With time marching on I am realizing that I have got nowhere with decorating the flat that I moved into at the end of the All Counties Challenge last year so, in a bid to get ahead, I thought that I would dedicate some time to creating the things that are going to go on the walls after I have managed to find the time to paint.

Yes, I could spend the time painting instead of making, but where is the fun in that?!

Lol, anyway, I am always enamoured by the look of framed embroidery so defo wanted to give that a go.

Also, what better excuse to actually get the embroidery machine out and get it earning it’s keep!

Later in life I will attempt to design some bits and pieces however with time short I went on the hunt for some ready made designs and eventually googled my way to the Embroidery Library.

Oh. My. Good golly gosh! Quick, hide my wallet!

To say that I was super excited and inspired by their choice of designs was an understatment but I tried to keep my calm and browsed the designs until I found the Create Typography Square.

There were others but I liked the detail and style of this one in particular. Also, on the day I was browsing, this design was on sale – bargain alert!!!

Anyhoo, I popped a couple of other designs in my basket and whistled through the checkout and onto the downloads page. If you know me, you know that I work with a variety of different electronic creative machines and therefore the hunt for something to download these designs onto, so that I could move them to my embroidery machine, proved a minor challenge but thankfully it was only temporary.

I double checked the design in my PES software and then went off to get the fabric ready.

Now, don’t throw up when I tell you this but I am planning on having grey walls. Yes, grey. I have seen this style in many glossy magazines and genuinely love how soothing and relaxing it is and also how it can be teamed with ANY colour – meaning I will be able to change the home decor without having to repaint!

Laziness wins over all. Lol!

So, you will be unsurprised to know that I, therefore, chose grey fabric.

I backed this with fusible Vilene H520 as I have found this to work well for embroidery and for using when cutting fabric on the Scan N Cut machine.

There were six different colours in this design so I had a rummage through my collection and, not yet having the Brother range of threads to match the design, I decided to use some of the variegated thread that I seem to have been collecting like a demented magpie.

This I threaded up onto my Brother Innovis 750E …

… loaded up the design, held my breath, and pressed start!

I still get a little excited each time I fire this beauty up – I even sit and watch it as it stitches!

The thread colour was changed in between each letter until the design was complete.

GORGEOUS!!

Minor panic ensued though as I realised I might not have a frame or hoop to put it in so I hunted through the ‘stuff’ box and found a cute little needlepoint frame – I think I got it free on the cover of a magazine at some point in history – and it was luckily just the right size!

Mental note – plan this out ahead of the next project. Lol!

So, in less than an hour, I had my first gorgeous bit of wall candy that will go on to feature in the lounge. When it gets done. Eventually.

I think it will look good, don’t you?

Right, my friends recently dropped off a load of paint and painting equipment so I really have no excuse any more – best go get my overalls on and make a start.

Or maybe I should pop over to Embroidery Library again, just in case there was an even more awesome design that I have missed …

Many thanks for stopping by. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this one.

Bye for now. See you next time.

J :)