Nursery School Bag

My first project had to be Kirsty's school bag.  The plain cream calico bag was just calling out for some colour and girly decoration.  I have been putting this off for so long because to be honest I was having so much trouble with my new machine that I just didn't feel inspired.  After much material wastage and cursing I worked out that I was using the wrong thread for my machine.  I had bought loads of machine embroidery thread on ebay at a really cheap price only to discover that a good quality thread makes all the difference.  It seems obvious now - but if you are just starting out with machine embroidery please, please invest in good quality thread.  I now have a much smaller collection of Madeira embroidery thread but it sews like a dream so I wanted to try it out on the bag.  I knew that I wanted to go for a fairy design (my daughter is 2) and began my internet search for a suitable design.  After much searching I came across a really great site Bunnycup Embroidery.  There are loads of free designs and great offers which for a beginner like me is perfect.  I chose their Fairy Love set and one of their free fonts called Cheri Alphabet.  I haven't managed to load my 4D Extra program onto my PC yet so I had to play around with Kirsty's name which means the spacing is not perfect but I was really pleased with my first attempt.  My reward was a big 'Thanks Mum' from Kirsty.  Here is the finished article -