EmbStitcher33's Hobby Journal
Been thinking about this for a while. One of the hobbies I have is obvious. I love to embroider. For me now, it's machine embroidery. I have a Brother PE800 so I can make designs up to 5 x 7. There are many, many machines out there to choose from. This is the one I use. Yeah, I would love to get one that does bigger designs but they start at about $1200 or more. So, I'll stick with this one for now. My hope is maybe I can get into this a little more and go sell my designs at flea markets or local craft fairs. It's been just to hot to sit out in the sun these last couple of months. Don't want to make a lot of money, just want to make enough to buy a machine that will do 6 x 10 or bigger designs. NOPE, can't give you any ideas about who I am or where I sell. All you can do here is PUSH ME to keep going. [I like the anonymity. It protects us all.]
I have done some designs with lettering... here's one...
I like the idea of accountability! I will post most of the designs that I finish here... well, at least the ones that turn out Then again, maybe even some of the flops to get ideas from any of you who might have some ideas.
One of my latest projects was for my little sister's wedding vow renewal ceremony coming up this next weekend. No, can't go but I absolutely let her know how much I love her and how happy I am for both of them with the things I made and sent her. All in all... I came pretty close to half a million stitches for them...lol 😜
Here's the first one I sent her:
So proud of that one. Purple is my little sister's favorite color. And I sent her these...
There were more like this... 6 in all. Plus I made her a wedding cake pincushion:
Yup, purple again... lol. When she opened up the last pkg I sent her, she let me watch her do it online. It was so cool to see her reaction.
My BIGGEST challenge with this hobby I must confess is making good on a huge investment that I'm making monthly payments on. I bought digitizing software. I bought all but the highest level of this software starting last year. A few months ago I decided to take the plunge and get the last/highest level. I've got 3 more monthly payments to go. It's a 600 dollar investment just for this level so I'm turning to you guys to make me stick with my original goal to make my own designs.
The funny thing is... I'm sitting here with this wonderful program, and I bought a good book, plus I have online tutorials also that I can do FREE. Darn if I'm not overwhelmed and sitting here like a deer in headlights... lmbo... 😭 😂😝😁😜
I have wonderful talent. I can do this. I just have to get OVER MYSELF and just DO IT!! So, I'm looking for some people here to help me stick to this wonderful hobby... I've done some wonderful things in the past. It will mean I will have to dust off my drawing skills, (I have some how to's for that too). In high school I made this awesome foot vase... I got an A-. When I asked the teacher why the minus, he said looking at it made him wonder where the rest of him was...lol. It was really a well done foot in white. Everybody in class loved it.
I have other hobbies too that I use to take a break from my machine embroidery. Photography is one. I have a super nice Canon 60D. I've had other SLRs but we got this one when the stimulus checks were being sent out. I also am an amateur radio operator. I can't give you my handle cause you can look up my exact location online with it. The reason behind that is because in a natural disaster, you can be called up to help out. I've done a lot of weather spotting in the past. Not sure how much I want to do now since we've moved, but it's something I can do if I want to.
I also have a Cricut and a Brother Scan n Cut. These are for paper crafts. My Cricut can cut fabric, leather and some thin wood. They've been on my shelf for about a year now. I could use them to cut out appliques for my embroidery. Will see. Here's a picture of some paper flowers that I made in 2020:
I also like to grow herbs and flowers... use to have 2 community garden plots when we lived in Wisconsin. I LOVED that garden. I'll post some pictures now and then to show you. I was proud of myself for the times I went there with our beach umbrella and spent hours weeding the paths for the garden. I made sure that the first path people saw coming into the garden was tidy. I miss it so much.
I also like to take my pictures and make graphics with quotes to bring a smile, encourage or support people. You'll see some of my graphics in the affirmation thread here somewhere. I know I've posted this one place before, but maybe for the purpose of showing it as one of my hobbies... you will indulge me... here's one of my most resents:
I also crochet and for years I did cross-stitch. I have this one pattern I'm trying to conquer...lol. Yeah, that's how it feels. Maybe some of you can give me some tips on how to read this pattern. It's an amazing octopus I would love to make for my granddaughters. I'll post a picture of it later...
So, there you go. This is the start of my hobby journal. I'm looking forward to who I can share 'mutual inspiration' with!!
I'll leave you with one more design that I did that I hope will make you smile:
@MistyMagic 
And here he is... my faithful embroidery machine. I call it a he because I want to.
Need to figure out a name... I'm taking it with me when we go up North for my son's
memorial. (BTW, might not have access to the Internet.... will try). Going to get it
appraised for trade-in value but seriously, would be so hard to hand him over... Been
through some pretty hard times...esp the journey through my son's last days.
So, names... anybody have some good ideas?
Okay my thread fans... Going to post a bunch of pictures that I took of our trip out West to see the total eclipse! Yes!! We really did camp out in a pasture. I've got pictures to prove it. 😄
This is the homemade sign at the entry into the field. The family who rented out their field was there too. Sweet little girls, and they had a great dad that was right there with them selling pop and other refreshments to all the campers. That was nice of them to do that...
This is our tent. Lots of us congregated around the few trees that were there in the field.
I'm not doing all this in order so bare with me... I want to jump to one of the most EXCITING time in the trip for me!! I turned 65 this day, really!! It was my birthday and I got to do a BUCKET LIST EXPERIENCE!! A Ride In a HELICOPTER!! I got right front seat next to the pilot... here's a picture to prove where I was... yeah, that's a picture I took looking at all the controls sitting right there.
Before we got in, I got a shot of the helicopter that we rode in...
so... up in the air... I wanted to remember where Mt Rushmore was in relation to where the town was... I put an arrow in that points to the Mt...
And here's Mt Rushmore from the helicopter...
A few more shots from a distance... I thought it would be cool to remember the environment around where this monument was built.
And here's one of the close ups...
Here's part of what I saw looking down...
This is one of the coolest, coolest shots I caught... one in a life time shots...
An eagle flying near Mt Rushmore...
One last look...
Here's another look at the terrain around the Mt...
Blew this one up a little to show some of the interesting detail...
So, hope enjoyed taking a trip through the memory of my 65th birthday helicopter ride.
Here's Mt Rushmore from the ground...
And we had to do it... lmbo... that's D's finger up Lincoln's nose...
o 
come on,
I'm sure even he had a sense of humor....
I joined in...
Some other shots after Mt. Rushmore...
and we did see some wildlife... a herd of buffalo held up traffic for a while...
When I find those pictures I'll post some them.
D was in the picture below so I had to crop him out.
These were mountains in Wyoming early in the morning...
We also went to through the city I was born in... La Crosse Wisconsin.
I took more pictures but I can't find them right now...
Below is a sunset picture taken from the top of Grandad's Bluff.
And now... saved the best for last... sunset pictures taken through out the trip...
The next 3 were taken the night before the eclipse from the pasture...
And a few more... took three with sun beams going as the sun went down.
And a few more misc...
And I thought I would include two of my eclipse shots... D's turned out better.
Well.... this was something I've been thinking about doing for a long time since I first put up my hobby journal. I do love taking pictures. I took thousands on the trip. It was hard to pick what to post. I'm so glad I have a place to share these happy memories. It's making a hard time a little happier. Thank you so much for my new 'happy place.' 🌺 🌷 💙 💛
(I can't believe this...)
I won an embroidery contest!!
I won a one year's subscription to one of my favorite embroidery websites. (I'm not going to share it because if you follow the links I could loose my anonymity here).
Here's my stitch-out entries:
(I blocked out my name of course...)
No, I didn't make this one. My cousin posted it. In a blue mood today so it fits my mood.....
It's been a while. I'm home safe... It's getting colder... bringing in plants we're going to winter over today.
I came across a really cool picture I took on one of our trips... I like to call it:
Don't Let the Sun Go Down On You... I can hear Elton John singing it in my head...lol. Seeing the sunset in the rear view mirror shows symbolically I'm not letting it... lol. Sort of a message there...
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