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Showing posts from 2010

Preview NEW RedWork Embroidery

Enough with the rain and snow!!  I am looking forward to having some lovely sun in the garden to dry things up around here.  At least we are NOT shoveling snow around Clear Lake.  However, Tina and Kendall have a dusting of snow again this morning up at Twisted Wire Ranch….nothing to stick around though. Spring really will be coming and I have been working on a new RedWork design, Quilts in the Garden. Here is a preview photo of the quilts design with the drawing at the top and my tracing on our Heavy Weight Muslin with a red Pigma marker .  I haven’t put the design on fabric with Transfer-Eze yet as the design is not yet finally finished.  Little changes will happen as the embroidery continues….fun!  Watch for this one early in 2011 to chase away the winter blues.

Embroider a NEW Snowflake Freebie

The snow is flying in record amounts from coast to coast!  Stay inside warm and cozy – let someone else shovel the snow!  Embroider our NEW Let It Snow! Tea Towel . The new FREEBIE design, Let It Snow! is ready to print out and get stitching!  Again, this design doesn’t take a long time to embroider.  Relax and have a little time for yourself – Enjoy!

A NEW Version of Our Santa Freebie

Our Gail here in the studio embroidered a NEW and Cute version of our December Santa Freebie tea towel .  Around here RedWork rules and Gail loves doing it too. Gail stitched Santa in RedWork with a festive green tree….very clever and so cute!  Stitching Santa in just Turkey Red will be an even quicker way to embroider a bunch of the Santa tea towels for Christmas gifts.  Have some fun.  Print out the Freebie design and have a  pleasant time for yourself during this oh so hectic time of year.  Merry Christmas to you!

New Christmas Freebie for you

It is now only 25 days to the BIG Christmas Day.  Whip up a few tea towels or make ornaments with our December Freebie design . I embroidered Santa holding a mini Christmas tree on a Sage Green striped tea towel.  He only took a couple of hours one night to complete.  A hint for you to speed your embroidery.  Thread a crewel embroidery needle for each of the colors in your design.  You won’t always be pulling the thread out and changing color.  This little cutie would make a great ornament too.  Just do the embroidery on muslin and finish in your favorite way.  FUN! I used our handy dandy Transfer-Eze to print the Freebie Santa and finger press on our Dunroven House tea towel.  The Freebie design can be put on your light box to trace directly onto the fabric – BUT – toweling is a little thicker and rougher than muslin.  Using Transfer-Eze solves the problem.  The smooth Transfer-Eze film put on your towel gives you a nice design line to see and a smooth surface to stitch on.  T

Heading to Quilt Show

Lucy is locked and loaded so we hit the road today heading to Houston, Texas.  The International Quilt Festival will open for a preview on Wednesday, November 3.  Show opens Thursday morning.  We will be all set up and ready to welcome all of you to our spiffy booth 557, 559 and 561.  See you soon! www.Quilts.com for more details.

Wool Appliqué Fabrics

I’ve been spending several hours getting the “wool rack” ready to load into Lucy and take to Houston’s Quilt Festival.    Felting all our bolts of wool takes time but it is so beautiful to “play” with!  I have been ripping  fat 1/8ths to put on our rack so all the shoppers in Houston will have a great selection for their wool appliqué designs.  There are a few cubbies to fill and then I can move to designing some new collections for spring.  Remember, we have all our wool in any size you need on our website. See lots of you folks in Houston soon.  Visit our 3 spaces 557 – 561  and say hello!  We haven’t been to Houston for a couple of years and are anxious to enjoy the festival and see old friends and make new one….see you soon.

Two RedWork Embroidery Leaflets

After a few years, a couple RedWork Leaflets for holiday stitchery have been added to the website.  It surely is about time to show them to all of you…better late than never! Our pretty and graceful Herald Angel announces the coming JOY of  Christmas.  Her lacy dress has borders of stitching as well as her sleeve cuffs.  Embroider your angel in white or natural  muslin with Turkey Red #8 Perle Cotton. Our Homespun Santa is also embroidered on your choice of muslin with DMC #498 Turkey Red Perle Cotton.  A funny fellow to make into a pillow center or a cute small quilted hanging.  Each of the leaflet designs has a low $2.00 price and the designs fit into an 8” x 10” frame.  Fun and Fast to stitch!

Getting Ready for Houston

We are making lots of stuff to bring to our booth in Houston.  All of our 8” square Wool Stash packets were sold at PIQF so another batch are being made! The Ultimate Wool Stash of 40 beautiful colors is a great thing for wool appliqué lovers.  All the felted wool 8” squares provide a wonderful place to go when you need just the right color just as soon as you want it.  The ‘Stash’ is always popular and we expect lots of wooly types in Houston and we will be ready!

Pacific International was Super!

The 2010 Pacific International Quilt Festival was really great this year.  Everyone seemed to be in a festive and happy frame of mind.  Lots of shoppers and lots of  beautiful quilts on display.  I took a photo of one of the BIG winners but in person it was just spectacular, my picture doesn’t do it justice. I am sorry to say I don’t remember how many fabrics are incorporated into this wonderful scene but it was over 200…amazing! Now we are back in the studio regrouping for our trip to Houston in just a little over a week.  Lots of fabric to cut, kits and patterns to make and then pack in Lucy to head east.  We plan on a fun time at the show and after the show is over we are going to take our time coming home.  We want to stop whenever and wherever we like.  this will be our “vacation” for the year.  See LOTS of you folks at the show!

Clydesdale Horses – Beautiful!

As we arrived at the Pomona Fairplex last Tuesday night to set up for the quilt show, we found the fabulous Clydesdale Horses poking their BIG heads out of their barns….all looking for their dinner. Eight beautiful horses all picked for their similar coloring and a white blaze on their face.   All eight are very friendly and sweet, easy to pet and talk to…and really BIG. Of course the Dalmatian pooch, Brady, who rides on the HUGE wagon was at the horse barn too.  He is frisky and cute trotting up and down the stalls to visit his horse friends.               The 8 horses have a couple of wonderful horse vans to carry them place to place.  It is a custom 18 wheeler more like a limo than a horse trailer!  The 3rd big rig carries their beer wagon.  All the drivers and grooms were friendly and talkative telling us about their month at the Los Angeles County Fair that had just closed.  The horses, of course, were a very popular attraction at the fair. We were so

NEW Freebie Trick or Treat Freebie

We have a NEW Freebie for you to head off to some Halloween decorating.  Embroider a dancing crow heading off to Trick or Treat to collect lots of goodies to put in the smiling pumpkin! Stitched on a Sage Green striped tea towel , this design stitched up in a very short time – really!  All in one evening of TV shows.  Not to sound redundant, BUT, I used our great Transfer-Eze to transfer the crow design onto the towel.  Tea towel fabric is heavy and harder to see through using a light box.  Using Transfer-Eze will get you stitching quickly- just seconds- and be ready for your own Trick or Treating fun!  Try a sheet and see how great it is. Get ready for your Happy Halloween and decorate your kitchen.  The crow will be happy to dry your dishes!

QUICK Christmas Gift Idea

I just stitched up one of our RedWork Ornament designs on a Flour Sack towel.  It only took a couple of TV shows to embroider and I was finished.    Using our small design motifs will get a bunch of holiday gifts ready in short order….have some fun getting ready too! The designs, of course, are perfect for ornaments, too.  Make goodies to add to your tree or tie an ornament on a special present for a special person this year. We have the Flour Sack Towels on our web site I used to embroider the little Santa face.  They are just like those from the “olden days” that the Days of the Week designs are stitched on.    On our website, buy 6 towels and get the 7th FREE…have some holiday fun everybody!

Back from Portland, Oregon

We had a great show in Portland showing off lots of fall and Christmas stuff.  The shoppers were getting in the mood for all the fun times on the way! The booth looked great and we had a fun time.  The weather was nice until we started home on Sunday….it didn’t matter except that our windshield wipers had a collapse.  Spraying the glass with Rainex sort of works but wipers are better! We are getting ready for Pomona and the Quilt, Craft and Sewing Expo in just a week.  It is at the Fairplex October 7-9.  Come see us there, please.

Leaving for Portland, Oregon

We came home yesterday, Sunday, from the San Mateo show and repacked Lucy in the afternoon.  We are just finishing up stuff here at the studio and will leave and head up I-5 to Portland, Oregon. The NorthWest Quilting Expo was fun last year -  our first time as a vendor.  We have our normal bigger space this year and are looking forward to 3 busy days.  We set up (the busiest 4th day) on Wednesday and are open for business Thursday – Saturday.  Come visit!  September 23, 24, 25. We are bringing all our Christmas and Harvest designs for you to see.  Here is one of our new favorites, The BOO Cat pin cushion and her companion Mouse Emery to sharpen your pins and needles.  Fun and different for your sewing table!

Holiday Nine-Patch Finished

The NEW RedWork Holiday Nine-Patch I was working on last week is now finished.  I took the photo yesterday and had the instructions printed – it is to go! Nine FUN holiday motifs are embroidered inside a border to help you decorate for the up coming (too quickly!) Christmas time.  The nine-patch can be finished as a nice wall quilt as shown or you can make it into a pillow by filling the red and white backing.  Either way it will look great and festive. Fill up your Christmas tree by making each of the “patches” into a little ornament.  Check out the NEW pattern in our Christmas Category on our website.  Our Holiday Nine-Patch RedWork  joins lots of other goodies you might like too!

Lucy Has A New Dress!

Our lovely, big motor home and work truck, Lucy, is sporting a new look.   Her “old clothes” were removed and a new outfit put on the 2 sides and back, too, with a little something to announce our arrival on the front. We just love the new rig – very special.  So special I was taking a close-up to show you the logo and saw mis-spelling!!  Can you see it?  We are the Bird Brains but we didn’t do this one. The graphics fellow is coming to my house on Sunday to fix her up.  Can’t wait for all of you to see our charming new motor home! Robin

A new Christmas RedWork

I just finished drawing and putting a Christmas 9 Patch design on fabric.  This time I used my trusty red Pigma pen to trace onto our super to stitch on heavy weight muslin .  I am sure most other RedWork lovers will use our fancy new Transfer-Eze .  That will save them at least a hour of time before they can find their hoop and get stitching. When I finish chatting with you on our blog I’ll get to my fun job – embroidering the new design!  This holiday design will be finished to take to the Bay Area Quilt show in San Mateo on September 16-18….SOON.  We will put it on the website too for all you not in the San Francisco bay area. Off to my stitching!  Robin

NEW Pumpkin Pin Cushion

We have a new Fall Pumpkin & Crow Pin Cushion Set for you that is fun to make and fun to use too!  I made a trip to Tina’s mini pumpkin patch to take the photo of our Wool Appliqué pumpkin.    The pumpkin is filled to capacity with a pound or more of crushed walnut shells to make it stand up to hold all your pins and needles while  you work.  The Crow Pin Keep hangs from the pumpkin stem to store your pins and needles close at hand.  Fill the little Leaf Round with Emery to keep your pins and needles sharp.  A great set to make for the quickly approaching fall season!  Our handy Fabric Kit has all the goodies you will need to appliqué your Pumpkin Pin Cushion and accessories.  Happy Autumn stitching!  Robin

Fall is on the way

It is still nice and warm during the day here at Clear Lake BUT the evenings are really cooling off…..fall is coming!  As soon as the sun drops behind Mt. Konocki – our resident volcano – the temperature falls quickly. Celebrate the change of seasons with one of our 3 patterns honoring the Four Seasons.  Celebrate the Seasons features 4 small seasonal blocks in RedWork or in Multi-color #8 Perle Cotton.  Button the RedWork Seasons on red and white fabric to create a long piece for decorating.  The colorful Seasons are framed in 5” x 7” wooden frames – just to be different.  We have 2 other wall quilts that honor the 4 seasons too.  You can pick one of them to create the wall decoration or take each of the blocks and make a much “bigger deal” with that one season.  Create a small wall quilt-lette to place in a special place and change each season.  A nice way to welcome your guests to your lovely home!  The whimsical designs in the Seasonal Patchwork Samplers are fun to stitch and

Summer Picnic Tea Towel Freebie Design

Our Summer Christmas Sale has come to a close so we are back to “normal” nuttiness around the Bird Brain Studio.  Kendall has flown off to Puerto Vallarto, Mexico for a weeks rest and relaxation…..a much deserved outing for our tireless shipping guru!  Tina and I are left holding down the fort.  Today Tina is showing about 30 gals how to Needle Felt at the meeting of our local  American Sewing guild meeting.  Should be a fun several hours! In case you missed the Freebie tea towel from last summer it is still ready for you to print out and stitch. It really is still summer out there but heading into fall.  The mornings and evenings are cooler than normal around the lake.  A welcome change for all of us! Embroider a silly picnic ant on one of our nice Dunroven Tea Towels for one of your picnics this August and September.  Just print out the design and enjoy a few relaxing hours making a fun summer design.

LAST Day of the Summer Christmas Sale

There is still time today to place your order for our Summer Christmas Sale.  Find ALL the special designs and order the pattern and kits to have on hand when the mood strikes and you “feel like a little holiday”.  Avoid the holiday stress and begin now. Save 15% on everything in the category – Merry Christmas to you!

Two NEW Christmas Needle Felting Designs

Our Summer Christmas Sale is winding down with only a couple of days left.  But, we have added 2 FUN new Needle Felting characters sure to please you when you decorate for the holidays. Tina’s Door Knob Santa is a cute Christmas icon with a very expressive and charming face.  Make your Santa on a vintage or a new door knob….a fun Make-Do kind of guy special for the holidays.  His beard is fashioned with real lamb’ curls giving him an “authentic” look! Another winter and  holiday favorite will be Tina’s jolly Snowman also built on an old porcelain door knob.  His white wool body is highlighted with sparkling Angelina fibers adding zip to his snow.  Add a pointy carrot nose,  jaunty top hat and fluffy scarf for just the perfect finishing touches.  Head out to the garden to select twig arms for your very own Snowman. We have the patterns now plus complete kits to make your Needle Felted guys.  You get to shop for old or new door knobs for your Make-Do decorating people.   Have some

NEW Summer Freebie

We have just posted a NEW summer Freebie design for you.  The Summer Sea Shells tea towel will help you remember and celebrate a delightful summer trip to the beach.  Actually,  for me, it is just a wish that I had gone to the beach!  Again, I used our Transfer-Eze to print my original design on and finger press onto the tea towel.  How fast that was and I was stitching in just a few minutes.  I may begin to sound like a broken record but this is good stuff!  I really like to trace my designs on the fabric but tea towels pose more of a problem seeing the design on the light box.  The fabric is more coarse and thick so Transfer-Eze really solves the problem.  Also, if you don’t cover the design lines perfectly with your stitching – NO PROBLEM – the design lines just dissolve and all you see is your embroidery. Enjoy what is left of your summer and give yourself a mini vacation “at the beach” and make a pretty blue towel.

Summer Christmas Sale

Yes, it is still HOT outside but we are celebrating Christmas for the next 2 weeks in August.  Get a jump start on holiday decorating and Christmas gifts and save some cash at the same time…Clever!  Our entire Christmas Category is on Sale. We just received our copies of the NEW Holiday Crafts Magazine from Better Homes and Gardens.  We have 3 colorful holiday designs in this 2010 issue.  We are quite proud of ourselves!  The EarMuff Snowman Pillow will be great decorating your home all through winter not just Christmas.  He is 100% Wool Applique with puffy cheeks, a smiling coal smile and a BIG carrot nose.  The fringed edge around the pillow is EASY-TO-DO and a great finish. Make a holiday visit to our Christmas Collection and check it out!

Transfer-Eze Embroidery Magic

Lots of us have been having a wonderful time using Transfer-Eze , the NEW water soluble film on paper backing you can use with your printer.  Instead of the tedious task of tracing embroidery designs onto fabric you can print the design on the Transfer-Eze. I printed a snowmen for a new design twice – one for Embroidery and one for Needle Felting on wool fabric.  Just pull the Transfer-Eze film off the paper backing.  To conserve the paper, I cut off one snowman and still have 2/3 of the paper left to print on again later! Dark fabrics are nearly impossible to trace an embroidery design on as the light from your light box doesn’t go through the dark fabric.  Transfer-Eze is just the ticket!   Finger press your printed design on the dark fabric.  I found the Transfer-Eze adhered better to the fabric after the fabric was washed to remove the sizing. The printed design shows beautifully on the film pressed on the dark red fabric. This is going to be EASY to embroider!   Add your hoop

Long Beach Festival was GREAT

The International Quilt Festival in Long Beach was super.  It seemed to us that there were lots more shoppers having a terrific time.  At least we were busy all the time so it was hard to be objective! At the opening “bell”, ladies came down the escalators – ALL running down to enjoy the show. Our NEW Love Me, Love My Cat was a popular design at the show.  Transfer-Eze was a total blow-out and we had nothing left to sell by Saturday afternoon.   I printed a cat block on the super Transfer-Eze on white muslin and it was SO quick and easy to be ready to stitch in just minutes.  All the ladies who are NOT into tracing their designs on the fabric scooped up ALL of our packets of Transfer-Eze!  I’ll be telling you about more ways to use this great stitching tool soon. Tina and I just wish were were the gals who invented Transfer-Eze.  What a wonderful product to use! Robin 

NEW Cat Quilt is Here

Yay!  The new kitty quilt is finally ready.  The printing and photos arrived this morning and we are putting together everything for the website.  Love Me, Love My Cat RedWork Quilt is up and ready to come to your house. We renamed the pieced star blocks in the corners “Cat’s Paw” in honor of this quilt design.  They add lots to the interest of our little quilt.  We are off to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Fest in Denver leaving on the 4th of July.  The kitty quilt will have a place of honor in our show space….come and visit us!

NEW Wool Bundles

We have just put together some great collections of wool in bundles of 6 Fat 1/8ths for you.  Three groups have been made so far but more can come as we dream them up! We have the Pastel Wool Bundle with soft and sweet pastel shades of our lovely Pre-felted wool.  The Pastel shades of wool are very often quite hard to find – we found them for you! The Primary Wool Bundle has 6 “Crayon Box” wool colors that will be so useful in lots of the designs you create.  Bright and cheerful! Six rich and elegant wool colors make up the Autumn Bundle .  All of these colors will add to your Fall designs.   No wool colors have been duplicated in the 3 collections so your wool stash will get bigger and better for your Wool Appliqué creations.  Save $6.00 when you buy the bundle of 6 colors!    Enjoy all of the groups.

Print the Freebie for 4th of July

Get stitching your NEW freebie design United we Stand to help celebrate the 4th of July.   It will take only an afternoon or evening to stitch up this colorful patriotic tea towel.       We have the towel plus all the #8 Perle cotton you will need to stitch it ready to mail to you….just check  it out on the web site. Happy almost 4th of July!

The Kitty Quilt Grows

I’m having so much fun with Love Me, Love My Cat Quilt.  The embroidered blocks are in the hands of a great friend, Diana, who has taken over putting them together as a “real quilt” for me. We have selected 3 red and white prints to connect all the blocks and it is really going to be cute and cheerful.  Just what we kitty people need, more fur and fun! Keep watching, the kitties will be ready to visit you soon. Robin

Dissolving the Transfer-Eze

I finished the block I was stitching at the Del Mar show and had a great time watching the Transfer-Eze actually dissolve before my eyes.  The kitty block is perfect and ready to be added to the others for the new quilt. The 8 blocks are now stitched and waiting to be put together with some red and white pieced blocks now renamed “Cat’s Paw” in honor of our quilt! Should be ready soon!  Keep watch on our blog and in our Newsletter.  Cats Rule!

More Kitty Stuff

My house has become the Kitty Feeding Station for the neighborhood.  A few years ago some not so great neighbors quit feeding their pair of cats who then left home to find food.  Since then LOTS of litters of cats have been born and continue to roam around.   This cute Siamese is soon to be a mother – some place around the house.   My next step is to see what can happen if I catch her and take her to the ASPCA.  She doesn’t mind if I sit nearby and chat with her while she has a snack.  At least the kittens could have a chance to be adopted. Another picture as we continue to have our breakfast conversation.  She doesn’t say much!  Our new quilt will honor all the Siamese, furry black, smooth black and very fluffy gray striped kitty who come by to eat.  Another darker colored Siamese has had her kittens under a bush in a neighbor’s yard 2 houses away.  She comes too to keep her strength up for the babies. More kitty stories as they happen.  Take care of your feline fri

Cat Quilt Designing Continues

Finally, after drawing and stitching 4 squares of the Kitty Quilt that has been “in the works” for some time.  There are now 5 drawn and “only” 7 more to go! After our trip to Del Mar more of the blocks will be drawn and stitched.  I hope to stitch the “Beware of Cat” while we are at the show.  I used our NEW Transfer-Eze to print the cat designs instead of tracing directly onto the muslin.  So EASY and QUICK even though I love to trace only the fabric.  Thought I would give Transfer-Eze a whirl.  Took only about 1 minute instead of the 20 minutes to trace it.  Give it a try yourself one day.  Watch for the new quilt sometime this summer.

A NEW Freebie is ready for you

Our new Freebie design is a fun little kitchen sign to remind others in the house to “do the dishes”. Of course most of us have dishwashers but nothing jumps into the machine by themselves! I hung my sign on a cupboard knob by the kitchen sink as a reminder to others. Stitch up this small 4 1/2” square RedWork design in just an afternoon or evening. We have made up a small packet for you to stitch and finish your sign including the cute little metal hanger with clips to hold your design. Print up your Wishes Won’t Do Dishes pattern and get to work right away.