Patsy Thompson Designs Blog Hop - My Day (and Giveaway)

Comments for Giveaway are Closed. 
There is a blogger issue that will not allow me to stop comments, but the last comment prior to Midnight November 14th is the last one that will be counted.

The winner is Kathy E.  

I hope you saw Kelly's post yesterday at I Have a Notion.  Today is my day.  For the design I chose to use the Feathered Star Design. It is a great design that would look great on a quilt.  But I chose to do something else with it.

 I did several sew-outs before I started a project just so see how the design works.  So those will probably show up in a quilt later. I love this design; it is so versatile.  One thing that I enjoy doing is playing with the colors of thread.  But I also love to see what else I can do with the design.

Since this design comes in three sizes,  3.75", 5" and 7"  I decided to use the two smaller sizes and do more than one of the design on a project.

My first project was a red pillow.

I first set the 5" star in the center of my design field.  Then I added two of the 3.75" designs and moved them around on the design screen until I liked the arrangement.  I added a bit of batting behind the fabric to add dimension.  It is not very obvious in the photo, though.
Here are the closeups:

As you can see, I did quilt the pillow cover before I fully assembled the pillow.

My next project was another pillow, using a white fabric that I had bought previously in the upholstery section of the fabric store.  It has a lovely texture and shine in person.  I think that I may need to rip out my hand stitches and add a bit more fiberfill into the pillow so it puffs out more. I clearly need lessons in stuffing a pillow properly.

You may notice that this design looks very different. I told you that I like to see what else I can do with a design.

If you watch a machine embroidery design as it sews, you can get ideas of ways to use parts of it.  This design starts with the outer star outline and progresses inward.  Most embroidery machines will allow you to skip a section.  Or you can skip the beginning and use the inner part.  For the white pillow I set one 5" star and seven of the 3.75" stars.
First I sewed out the first two colors in the large center star. Then I skipped the two center sections.  Then I proceeded to skip the two outer sections of the smaller star which was also in the center. (It was right on top of the large star on my design screen!)  I sewed out only the inner sections right in the middle of the large star.

This put the smaller center inside the larger star outline and feather design, leaving some white space  and actually making a new design.
In the same manner for the other six smaller designs, I skipped the outer two  sections and on four of them only sewed one section.

As you can see, the middle design on each end of the pillow has two sets of "loops" while the two on each side of it have only one.  I love being able to use parts of a design like this.  I want to do a trapunto design sewing only the two outer parts of the design so that the center, unembroidered, star shape will really puff out.   I am certainly not done experimenting with this design.

Another little project that I did unfortunately did not photograph well.  It is a T-shirt for a child that I did the outer star on the front.  Because the T-shirt is a "tweedy" weave, it confuses the camera imaging receptors.  But I am going to show it anyway.

Notice that I stopped the design with just the two outer sections this time. 

So that makes four different designs that I have managed to get from this one design.

As you can see the heathered shirt somewhat hides the design in a photo..but in person it is quite attractive.  I also used a layer of cotton batting behind this so the center has a slight trapunto effect. I also used cutaway stabilizer so that the batting is contained and won't fray.

Let me encourage you to stretch your imagination.  You may be able to do more with your embroidery machine than you ever imagined.  Of course, well digitized designs, like these from Patsy Thompson, make experimenting so much more fun.

I think this design would be great done on a red sweatshirt in green and/or white threads for holiday wear during the Christmas Season.  The white and blue make me think of the holidays also.  But I suspect my great nieces who love the movie "Frozen" will see snowflakes and grab it for themselves.

Some of you may have read the post on my blog yesterday where I showed a "sneak peek" at some test blocks that I used to practice free-motion quilting.  Here are the pictures of those blocks which will show you how these designs can look in a quilted setting.

Now for that giveaway I mentioned in the title:  Patsy Thompson will give one of my readers your choice of any downloadable digitized pattern or design on her web site.  This is an excellent prize. To be truthful, this would be a very difficult choice for me. But to register yourself in this giveaway, leave a comment with your choice of design. Be sure that if you are a no-reply blogger that you leave your email address in the comment. I must be able to contact you for you to win.  Otherwise I will choose another winner.  This will remain open until November 14th at midnight Central Time. I will announce the winner on the following day.
And just for fun, I would like to know what type of project you would plan to do with the design you choose.  I will choose the winner randomly from all eligible commenters.

Here is a list so you can see the entire blog hop.  If you missed Kelly's post yesterday, be sure that you go back and read it.  Then also be sure to check the other entries as the week progresses.

I Have A Notion Blog November 10th

Gene Black  November 11th (you are here) 

Marjorie's Quilting Bee November 12

Jean Creates November 13

SewCalGal  November 14

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger" - I can not reply.