How to draw a soccer ball.

Well, if you are like me and like to draw all of your designs from scratch, that leaves a little conundrum when it comes to widely known objects. 

What to do, what to do......

Up on my plate was a soccer ball. 

Soccer balls have a pentagon and hexagon pattern. 

Thus, I started like this:

You'll notice these aren't perfect pentagons and hexagons. They are going on a round surface so they needed a little perspective. 

Fun. Fun. 

That came with a lot of tweaking.

But it was finally time to start filling in the ball. Again, lines are curved for perspective.

Until you have the final ball!

Whew! What a lot of work for a little soccer ball.

And this little ball is now part of the larger file.

Now that the soccer ball has been mastered, making the whole thing applique would be really cute! Just think of using flame or flower fabric instead of having plain black pentagons.

A howling good time.

I love wolves.

I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because my parents had a mixed breed dog that looked like a wolf to my young eyes when I was a child.

Maybe it's because they look so cute and cuddly, just with a little attitude.

Or because they live in packs.

Whatever the reason, I claim wolves as my favorite animal.

Howling.

Baying at the moon.

Or being spooky.

No matter the size, pups or alpha males, I like wolves.

For right now, I just have simple applique and embroidery designs of wolves.

Maybe one day I will make this guy into an embroidery file. 

No, I was not an art major in college. Just a science major. But, art has always been my hobby. Even right now while I'm majoring in Motherhood, I spend hours creating for you. Just like I spent hours painting him (that's right, copyright Original Stitches). 

His eyes get me every time. It would take a lot of work to make thread speak like a paint brush. 

One of these days I will.

September 2012 Freebie Now Available!

EXPIRED! Visit our website to download the tension test for free (in the FREE category)!!

Our September freebie is now posted on our facebook page!

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

This month's freebie is a little different but it something we all need.

We just finished moving from one state to another.

Before I wanted to start any projects, I made a test file to make sure all of my needles were adjusted correctly and nothing had changed during my machine's travel in a truck.

This test file comes in a 1 needle (4x4 hoop), 4 needle (4x4 hoop), 6 needle (5x7 hoop) and 10 needle (6x10 hoop). Of course, you can use them however you want. If you have a single need, you may want to use the 4 needle design to test all of the adjustments (stopping at each color change).

Here is how mine stitched out the first time.

Check your manual book for how to adjust your needle tension. Normally, you want the back of the stitching to show 1/3 top thread, 1/3 bobbin thread, and 1/3 top thread.

I had a few adjustments to make on a few needles.

Enjoy!