Laughing and Learning

If you follow me on twitter you know that I spent the weekend in IL at the John Deer Embroidery Extravaganza....here's my recap about the weekend. Overall the event was amazing, I had a fabulous time and learns lots of valuable information.
      John is very funny, and injects humor into every segment of the class. It's obvious that he loves to educate and enjoys sharing his knowledge of embroidery with everyone.  He has won 30 digitizing awards and has written for industry magazines. 
     John talked about making embroidery soft and not "bullet proof", he teaches the Theory of Embroidery - which are the rules for digitizing.  Even if you are not interested in learning how to digitize, these rules are important so that you can understand what goes into a "good embroidery design".  Often times when you experience multiple thread breaks, bird nesting or bad registration, it's not your fault...it's the digitizer's fault.  Poorly digitized designs will not stitch out well.
     John explained which types of stabilizers to use and when to use them. Like me, he prefers Floriani stabilizers. http://www.rnkdistributing.com/cid-35-1/Floriani-Products.html
One tip his staff gave us was to store your water soluble stabilizer in the fridge so that it last longer.  This helps prevent it from drying out, mildewing, or getting wet and sticking to itself.
      John also gave tips on using metallic thread - such as putting the spool of thread on the table or floor behind the sewing machine. The longer travel space the thread has to unwind before entering your machine - the less likely you are to have thread breaks.
      He taught and entire segment on "Making lots of $ with Embroidery". Tips for starting your own business and making sales.  He did lots of demos, including hooping demos, lace and cut work, as well as product demos.  He also did a demo on his own software "Adorable You" http://www.adorableideas.com/index.php?cPath=1134_886  This software is perfect for the person who doesn't really want to get into digitizing but wants a fast and easy (and I mean fast and easy) way to combine photographs with embroidery applique and text. All the digitizing is done for you.
      John shares his real life experiences with everyone, talks about his family, his amazing wife and wonderful grandmother. He's a master digitizer with an amazing support group of family and staff (who really seem to be more like family than staff). And although he claims to be a spoiled, only child; at the end of the event he was right there, packing up samples and equipment alongside with the rest of the staff.
     Between the free samples, give ways, fun and knowledge that I received, this weekend was more than worth the $69.95 that I paid for the class.  Every one also received a copy of his entire presentation on a CD! If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend attending one of the events that John teaches. Here is a link to his upcoming events:http://www.adorableideas.com/aievent_2010calendar.php
Want to check out John's designs? Click here: http://www.adorableideas.com/index.php

 Lastly - I have to say the Linda Z's was a fabulous host...everything was soo well organized, and it clear to me that her customers are not just customers, they are also her friends. If you are in the Chicago-land area and want to check out her store here is a link to it: http://www.lindazs.com/  She made the announcement this weekend that they will soon be moving to a larger store with more parking and it's very close to her current location. The new store will have a big classroom space. I look forward to attending future classes at her new store.
Happy Sewing - Kat  :)

Sewing Room face lift - part 2

As part of the face lift to my sewing room, I'm refinishing a 1950's vintage cabinet. This particular cabinet was in my father in laws kitchen when he was a little boy. I love that it's been in the family this long...and I think that his mother would be happy that I've rescued it from the garage (where it was filled with nails and mice poo) and it will soon be lovingly used to store fun crafting and sewing supplies.

First step was stripping and sanding the cabinet.

Once I had all the old paint removed...I discovered this! An old butterfly decal had left a faded mark on the cabinet door. Like a hidden secret. But unfortunately the butterfly was not meant to stay..and it got covered up again just a quickly....my husband primed all the pieces for me.

 I love how he hung the cabinet doors from the garage so that he could paint them evenly with his sprayer.

Next step is paint!!!!

My favorite part of the cabinet (aside from the fun paint color I picked out) is the actual vintage hardware.  I'm very excited about it...and can't wait to put it back on the cabinet, and get the cabinet back into my sewing room!!!

I'll post more photos once the paint is completed and the cabinet gets put back together.

- Kat  :)

Sewing Room Facelift - part one

I've waited a long time for this...my sewing room is finally getting a face lift!!!!

I've been wanting to replace my shelves with cabinets ever since I saw an ad for a cabinet company that showed cabinets in a sewing room. I was instantly hooked..I had to have cabinets! The one thing I really dislike is walking into my sewing room and seeing all the clutter on those shelves and getting stressed out about it.  So little by little the shelves are going away..and being replaced with cabinets!  Here is a view of the two bottom cabinets. I left a space in between them so that I can put my serger on the counter and still have a spot for my chair with out hitting my knees.  So far I love it and I can't wait to get my serger all set up and running.

I haven't decided what color counter top I want yet...and since our trailer is full of wood that needs to be chopped up...I wont be getting a counter top anytime soon. So in the meanwhile I'm using two of the shelves pushed together as a counter top. I'm actually surprised at how well they work. Maybe I'll forgo real counter tops for a while and use that $$ for more Fabric. A girl can never have too much fabric  :)

 Next step will be to hang the upper cabinets once the holes in the wall have been patched from where the shelves hung. I'll post more photos as they become available.

Happy Sewing - Kat  :)