A Great Bright Day
It may be bright and sunny but our early start for this Saturday has been dashed by frost making all things green very wet. The sun will have to dry us out before tackling the acre. Dennis told me to cool my heels until he gave me the heads up that he needed help. Dennis plans on mowing the acre one last time today.
The lights were turned on in the studio. I was anxious to see if a plan had worked out. A software product was purchased from the Bernina shop quite a few year ago. I have enjoyed using it. It allowed me to embroider over 40 Pokémon designs by increasing the sizes to allow for each 8″ quilt block. Kersten loved and still loves her quilt.
The baby blanket I am currently working on speaks to many bright colors. Fifteen of the blocks will be on plain blue flannel that has been embroidered on and fifteen blocks will be of a printed flannel. Ten of the embroidered blocks will have the one to ten numerals in bright colors. The software program allowed me to make them any size I wanted. On an 8″ block, I decided on four inch letters. As the size is determined, the software adjusts the number of stitches . . . allowing for a good looking finished product. I have learned over the years that a statin stitch need not be as heavy as the program allows for. I dial it down to 85% density. I also chose a font that wasn’t heavy looking.
When I asked Dennis’ opinion, he thought the numeral on a block was lacking something. I agreed. I found several small designs that I downloaded and then merged a small design on each numerical block. Loading each numerical block with the merged designs allows for one hooping . . . keeping it as one design, one stitching under the hoop. It is really hard to leave as two separate designs. I know myself that I’d never get it in the correct spot. As I was cooling my heels waiting for Dennis to let me know he was ready for me . . . I had to try out an embroidered block. The pen company of Pilot manufactures pens for sewing and quilting. The markings disappear when a hot iron is applied. Under the hoop my blue flannel went with a topper of clear stabilizer that can be easily torn off afterwards. The topper makes sure that the stitching stays on the surface and does not get embedded into softer material.
After all was said and stitched and tidied up, I am going to be pleased how these ten blocks will turn out. There is no plan to hurry but I needed to satisfy my curiosity. The secret is to use the software often enough so as to not forget the steps . . . much like loading photos often enough for my posts. Even known habits can fall by he wayside.
Here we are at mid afternoon and sure enough, the yard dried out by noon. Dennis is on the last of the acre. Several breaks have been had and his foot is not having any negative effects from the vibration of the mower. I marvel at my ole cowboy. Hopefully the leaves will have smooth sailing across the short grass as the wind takes them. I managed to use the weed whip and 75% of the Hosta have been cut down. The next time we go to Home Depot we will have to purchase more of the plastic thread for our WORX weed whip. Lots of Black and decker supplies from a previous weed whip.