Friday, December 8, 2017

Five new projects...

I promised my Stitchery Club members this month that we'd not only have the five new patterns to embroider but I'd include five lovely projects as well. 
And this is what has kept me extra busy the past few weeks.

But you know, I enjoyed every minute. 

I design embroideries for a living, and that's pretty time consuming because each one is a long process starting with a vague idea and a sketch pad. 
One design can take between an hour or a week to fine tune on paper, then I need to choose background fabric, feature fabric and thread colours. 
Next, the hand drawn design is scanned, cropped and cleaned before being printed out to check the size and quality for preparing later as a PDF pattern. Then I trace it onto fabric, applique pieces may be added and stabiliser is fused behind the block in preparation for hand embroidery. 
Finally the the stitching begins. 
Depending on the size and intricacy of the design, and also how much free time I have during the daylight hours, this can take two days or a week. A large design I'm working on at the moment has already taken a week and needs another before it will be ready. 
When the design is completed I press it, check for errors or missed stitches, and set up the photographs.
I can take 50-70 photos in different settings per project and from there I choose about three or four I like which will then be formatted and made ready for the webpage. 
Final step is to bring my notes together with the stitchery, write the pattern and format everything into a PDF file ready for customers to download. 

Adding in five projects this month kept me on my toes more than usual, but I truly enjoyed creating each one because most of my stitcheries live in large containers waiting for a one-day project to house them...my intention to do so is real, but the time rarely eventuates. 

Anyhow, let me show you what I've been making from the December stitcheries. I'll take you through each stitchery design and show you how it's come to life as a project...


"Sweet Dreams" became a lavender sachet.
I love the idea of this hanging by a ribbon over the bed head, the scent of lavender wafting around my head as I drift off to sleep...





"Dream House" was bordered to create the house effect and then bound in lace as a mini quilt before being sewn to the front of a simply made cushion.
This will be wrapped and waiting for Cully May under the Christmas tree...







"Buttons" is such a cute design when displayed as a wrapper for a large jar of, you guessed it, buttons...







"Hope" is a beautiful quote by Lady Bird Johnson and needed only a lovely ornate frame...





"Flourish" transformed into one of my most useful projects for the next year. I think many of us have unfinished projects so you may find this notebook cover with a reminder message stitched along the spine just what you need too...







Which one was your favourite design or project?


All of these stitchery patterns PLUS the project patterns will be inside the December 17 issue of The Stitchery Club.

And there's more.

If you join before the 16th I'll send you one of my older issues from November 2015 (which has 7 Christmas patterns inside) within 12 hours of receiving your membership notification.







Well, I'd best be off from here and attend to the lasagne I'm making for dinner tonight. 

Mr E loves his pasta, especially ravioli and lasagne! Today was his final day of the 2017 school year and we're celebrating him having the next six weeks of summer break so a special dinner was most important. 
There's a bit more work for him to do on the Jeep but it won't prevent us from heading off on a few overnight trips here and there...which means I need to prepare some new stitcheries to work on in the car so back to the sketch pad for me. 

God bless you all, and may the weekend ahead bring you laughter, peace and rest. 

hugs


18 comments:

Little Quiltsong said...

Beautiful designs and projects! Love how you display them!

Little Penpen said...

God has truly blessed you with a special talent! Your designs and projects are so pretty and really touch the heart. Love these!

Jocelyn said...

You are so creative! I love what you did with the button jar. Love the softness of these patterns.

http://thankfullga447 said...

Awesome & you show your love to your bloggers, thank you. Now take it easy you deserve it.

Tammy said...

Love al the new projects. Your creativity astounds me....You are truly blessed with the gift of writing and creating. You put in a lot of work time to create all of these gorgeous designs.... And it shows Jenny....I hope you and he have a wonderful Summer vacation/ break together

Farm Quilter said...

Beautiful designs, Jenny!! Of course, that is what I expect from your talented brain and fingers!!! Yay for summer break - when I taught I really looked forward to the 10-12 weeks we had off. We all need some sort of challenge this coming year to finish more of the projects we have started. Any ideas on how we can accomplish this? Enjoy these 6 weeks with Mr. E and the rest of your family and I'll be looking forward to more beautiful pictures of that amazing country you live in!!

Brenda said...

Beautiful projects! Can't wait until the 17th!

Joanne said...

Hi Jenny,
Thanks for letting us in on your creative design process...from idea to print PDF!
That's quite a bit of work! And all those photo's! I know!
Quite a world away from a roll of film, negative's, getting them developed!
I really enjoy your stitching!
Cold and snowy here in The Netherlands!
Enjoy your weekend!
Joanne

May said...

Gorgeous projects Jenny, I am so glad I am a member of your amazing Stitchery club...roll on the 17th ...May x

Winifred said...

They are gorgeous. I have no idea how you get so much done. Do you ever sleep Jenny?

Nancy said...

Jenny.....These are absolutely gorgeous! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Dear Jenny
I had no idea just how much work goes into your pattern making and stitcheries club! You are one special lady! Thank you for your dedication, time and effort that you put in. I love your work and plan to make 2018 a time of doing more hand stitching so the patterns i have of yours will hopefully come to life for me.
Blessings to you and your family as you wind down over the Christmas and new Year break
Janet

Debby said...

Good Morning Jenny,
I have followed your blog for some time and enjoyed it so very much. I have downloaded many of your free patterns and enjoy them. In mind I knew this took a lot of time, but your gentle way of explaining the "behind the scenes" work that goes into your patterns, let alone the love, creativity, and craftsmanship, it really spoke to my heart! I need and want to support you and so have signed up for the Stitchery Club!
My deep and heartfelt thanks,
Debby

MissesStitches said...

Everything you design is so beautiful! Love your ideas.

Ondrea said...

Wow! It certainly takes lots of your time and energy to share your beautiful designs. How ever did you learn to do all that preparation? I always knew that it was a lot of work but more than I had thought. I have always appreciated the passion put into your designs and I now know just how much. Your lavendar sachet is beautiful....can't resist your little birds. I call them "Jenny Birds". 😊

Anonymous said...

Hi, Jenny, I think my favorite design is the first on on the lavender pillow, but there's not a design or project I don't like. I think I'm going to start using some of the smaller designs on my 2018 Crazy Quilt Journal Project. This will make that more beautiful, and finally get some of the ones I want to do accomplished!

Susie said...

Thank you - beautiful projects. Enjoy your time with Mr E.

jeni said...

Your designs are truly special. With a message in each one. Thanks for ideas for each one. You need to take a well earned break. Enjoy your Christmas with your special family. Jeni