[Samantha]

I am so please this forum has a section for everything that I love .. crafting, cooking, veg, livestock .. LOVE IT

Thought I would share a pic of my latest creation ... my daughters teacher mentioned that he was starting to plant veg and had taken a real interest in it so for his end of year gift I made him a seed sorter from some old scraps of fabric and embroidered on some veggie designs...



Close up of one of the pockets



Sam

P.S .. i noticed that my pictures on the forum come out big and others have thumbnails in their posts taht you can click on .. how do I get the thumbnails in my posts?

[HappyHippy]

Hi Sam 
Not sure about the photo thingy, it's a bit too technical for me.
But I LOVE your seed sorter ! It's fabby !
 I'm an avid crafter too - I make cards, jewellery, candles, slate signs and do a bit of wood burning too. But, as always, there's so much more I want to do !

[Samantha]

Thanks .. I just had a look at your website .. Love your crafts!! the Bencott piggie sign is great!! love the hen and chick one too

I am quite fortunate that I have an embroidery machine which I love.. it's so useful for personalising and embelishing stuff

Sam

[Hermit]

I have started trying to take up some hobbies instead of watching the box. My hubby just got me a machine which embroiders from the local scrap store for a tenner!!!!! It is a fantastic machine.

[Samantha]

Thats awesome what file type does your machine use.. maybe i have some designs I could send you Fortunately I have never had a problem with TV .. i didnt' have one (through choice) for like 8 years .. I eventually had to cave in to the kids lol I watch it ocassionally for movies but thats about it

[knightquest]

I love that seed sorter. It's a great idea too. I would buy one of those if you wanted to make another Sam.

I've not watched much telly recently either. Used to be addicted but have built a chicken run and i've been working in the garden 'til it gets dark.

Ian

[Fleecewife]

We laugh about all the gardening programmes on TV - far too busy here working in the garden to watch them 

I love your seed sorter Sam - what a clever and simple idea 

What make and model is your embroidering machine?  There seem to be so many out there that I haven't been able to choose one.

I have recently restored two old sewing machines.  One is a Singer which belonged to an old lady of 94 when she died, who had clearly used the machine a lot but had never either oiled or cleaned it.  It's running beautifully now except that it's suddenly started clogging under the stitch plate - can't quite get to the relevant bit.  The other is a very old Wilcox and Gibbs from the 1800s, which I used to use for years (it does chain stitch rather than linked so has no lower bobbin)  Unfortunately the removals men dropped it during one of our gazillion moves and broke off the cotton reel holder so unless OH is inspired to machine me a new one it's never going to work again.  I also have a Jones treadle machine which my mum used and which I learned on as a child, but that is next on the restoration list.  Oh, and I have an electric machine which I bought with my first pay packet, but it doesn't embroider.......

[Samantha]

The first embroidery machine I bought was the janome memorycraft 10001 which does both sewing and embroidery I bought it as I really wanted to make an embroidered cloak but the cost of having it embroidered was just silly it is single cotton and the first embroidered cloak I made had 66 leaves and 10 acorns on it .. each leaf was three colours and had 16,500 stiches in it .. so it took an age to make. Since then I have been extremely fortunate to get a brother PR600 which is semi professional and can handle 6 colours and I absolutely love it.

Ian.. message me your address and I'll make you one, it probably won't be for a week or two as I have to try and move / clear my garden so don't have as much time for crafting as I usually do LOL .. but I am sure I can pop you one up .. any particular colour scheme you want?

Here is a little pic of the first embroidered cloak I ever made I love autumn and it is what inspired this cloak

[knightquest]

Have messaged you Sam 

That cloak is fantastic by the way. It's great that there are so many talented people around.

Ian

[Wizard]

No Flannel Sam it and the model looks lovely to me.Have you a pointed hat to go with it for Halloween?.I will loan you my broom stick its a self start but not my Familiar Silly thing fell off the other day in his nasty temper so he is recovering from landing in the pond Serves him right nasty little sod.Have you seen a cat doing the backstroke in the pond Wizard

[Samantha]

lol I have an old broomstick which obviously I use for quididge... we play fridays and tuesdays

Thanks Ian .. I have made a few over the years a green ivy one, a faux fur ... they are such fun to make

Sam

[Wizard]

Abit to quick for me Sam I'm more into turning milk sour

[Fleecewife]

The cloak is absolutely beautiful Sam - a queen not a witch.  Do you do re-enacting or did you just make it because it's wonderful to wear?

What sort of cost are we looking at for a good quality machine which embroiders and does ordinary sewing too?

[Samantha]

thanks I made it because I really wanted an autumn theme and couldn't find anything on the internet.. I then figured that if I wanted something like that maybe other people did too, mainly the cloaks I make like that are for weddings and handfastings.

If anyone is thinking of making a cloak because they are such fun then I can recommend the simplicity pattern 5794 it is a 4 panel design very simple to make and it's the one I started with. I have developed my own pattern based on this which I now use but it's a very easy one to start with and the 4 panels make the cloak float around wonderfully.
http://www.simplicity.com/p-2269-costumes.aspx

With regards to a machine .. both of the ones I have are ex display the brother I bought from http://www.jbsew.co.uk/ and they are a great company, very helpful and will talk to you about what you want to do and help you decide the best machine for you. Of course there are also places like ebay etc where you can pick up machines very cheaply.

Sam

[Fleecewife]

Thanks for the links Sam. I'll go for the cloak and I'll search for a machine