He has arrived!

The final appliqué is here for the Gingerbread Man!  I started again with the Gingerbread Paint file.

I then thought about HOW I wanted this design to stitch out.  Remember when we made the cookies, we made the dough first and then cut them out with the cookie cutter.   So the brown background is first!

So I changed the Fill to an Appliqué with an >Offset of -.03 and Cleaning >Laser Cut or Precut.

Then I changed the Outline to a Satin Stitch of between .06-.08. You decide!

I then added and Autoborder >To the inside of 1.0 and Running stitch for an added security measure. ( this is a change that I made this year)

This is last year's design.  This year I left the eyes and mouth with a Paint fill

I hope you give it a try!  Here is the Gingerbread App file.

Gingerbread Man Recipe

Today's lesson is really a quick one.  It seems as if the days are flying by and soon Christmas will be here.

You can find the files for the recipe posted on my SweetAline designs blog here.

***Well it appears that I left the 1/2 off of the recipe for the salt and spices.  Clearly I did not make the recipe while reading my apron! :)  The font is Run Murray Hill and is perfect for stitching recipes on  project!

Here are the revised files:

Gingerbread recipe revised in ART can be found here

Gingerbread recipe revised in EXP can be found here.

Gingerbread Man- He's just a cut up!

Yep - today's lesson is "cut him up!"

After you open up the software, select New and select your Gingerbread Man Paint from your most recent designs.  Change the hoop to your largest hoop with foot #44C.

Click on each section (except the eyes and mouth) and convert the outline to Cutwork and delete the fill.  For all of the sections, I checked  Running Before for 1.0 mm and an Offset of .3mm.

I drew a rectangle around each shape so I could place my pieces on the hoop.

Be sure to convert the outline to a Running Stitch or it will paint the rectangle. Drag the top tray to the bottom so the rectangles will stitch out first.

Here are my cut out shapes. ( I did not save the original design and this year, I did not line them up neatly.)

He is a big guy, so if you want him make him smaller, I would resize the Gingerbread Paint design first.

Here is the cut file if you want to give it a try and do not have time this week to 'play'!

I thought I would also add the link here to my SweetAline designs blog to see the original post from last year.

Let's Celebrate this festive season!

This past weekend, my niece was visiting and I was inspired to bake Christmas cookies!  Now I must tell you this is H-U-G-E!  I haven't made cookies in years..

Why?
#1 - the big guy and I do not need them! (just ask our doctor!)
#2 - who eats them but us? ( no kids at home OR grandkids!)
#3 - I would rather be sewing than baking!

So to help celebrate this festive occasion, I am sharing this week how I made this 'no bake' gingerbread man.  Here is the finished guy on this very cute apron with fabric from my stash!

The pattern is the Lady Godiva apron from Abbey Lane and it was very easy to make!

                                           

Here is the gingerbread file that I used. 

After 'working through the wizard', select Create new and Cotton 2 for your fabric.

Here is the gingerbread man design. Download the file and save it to a folder on your desktop labeled "Gingerbread Man".

From file, Locate the gingerbread gif file and select your largest hoop.  This guy is pretty big at 6" x 8" approximately!

Select Trace and only 2 colors (black and white).

Change your paint palette to the Eddings markers.

Here is the DRAW file for the Gingerbread man.  If you want to skip the above steps, then just load this design into the program as a "New Graphic" and continue with the directions below.

Now start "coloring" your design!  Select the color chip and add a fill and an outline to each section of the design. You will notice some white colors 'sitting on top' which is why the design won't fill in.  Just drag off the white and delete it. Then continuing coloring your design.   I selected gray for the "rick-rack' color.

Here he is- all colored in!  If you would like the PAINT file, you can find it here.

 This would be a quick and easy project for a gift bag or a kitchen towel.  I found a cute idea with the arm cut off and the saying added! (How I did this, is another entire lesson!)

Come back tomorrow for the "how-to" in turning this guy into a cutwork file!

TBT Thursday

Welcome to TBT Thursday!  This post is designed to 'bring back' a few of the lessons that I posted before I had my blog fiasco!

Since snowflakes seem to be the 'theme' this week, I found another excellent quick project on www.noodle-head.com  The snowflake is a felt cut out with a raw edge appliqué stitch.

In her tutorial, she attaches a Snowflake template jpg file of the snowflake for you to download.  This design did not trace very neatly so I went back to my colorful snowflakes and selected snowflake 4.

After tracing the design you will have to trim out the center before you delete the white background or it will fill in it as solid.

Create a cutwork and appliqué snowflake following the video from yesterday's lesson here.

Here is the example of the Cutwork snowflake 4.  Remember to select your largest hoop with foot #44C.

I then created a 'raw edge appliqué file' by first duplicating the cutwork design and then I changed it to a different color and selected a running stitch. That stitch out is going to be your placement stitch.  Be sure to change your hoop to #26.

I then added a second running stitch and changed the color and set the offset to the inside of -1.0.

Move the placement stitch tile to the first position (drag the frame to the bottom) so you can place your snowflake cut-out in the correct position.

Now I have never cut out felt with my cutwork tool so I haven't any suggestions. Perhaps someone who has can comment below.   This idea right now is in theory only, anyone want to give it a try?

Welcome to Rewind Wednesday!

Welcome to Rewind Wednesday!  Is anyone else feeling the time crunch of the approaching holidays?  I sure do!

For today's lesson I created a quick video in which I feature how to make a cutwork, appliqué and Silhouette Studio file using Snowflake 5.  It is from the Colorful Snowflakes collection featured in yesterday's post.

I am sharing the Snowflake 5 jpg file here.  If you haven't signed up for the daily emails from www.dailyarthub.com, make sure you stop by often to check out their free daily design!

  

                

A few added notes from the video!

*For your fabric selection, choose Cotton 2 - mine is set for linen.

*Choose your hoop size and #44C when you are creating the Cutwork file.

*Choose your hoop size and #26 when you are creating your Appliqué file.



Here is a link for a quick holiday wine bag I found on Embroidery Library.  This is perfect pattern for an assortment of snowflakes!

I hope you are inspired to give this a try!  If you have any questions, post them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them!

Welcome to Tidbit Tuesday!

Just a little tidbit - not too big of a morsel to digest! That is what today's lesson is all about!

This week I am featuring designs from the Colorful Snowflakes from www.dailyarthub.com

After you download the file, select the first snowflake from the PNG folder and load it into the software.( hmm - where did I put that folder?...)

Oh - there it is!.... Select your largest hoop using the #93 foot.

Next - select the TRACE function.

Then trace the design....

Look - there are only two colors!  This will be easy!

The background of this design is white and so I will drag it over and then delete the white background.  How to do this?  Just click on the upper right hand corner of the white box and drag it to the right with your mouse.

Hit the delete button on your keyboard.

Oh no! The inside of this snowflake has a white fill and if I delete it, it will be a solid designs.

The Trim tool is the 3rd icon from the right on the toolbar above. Think of it as a pair of scissors and you are going to snip out those little sections from the inside of your snowflake.

So hold down the shift key and select each of the sections AND then the entire design.  Select the trim function and it cuts out the design. Delete the little white triangles.

And like magic, I have a clean painted design!   Save your design as Snowflake1_PAINT.DRAW

The last step was to hide the PNG snowflake file ...>View>Backdrop>Hide

Save your design as Snowflake_PaintBorder.DRAW and send it to your USB stick.

After I loaded this into my machine, I selected Endless Embroidery and added one more design.  I must admit it was quite large.  You may want to reduce it to create a border for a holiday towel design.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson today.  It was a chilly 52 degrees this morning here in Tampa, Fl.  Why not leave me a comment with the temperature and your location?