Oak Leaves in the summer

Summer continues and we have had hot, hot, HOT weather in our neck of the woods. Luckily a cool basement level makes sewing and quilting bearable. This afternoon I finished "Oak Leaves and Reel", a panel quilt by Terry Clothier Thompson for Moda. I have had this quilt panel and all of the accompanying fabrics for this quilt for at least 3 years. So, I decided it was time to make it up. I did echo quilting around all of the leaves and acorns in the borders as well as treating each panel block seperately. The quilt is ready for a binding and as soon as I finish that, I will move on to my brother-in-laws requested t-shirt quilt made out of his collection of Red Wings t-shirts.

Baby Lock Ellisimo machine embroidery

I decided it was time to really learn to use the machine embroidery function of my Baby Lock Ellisimo. So, I decided to start on the little girl's purse by Molly Mine designs. This purse is absolutely darling and I am sure that I will need to make more than one for the little granddaughters in my family. I am finding out that the Ellisimo not only sews like a dream but embroiders like a dream too. The functions and the buttons on the machine are not that much different from my old Brother ULT. I was not prepared though for exactly how MUCH embroidery this little purse entails. This is my 4th straight day of embroidery and I am approximately 1/2 done. I'm having a really fun time and the purse(s) will go to little girls who will love them, so I am going to call it a "labor of love".

My Mom tells of the time that my Aunt Marg made Barbie doll clothes (bridal gowns included) for my sisters and me. When my Mom suggested to Aunt Marg that she make Barbie clothes and sell them, Aunt Marg told her that there wasn't anyone that would pay what the clothes were worth. They were a "labor of love".

I have NO PLAN or intention to make these purses to sell. They are a copyright design by Molly Mine and I believe that making them to sell is a violation of her copyright. That being said - if I were to pay myself $1.00 per hour, I would need to sell this little purse for approximately $80.00 Hmmmm - not to many Mom's out there willing to pay $80 for a toddlers purse. :-)

It's kind of like the first baby bib I made with my very first embroidery machine. I proudly showed it to my Mister who responded, "nice - a $500 baby bib". Crafty people need to remember that we do these things and enjoy the process as the end result is not always cost effective. Unfortunately, non-crafty people see things made and think they should be able to pay someone "a few bucks" to whip one out for them. I'm glad I'm one of the crafty people and I try very hard to enjoy the process of the things I make.