Demo--stitching around lettering

I thought I would post pics of Kathy's Round Robin as I stitched the letters on. I used a thin paper for a stablizer. Matching black thread and a narrow zigzag--1.9 and .25--. I place my hand flat on the fabric on the bed of themachine, straddling the stitching field with my fingers. As I stitch, I rotate the fabric to follow the curve of the letters. When I stop, I stop with the needle down on the outside edge of the fabric. You can stitch a few stitches and then stop, pick up the pressure foot and turn the fabric a little, but I prefer to gently turn the fabric as I stitch and not have to stop nor raise the pressure foot.

To stitch the straight sides of the letters, stop needle down at the outside zag of the needle (edge of the fabric), pivot, and go again. I tried not stopping to cut threads between letters. You can see in the picture where I tried stitching all right straight sides and then I turned the piece and did the other vertical sides, then the horizonal straight sides. This did not work so well, as all the jump threads were a mess and took quite a while to trim out.

One more tip I want to share. I now put my embroidery thread on a stand behind the machine. the thread has a long way to unwind before it goes through the needle-- No breaking or raveling thread.

That's all--I know most of you already know most of this, but I do love to know how other people do things. Not that it is better, just different and something to try--possibly a lead to a better end product. I always experiment with my width of stitch until I get one I like. I also match thread. This ALWAYS leads to a neater piece. If you don't like the look of your corners/points?--use a permanent fine-tip marker and "make them look like you want them to look. Works like a charm.