OML Embroidery

WARNING: This is a troubleshooting tale of epic proportions that may or may not scare embroiderers with nerd words or nerdy concepts. I tried to keep the tech-talk to a minimum.

Nothing is perfect, I do understand that concept, however there is a small yet big issue with the Luminaire 2 – can anyone guess what it is? Probably not, but it really is a big deal. It’s the wireless transmission of designs to the Luminaire that has frustrated me more than once. Why can’t it just work?

It’s all fun and games until you have to use a USB to transfer designs….

On the Brother Luminaire series, you can (and you must) transfer designs wirelessly to your embroidery machine. You can’t plug the embroidery machine directly into your computer, but you can use a USB drive to copy from your computer and take over to your machine….and that’s something I really don’t want to do. I also noticed that there was a card reader beside all of the inputs…a card reader? can you even buy cards anymore? My computer doesn’t have a CD drive, it certainly does not have an (ancient) card reader.

As everyone well knows, I am a proud nerd. I have set up the internet and a great network in the house – so that I can get my embroidery files from any computer and work on them or check them out in software. Everything works great, no issues. Until last week. Suddenly, my main computer could not find my Luminaire 2. What the heck? It worked a few days ago? I checked the computers connection, the machine’s connection and even checked the router for the connections (oh by the way, I am not recommending you mess with any router unless you know what you are doing), but nothing was working. I started troubleshooting – reboot everything, change networks, unplug everything and start over and of course reset any and all connections and set them up again, then research – lots and lots of reading. No connection.

Next step, I tried Embrilliance on my iMac (not a PC) – Embrilliance is by far the fastest and best software for sending designs and so many other things – and It is my go to software for sending wirelessly to my Luminaire 2. Yes, I have PEDesign 11, but it can take forever to find the machine and send the file. No connection. I did all of the troubleshooting mentioned above for my iMac. Nothing.

Oh well, now I have to find a compatible USB so I can get stitching. Great. That took a bit of searching to get one that works on the Luminaire 2. Thankfully, we don’t really used USB’s anymore, so the few that I had in my drawer were older and small storage, so they worked. No connection but a temporary resolution. I did complain a lot and looked for a Tula Pink USB to make me feel better, but I still hate using a USB to transfer designs.

I did more troubleshooting, changing settings on the router (one night I made such a mess on the router that no one in the house had internet – all of our lights in the house are Hue Lights so they need the router to work. Yeah, that was fun. Another reset. No connection.

After a few days of changing and trying, trying something new – trying anything at this point – I ruled out computer issues and wifi issues, and narrowed it down to the Luminaire 2 blocking the connection for some unknown reason. So that meant I needed to try something other than a computer to send to the machine. Oh, I know what that is – the Brother Scan N Cut. If I can’t get the two connected, then there is a problem with the Luminaire 2 that I can’t solve. Can you guess what happened? It connected – I could send designs to my Scan N cut from my Luminaire 2, and I could send designs from my ScanNcut to my Luminaire 2. Ok, what else can you use to connect to the embroidery machine? there are two apps that I have on my iPhone for monitoring the machine when you are out of the room and one for sending pictures to bring into My Design Center. Neither one of those would connect. Next…..what else? Oooooh, the new Artspira design software for the ipad. I made sure i was logged in everywhere and opened the app on my ipad. I picked a cute design and tapped “transmit”.

IT WORKED. But wait, I CAN SEND DESIGNS FROM MY IPAD TO MY LUMINAIRE, BUT NOT A COMPUTER? That does not make sense…and that really sucks. Then I knew that it was not the machine, it has to be the software. The Artspira Software. Really? Yes, really – the Artspira sofware would only allow designs to transfer from the app, and “my connection” for the scan N cut is included and yes, everything worked perfectly.

I deleted the app and signed out of Artspira on my Luminaire 2. That didn’t change anything.

I reloaded Artspira on my iPad and searched for a more permanent deletion. Turns out to get rid of any trace of Artspira, you have to go into your account and tap the “UNSUBSCRIBE” button way at the bottom of your account information.

I rebooted everything, and IT WORKED. I’m connected. Whew that was a lot of troubleshooting to figure out the problem.

I am very happy that my computer can send designs to my Luminaire, but there are a few downsides to this solution. First off, I won’t be able to use Artspira. Second is the big one – one of the expensive upgrades I purchased was the My connection – the bit that connects your machine to the ScanNCut – and I can’t use it anymore. Before Artspira, it was a standalone upgrade that I have had for a few years and really enjoyed – it streamlined any applique cutting and was super easy to send designs back and forth. Now, they have bundled Artspira with My Connection – meaning that you can’t use My connection unless you sign into Artspira. Yeah, that sucks. Back to using a USB, or as I call them, a BS-USB. I still hate them. Sigh.

If something isn’t working, keep troubleshooting to eliminate any and all possible issues. This honestly took me around 4 days to figure out – looking for answers on Brother’s sites, searching the internet and reading manuals. I did not find anything, not one single bit of information. Yes, I spent the majority of my few days off, including Easter, trying to figure this out. I need a day off, LOL.

My brain is exhausted and I am going for a nap after a short victory dance, then I am going to freaking stitch on my Luminaire 2 without using ANY USB’s. See all y’all soon!

Sue

Troubleshooter Extraordinaire and accomplished nerd.

Spring is just around the corner. Never mind all of that rain, soon it will be warm and lovely outside and because of all this rain, the flowers will start coming up soon too! Personally I am ready for some tulips and daffodils 🙂

I thought it would be fun to have a bright and cheery mug rug to celebrate spring! Spring is nature’s way of saying LET’S PARTY is perfect to brighten up your day and your room, too. a little bit of folded fabric in bold colors and a perfect font for variegated thread -I love variegated thread, especially like this!!!

I also created a calm and zen mug rug with swirls and striped quilting – zen because it is calming and reminds me of flowing water, or water on a beach and sand? What do you see when you look at this mug rug?

Be bright and springtime fun, or be zen and calm – or be both! Happy Stitching!!

Here are the designs:

You have heard me talk about Welsh Quilting – but what is it?

Of course there are many aspects to Welsh Quilting, including piecing, but I decided to focus on the actual quilting designs. Why? I just love how they look and each motif has meaning – and of course there are rules, but rules are meant to be broken because I love to live on the embroidery edge!

Traditionally, Welsh Quilts we made by hand and were whole-cloth quilts – meaning that the fabric is one entire piece of fabric with the quilting added by hand. That’s not really workable with the embroidery machine (although I think the Luminaire would work well with it – kind of like endless quilting designs). I modernized these two ideas to be quilt blocks sewn on the embroidery machine. Not quite the same, but the end result is gorgeous!

Welsh quilts are full of bright colors – usually a red in the quilt somewhere – and can be pieced or quilted. You will see leaves, swirls, paisleys, more swirls, hearts and more. You can add swirls to just about any design and it will look great. In keeping with tradition the swirls are evenly spaced in each round – so the end result is a perfect circle, and every swirl makes a perfect circle too. Half Circles can make up borders, cable quilting and very complicated cable quilting (i have not mastered the 4 to 8 cables that cross over in the round and then form a square, but I am working on it) Traditionally, a Welsh Quilt will have a center medallion (like the Sunshine in my Welsh Quilt below) and then rows of designs are built around the medallion.

Another tradition in Welsh quilting is that each line is stitched twice, with some space between each line. Each leaf, heart, flower, fan will have two outlines. I love the look of two outlines, so I am keeping with this tradition.

You will find that stitching these designs on your embroidery machine is a real pleasure to watch and finish. This is actually a quilt that you will finish and “wow” everyone that sees your work! This quilt style looks complicated, but it is NOT – it’s a nice, smooth stitch out with hardly any trims and zero thread changes. Ahhhhhhh, it’s nice to stitch!

It took me weeks to perfect the design and I made a lot of changes along the way – but it won’t take you that long to stitch each block first making your own quilt plan and picking the size blocks that you want to make.

“Starting the work is two-thirds of it” – Welsh proverb

you can also start smaller and make a placemat sized design:

Sue Brown

Couching is making designs with yarn and thread! Your machine has to be able to do couching designs – it requires a pathway for the yarn to keep the tension even and a special couching foot that has room for the yarn and the thread. On the sewing side, you can use different feet to do couching manually. I prefer watching the embroidery machine do all the work!

On the Luminaire 3 upgrade, they added some cool couching letters. They look AWESOME! Check out the video HERE on youtube and I show you how the machine is set up, how to make sure that the yarn has zero tension and how to thread the yarn on the machine.

The letters were great and they were fun to stitch out. I wanted to try and see if I could make some of my own designs using couching – there has to be at least one skull, right? yeah. So I did – and I used different stitches to make the couching design look more like chenille, and I love couching even more now!!!

If your machine can do couching please follow the manual for the proper set up of the yarn, foot and thread. Make sure that you try one of my cool designs on your machine too. Here is a bundle of couching designs that includes two kitties in a window, a flower and of course Mr. Skully. Check them out.

Oh, how I love in the hoop quilt blocks. I don’t mind the sewing machine and piecing them together, but everything is better on the embroidery machine! This is why I love these new quilt block sets with built in quilting designs! All you have to do is plan your quilt design, get your fabric and thread and get stitching!

Here is the newest quilt block which we are going to do a sew along Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 10AM EST:

This gingerbread zombie is not made from sugar and spice!  He’s still gingerbread, though, but just not the good kind.  the Zombie is missing a limb, right down to the bone.  On the bright side, he has a folded fabric background that looks fabulous and helps him stand out in the zombie cookie crowd this Halloween.    You should get him now; he is dying to meet you and help support your mug of coffee!

Yep, you read that correctly – 4 matching hexagon web quilt blocks 3 are free bonus blocks that go along with the original hexagon web block. These are so much fun to stitch out – and of course the quilt blocks stitch quickly!

Sew much fun to put together! Get yours today while it is still on sale, each block is less than $2.50 – you can’t go wrong at that price!