From Waffle Fry to Medic Flag

Its been a little quiet on the crafty front due to issues with both of my machines. Ms. Parker's tension issues have finally been resolved tonight by installing a new bobbin case, so I was able to *gasp* Finish a Project! Remember the belt flag that started as a waffle fry? I may not have posted a picture of it, so here is Gen 1 of Baline Medic belt flag.

After several iterations and some fussing with the pattern, I have a final draft. Let's call this Gen 3, shall we?

I consider it a vast improvement over the original.

Kaylee is also having tension issues, so I ordered a new bobbin case for her as well. I also may have resolved my freestanding lace issue by purchasing heavy duty water soluble stabilizer, but it hasn't been tested yet because I promptly misplaced it as soon as I got home yesterday. The lack of organization in my sewing room is driving me up a wall, which brings us to what I was fiddling around with while my sewing machines were out of commission.

I have drafted this at least twice in the past couple of weeks during meetings at work and last night I was able to put it on graphing paper. It is wall hanging stabilizer storage for my embroidery stabilizers, because as I have unfortunately discovered, every project needs a new type of stabilizer. 

It is a rough draft but now I have some idea where to start. I think I will make it out of duck cloth, so I should have enough on hand. I would like to reinforce the back with cardboard, which will be an adventure, and use grommets and command hooks to hang it under my embroidery shelf. It is designed to hold three types of precuts and six rolls of stabilizer. I am considering adding a third rod if it will fit to hold the heat and bond lite that I keep misplacing.

Advice Needed!

I have been attempting to get this project stitched out on my embroidery machine for about a week now.

Fierce Dragon (Lace) by Urban Threads

It is still missing one of the wings because every time I try to stitch it, I get a birds nest underneath the stitching, my embroidery machine jams up, and then there is crying and screaming (from both me and the machine).

I have tried everything from a new needle to fresh wound bobbin, two layers of stabilizer instead of one, rethreading, adjusting the tension, and cleaning the machine of all lint particles. Last night and tonight I decided that I just wasn't going to deal with it and I didn't even bother. Any other ideas that my brilliant readers have that could help would be most welcome. I have an embroidery project for someone else that has been sitting for seven months because I can't count on my machine to be reliable enough to attempt to stitch it.

Embroidery Machine Play

Now that Ragnarok is over, I decided to settle in and do a few new things with the embroidery machine. The first thing I wanted to do was make myself and Maeve medic belt flags.

My first attempt looked more like a waffle fry than a red cross.

The next two were better. I like the gold, but it doesn't really specify "Medic."

Then my brain kicked into gear and I realized that I had software for this. Why on earth was I stitching out every color scheme?

Now we're talking. I haven't really decided which one to go with, but it will probably be the silver crosses or the all red and white one. I like the silver option, because it relates to our House Heraldry (which is also the reason for the Jerusalem Cross instead of the standard red cross). I also learned a few nifty things that my software does, such as aligning various elements and how to change the background to view the embroidery on different colors.

After playing around with that for a while, I felt brave enough to attempt to embroider a knit t-shirt. I rounded up my supplies, watched a couple tutorials, found a old t-shirt I didn't care about and discovered that I had purchased the wrong type of water soluble stabilizer for a topper. Oops.

But it was exactly the RIGHT type of water soluble stabilizer to experiment with free standing lace... and voila! Meet my little mini 3D patriotic butterfly, carefully stitched while I worked on one of my quilts.

This one will go into the stockpile of accents and accessories that will make it onto my crazy quilt some day. I expect that I will have several more of these to show before too long - it is just too much fun to make them!