Digitizing for PE Design

If you have any version of PE Design digitizing software I recommend you join the Yahoo Group Memories-In-Thread. It's connected to Sue Lough's website at http://www.memories-in-thread.net. Sue is in the United Kingdom and she has recorded video tutorials on manual digitizing with the Layout and Editing Program. There are a few free tutorials you can try out, and then she has a Lesson every few months for the group to work on together. The tutorials are usually $15 payable by Paypal, but the Lesson of the Month is usually $10. I have purchased all or almost all of them and have learned more than from any other live classes I have taken. The Yahoo Group is very active and if you have any problems you just post it and Sue or one of the other members will answer your questions. You can always search on the Yahoo site because someone probably will have answered the question already. After doing her lessons, I am able to digitize my own designs and I understand the whys and why nots of the various options. So if you have PE Design and haven't used it because you think it is too complex, try Sue's lessons and join us on the Yahoo group.

Using my blocks

I cut out fabric using the bodice and sleeve blocks I made at Lorianne Reeves fitting class last week. I used Butterick B5300 with View C instead of View B. I just don't see myself with a Peter Pan collar. Hopefully I'll sew it together this weekend, and more hopefully it will fit!

I have decided not to renew my subscriptions to the sewing magazines. I have so many and no room for more. I've decided to use these dollars for Internet programs. I have subscribed to The Quilt Show. I'm not really a Quilter yet, but ever since I went to my first Quilt Festival in Houston, I thought I would like to try it. Now that I'm at home, the time is right.

Clover YoYo Maker

I was surfing UTube and came across many videos on how to use the Clover YoYo maker. I realized that I had bought the YoYo makers at Tuesday Morning. The videos called for 51/2 inch squares. I had bought a package of 5" squares on our vacation to New Hampshire. I sewed most of the squares into 9 patches, but I wasn't real happy with the color combinations. I tried the 5" squares in the extra large YoYo maker and they worked! So I took apart the 9 patch blocks and sewed all 70 squares into beautiful YoYos in two days in front of the TV. I put them in the jar on the coffee table and they look pretty in there. Perhaps I'll figure out something else to do with them someday.
The link to the projects for the YoYo maker is:
http://www.clover-usa.com/Make+It/Gallery/.

Creative Mojo and other Podcasts

I have listened to Crafty Pod, Craft Sanity, and and other podcasts for a few years on iTunes but I just discovered CraftyMojo which is Mark Lipinski's internet radio show. The link is:
http://www.toginet.com/shows/creativemojo/
It's a radio interview show all about creativity with all kinds of artists. You can call in live or you can listen to the repeat shows. I enjoy listening to crafty people.

Angela Kane

Angela Kane has free and for sale sewing patterns and videos on the web. The link is
http://www.angelakane.com
Many of the videos are on U Tube. They are really good for showing up close and personal how to make a blouse and a dress. Let me know what you think.
The patterns go up to a size 22. Now that I have my personal block patterns for Lorianne Reeves workshop, I might try to use it to make the Angela Kane Patterns fit me. You just print the patterns from your computer. I'll put it on my list of things to sew.

Moda

I went to the Moda event at Sew Contempo but it was a disappointment. The speaker talked for two hours about the history of the sewing retailing business, the difference between chain store fabric and premium fabric and gave out 10 charm sets to the over 50 people there. It wasn't worth the cost of the gas to drive there. At least I was able to pick up the right bobbin case for my machine.

Louise Cutting will be in Houston this weekend, but I found my notes from 2003 and her flyer said she would be covering the same topics she did in 2003. I decided to save my money on this one.

I still have the Texture Magic challenge, the Threads book challenge, and to sew a blouse from my new pattern blocks to accomplish. I also want to do some embroidery.

Need to decide on clothes for my California trip, and if I need to shop or sew for anything to get ready.

Busy Sewing Week

On Monday I went to the ASG Wonderful Wearables group in Webster at Fabrics Etcetera. After show and tell, we worked on the Threads books exercises. I sewed out only the utility stitches that didn't require a foot other than J or N. It may take me a year to sew out all the stitches on my Quattro.

Today I went to Lorianne Reeves fitting class. I made muslins and slopers for the Butterick 5300 Connie Craford Blouse Pattern. Now I need to sew the blouse and see how it comes out.

I was supposed to go to the Greater Houston Quilt Guild tonight, but I am just too tired. I didn't relish driving out I-10 in rush hour traffic. Maybe next month. Tomorrow night I am going down to Sew Contempo for the Moda program.

Travel without traveling and lots of sewing

I saw a Ted Talk on the Google Art Project. You go to googleartproject.com and virtually tour 17 museums all over the world using Google Streets mapping technology. It is really cool. You can zoom in so close on the pictures you can see the cracks on the pictures. Lots of good inspiration material.

Thursday night I was the discussion leader for "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet". It was a really good discussion and went well.

Friday I was getting ready to lead the ASG Inside the Loop Group on Saturday in a project on Snap Happy Bags. I found a neat website and UTube video on making fancy Prairie Points. I tried it on one of my bags. I made two bags and samples to demo on Saturday.

Saturday the Sewing Group went very well and people thanked me for showing them the bag. They asked me to be the group leader next year. I'll probably do it with Terry as co-leader. Then I went out to lunch with Marilyn, Vera, and Jennifer at Los Tios. Then I went to Joanne's to buy the muslin I need for the Fit for Life workshop.

Today I will get ready for the Wonderful Wearables Group. I need to do the Textured Magic Challenge, finish my skirt, and do the Threads book challenge. Then I need to get ready for the Fit for Life Workshop on Tuesday. There are many good U Tube videos on Texture Magic and I watched a few this morning.

This morning Dave and I went for a ride just to get out in this unusually beautiful Houston weather. It's gorgeous out. Too nice to stay in and sew but I have so much to do. Fun stuff.

Maintenance

This has been a busy sewing week. My serger is still at Bob McDougals.
Monday I went to the wearables group. Some of the ladies in that group are fantastic sewers.
I almost finished my skirt, but will not get it into the ASG content on time because I am without my machines to finish it and the entry has to be postmarked by tomorrow. I'm sure I wouldn't win anything with it, but its good to have a deadline to make you finish what you start.

Yesterday, I went to my Brother class. It was more on Embroidery and I learned some new things. Too bad I couldn't take the classes when I bought the machine in November 2008. The decorative stitches on my Quattro weren't working correctly (another reason I didn't finish my skirt). So I left it at Sew Contempo yesterday, but I just got a call it is ready to be picked up. I'll probably drive down there tomorrow to pick it up.

I did get my Janome Jem working again. I figured out the problem with the bobbin winder. I forgot to pull out the knob on the side. Perhaps I never wound a bobbin on the machine before as I wind them on my Brother!

I am making more Snap Happy bags for my sewing guild group a week from Saturday.

Today I had lunch with Lynn at Cafe Express at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Then we went to see the exhibition of paintings on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Houston. They had Impressionist and Post Impressionist painting from Renoir, Manet, Monet, Seurat, Cassatt, and other of my favorite artists and I enjoyed seeing them again. I rejoined the Museum with an individual membership which got Lynn a discount on her admission. I also got $10 off with my AAA membership so that was a pleasant surprise. Now that I have rejoined I'll have to walk over there more often.

Need to start thinking about my trip to California and what too wear for Shelby's Bat Mitzvah. It's fun to travel when you are going for a vacation or a pleasant occasion. Don't miss traveling for work. I wonder what the security will be like now that Bin Ladin has been assassinated and we are worried about retaliation.