I might struggle on occasion from a lazy streak. Not often but definitely on occasion. For instance… I would love to make an appliqué butterfly quilt… but I have simply been too lazy to cut the pieces and hand appliqué the fabrics and make cute little embroidered antennae for the butterflies. I do have a huge selection of 1930’s repros and would love to make a few “antique” patterns for myself… but I just can’t get the motivation together for working on non-CWQ projects for myself… especially since I have so many personal UFOs that need my attention. I blame my UFOs on all you very talented designers out there that tempt me with your perfect piecing.
Since I recently bought a new sewing machine that does spectacular machine embroidery I thought I would try it out, cheat and make some machine appliqué embroidery blocks. I just can’t get into the machine embroidery 10,000+ stitches… it’s just not my style… but … the lazy man’s machine embroidery appliqué … now that is up my style.
Here are a couple of stitched out block designs. The butterfly design is called Butterfly 3 and the Zig Zag Butterfly by Appliqué Cafe. Not too shabby. I love these simple stitch machine appliqué designs… and there are so many possibilities.
I don’t have a scotty dog… but I do have a West Highland Terrier named Duncan. The cutest little man on the planet. Here is the Scottie Appliqué by Embroidery Boutique. He’s such a cute little guy.
Another of my favorite machine embroidery appliqué designers is Designs by JuJu. All these designers offer special sales each month and I have personally stitched out their designs and LOVE them. They stitch out so nice. So… if you are a quilter that is very hesitant to jump into the machine embroidery hobby… give it a shot. This is also a great way to use up all those pesky scraps you have lying around. They are great for making awesome gifts like monogrammed towels and garden flags. Take a look at these three of my favorite machine embroidery sites and let me know what you think.
Have any of you incorporated embroidery designs in your quilting? If so, how? Let me know how talented you are and what you are up to in those studios of yours. I am trying to decide if digitizing my appliqué designs for machine embroidery is worth it. Would you make the quilts using that method?
~ Happy Quilting