Thread and Hoops!

I hope this doesn't look too gross? Yesterday was New Year's Day. In the SOUTH, we take the ham bone from the ham we've been eating every other meal for the past week, throw it in a pot and throw in a bag of BLACK EYED PEAS!! We don't/didn't do the "greens", but hopefully the BEP's will bring us good luck in 2011! If this picture didn't make you shut down my blog, then read on...

Today I "organized" my thread on the floor. I have both 1000M spools and 5000M spools. I'm working on a thread order so I had to sort all the colors and figure out what I needed. I use mostly Poly X thread from www.kenssewingcenter.com (and I have a gift certificate to use) and also Isacord from www.sewingmachine.com (most of my 5000M spools are Isacord). I like both brands and my machine seems to like them too. I have REAL thread charts for both brands with real thread samples, so it makes ordering very easy. I'm trying to build up my collection of 5000M spools, especially on the colors I use most.

 Isn't thread fun??

 Tonight I made a Walmart run for diapers (Mal still sleeps in them unfortunately) and a dust pan. I came out with diapers, a dust pan, an 8 pack of paper towels, a pack of hot dogs, a pack of Oreos, a turtleneck for Mallory, a sippy cup and this super duper soft fleece pullover for G. I didn't even have a buggy so the dust pan was literally hanging from my finger and I had stuff tucked under every part of me that would bend. You know exactly what I'm talking about!! Anyway... this fleece top was $5.00. This is why I love what I do! I can add a monogram to a $5.00 fleece top and I have a cute soft warm fleece for my G! The stitching is all light blue.

And now we come to my new best friend, the 9x9 HOOP!

http://www.allbrands.com/products/abp26773.html

This hoop is from Allbrands and if you have a 6 needle Brother machine, then this hoop is a must! It's not made by Brother, but rather by Durkee and is compatible with several Brother and Babylock machines (see listing). This is a photo of the hoop on my machine. As you can see, my arm is expanded as wide as it'll go just about ~ this hoop is probably as wide as the XL hoop that comes with the machine. It clips on just like any of the other hoops. 

 Here is a picture of the hoop hooped onto a size 4T turtleneck. It actually works great for smaller sizes too. I use medium cutaway and the 15" x 25 yard roll from sewingmachine.com is great for this hoop!

 Here is the 5x7 hoop on top as a comparison. The 9x9 hoop is about the same width b/c the 5x7 hoop is also 9" wide. But, as you can see, it gives you more room vertically. Even though the 5x7 hoop is really 9" wide, your machine will only allow you to use 7" horizontally. With the 9x9 hoop, your machine recognizes it as the XL hoop so while you have to watch your boundaries like you do with Fast Frames, it gives you more than 7" to work with across the shirt.

Here is a picture of my needle position as far up as it'll go. The top of my design will be here and the needle will not hit the hoop.

 Here is the finished shirt. I did not put a name on this shirt, but as you can see, there is plenty of room below the cross to put a name. Had I wanted a name on the shirt below the cross with a 5x7 hoop, I would have had to hoop vertically which would mean my shirt would be sideways on the machine! We all know this is a pain!

I was turned on to this hoop by some friends on Facebook, finally ordered it and use it all the time! As my friend HBS says, it'll make your 5x7 hoop jealous!