Guest Designer – Stitches of Love

Today I get to introduce you to the team of Stitches of Love— they are a mother daughter team. Julie and Brittany.

Last year when I attended quilt fest and had a booth, they were a breath of fresh air and such a help to my lost soul. 🙂 They were so kind and helpful, I really owe them.

Besides them being super nice and cute, I have always been an admirer of their designs and patterns. They are pros at applique and mug rugs and wall hangings for all seasons.

They also have quite a bit in the hand embroidery / stitchery area as well, including their monthly calendar girls. Adorable!

About them-  I am an engineer by day writing patent applications for a textile company and a quilter by night. I currently live in South Carolina with my husband, two elementary aged children, cat, and crazy Labrador. I enjoy all aspects of quilting, especially designing quilt patterns and quilt math.

Enjoy their interview and trunk show:

About the project for the quilt group:

Julie is beyond obsessed with pincushions. She has over fifty at home and at last count thirty-six here at the office. (True Pincushion Love!) We are launching a brand new pincushion club for 2018 so this is a little sneak peak into the fun we have planned for you. You can make this Christmas Tree Pincushion either using your sewing machine with a buttonhole stitch or use your embroidery machine and make it in the hoop!

We included the machine applique pattern and the machine embroidery files so you can pick the method you prefer. You will love how quickly the pincushion stitches together … and it is so neat how a rectangle sews together with only three seams to create a triangle!

Download the Pattern: available to IAQ members only. Login here to access.

Materials List:

Assorted Fabrics for Applique Pieces
Heat N Bond Lite
1 – 6″ by 10″ Fabric Piece for Background
1 – 5 1/2″ by 9″ Piece of Fusible Batting
12 – 3/16″ Buttons for Embellishment
Felted Wool Star for Embellishment
Corsage Pin to Fasten Star
28 wt or 30 wt Thread for Machine Applique
40 wt Thread for Machine Embroidery
50 wt Thread for Assembly
Polyfil and Crushed Walnut Shells
Sewing Machine or Embroidery Machine

How did you get your start in sewing?

Julie was born sewing! She learned to sew from her Grandmother Britt and her mother, Yvonne. Her artistic side comes from her Grandmother Love who was somewhat of a famous artist in and around the Florida Panhandle in the days of yesteryear. As you can see from Julie’s designs, she leans towards the whimsical side of life and is always sketching quilts on napkins, table paper (from her past life as an MRI Tech) and even sometimes on the computer.

Brittany grew up sewing as well, but, like most teenagers, went through a phase of wanting nothing to do with sewing. Now she is obsessed with machine embroidery and primarily works on taking Julie’s original sketches and translating them on the computer for a variety of applications including laser cut kits and machine embroidery.

What inspires you?

Julie and Brittany are both inspired by the idea of creating happiness. Everything we produce together is meant to bring a smile to our customers. We find inspiration in travel, nature and everyday objects … you never know what will inspire the next project or quilt!

Do you have a favorite notion?

So many!

We love Sulky 30 wt threads for machine applique.

We love the EverSewn 25 and 30 sewing machines … great price and both have amazing buttonhole stitches which is a must for machine applique.

Applique Pressing Sheets are a great tool that makes applique so easy … we like the Bear Threads brand.

A light pad is also a great tool to use with your applique pressing sheet.

We love our Brother Dream Maker for machine embroidery. It is also a great price point and does everything we need.

We love Maderia Polyneon 40 wt threads for machine embroidery. It comes in lovely colors and rarely breaks.

And of course, we can’t live without pre-fused, pre-cut kits … which we manufacture in our Tallahassee studio/warehouse. No tracing and cutting … you get right to the fun part of sewing!

Quirky Fun little thing about yourself:

Julie truly dislikes pickles. A lot. Brittany truly dislikes escalators. A lot.

Let’s just say accidents involving both have landed us both in the ER.

That is about as quirky as you can get …

What’s coming up for you that we can check out~

We are most excited about all of the Clubs we have planned for 2018! They are all launching from Mid-December 2017 – Mid-January 2018.

And we are very hard at work turning all of our existing designs into machine embroidery! We invite you to join our email list at stitchesoflovequilting.com to sign up to receive all of our announcements!

Where can you find them?

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