July 2012 Freebie

Our July freebie is now posted on our facebook page!

Please "LIKE" our facebook page to gain access to this month's FREE DOWNLOADS!

Frayed USA Stars

Satin Stitch USA Stars

There is an extra placement line in this file so you can add ribbon! Yes, even in the frayed file.

Let's see some creative stitching!

Going for a hot air balloon ride - applique style.

WARNING: This is one of those boring stories of the inspiration behind a design.

You've been warned :)

 Almost two years ago, we moved to a city that is known for their hot air balloon fiesta. Always taking the opportunity to see the local area, we went to the special shapes glodeo one night. 

My daughter was in love and only talked about going on a hot air balloon ride for a long time after that!

Luckily, Groupon provided the opportunity for us to afford a ride. She received the gift as her birthday present in April.

I know, that's a long time to be sitting on a design, but the weather has been a tad bit windy here lately.

My husband getting his "guy" on by helping with the flames.

 The other day we were finally cleared to go up!

And so we had to wake up at the unreasonable time of 5:00am. 

Anyone else NOT a morning person?

After some prep and general balloon riding instructions, we were up. 

A few other balloons over the city.

Nothing like being in a woven basket attached to a large inflated bag with only a few nylon ropes.

Yes, that's me.

Remember, to get rid of your double chin, stick that chin forward! It works ;)

Birthday Girl!

Birthday girl enjoyed her balloon ride with her hot air balloon applique. She wanted a girl "with pigtails" in the basket and she choose all of her colors herself!

I added the "7" in the circle. You could add a letter, number, or leave it blank with a fun fabric selection.

I made a few modifications from her stitchout and here are the final results. 

I hope you enjoy them!

Blank Hot Air Balloon

 Blank (5x7 example) stitchout.

Boy Hot Air Balloon

Boy (4x4 example) stitchout.

Girl Hot Air Balloon

Girl (6x10 example) stitchout.

Cheer for the USA!

 The Olympic Games are almost upon us!

I come from a swimming family. Started when I was young, became a lifeguard at 15, started coaching when I graduated, and watched my siblings in their swimming pursuits. 

All three of my siblings swam in college. I guess I should say they swam at a major university with other top athletes, some of those Olympic medalists.

Me, eh, not so much. 

I spent most of my time in the Athletic Training Room with a bum shoulder. Sometimes we just aren't built the same way.

So, instead I pursued Athletic Training and followed around a bunch of swimmers (and other athletes) taking care of all of their ailments. Ahhhh, the stories I could tell if I hadn't signed a confidentiality agreement. 

Oh don't worry, I'm just a full time mom now.

Working to pay off her student loans. 

From 12 years ago.

Yeah, I know.

I didn't even need college to find a guy. I married my high school sweet heart!

Anyway, enough about that tangent.

All that just to say we enjoy watching swimming in our house.

My kids like to pretend play.

 They LOVE this set of Felt Medals.

Don't worry, full picture PDF instructions are included in the purchase.

If you haven't made any ITH items, here's a quick overview.

 You'll stabilize your WSS and stitch a placement line. For the medals, there is an extra placement stitch to add the ribbon. Or you can skip it if you have other ideas on how you want to use the file.

Add your felt on top and stitch.

Flip your hoop over.

Add your felt on the back side of the hoop. Use some adhesive so it doesn't fall off while you stitch!

Stitch the final tackdowns.

Unhoop and trim. Be careful not to cut the ribbon!

Fold the ribbon and add snaps or hook & loop.

 And you are done!

The Felt Medal Clippies are a smaller version of the medals.

There is no extra placement line to add ribbon. 

If you want to add the ribbon while in the hoop, just run the original placement line over and over until you have the ribbon secure. 

Or, you can add the feltie to a ribbon montage after you've stitched and cut it out.

Either way,

GO USA!

Special requests: Sailboat Appliques and Burp Clothes

 Who do you do special requests for? I usually do mine for family. 

Most of the time they request items that I can digitize, but not sell.

Imagine my surprise when my SIL emailed requesting a few nautical items! Yeah! 

She is going to a baby shower and the new Mama is decorating the room with sailboats. 

The special request: make a onesie with "Just Sailed In" and a sailboat with sailboat fabric.

Whew!

Uh Oh.....my sailboat fabric (and yes, I had some on hand in my garage sale pile) had too large of a print to use for the sails.

Being one to always try to please, I decided to make a burp cloth and use the sailboat fabric to line the back.

So, I whipped up a sailboat patch to put on the front of the burp cloth.

Since I was just using a diaper prefold, I put some zorb in the middle of the burp cloth. 

Hey, you never know when you'll have a heavy spitter. One of those who spits up continuously from one feeding to the next. One of those who can completely wet your shirt and pants with a tiny little burp. Yes. I had one of those ;)

So, zorb it is.

I quickly folded the sides of the burp cloth in. I like the skinnier burp clothes that don't fall off my shoulder all of the time. 

And lastly, I added that sailboat fabric to the back. 

I can't believe that 4x4 design looks so big on that newborn onesie! Where mine ever that small?

If you are looking closely, the sailboats don't match. I like to think up my own designs. 

 That way I get to call them original :)

This made such a cute set!

Just Sailed In Applique

 Sailboat Patch

I couldn't help myself, I made one more version with the boat on water.

Sailboat

How do I access my embroidery files when they are zipped?

HELP! I just downloaded your files but they won't transfer to my machine!

Do you have this problem?

I've used a few jpegs to try to help you unlock those files and get you stitching!

Your first step during this download process was selecting how to download your file.

Hopefully, you selected to "Save File."

When I download, I have a nice little box that shows me what I downloaded. 

I like to go to that box, and "Open Containing Folder."

If you don't have a download box, go to the folder where your file was saved.

Once you are in the download folder, select your zipped file. 

Double click (to open) your zipped file.

Once you have your file selected, you need to "Extract All" to get to the good stuff.

When you "Extract All," you'll have to decide where to save the file.

Pick a good spot to save your file and don't forget where you put it ;)

Once saved, go to that spot and transfer the file to your machine!

Happy Stitching!

My Account - My Orders

You've found a design you like.

You've ordered your design.

But now, you can't remember where to download your order?

Here's a little help.

Sign in if you haven't already.

When signed into your account, you can get to your recent orders through the link at the top of the page or from the Order History module on the right of the page.

Or, you can get to your recent orders through your  "My Account" tab.

This takes you to the "My Order History" page. 

Once there, select the order you would like to "View".

This brings you to all of the order information of that specific order. 

At the very TOP, you'll see the header "Download Links."

Under that will be each of the files you ordered. 

To download, select the NAME OF THE FILE.

And this opens your download link!

Save your file and you are good to go!

If you need help with your .zip, please follow the instructions in this post:  http://originalstitches.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-do-i-access-my-embroidery-files.html

June 2012 Freebie is now posted!

This month I thought I'd do things a little differently.

Instead of having a freebie for a month, I added THREE freebies to our website that will stay there!

Each will give you an idea of how our files will stitch for you. Our nice wide satin stitches are always good for any project. Our frayed stitch items give your projects a little depth - I love these! And, since I like the look of a few of my decorative stitch options, I added one I thought fit perfectly for an anchor (just don't forget to use the same color for your tackdown).

All files now come with PDF instructions with step-by-step color change images. You will always know where you are in your design! (Note: older files have not yet been updated with pdf instructions. Don't worry, they will be!)

Please enjoy these samples and come back for more!