Day #57 - Crazy creating day!

Good morning!

I feel a bit like I ran the creative Boston Marathon yesterday! :o)  It was multi-tasking at it's finest!

I had all of the normal things to do in my typical day (blogging, dishes, laundry...you know the drill...) and at the same time the sewing machine and the embriodery machine were humming!  I must have trotted off POUNDS while trekking from the living room (where I was laying out the rag quilt), my "office" (where the embroidery machine is) and my "studio" (where I was sewing)!  Ah, a girl can dream about a space where you could do all 3 at the same time!!

Yesterday was my wonderful DIL's birthday.  I decided to make her a rag quilt and it came out lovely! The orange one I posted yesterday was 8" squares. This one has 10" blocks. These are definitely a great project if you need something quick! The other piece I love is that the backing is DONE when the blocks are all sewed together! Backing a quilt is the toughest part for me - so I love this method!  :o)

While I was creating the blue and brown baby, the embroidery machine was creating this banner for her (okay, it was creating the designs, I turned it into a banner...JUST before they came back to pick up the boys, after a yummy dinner at Olive Garden!)

Both designs are from Embroidery Library.  I apologize for the blurry-ness - my camera is acting badly, so you can't really see the designs very well.  If you click on the link, you can see the cupcake here.  Click on this link to see the wording.  They came out very colorful!

There were LOADS of thread changes, as you can see if you follow the links, as well as one "Oopsie" while I'd stepped away and the thread bound, the needle broke and there was suddenly a HOLE in the design!  The good news: it was a balloon, so I reinforced with another small piece of cut-away, and continued on!  Can't even tell!  I used a variety of colors so it would be good for ANY birthday in the future for her!

Creating the banner was pretty easy!  I don't have pictures because, as I mentioned, my camera is acting VERY badly!  I hope this description works for you!

1. Create your designs on the embroidery machine.
2. Trim the "Happy Birthday" sign to the size you want.
3. Cut out a backing the same size.
4. Put the 2 pieces wrong sides together and sew with a zigzag stitch.
5. Trim the cupcake design into a triangle shape and cut out triangles from a fun fabric the same size.
6. Put the wrong sides together and zigzag stitch.
7. Make as many extra triangle flags from coordinating fabric as you want to create the length you desire, sewing them together with a zigzag stitch as well.  The more you make, the longer the banner!
8. Taking a piece of ribbon, fold it in half and slip the flags into the opening, pinning them down. 
9. Sew over the ribbon to keep it together and hold the flags in place.

I had one more project going, but I can't share that until Monday (Mother's Day gift and all....just in case the recipient is reading this...)

Have a wonderful day,
Carrie