My First Samples

I'm so excited -- I played with my new embroidery machine today.  I had already downloaded the designs for the farm quilt; but after doing the chick and the tractor, I decided that I needed some other designs for the grandkids.  So, I downloaded some others.  Two of the new designs are the strawberry cupcake and the pirate ship.  These are only my samples, which I intend to save in a notebook for future reference.  I'm so glad that I did these.  I will definitely make some changes.  To the cupcake, I will outline the strawberries in black, and will not do the black accents in the icing.  I learned with the tractor how to adjust the tension settings so that the outlines will look more smooth.

I trimmed these samples down to 4-1/2" because I had intended to do a churn dash with the farm animals.  To do a 12" block, I needed the center to be 4-1/2".  I'm not sure about my plan, now.  I may try to find an attic window pattern that would be better suited for 5" blocks.  Or, I may just cipher a 15" block.

When I decided to buy a new embroidery machine, I debated about what kind to buy.  I chose a Janome because I didn't like the thread cartridge in the Brother.  Believe it or not,  I made the right choice.  Brother announced they are discontinuing the cards for their machines.  And I so love the Janome.  It's as easy to use as my regular machine.  And now that I know that I can do this applique embroidery, I have all types of projects running through my mind.  Toodles!