ME - Machine Embroidery that is

After my last post, I decided to alter one of the things we learned in the embroidery class.  I don't have any nylon organza in my stash (not surprised are you?) but I will be getting some.  Anyway, I substituted sparkly tulle for the organza and it worked.  What I did was use a layer of water soluble stabilizer with a layer of tulle on top and bottom.  I hooped it and stitched out a butterfly that was NOT designed as "free standing lace."  Then I washed out the stabilizer, trimmed down the tulle and I got this:

I did two shots with different lighting so you could get a better idea.  Now this can be used as an embellishment by just tacking down the center and leaving the wings loose.  It can also be stitched around with invisible thread to fully sew it down.  Or it could be pinned on a headband or.....well you get the idea. You are only limited by how far outside the box you can think.  Cool huh?


Then I went to the computer to pull some of the designs off the discs that were in the packages I got at the show.  I was surprised and highly disappointed to find that they will only work if you have (buy) Floriani's software.  Not a good marketing strategy if you ask me.  I now have 5 discs of designs that I can't use unless I find someone who has the software and will convert them for me. (These are .cs2 files and as far as I can tell  no other software will read them.)  That has really put me off on recommending ANY Floriani products.  Sorry, but it is just a very bad way to treat customers. 
Oops!  The above was a mistake!  I figured out MY mistake and the designs work fine.  (see this post.)
But on to happier things!  Today I decided to embroider a cute little teacup that I got free from Embroidery Library.  They are a great place to get embroidery designs.  This one happened to be free, but I have bought a number of designs from them and they have all stitched out beautifully (as long as I didn't mess it up.)
So here is the finished product, still in the hoop 

I should have printed off the color change sheet before I started because my machine substitutes strange colors. As I was stitching out the first color (pink here) I went to the site to look.  Oops, it was supposed to be a medium taupe. Still, l like how it came out. 
Did you see that I now have a blog button that you can grab and add to your blog? Check the sidebar on the right, it is right under followers.