Week In Review September 7-September 11, 2026
Tuesday How I Pack Projects for Traveling in the RV, the Stitchuation Room, 8 Sep 26
Becky focuses on organizing her stitching projects while traveling. What’s the first thing you pack? Clothes? Or projects? For me it’s projects! You’ll enjoy what Becky shares about her process for cataloging designs and preparing materials for her road trip. We’re coming along with her, and we can stay in our PJs.
Motor home travel is fun, but it takes some planning to deal with cramped quarters. Let’s just say things are tucked away creatively! Becky shows how she uses clear bags to store her threads and tools for easier access while traveling (30:11).
Introducing the Embroidery Grove App!
Embroidery Grove is a design-library app that catalogs files without moving or changing them. It shows stitch previews, groups the same design in multiple formats onto one card, and helps you search by hoop size, tags, vendor, and notes.
It includes built-in thread catalogs from multiple brands so you can identify the colors in a design and check them against the threads you actually own.
You can even print out the design color chart so you can take that to pull your threads!
When you’re ready to stitch, it can copy the files you need to a USB stick. There’s a full 7-day trial (no card required). Use code GROVEPOWER10 for 10% off through September 30, 2026; on October 1 the one-time price goes from the current launch rate to $129.Your designs are NOT uploaded to some unknown server in a cloud. Becky explains how to use this new Embroidery design cataloging library software to organize and tag embroidery designs. She demonstrates how to search, tag designs (like holiday themes), and manage files efficiently. If you have designs here, there, and everywhere, with hundreds (thousands?) of duplicates and file types your machine doesn’t even use? This app is for you!
Download the 7 day free trial here Embroidery Grove Software offers a10% discount with code until October 1st! (7:42). The price goes up to $129 on 1 Oct 26.
Amy Bradley Designs Happy Halloween Quilt
Embroidery designs for the classic Amy Bradley Designs Happy Halloween Quilt are available now! (use code PTWT10 for 10% off) (44:26). The pattern is 9″ x 11½” blocks that finish into a 56½” x 66½” quilt. Pair the official pattern (and SVGs, if you use a cutting machine) with the new machine-embroidery files, and the characters stay true to her artwork while the embroidery machine does the applique work for you. You still need a licensed copy of the Happy Halloween pattern; the embroidery designs are for stitching that quilt, not a substitute for it.
Which is block do you think is the cutest?
Enjoy the visit!
Wednesday #DBJJ Poinsettia Tree Skirt Outer Blocks, Pre-cut the Pieces, the Stitchuation Room, 9 Sep 26
Poinsettia Tree Skirt from Designs by Juju
The Designs by JuJu Poinsettia Tree Skirt has that classic Christmas look. It is the tree skirt you will pull out year after year and still love (27:10).
Becky uses Embrilliance to isolate placement lines reducing the number of small fabric scraps, which tend to “grow legs and wander around.” Using a ScanNCut reduces cutting time. (5:37)
By the end of the video, Becky successfully cuts all seven required lower flower petals at once! (46:16), showcasing a “smarter-not-harder” approach to machine embroidery projects. This beats making those little hand cuts with scissors, right!?
Enjoy the replay!
Thursday, Downloading & Organizing Embroidery Files, Use Embroidery Grove! The Stitchuation Room, 10 Sep 26
If your computer contains a few embroidery designs—or perhaps several thousand designs hiding in folders whose names no longer make any sense—you’ll want to pay attention!
Avoid tossing everything into one giant folder without labels.
Keeping everything on your desktop slows your computer down. Only keep things on your desktop that you reach for every day, or better yet, copy the folder and put the original in the documents folder, and put the copy on the desktop.
Create categories: Designer, Holiday, Seasons, or specific projects. Digital files don’t grow legs like paper patterns, but they still get buried and when you want a design six months from now, you should actually be able to find it!
Becky’s going to be working on these mini quilts soon, will you join in on the fun?
The DBJJ October Mini Quilt Fall (Scarecrow) is especially cute if you’re not so interested in Halloween.
and the DBJJ October Mini Halloween if you are!
Either way, it’s almost candy corn season!!
And have you noticed how many subscribers Power Tools with Thread has? Could we get her to 100k by January!? Subscribe, Like, and Share. Have a stitchy day!
Friday. Shopping Haul at Quilted Squares in Franklin, TN! Stitching the DBJJ Tree Skirt, TSR, 11 Sep 26
Shopping and stitching! A perfect day. During Becky’s recent trip to Franklin, Tennessee, she shopped and talks about some of the local designers and goodies she found.
First up, Aunt Nan’s Bear pattern. This charming scrappy quilt pattern from Green Light Quilts has instructions for 2 finished sizes – 46″ x 50″ or 69″ x 75″, perfect for a crib, toddler bed or cozy throw. Look at his little face, stitchers! He makes me giggle!
Becky found a Northern Christmas Panel by Teresa Kogut for Riley Blake Designs. When you need to create something beautiful in no time at all, quilt panels are the way to go. I love how all the animals look at us with expectation. The panel size is 35″ x 42.”
Designs by Juju poinsettia tree skirt.
Becky is making great progress on her Designs by Juju poinsettia tree skirt.
Becky is using Kingstar Metallic Thread for this project. Better quality brands are less likely to fray or break. With Kingstar, there’s no need for a special needle or slower running speeds. The thread doesn’t kink as it unwinds from the spool and runs smoothly through the thread pre-tensioners, resulting in fewer thread breaks and higher-quality embroidery. Did I order some? You bet!
She’s really enjoying the project.
So, grab your favorite stitching beverage, get comfortable, and enjoy the visit.
Submitted by Maureen Lewicki — Author, exploring fiber arts, faith, life’s quirks, and author of picture books. Visit Maureen Lewicki | Author, Blogger & Storyteller
