Machine Embroidery Blog Hop - Patsy Thompson Designs and a Giveaway

Today is the last day of the Machine Embroidery Blog Hop, where participating blogs are showcasing designs from the very talented Patsy Thompson Designs, as well as sharing tips, inspirational projects, and giveaways too!  SewCalGal is delighted to be able to participate in this blog hop, which was organized by Kelly Jackson of I Have A Notion (IHAN).

I want to share with you a few insights on Patsy Thompson, free-motion quilting, pre-cuts vs e:cutters vs manual cuts of applique, as well as showcase a machine embroidery (ME)  design set by Patsy Thompson and hopefully inspire those that enjoy ME, or want to learn it, to try ME designs by Patsy, as well as see a variety of ways to use ME designs.  Oh, there is also a giveaway I have to share with you too! 

It was actually Kelly that introduced me to Patsy Thompson, many years ago.  I was researching to see if an old quilter like myself could learn free-motion quilting (FMQ), and committed to focusing a year on FMQ.  Kelly recommended various FMQ DVDs, that were available in the IHAN store and I still feel that was one of the best investments I've ever made to help me learn FMQ. And, I've gone on to buy and watch other FMQ DVDs from Patsy, to such that I have almost every DVD she has created and can honestly recommend all of them, as well as her FMQ books.

But in addition to being a FMQ Expert, Patsy is also an amazing quilter, teacher, designer, and machine embroidery digitizer who loves to create projects that incorporate beautiful applique' shapes.

Like many of us, Patsy doesn't like the work to manually cut out applique' shapes, especially when you work with a fun design that you want to use many times in a particular project, or in a variety of projects.  With the emergence of die cutting machines, she created her own line of PTD dies that are compatible with the Sizzix® Big Kick, the Sizzix® Big Shot, and the Sizzix® Big Shot Pro.  Of course you can still cut out these shapes manually, or even by way of using a e:cutter (e.g Silhouette Cameo, Brother Scan N Cut, etc), but the dies do provide amazing detail and ability to create multiple cuts at once, making the process of incorporating applique' into your projects significantly easier and faster.



Patsy also sells pre-cut kits and pre-cut fusible applique shapes, at a very reasonable price, which are perfect for those that don't have a die cutting machine, ecutter (e.g. Silhouette Cameo, Brother Scan-N-Cut, etc), and don't want to cut out applique shapes manually either as pre-cuts or the old fashion in the hoop method! 

SewCalGal is also a big fan of Quilting Stencils designed by Patsy, but you can find many wonderful products in her online shop.

I recently had the pleasure of taking an embroidery class with Patsy at Road to California, for her Harmonic Song Birds collection.  This collection can be used to make a beautiful machine embroidered applique quilt, as well as just about any machine embroidered project you can imagine.  Possibilities are endless to use these designs, portions of these designs, stitch in vibrant colors, neutral colors, tone on tone, etc..

In her class at Road we made a beautiful wallhanging.  Patsy is an excellent teacher.  You may want to talk with your local quilt shop or sewing shop to recommend that they host Patsy to teach an embroidery class and/or a free-motion quilting class in your area.  I'm confident you'll have fun, learn and create a beautiful project too!

When asked to join this blog hop, I thought about how many times I've heard someone talk about various embroidery designers (aka digitizers) and design collections, saying things like "I don't like the colors" (therefore I don't like the design) OR "I don't have all the thread colors required (therefor it would cost me too much to make this design).  While designs will always look as beautiful as the designer creates, when you use their exact thread colors (and fabrics), you can use your own color selections, as well as reduce the number of colors used, if you prefer, for just about any design you want to stitch out, from any designer.

I like to stitch out practice pieces before I finalize my own color choices. And, as you can see in this piece, I also played with combining different design files from this collection, as well as stitching out only portions of certain design file.  But I also wanted neutral colors so I used various shades of brown and a burgundy color.   In this piece you can see I only used applique for the bird and the feathers on the top of the bird, but I could have used applique in other shapes.

Another option would be fun to stitch out would be to only use the applique placement line and create Trapunto!

In this next piece I used one portion of a design to create a frame.  I think this layout would be great to add machine embroidered text, but I have plans specifically for free-motion quilting that calls for such a frame.

BTW, these pieces will be turned into 18" pillows during a free-motion quilting challenge that SewCalGal will host next year.  Each month I'll host a challenge and showcase a different designer.  Of course, the month these projects will be showcased the designer will be Patsy Thompson!  You can consider this a sneak peak to one of the challenges in 2015.  And, in that particularly monthly challenge, you'll have the option to stitch out any machine embroidery design by Patsy Thompson Designs and combine with free-motion quilting to enter the particular challenge.  More details on the challenges will be shared next year, as they are released on SewCalGal.  But you may want to check out the free tutorial, by Patsy Thompson, that was shared during the 2012 FMQ Challenge:  http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2012/12/2012-free-motion-quilting-challenge.html

You can find Patsy at:

•  Patsy Thompson Designs: http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/
• Blog:  http://www.patsythompsondesigns.com/blog/ 
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Patsy-Thompson-Designs-LTD/139685489440973?fref=ts
• youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/patsern

Did I mention A Giveaway?

Patsy has generously offered to sponsor this giveaway where one lucky winner can select their favorite machine embroidery design, or design collection, from Patsy Thompson Designs (PTD).  To enter, simply visit PTD's online store and come back and leave a comment on this post telling me what design/design collection you would want to win.  But also be sure to use the Rafflecopter form below as it will be used to randomly select the winner on November 20th and announce it on this post.  I will send the lucky winner an email, as well as update this post to announce the winner.  

note:  Google/Blogger has a sporadic problem with comments.  If you do receive a kickback message in your email, that appears I didn't receive your comment, do not fret.  Such messages will later appear on this blog (and other blogs).  They just get hung up in the blogger tool and I, like other bloggers, need to manually release them via the blogger tool.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to visit all of the blogs participating in this blog hop.  You'll find inspirational projects on a variety of designs from Patsy Thompson Designs and a giveaway at each stop, where you can enter to win a design (or design collection), of your choice, from PTD.

November 10th - Kelly Jackson/I Have A Notion
November 11th - Gene Black an Alabama Artist and Quilter
November 12th - Marjorie's Quilting Bee
November 13th - Jean Creates 
November 14th - SewCalGal

Email SewCalGal if you have any questions.