Hi ,

Josh subbing for Leah today! First thing's first: we are back from vacation and yes, we are open for business again with Grace longarms and frames and all of our physical products we ship out from our family store.

James and I had planned a trip to New Orleans earlier this year, and that's where we spent Thanksgiving. We had a great time! We stayed in a brand new boutique hotel right off St. Charles and rode the streetcar to the French Quarter one morning for beignets at Cafe DuMonde. Here are some pictures of the trip:

Of course you can't have a good New Orleans picture montage without a shot of the food! We hit a lot of restaurants, but by far my favorite was Ray's Uptown on Prytania Street. 

Check out these red beans and rice...

From Red Beans to Embroidered Snowflakes

We're stitching out snowflakes to celebrate this chilly time of the year! Learn how to place and stitch snowflake embroidery designs to create a quick hoop quilt project that can be easily completed in one day:

Download the Placement Diagram

Leah created the first two snowflake hoop quilts using several different rulers and templates to get the placement just right when she realized the process could be a lot easier...

Check out this handy dandy placement diagram so we can easily stitch out 6 designs into a pretty circle:

Click Here to download the placement diagram for this project.

Once downloaded, print out the file "actual size" so the 1-inch box in the corner measures 1 inch.

Cut along the + signs on the page so you can easily use the placement template to mark your fabric using a fabric marking pen. Leah used a 20-inch square of fabric to fit a 14-inch embroidery hoop to display this beautiful snowflake quilt:

Snowflakes on a Small Hoop

If you have a 4-6 inch hoop, you will stitch out one design at a time. Hoop your Cut-Away stabilizer, then float the fabric over the hoop, centering the + sign in the center of your hoop.

Float a piece of Tear-Away stabilizer underneath the hoop and stitch the design. Changing colors is optional, but definitely a fun way to stitch your snowflake embroideries up a notch!

Click Here to read the rest of the tutorial on this fun winter project.

That's it for this week, . If you make a Sensational Snowflake Hoop Quilt, please send us a picture, or reply to this email with a picture of your quilt. 

Leah and I love to see your work and to add your hoop quilt to this tutorial!

Let's go quilt,

Josh Day