Embroidery Retreat with Joan Friedrich, Day 2

Well, two things went wrong, but everything else went right!
1.  time ran out to finish our project completely
and
2.  my camera batteries died two hours before the end of class
BUT....
despite that, what an enjoyable day!
I learned SO MUCH...(this is long)
Here's what happened:

Our day began with Joan Friedrich's trunk show!

Here's a lovely jacket Joan serged and machine-embroidered herself.

This Aunt Martha Design is machine-embroidered and quilted into a table runner

Joan works with Quilt Works and Master Works a lot, so she showed us the programs and demonstrated them on her computer onto a nice, large television screen for all to see...

With Quilt Works II, a person can make sixteen half square triangles (perfectly sized) in five minutes!

Machine-embroidered Quilt Works II design

This program runs about $600 USD

Fabric Journal...

(This used to be a business card organizer)

Now it can be a fabric guide

Machine-embroidery (mantle scarf)

with embroidery machine quilting

Joan's single AccuQuilt Project

flowers were scanned into Quilt Works II

then embroidery-machine appliqued

Crazy quilt purse all done in the machine embroidery hoop - even the zipper!

Small bag with Quilt Works II embroidery

On the left, $600 USD  (sating stitch applique, outline embroidery, digitizes pictures for outlining)

On the right, $1800 USD (both outlines and fills-in embroidery, digitizes pictures for outlining and filling-in, many other bells and whistles)

-these won't be purchases I will be making, even though they're fun to see!

I'm out to do my own quilting like Harriet and Carrie Hargrave, 

but I must admit that it would be nice to embroider squares for a quilt top and then quilt it yourself; this, however can be done more simply even with free designs from the internet or beautiful designs from Dakota Collectibles (made right here locally!)  

DAKOTA COLLECTIBLES EMBROIDERY DESIGNS

Also available:

The continuous hoop for quilting is 14" long and the embroidery machine will stop and mark your place so you can come back to it and pick up where you left off...it's easy to lift the hoop and slide the fabric up to continue down the side of binding or the sashing of a quilt.

you can create a scalloped edge for your quilt very easily

Very nice, but pricey!

Here's a Quilt Works II purse designed by Joan using echo quilting on the embroidery machine

The daisies were made of organza and machine embroidered, then cut out and applied.

Victorian scallop-edged quilt

Designed in Master Works II, embroidered and quilted by Joan Friedrich

Velvet-covered button

open it up and there's felt inside for holding needles, etc.

Safety for scissors that's pretty, too!

Jazzed-up journal

done in the embroidery hoop

and you can also create the following block for quilts using the serger and six inch blocks:

This quilt top was completely serged.  That was a fun trunk show by Joan Friedrich!

=====================================

In the afternoon, we twenty gals each had either a Babylock Ellissimo or Ellagante 2 to try, provided

by our local dealer, Joy at Bismarck Sewing & Quilting

BISMARCK SEWING AND QUILTING

to create a new purse designed just for our class by Joan Friedrich!

(Joan is in the process of filming a DVD and printing up patterns for this bag - it's called the 

"Bismarck Joy" bag, appropriately!

Here are the items (and two pieces of see-through stabilizer) needed to form a small, zippered bag in the embroidery hoop

Here's the Ellagante 2 I got to use...wow!

Here's the stabilizer in the largest hoop they offer

one piece is laying the entire length of the hoop

and the other, smaller piece is laying across the center of the hoop, overtop the longer piece.

Here's double-sided sticky tape which is placed along the stabilizer once you press the button that tells the sewing computer to sew in the rectangle that shows you where to place the sticky tape.

Joan Friedrich designed this purse herself and we got to be the very first to use it!

Here I am removing the sticky tape so that I can press the zipper down on it...

Press the button to tell the sewing computer to sew.

Place the fabric for the pocket bag onto the placement stitches sewn out by the computer

You can see clearly on the screen exactly which step you are doing.

After it finishes sewing, take out the hoop and cut the extra stabilizer and zipper pieces on each end down to 1/4" around the stitched square.

Next step:  put a large piece of stabilizer in the largest hoop again

Take two rectangular pieces of fabric (for the decoratively stitched outside pocket and flap)

and let the sewing computer sew the placement stitches...

then place one of the rectangles of fabric onto the stabilizer in the hoop

The sewing computer knows what to do...you just press "Start"

and it sews itself!

Now, isn't that sweet?

Here Joan is demonstrating using the serger to create the straps for her purse design

The BISMARCK JOY bag, designed by Joan Friedrich of Babylock.

Here are the straps on my purse with the small, zippered bag on the left.

The purse is unfinished, but the two pockets for inside the lining are under the purse itself and

I will choose a large button to place on the flap.

It's late enough for one day, so after eating supper and blogging, it's off to bed for me!

This will be finished soon, though because I want to use it, it's so darn CUTE!!

Do you like the colors??

How about the design??

Have you been wanting to try something like this??

I really like purses and this is much less expensive than buying designer purses, 

plus I get to put inside what I want in there!

Thank you for your comments :-)