September 19: Digitizing,Laundry, and a Side of Ice Cream

 I was given my Bernina 440 for Christmas and then the embroidery module for my birthday.  I took the mastery classes for the sewing, but could only fit one embroidery class in before the move.   Did get the handouts from the dealer for the 2nd class.  I had a Decco 330 so I did not have any real issues with straightforward designs and adding words, but I had only digitized two times before and those were designs that were part of the tutorial. 

I have Artista software that allows me to do many different things with my sewing machine, but I have not had made time to really learn more than what I have needed at the time.  I am pretty good at working through written instructions, but I do spend a lot of time playing around making myself comfortable with what I am trying to accomplish.  The difference between the tutorial and starting from scratch may seem small, but it  is big for a novice. The project I am working on is creating logos for the woodworking school t-shirts that Kevin would like for this weekend's wood show. (This may or may not happen, but I always try to accomplish what I set out to do.)  I am using the letterhead which looked crisp and clean until I started digitizing.   I needed to clean up the picture which meant I needed to use the paint program on the computer.  That was pretty much a first for me.  I love a challenge though, so I continued improving things even today.

Another challenge to this project is that I would rather have the medium hoop for doing the shirts, but I live in an area where there is only one Bernina dealer.  She has one on order, but that does not help with this week's project.  Finding a hoop was one of Saturday's errands.

This is what I have so far.  I have used the same hooped fabric to make a couple of test pieces.  Each one is better than the last, but this design is not ready for shirts, yet.  I also need to get some spray to temporarily tack down the fabric since the building stitching is so dense and tends to push the knit fabric.  I am getting close.  A little more tinkering and I should have it.  Who would have thought that I would enjoy this challenge so much.  I am not going into the embroidering business, but I do have a few ideas that I might try just to build my skills.

Last but not least, here is a photo of my dear husband enjoying his Ben and Jerry's treat.  This is a man who loves his ice cream!!