their order wrapped as a gift?

Just look at all the stickers, everyone special.

Not to mention the adorable thank you package with all kinds of useful items.

They are so fast, I ordered on Sunday night and when I discovered on Monday, I want to add something to my order, it was too late.  The couriers already picked it up.  Oh well, this only meant I will have to go shopping again, whoop whoop!  

The also offer different WhatsApp groups for sewing, knitting, crochet etc.  Every Tuesday one can join them on YouTube for a free online class.  A fabulous mother and daughter team.

Bloemshow 2024

I won two 1st prizes at this year's Bloemshow as well as a floating trophy for the most entries entered by a single quilter which was 7 items.

Teacher's bag.  Read all about it here.

Sewing machine mat here

Store opened on Oregon Patchworks

Ever since winning the full Embroidery Studio by Sierra in 2004, I dabbled with digitizing designs as well as wanting to open an online store.  Last month I did just that.  So, besides getting everything that I have so far loaded onto the website, I haven't had time for anything else.  But I don't complain.  It's about time I stopped dreaming and took action although it is a daunting task whilst still working nearly fulltime.

It is a heap of admin before the designs can be loaded - getting all the different formats made, changing all the instruction sheets by removing any personal websites and email addresses to include only Oregon Patchworks contact details and copywrite info as well as photos and lastly the necessary pdf and zip files.

This is my what my store's thumbnail looks like and by clicking here you can visit the Embroidery Girl's online store.

Spit cloths

I received an order for eight spit cloths about a month ago and finally finished the order earlier this week after friend Magda du Plessis had trouble with her machine embroidering it.

Little Ellie font from Stitchdelight

Magda luckily stitched all the braids.

Most of the lettering done with Embird. 
My favorite editing program to use.

Yet again embroidered some of the Bountiful Bunny's available here.

I unfortunately experienced major problems with the Mickey Mouse spit cloth and had to buy another nappy to re-do it completely.  Filling in small areas with Sharpie's as well as removing an oil drop with a very strong detergent didn't go well at all with the Sharpie's bleeding into the fabric.

After various attempts cleaning it up there were still substantial bleeding left.  Re-doing was the only option left.

Four Patch Posie (2)

This was an extremely fast quilt to stitch, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The top with all borders is done and ready for the quilting process.

I used up all four pattern repeats with the 9 posies with no blocks left for the four corners, so I had to figure out a solution.

Back to our local Elna dealer I went for an additional piece of the red hibiscus fabric.  Continuing with the green and black fabric through the corners and adding the hibiscus fabric to each outside corner, I was able to overcome the problem without it looking strange.

Tea Towels

When my son started his kitchen linen business, I bought some blanks to embroider and sell as well.  

Blooming Beauty by Embroidery Library

It offers me the opportunity to embroider some of the beautiful designs I amassed over the years.

I added a little butterfly and dragonfly button to two of these towels.

Jacobean pumpkins from Embroidery Library

When I embroidered this tea cloth, the design looked rather small, so I enlarged it a bit and embroidered it on either side.  Another design by Embroidery Library which can be purchased here.

I just love this cheeky hen with attitude from Embroidery Library.

Betty chicken is available here.

I thought about finishing all the kitchen towels and then post all the photos, but I just don't seem to get all done.  It's been over a month since I started writing this post and I manage to finish only 3 additional towels.  Eish.  So much to do, so little time.

Four patch posy

Last year when our quilting group discussed projects for 2024, the Four Patch Posy was one of the possibilities mentioned. So off to the shops to find 4 repeats of a floral fabric with large motifs and a dark background.  One would have thought it is a rather simple task, but I rather struggled to find a piece that met all the requirements.  I finally settled on red hibiscus flowers printed on a black background.

Under the guidance of one of our members, Elsa, we all got cutting our fabrics.  With Elsa's help I was able to use the whole one meter piece I bought with minimum waste. As the flowers are so big and prominent, I cut 6" blocks whereas the other ladies cut 4" blocks.  The pattern is a simplified kaleidoscope with four identical blocks making up one posy.

I wasn't really happy with my choice of fabric when I initially started laying out the blocks as it didn't have the prominent kaleidoscope effect, but I do think the 9 blocks turned out quite beautiful in the end.