AnnTheBlogger

Grandchildren, gotta love 'em!

AnnTheGran — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:28:00 GMT

Here it is July already. Where in the world has the year gone? One place it went was lickedy split right by me and until today I hadn't seen any of my grandchildren since Christmas, two of them since before Christmas. But today was delicious. DD's 3 oldest are in Florida for the month with their father and he dropped them here today. Tomorrow we're taking off for Tallahassee with the 3 of them to celebrate the 4th on my sister's boat and to visit my mother who lives in an assisted living residence close to my sister. Later my son's two were dropped off my their mother and my son joined us for pizza festivities in the evening before taking his to home. After they had left I looked at Bill and said "They didn't use to take up so much space!" He replied, "We're blessed, arent't we?" Oh, yes indeed.

Those of you who have been with me from the beginning will remember my daughter's twins. They were born at the same time as AnnTheGran's Design exchange. I've taken care of the first 5 grands from the time they were born until the time they started "real" school. When the twins were born I was caring for my son's two and my daughter's little boy. Because Jen was home on maternity leave I had only two to care for and had the time to get that first little page online. When the girls arrived for their first day in Grandma's Day Care their oldest cousin had begun pre-K at an all day charter school, so I had only the four. (Only!) And so it went, as the years flew by and the older children left for "real" school until I was left with only the twins. And then, in 2001, the unthinkable! My daughter and her family moved to Kentucky, a day and a half's drive away. She compounded the audacity by having another baby. In another state. Sixteen hours away. And sent him to day care. (DD is a middle school teacher.)

The upshot of this is that, although today was deleriously joyful (and long and tiring!) I still have one grandchild I haven't seen since Christmas. So, on Thursday I'm leaving on a jet plane to spend a few days with him, and DD and DSIL, of course. Grandmas's should NOT have to go 6 months without hugging their grandchildren. That's just wrong.

As you an imagine, machine embroidery has not been forefront in my mind the past few days. I don't want to leave you in the lurch without an embroidery fix, so I've uploaded the printable PDF file for a little project that I created a while back. You can download the design files and the instructions here. I hope you have some fun with it and it gives you some ideas for free standing embroidery projects of your own.

To answer JanMcKinstry's question, "What is a pocket full of loonies and toonies?" Loonie is the nickname for the Canadian $1 coin. I'm sure that nickname came about because there's a picture of a loon on the back of the coin. Toonie is the nickname for the Canadian $2 coin, I guess because it's two dollars and the word rhymes with loonie.

mattersoftheart comments, in reply to my blog about the way I, personally, hoop towels, that she's tried everything and can's seem to get the towel to soften up. It really does take a warm scrub in the washing machine to wash and rinse it all out. Sometimes more than one wash. Don't use a heavy wash away, like Romeo which is more for lace and other free standing projects,but a light weight topping. Let me know how you fare.

I'm going to hit the sack. We have a long day tomorrow, haven't even begun to think about packing. Y'all have a safe and happy-end. TTYL,

Ann

Does size matter? Well, that all depends.

AnnTheGran — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:34:00 GMT

Size matters if you have a design that’s 5 inches wide and your largest hoop is 4 inches wide. Size matters if you want to make a border along the edge of a tablecloth. Size matters if you want to combine two or three designs, each the size of your largest hoop, into one big design.

First the cardinal rule for hooping. Always use the smallest hoop possible. In other words, if you’re stitching a 2” by 3” design, use your 4” by 4” hoop rather than the largest one you have. The less play in the hoop the better it is for the stability of the stitch-out. In addition, why use a huge piece of stabilizer when you can use a smaller one?

Now, that said, if my largest hoop is 5” by 7” and I want to stitch a design that’s 6” by 9 inches, what should I do? Well, of course, I could always reduce the size of the design using Catalog XPress or any other software program what will re-calculate the stitches. But I’ve found that machine embroiderers like designs larger, rather than smaller. My solution is to cut the design into two pieces, save them as two separate designs and sew them out in sequence, re-hooping between the first and the second. Okay, you’re going to need some kind of embroidery design editing software to do this, and you have to choose a design that has an obvious place to split it like the one on the top left side of the page. I’ve drawn a bright pink line to show the place I’ve chosen to split the design.

First import the design into your software, showing your hoop.
Next, slide the design over to the side so that only the first portion of the design rests in the hoop.(1)
Now, zoom in closely and, using your cutting tool (2), carefully draw along the edge of where you want to split the design.
Pull the two pieces apart. (3)
Okay now, pay attention. If you goof up this part you’re going to have to start over.

Right click on the part of the design that’s out of the hoop and select “Cut.” (Or Ctrl>x)
Save this design as “design_name-1.” (4)
Now either Undo (Ctrl>z) or right click and Paste (Ctrl>v). You’ll now have both pieces back on your screen.
Slide the pieces back together, using your arrow keys, if possible, to insure that the pieces stay in the same plane.
Choose an open path running stitch in a color that is not in the design (5) and draw carefully along the edge of the first design that meets the edge of the second design. Take in as much of the first design as you can. A preview of this step won’t show in a small thumbnail, but you’ll see it in the next step.
Delete the first design (the one you’ve already saved), slide the second part, along with the running stitch you just drew, into the hoop.
Correct the sewing order so that the running stitch will stitch first. The first segment must be a different color from the next part of your design because you’ll need the machine to stop after the line is stitched, but you can make it a color that will match part of the design. (6)
Save this design as “design_name-2.”
Print both design pieces. (7-8) I like to print from Catalog XPress because it will put cross-hairs in the centers of the designs.
Cut out the designs and put them together with tape. You’re going to use this as a template for centering the design when you sew. (9)

Stitching it all together
You've done the hard work. Now it's time to stitch your design. PLEASE sew a sample first. We don't want to be ruining any brand new silk blouses.

Hoop your garment, tote, or whatever. I'm sewing this on a fairly small t-shirt so I've hooped stabilizer, sprayed it with temporary embroidery adhesive and placed the shirt, centering the first part of the design in the hoop. (10)
Carefully attach the hoop to your embroidery arm and center the needle exactly over the center of the first design. (11) Close is good enough. We're just making sure that the design fits in the hoop here.
Remove the template and start stitching.
When part 1 is finished, remove it from your hoop and hoop another piece of stabilizer. For this part you must use either a sticky stabilizer or temporary embroider adhesive. In order to line up the designs you won't be able to actually hoop the garment.
Put the hoop on the machine and sew just that alignment line. (12)
Remove the hoop from the machine and place it on a flat surface.
From the back, fold back the part of the design you've already stitched and carefully place it on the hoop, snugged up against the alignment line. (13)
Very carefully smooth down the rest of the garment, being careful to not pull it away from the line you've stitched on the stabilizer.
Return the hoop to your machine and stitch the second part of the design. (14) Your garment is already properly aligned, so you don't have any measuring to do. Just start stitching.
When you're finished, well, here it is! (15)

A few quickie tips
Because I was stitching this for a child I used soft nylon stabilizer and cotton thread in the bobbin. Ordinarily I would have used an adhesive backed stabilizer, but this was a knit and the adhesive backed stabilizers are tear aways. Had I wanted to use an adhesive backed stabilizer I would have hooped cut away stabilizer underneath. That way, when I tore the adhesive backed stabilizer away, the cut away would remain to stabilize the knit fabric.

Again, because this was a little shirt, I turned it inside out before placing it in the hoop. I wrestled with hooping little t-shirts for several years before I realized that if I just turned the shirt inside out it would be a lot easier, and much easier to keep the excess shirt from getting caught in the stitching.

Which brings me to . . . You have to baby-sit garments with spare parts hanging around. The minute you leave the room your machine will see that you're not there and grab a sleeve or collar or hem and catch in up in the stitching. If that happens often the only way to get the hoop off the embroidery arm is to release the foot and cut it out of the garment. You don't have to stare at it, but stay nearby.

I see that we finally have the new and improved cordless Peggy's Stitch Eraser in stock. I may have to spring for this one. I keep mine in a drawer with the cord going out the back of the drawer to the plug. Cordless is a good thing!

I'm hoping everyone's summers have gotten off to a good start. We'll have 3 of the grandchildren with us for a few days. We haven't seen them since Christmas and my hugs are achingly empty.

Click here for a printable PDF file for this project.

That's all for now! TTYL,
Ann

What's in a name (tag)?

AnnTheGran — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:58:00 GMT

A while ago I nudged y'all a little about forming local "Community Circles" so you could get together once in a while to have lunch, chat, make projects and generally help each other out. Believe me, it was NOT my doing, but the "How many live in Central Florida?" thread has grown to 209 posts, 13 pages! Again, not my doing (I'm telling you this because I don't want you to think that I've planned and organized this thing, which I haven't. I'm simply a machine embroiderer in Central Florida who has been posting on the thread.) but a luncheon has been planned for next month and we're expecting more than 20, including a couple of hubbies.

In discussing this coming, much anticipated event, in addition to deciding where to have lunch and with whom to carpool, the main topic of conversation has been about name tags. A unique thing about ME-ers is that we want to embroider everything we can get our hands on. You'll find that at most, if not all, embroidery retreats, seminars and get-togethers many of the participants will wear very original embroidered name tags.

11 years ago a group of 43 Brother, Baby Lock and Deco embroiderers (All these machines use the same file format and similar software.) met up in Paducah, Kentucky, for what I believe is the first machine embroidery retreat ever. (I'm 3rd from the left on the bottom row. Monica, with whom we had lunch in Toronto is 4th from the left in the top row. June Mellinger from Brother is in there somewhere and the lone man is one of the Brother programmers from Japan.) You'll see my old, faded name tag at the top left. The machine in the center is a button with the shank cut off and glued on. The little pair of scissors hanging from a ribbon is something I picked up at some sewing store somewhere I have no idea when. As you can see, I have by now accumulated a gazillion, give or take, name tags by now. When I need one I usually just pluck one off the rack and put it on. For our upcoming luncheon, however, I'll be making a brand spanking new one.

Now, when you've attended several retreats and seminars you find yourself sticking your room key and a couple of $$ in back of your name tag so you don't have to carry a purse. Some embroiderers have come up with really spiffy name tags with pockets sewn in, with or without zippers, to carry other stuff you might want to have with you. My favorite was given to my by Sue Lord during a Yankee Swap at a retreat somewhere. When you lift her collar you find the pocket. I put my name tag in her hands with double sided tape. She's SO cute!

Okay, before I go on I'll explain what a Yankee Swap is for those of you who don't know. Some of you might do the same at parties and holidays, but call it by another name. Everyone brings a gift and everyone picks a number out of a hat. All the gifts, unwrapped, are placed on a table and the first person chooses the one she wants. The next person has the choice of picking something else or taking the gift from the person in front of her (who then has to pick something else, but now she's "safe"). This goes on until all the gifts are distributed. At embroidery retreats all of the gifts are hand-made embroidered items. All of them are really nice and some are spectacular. I've won, in addition to the name tag from Sue, an embroidered clock for my sewing room and a quillow.

My second favorite name tag was the one given out at a retreat in Houston. The gals who organized the retreat made the name tags for everyone! It has one pocket in the front and 2 in the back. I think that just looking at the front and back of the tag you can see how it's made.

What should be ON your name tag? Well, your name, of course, and also your screen name, because many of the people you'll be meeting know you by that name. I think that where you're from should also be there so you can quickly identify people who live near you. Anything else you put on your name tag is gravy. I'm not going to show you my name tag for our Orlando luncheon, first because I haven't made it yet (still have 5 weeks to work on it) and second because I don't want to give it away. But I can show you my first draft of just the embroidery.

Daddy's Girls
Some of your comments on my Fathers' Day post really squeezed my heart. Yes, my father was quite a "dandy.' On the evening that my daughter was born, my father's first granddaughter after 3 grandsons, he must have been already in bed when my mother called him from the hospital with the news. He got up, got dressed in full regalia, shirt, tie, jacket, hat, walking stick and walked into the hospital and onto the maternity floor. He rapped on the glass of the nursery and told the nurse that he had come to call on a young lady. Now this was back in the days when they knocked you out when you had a baby and woke you when it was over to tell you whether you had a girl or a boy. I was still asleep when my father was there, but the nurses couldn't stop talking about that "gentleman who came visiting last night."

Clearing up some Catalog XPress misconceptions
Another thing that's being hotly discussed in the Central Florida thread is organizing designs. I posted something of a rant there a couple of days ago because everyone was telling how they organize their designs but no one was mentioning my baby, Catalog XPress, the first embroidery software program I ever designed and which is, as Mary Poppins would say, "practically perfect." I'm going to copy part of that "rant" here:

My embroidery designs are sorted on my had drive into several folders, Original Designs, Purchased (commercial) Designs, Downloaded Designs and, of course, all the Free Designs from my web site. Within the Commercial designs folder are folders for each of the companies from which I've purchased designs, Dakota, Amazing Designs, Embroidery Library, Brother, OESD, etc. So you can see that I'm fairly well organized. BUT when I want to find something I look for it in Catalog XPress, the program I designed for us. You see, for example, I have designs of cats in several Amazing Designs sets, several OESD sets and at least 2 Brother sets. But all of the cats are in Catalog XPress in the Cats folder. When I want to stitch a cat, instead of having to look through all of those folders, I look in only 1 place. If I have a design with a cat and a dog it will be in both the Cats and Dogs category. If the cat and dog are wearing hats the design will be in the Cats section, the Dogs section and in the hats section. If the hats are red, white and blue the design will also be in the Patriotic section. And, to carry this even further, if the cat and dog wearing red, white and blue hats are riding in a car the design will also be in the transportation category, in the Cars sub-category. You could, of course, do this on your computer by putting copies of the design in folders with those names, but then you'd have multiple copies of the design. With Catalog XPress I have only the one original design.

You say that all your designs are on flash drives or CDs and Catalog XPress doesn't know where they are? Yes, Catalog XPress has the memory of an elephant. Or at least the memory of a much younger woman than I am. When you click on a design that says "Not Found" look at the address bar at the top of the screen and Catalog XPress will tell you exactly where to find the design. You complain that all you can see are wimpy little cartoon pictures of the designs (on the other hand, in Windows Explorer you don't have any pictures at all). Again, not so. Right click on the design in the preview window and choose 3D view. Now the design appears in all its stitch-filled glory. Picture not big enough? Grab the edges and pull it bigger. Sorting is the main function of Catalog XPress, but not the only one. The programmers who helped me develop Catalog XPress thought of lots of things that didn't even occur to me or that I didn't think were even possible.

Well, I think I've talked long enough now. Y'all turn off your computers and sew something! TTFN

Ann

Fathers and Dads and Daddies and Grandpas and Poppies, oh my!

AnnTheGran — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:06:00 GMT

This one's for you, Daddy
When I was small we didn't have a lot of money. Sometimes I don't think we had any. As time went on my parents incomes improved. But they didn't really change their lifestyle very much. Oh, the year I left for college they did carpet my bedroom (which had become my sister's room) and installed central air conditioning. But basically they lived the same simple kind of life they always had. They were saving for their retirement. In 1980 my father fulfilled his dream by moving to a golf club community in Wildwood, Florida. The children and I followed soon after, which is how I ended up in Orlando. Eighteen months later I held my father's hand as he breathed his last breath. All that saving and planning and he barely had a chance to enjoy it.

I think of my father almost every day, but especially on March 5, which was his birthday, and on Fathers' Day. It's probably a Southern thing for grown women to still call their fathers "Daddy" and I did that terrible day and I will always think of my father as Daddy. I was thinking of him as I worked on the Fathers' Day project here. He never did get to meet his great grandchildren. He would have gotten such a kick out of them!

A year after my father died I met Bill, and a year after that Bill and I were married. What a prince of a man to marry a woman with two teenagers! Bill became the father my children needed and is the only grandfather their children have ever known. I think about him on Fathers' Day, too, and this project is for him.

Grandpa's All Stars
This isn't a difficult project, but you do need some embroidery software, some graphics software, printable fabric and a printer. I used Alphabet XPress, PE-design, Photoshop, Bubble Jet Set, satin fabric, a Canon printer and KK 2000 temporary embroidery adhesive. You can use any kind of printable fabric, available at many craft and fabric stores. I just happened to have prepared fabric with Bubble Jet Set a long time ago and really needed to begin using it.

Create your lettering
I used Alphabet XPress with the alphabets Athlete and String Bean (string Bean is included with Alphabet XPress). First I created "ALL STARS" and saved the file. Then I created "Grandpa's," imported the ALL STARS file, lined them up the way I wanted them and saved that file.

Assemble the design
You need some stars and I know just where to find them! Go to the Celestial Page on the Free Designs section. Download the 4th design in the 6th row. When you unzip the file you'll find a bunch of stars. Choose the one that's a satin stitch outline.

Open the saved lettering in your embroidery digitizing or editing software. Import or merge the star and duplicate as many times as you need for the All Stars in your family. You may have to reduce the size to fit them all in. If so, be sure to use the method that corrects the stitch count. Arrange the stars in a way that is pleasing to your eye.

When all the stars are arranged, draw a running stitch just inside the border of each star. If you're smarter than I was you'll do this for the first star you import or merge and then duplicate and arrange both parts. I was about half way through before I realized that I could, or should , have done it this way to save some time. Use a color that you can see. Those will be the placement lines for the appliqués. Of course you don't want to stitch the alignment lines on top of the satin stitch and you don't want to stitch them in block, or whatever contrasting color you used so that you could see what you were doing when you drew them. So the next step is to rearrange the design parts, putting the placement lines before the satin stitches and changing the color to match.

I've used garnet and gold, the colors of my alma mater, Florida State University (Go, Noles!). Of course you'll use whatever colors you like, even orange and blue if you really must.

Create your stars
After you've saved the design, save it again with a different name (so you don't shoot yourself in the foot and overwrite the design you've just created). Now delete every part of the design except the running stitch placement lines. Change the color of the lines to black. Print this design. It will be your template to create the stars and your pattern to cut them out.

I'm afraid you're going to have to be on your own as far as creating the pictures. Your graphics software and your ability to use it will vary. This is the way I did it in Photoshop and the same way you would do it in PaintShop Pro, Photoshop Elements or Corel PhotoPaint. I scanned the printout 1:1 so that the stars would be the correct size. Then I used the magic wand tool to select the inside of the first star.You'll know it's selected when you see the "running ants" around the perimeter.I dropped a photo on it and resized the photo until I could see most of the face. Then I pasted the photo down and erased the part that wasn't inside the star. I did this by reversing the mask (selected area) and deleting. I repeated this for each star. I had to be careful that when I resized the photos no parts of them were overlapping other photos. When I was finished, I printed the page on the fabric I had prepared.

Time to stitch!
Now comes the really easy part. First iron the fabric onto some light weight fusible stabilizer of interfacing. This is just to give it some body so it will be easy to cut and so that the edges won't fray. Now cut out your stars, spray the backs with temporary embroidery adhesive and put them aside. Hoop the t-shirt or whatever you're going to put the design on. Some dads don't or won't wear t-shirts so you might want to make a pillow or wall hanging instead. Turn on your machine and load the design. When you come to the place where you've just stitched the placement lines, stop and put your fabric stars in place. The temporary embroidery adhesive will hold them down. If you have to remove the hoop, be sure to take it off and put it back on very carefully so you don't knock the design out of alignment. Now finish stitching. That's about it. I'll bet you can come up with several variations on this theme, Mom's School Bus with the children's faces in the windows, Grandma's garden with the faces in flower centers, etc. If you do, I'd love to see pictures.

Now, turn off your computers and sew something! Happy Fathers' Day to all the dads and granddads in your families! TTYL

Ann

Of Stitch Erasers, Outlines & Free Design Addiction

AnnTheGran — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:14:00 GMT

Having trouble thinking of what to write about this week. I know, those of you who have attended any of my classes won't believe that. It's true, when I'm in a crowd of you I have lots and lots to say. But, alone, in front of my computer, not so much. So, I'm just going to address some of the forum comments that I've read recently.

Trimming Stitches and Mustaches

There's been a lot of chatter about Peggy's Stitch Eraser and the Wahl mustache trimmer. They do look similar, although the mustache trimmer appears much less sturdy. And the trimmer costs a lot less. You hold both upside down to use them. So, what's the difference, other than appearance and price? The blades are what's different. They're sharpened at different angles. Peggy's has been designed specifically to tear (not cut) threads on an angle. The trimmer has been designed to cut hair straight on. Most of the time you wouldn't notice the difference when trying to remove stitches, but when push comes to shove and I really want to do a good, neat job of removing stitches without damaging the fabric underneath, Peggy's is my impliment of choice.

Outline Tips

There has been some chatter about outlines. Outlines are really the bugaboo of machine embroidery. If the outline is off by just a little bit, you can fill in the area with fabric pens that are specifically made for that purpose. I use Pigma brush pens, which can be found at most office supply stores. If the outline is really, really off, well, unless you can pick out the stitches, you're pretty much out of luck. But there's a little trick I use to help guarantee that the outline will sew as close to the design as possible. Before stitching the outline I back out of the design and turn off my machine. Then I turn it on again, go back to the same design and skip ahead to the outline. I've gotten into the habit of doing this so much that I don't really know if it helps anymore. But, it can't hurt. Another thing about outlines. I don't like to see the outline before the design, or have the outline overpower he design. For this reason I use charcoal gray, rather than black, thread for outlining, and use a 50 or 60 weight (thinner) thread. Madeira carries 60 weight thread and Mettler carries 50 weight cotton thread.

For those addicted to free designs: Well, you'll eventually get over it, trust me. I've found that those who "collect" designs both download the freebies and buy all the ones that catch their attention. Then, after a while your computer fills up with embroidery designs and you can't find anything (until you install Catalog XPress, that is). So you get to a place where you don't download or buy anything unless you have a specific purpose for it. So enjoy your downloading. There is a quote that I became famous (or perhaps infamous) for a few years ago: "The one with who dies with the most designs is still dead. Turn off your computer and sew something!" The quote is included in my Say It again design pack and I've embroidered it on a couple of t-shirts, as well.

How did that quote originate, you ask? Well, for a long time when I added designs to the free designs section they were on number archive pages. When there got to be so many designs I also put them into categories. That got to be a lot of work and I finally decided that having the designs in categories was sufficient. But, there were those die-hards who had downloaded every single design from the beginning and were quite dismayed over the exit of the archives. So I posted that quote on the former archive directory page. I THINK everyone took it in the way it was intended and had a laugh, but I did get one email from someone who was quite offended. When I told her that I was just joking she understood and had a laugh at both herself and the quote.

Reality Bytes: What's Cooking?
Top Chef: I'm sorry to see Antonia go and don't know if I can bear another week of Lisa, but if either Stephanie or Richard win I'll be happy. But I'm rooting for Stephanie.
Hell's Kitchen: I don't think any of them will be able to run a restaurant for Gordon Ramsey, but I'm glad Matt is finally gone and I'm slightly favoring Corey.
The Next Food Network Star: Just one episode so far this season, so I can't really comment. My favorite, Amy Finley, won last year but I managed to find her show (The Gourmet Next Door) only one time. Now I read that she and her family have moved to Burgundy, France. I really liked the one show I did watch.

Okay, I don't cook. That doesn't mean I don't like watching other people cook especially when they're competing on a reality TV show.

That's it for me, this time, I think. TTYL!

Ann

A Whirlwind of a Week - AnnTheGran in Toronto

AnnTheGran — Sat, 31 May 2008 17:56:00 GMT

It feels as if I was just packing for this trip and here I am home again! Bill and I had a fabulous time in Toronto. First and foremost it was a delight to have a 3rd annual "Spring Fling" with our dear friends Loes and Theo van der Heijden from the Netherlands. Second, it was wonderful to get out of the pre-seasonal Florida heat. It was over 100°F on our front porch the day before we left. We visited all the local touristy spots, Casa Loma (charming), Chinatown (colorful), the CN tower (very tall), Niagara Falls (magnificent), etc. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner, grilled by my favorite Beamish boy at his lovely home along with his delightful wife, 2 beautiful daughters, his spit-n-image son and his charming father. Who knew Greg could cook!?!

The first day we bought tickets for the hop-on-hop-off double decker bus and harbor cruise. It was cold and windy and we were freezing! The second day, prepared for the cold, we set out for Chinatown and the CN Tower and it was hot. The weather kept on in that fashion, always catching us unprepared for either the heat or the cold. It didn't dampen our fun in any way, though.

A Busman's Holiday
bus·man's holiday
Pronunciation: \bəs-mənz-\
Function: noun
Date: 1893
: a holiday spent in following or observing the practice of one's usual occupation

On Monday we had lunch with Monica Anderton a machine embroidery colleague from almost the very beginning. Monica's designs were some of the first in the Design Exchange (now our Free Designs section). So much water has passed under the bridge. It was great to get together to reminisce about the "good old days" and catch up with what we've all been up to recently. After lunch we all walked to the Royal Ontario Museum. What a wonderful place! First we headed to the Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles & Costume, a diverse international collection of costume and textiles, including Chinese imperial court garments, early Islamic textiles, Western fashion from the 18th century to the present, and early Canadian textiles.

Another day we drove to St. Jacobs where there was a quilt festival. What serendipity! Everywhere we went there seemed to be something going on having to do with clothing and textiles. Anyway, the most striking thing we saw in St. Jacobs was a quilt car cover. I can't imagine how long it too to fit and measure, not to mention sew, the thing. It was amazing! The car quilt was made by Judy Taylor, pieced and quilted with left over quilt blocks that are sometimes called "orphan blocks" or "UFO's" (unfinished objects). It was sewn together with 33,000 metres (1,287,000 inches) of thread. The car is fully driveable when dressed in the quilt and it has appeared in several parades.Can you imagine?!?

A little too comfy?
Our last stop on Thursday was to visit Greg in his office. He looks a little too comfortable there, don't you think? Perhaps he doesn't have enough to do. While in Greg's office I got to talk to Pat on the phone. This Internet is truly a remarkable vehicle. Here I am in Orlando, Pat in San Diego, Cathy in Portland, Greg in Toronto and you all all over the world, yet we come together here with no borders, no feeling of any distance between us. I'm constantly amazed.

Escorted out of my own country!!
On our way from Niagara Falls to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Theo's GPS unit took us across the bridge into the US. There was no way to turn around and go back. So, we had to cross the border. Our passports were collected and we had to get out of the car and go into the border control building. After cooling our heels for a while, Loes and Theo were called into a room. A short while later they came out with a smiling homeland security officer. Everything was okay, of course. But this officer stayed with us until we were safely in the car and pointed back to Canada. As we were walking I said to him, "This is something, being escorted out of my own country." He replied, "You're leaving of your own choice." To which I replied, "Yes, but you're escorting me!" It was pretty funny, even if it didn't seem that way at the time. The GPS unit, fondly called "James" because of its British accent and impeccable manners was sent to time out. Naughty James!

Who is this Rogers guy and why is his name on everything?
As we flew out of Toronto I was left with one burning question: Who is this Rogers guy and why is his name on everything? From the first time I turned on my cell phone when we landed and his name appeared on the screen until the last day when we passed the Rogers Centre on our way to the airport, I don't think an hour went by when we weren't seeing the name "Rogers" somewhere. What's the deal?

So, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Now to unpack, do some laundry and settle back in at home. TTYL!

Ann

Even If I can't Hoop it, I can Embroider it!

AnnTheGran — Fri, 23 May 2008 03:16:00 GMT

Hi, folks,

Had another great question in last week's post from gpleasant, who asked how to hoop towels, under and over. I can tell you how I hoop towels. Bath towels are as liable to be viewed from the back as from the front, so I want both to look good. That means two things. First, I don't want any stabilizer showing on the back. Second, I want the thread on the back to match the thread on the front.

Prepare the machine
So, the first thing I do is to wind a bobbin with the thread I'm using to embroider the design. If it's a monogram, that's as far as it goes. If it's a picture there are a couple of choices, either wind several bobbins with the threads you'll be using and change the bobbin when you change the top thread of choose a color that closely matches the color of the towel. I'm prone to do the latter unless it's a really special project for a really special occasion. Then, of course, thread the machine.
Prepare the towel
Terry towels have nap. The loops on one side lay one way and the lops on the other side lay the other way. I moisten the area on which I'm going to stitch with fabric stabilizer. Spray starch or spray sizing will do if you haven't any special fabric stabilizer. Then I press with lots of steam on both sides, smoothing the loops in the correct direction on both sides. I wait for the towel to dry before proceeding.
Prepare the hoop
Hoop one or two layers of wash away stabilizer and spray with temporary embroidery adhesive.
"Hoop" the towel
Place the towel on top of the hoop, centering as if you were actually putting the towel IN the hoop. Press down firmly all around. Next, cut a piece of wash away topping and spray that with temporary embroidery adhesive. Place that on top, making a towel sandwich and press down all around. I roll it with a little rolling pin that came in a Pla-Doh® set. A soup can or some such would do the job, but golly if that little rolling pin isn't cute!
Stitch!
Put the hoop on the embroidery arm, turn on the machine and stitch the design.
Finishing touch
First, take the towel over to the sink and run warm water on the deisn=gn, gently rubbing to loosen and soften the stabilizer. Then, i the towel is for me or a friend of one of the grands I toss it in the washer for the final rinse cycle while I'm doing a load of similar color and then toss it in the dryer. If the towel is a special gift for a special occasion, like a wedding, I hang the towel to dry after smoothing the nap on both sdes and pulling out the embroidery design if it has puckered in the wash. When the towel is try I toss it in the dryer on air only for a little while to soften it up.

If that seems like too much trouble, then get the Perfect Towel Kit from Designs Magazine, which not only helps you center your design and create perfectly matched sets, but also has video instruction on stabilizing, hooping and stitching perfect towels as well as a couple of alphabets and some other goodies. Not everyone is as obsessive as I am, and that's a good thing!

Community Circle, Some loose ends
Everyone in my family, all my friends and my beamish boy all know that I need constant nagging to get anything done. I either forget about it or time slips through my fingers while I'm doing something else. They all know that, not only do I not mind, but I encourage them to nag me. You all are much too polite. I promised that I'd give you my class notes for lettering and applique, so here they are for download:

I'm sorry it took me so long. Please, in the future, feel free to nag.

Leaving on a jet plane . . .
but I know when I'll be back again! One of the nicest things that's happened over my AnnTheGran years is that I've made so many wonderful and close friends. One of the dearest is Loes van der Heijden, the sharp cookie who created Pre-Design, the wonderful software for creating clean graphics for importing into embroidery digitizing programs and now, also, for creating designs for long arm quilting machines. Loes, and her husband Theo, live in The Netherlands and Bill and I met them when they were in the States to promote Loes' software at several embroidery events. Several years ago I got a new computer and was installing Pre-Design. I had mis-placed the registration key and contacted Loes. While we were email chatting and catching up I asked when Loes and Theo were coming back to the states. Loes said that they had no current plans, but why didn't Bill and I come over there. I said, "Okay!" I have no idea where that came from! I had't even discussed it with Bill. Well, we did fly over to Holland and stayed for a while with Loes and Theo while they showed us their beautiful country. While there I visited a local Brother dealer and attended an annual embroidery event.Then the four of us drove to Normandy and traced Bill's WWII journey from Utah Beach to the Ardennes Forest, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. It was a wonderful and unexpected treat. We found that we were such good travel buddies (and good travel buddies aren't easy to come by) that we traveled together again the followning year. This year Loes and Theo came over to the States for Loes to teach Pre-Design at some long arm quilting events. I asked where they would like to visit so that Bill and I could meet them and we'd travel together once again, but on this side of the ocean. Loes and Theo decided on Toronto and Niagara Falls, so Bill and I are flying up to meet them in Toronto to spend a tourist-y week together. All this by way of telling you that I don't know whether I'll be blogging next week or not. Maybe just a short travelogue.

Before signing off
I want to tell you how much I enjoy reading your comments on my blogs. It's so gratifying to find that we are all so much alike. Chatty Cathy, you crack me up! You just found out that I've contributed to the Free Designs on the site. How did you think AnnTheGran.com started in the first place? It was a simple little site that I set up to share our original designs. I guess that even I sometimes forget that, so much water has passed under the bridge. I see you're really coming along with your new machine. Glad you found out about pre-washing fabric before suffering any of the consequences of not doing so! I've found that it's also a useful tool for getting new fabric into the house without Bill noticing. Not that he'd be angry about it, but he'd definitely have something to say. My washer and dryer are in the garage. When I come home with new fabric I take it directly from the car to the washing machine. When I bring it inside it's just another pile of folded laundry and Bill doesn't even notice. P. S. I use the hottest water and the hottest dryer that the fabric can take. That way there are no surprises. Pat, I so enjoy your contributions to my blog posts. It's nice to see you poking your head in now and then.

I'm all packed, just did my nails and I'm off to bed. Tomorrow, Air Canada, here I come. I've got a pocket full of loonies and toonies and I'm ready to roll! TTYL

Ann

Great Embroidery Mysteries - The Case of the Messy Alphabet

AnnTheGran — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:08:00 GMT

Digitizing Mystery

I began digitizing alphabets eight or nine years ago. I like doing it and I take a lot of pride in my work. You can imagine how distressed I was when I began receiving a few messages telling me that the capital and lower case letter "A' was appearing as a big mess in their various software programs. Because it wasn't happening to me in Catalog Xpress, I was at a loss for both an explanation and a solution. I did suggest several solutions and always at least one of them would work. And still I didn't know what caused the trouble or what the solution could be.

Case Closed

Finally I did get an explanation from someone who sounded very confident in her answer. I don't really understand it, but apparently when some software programs see the letter "A" they look for the rest of the alphabet, and if those files use the same naming convention then the program does us a big favor and piles all the letters on top of each other in the letter "A" design. Of course, this is NOT a favor that we want. Even though I don't quite understand it, this explanation led me to the simple solution: Change the name of the letter "A" files. You can see the process below:

If this happens to you, find the file in Windows Explorer, right click on it, select "rename" and type in the new name. This will work 100% of the time! (BTW, if you want the cross stitch Sherlock above, you'll find him in the Cross Stitch Category in the Free Designs section.)

Gadget Gabbery
I admit it, I'm a gal who lurves her gadgets. I'm also a gal who doesn't like to carry a large, or any for that matter, purse. I'd been lusting after a new cell phone for a long time. I was eligible for an upgrade and knew just which one I wanted. Finally the last straw came when I wanted to put an appointment in my PDA and it was dead as a doornail. I'd had the PDA for a long time and it didn't have a replaceable battery. I guess it had had its last recharge. So, I bit the bullet and got the phone I wanted. Now I can keep my cell phone, my PDA and my brag book in my back pocket. I could have put my music on there, too, but I didn't want to run down the battery listening to music when my iPod is so tiny and will play for hours and hours before needing a re-charge. It will also fit in my other back pocket.

Make A Soldier's Day
Which brings me to the next topic. We've got a box full of old cell phones. Often when I receive a package from amazon.com there's a plastic envelope in it as a way to send unused cell phones to soldiers so they can call home and talk to their families. Postage is free and it's a good feeling when you drop the envelope in the mail. If you don't shop at amazon.com, or haven't received one of these envelopes, click on the picture on the right to find and print a postage paid mailing label.

Reality Bytes
Last night something really special happened on America's Next Top Model (no comments from the peanut gallery, please). A normal (read size 10) young woman took the title and will appear in a 6 page spread in July's Seventeen magazine. Kudos to both the program and the magazine for showing our daughters and grand daughters that they don't have to be twigs to be beautiful. You can bet I'm getting a subscription for my 15 year old practically perfect grand daughter and will send a copy of the spread to my two practically perfect soon to be 12 year old grand daughters. I don't think they're ready for a subscription yet, do you? Oh, I hope not . . .

Wrapping up
Welcome to the blogosphere, Cathy and Pat. I see you're both already getting lots of response on your blogs. It's nice to have some company in here!

Can't think of anything else, so TTFN,

Ann

But first, a word from our sponsor . . .

AnnTheGran — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:48:00 GMT

Okay, that would be me, but now that I've got your attention I want to first address a couple of questions that were posted in the comments from last week's post. I thought I'd answer them here, rather than there, because the answers might be of interest to many of you.

For LolliConn, who asked if Catalog XPress could convert BLF files. The answer is no, it can't. There are 2 kinds of embroidery files, working files that work only with the software that generated them, and stitch files that can be converted to other stitch file formats. BLF, a Designers' Gallery file like Brother's PEM files, are working files. In order to stitch them you need to convert them into stitches, in both of those cases PES because Designer's Gallery is a Babylock product and both Babylock and Brother embroidery machines read Brother's PES file format.

For mspacman, embroidering on stretchy spandex and lycra fabrics is a challenge. I haven't done it very often myself. Sometimes I acknowledge my limits! I would recommend hooping a sticky stabilizer, pressing the stretchy fabric down solidly on the stabilizer and putting a layer of disolvable stabilizer on top. Use a fine ballpoint needle and 50 weight thread or lighter. Choose a design with minimal underlay. And, of course, sew out a sample before embroidering on your grandaughter's gymnastics leotard. Oh, wait, that was me . . .

For cleme, who asked about my James Dean doll, and how I can stand having him staring at me. It's not so much a long story as a boring one. A dear friend and embroidery colleague was staying with me for a few days. Before she left for home we stopped at Toys R Us to pick up a gift for her son. I saw the specialty Barbie dolls along one wall and mentioned that someday I was going to get one of those James Dean dolls for myself. Keep in mind that Barbie dolls didn't come out until I was in high school and, although tempted, I was really too old for them. As my friend was leaving she handed me a package and, lo and behold, there was James Dean, looking right at me. So I've kept him on my desk as a connection to my friend. It was a long time before I realized that the doll resembled my college sweetheart, my first great love. So how can I stand his staring at me? Because when I look back into those eyes I'm a slim, pretty 20 year old riding side-saddle on the back of a motorcycle, long hair flying in the wind, holding 2 sets of books in one arm, the other clutching tightly around the young man in front of me. The question isn't how can I stand his staring at me, it's how do I get anything done.

The bio about me at the bottom of the page and throughout my site says that I began sewing doll clothes as soon as I was able to hold a needle. That's not quite true. I started sewing as soon as I was old enough to hold a needle without poking my eye out. Anyway, I see that paragraph so often that I don't even notice it anymore, but today I rooted around on the top shelf of a closet and pulled down a wooden box. I think the box had held 3 bottles of wine at one time, but I know that my father gave it to me when I was 8 or 9 years old. (See, I was stockpiling boxes even then!) I opened the top and there, right where I had put them more than 50 years ago, were 2 little dolls lying on a pile of doll clothes. I thought you might be interested in my first efforts at haute couture. Those little 8" dolls were the fashion dolls for the generation before Barbie. Mine were Vogue dolls from Madame Alexander, though Ginny dolls were much more popular. I just thought the Vogue dolls had prettier faces and even then I wasn't a crowd follower. I wanted a boy doll, but there weren't any. But there was a Mary Martin doll. So Mary Martin became my little boy doll. Here are a couple of those early efforts. Oohs and aahs are appreciated, but no laughing, please!

Here they are, in some of their finery:

I thought you might get a kick out of the fine button detail and the evening glown with matching evening cloak. I think the charms might have come from the penny gumball machine in the supermarket.

The summer of my 12th birthday my father brought home an old Singer sewing machine that had belonged to my grandmother. It was a very heavy portable machine with a rounded wood case.That summer my father, who had owned a blouse factory, taught me how to use the machine and I made several of those circle skirts that were so popular. I sewed on that machine all through high school and took it to college with me. For college graduation my parents presented me with a new-fangled Kenmore machine that used cams to create fancy stitches. Imagine! That machine sewed all my dresses, then all my maternity clothes, then lots of baby clothes and nearly everything DD wore through college, including formals and party dresses. It went on to sew rompers for my first grandchild, dresses for my second, DD's maternity clothes, more baby clothes and rompers. Then,one day, my sister came down from Tallahassee to shop for bridal fabric. I took her and her future DIL to a local high end fabric store. While they were shopping in the back of the store, I was standing in the front, spellbound by machines that were embroidering lovely motifs all by themselves. A salesperson walked over to my side and, well, I guess the rest is AnnTheGran history!

I hope you've enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I have! TTFN

Ann

You Ruined My Brand New Silk Blouse!

AnnTheGran — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:33:00 GMT

Every now and then I'll receive an angry email that goes something like this: "I used one of the free designs from your site and it sewed out terribly and ruined my brand new silk blouse. Don't you sew out those free designs before you put them on your site?"

Well the truth is that at one time I did sew out all of the free designs that were submitted. But eventually the design submissions and my time became at serious odds with each other and I stopped sewing them all out. Of course, all of the ones offered for sale are tested and re-tested before they can be posted, but that isn't necessarily the case with the free designs. Why not? Well, in truth, in the early years, when those of us who were digitizing designs were just starting out and climbing slowly up the learning curve, some of the designs didn't stitch out perfectly. But they all stitched out acceptably. So how can you prevent me from ruining your life? Always, always, always stitch out a sample of any design you're planning to use, whether it's a downloaded freebie of an expensive custom design. Stitch it with the thread and stabilizer you're going to use on the finished product and stitch it on the same or similar type of fabric. Every design will not sew out well with every kind of thread, every kind of stabilizer and on every type of fabric. The free designs on my site were contributed by generous digitizers from all over the world, some rank amateurs and some seasoned professionals. Stitching a sample first will save you from a lot of unhappy results.

Which brings me to two other points. First, a story about an unhappy result of my own. I had enlarged a design and was stitching it on a t-shirt for my grandson. About a quarter of the way through I could see that the design hadn't resized very well and was stitching out very badly. So, I removed the shirt from the hoop and used my Peggy's Stitch Eraser to remove every last stitch without bruising the t-shirt in any way. It wasn't until after I had finished, very pleased with myself, that I realized that I had just spent 2 hours removing stitches from a t-shirt for which I had paid all of $1.62. I hadn't worked for 80¢ an hour since my high school babysitting days (Actually, that was 50¢ an hour, but who's counting?) and had to laugh at myself for my foolish frugality. Now I'm more discriminating about when to fix something and when to just toss it out.

The second thing being that I received my Designs in Machine Embroidery magazine this week and there's a terrific article by my friend Deborah Jones about embroidering on t-shirts. Speaking of Designs magazine, one of the things I really like, besides all the great projects, is that the models are shaped like normal women. Oh, and my picture inside the back cover this issue! How cool was that? I need to frame that and hang it on the wall. Okay, maybe not . . . Something else I noticed in the latest issue is that Eileen says she doesn't like reality television. Now I'm really embarrassed that I told her that something y'all would be surprised to find out about me is that I watch reality TV. So I'm taking this opportunity to change my answer. Something you would be surprised to learn about me is that I have a James Dean doll leaning on my monitor. It's a long story . . .

Chatting and journaling and posting, oh my! After Greg (Beamish Boy) read my last blog post he sent me an IM questioning my use of the Internet acronym "IMHO." He thought I should include an explanation and I thought you all knew what that stood for. You did, didn't you? In My Humble Opinion. I sometimes forget that all of you haven't been online for years and years, and even those of you who have haven't necessarily been visiting online chat rooms, posting in forums or exchanging IMs. (Those would be Instant Messages.) I won't even go into text messaging on cell phones, because I'm not good enough at that to do it very much. In order to speed things up and not wear out our fingers, those of us who do those things use Internet acronyms, like DD for Dear Daughter, DH for Dear Husband and, in the same vein, DS, DDIL, DGS, DGD, etc. You can figure those out for yourselves. There are some that I use a lot, like BRB (Be Right Back) and TTYL (Talk To You Later). There's even one, NAYY (No Affiliation, Yadda Yadda) that was invented by and is used by machine embroiderers. We use it when we recommend a product we love, but have no financial interest in. Sometimes I'll use it in a different venue and no one has any idea what I'm talking about! And there's one that I use, IAG (It's All Good), and I don't think anyone else does. Those of you who are interested in more information about Internet acronyms (including why they're not acronyms at all) can click here, and for a list of the more common ones, click here.

That's all I've got right now. TTYL, KWIM?
Ann

Sometimes the Third Time is the Charm...

AnnTheGran — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:05:00 GMT

Challenges & Lessons: So, I looked at the Laughing Cow box for a week. I picked it up. I measured it. I didn't want to do something with the box just for the sake of doing something with it. Now, this box is fairly flimsy. And shallow. Then I looked around for something that would fit in the box, something I would actually want to put in a box. This was not an easy project I had challenged myself to. Here's the finished product, an embroidered box in which to keep the little pins that I've picked up at embroidery events.

I used Alphabet XPress to create the text and add the picture. The purse is from Dakota's Paint the Town Red.

Some things I learned along the way:
1. If you go ahead and start stitching with the cover on the bobbin case loose you will hear a loud noise and a grinding sound. You will have to slide a pair of scissors under the hoop to cut the bobbin off the bottom.

2. If you don't push the embroidery arm on firmly and securely the feed dogs will remain up and catch on the bobbin thread. You will have to slide a pair of scissors under the hoop to cut through the bird's nest and release the bobbin.

3. Remember to adjust the stitch count when you resize designs, especially if you're making them smaller. Should have used Catalog XPress to re-size. What was I thinking??

4. Don't try to "eyeball" centering a design on a round thing, but if the design is seriously off center, you'll probably find something really cute in your button box to balance the design.

4. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And again. Sometimes the 3rd time is the charm . . .

5. Fabri-Tac removes fingernail polish.

I guess you have a good idea by now of how my afternoon was spent! I'm blaming the whole thing on being in a hurry but, in truth, I just wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and I paid the price. No matter how long I've been doing this, or how many projects I've completed, I have to remember to get all my ducks in a row before beginning.

Still, I did end up with a pretty handy little box that's fulfilling a real need so it was all worth it!

Check Back for Answers: I wanted to remind people that if they post a question or concern in response to a blog they should check back to see itf there's an answer. That gal with the new Happy machine got lots of responses, and there were some great tips on thread breakage, both in the post and in our Today's Top Tips forum.

Pictures!! It's been a week since I requested that you send me your pictures from our Community Circle. So far zero, zilch, my email box is empty. I reached all the way to the back and looked in all the corners. Nothing. I can't scrap 'em if I don't have 'em. It was a great event and I had a great time. I really do want a little memory book so I can, well, remember it. I notice that there is one picture up in our Community Circle picture gallery (thanks, Sue), but it's getting lonely, so I'm going to post an embarrassing one of Beamish Boy to keep it company. BTW, the tote bags are looking wonderful! Take a look, if you haven't already.

BB Blog: Speaking of Beamish Boy, you owe it to yourself to look at his latest post on his Magic Bookshelf blog. His blog is an absolute joy for those of us who are still getting used to this blogging thing and all its accompanying terminology.

Reality bites! Those of you who attended the Thursday night dinner at Community Circle may recall the last question Eileen asked me in that thoroughly embarrassing interview, "What is something we don't know about you?" and my response, "I watch a lot of reality TV." So, to that end, here is my quick dish on American Idol and Survivor:

AI- I like Brooke, I really do, but honestly she and Jason Castro should have been in the bottom two this week and Jason should have gone home. JMHO

S - Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, what was I thinking. I can't believe that 3 fools have been finessed out of their hidden immunity idols. What next?

Here's hoping your own reality is just as interesting as what passes for reality on tv!

Ann

AnnTheGran's Spring Cleaning Challenges

AnnTheGran — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:40:00 GMT

I've read all the forum posts from folks saying how much they enjoyed our (first annual??) Community Circle. Thank you so much for posting. I want to add, though, that no one had a better time than I did. I arrived home invigorated and ready to get back up to my elbows in embroidery.

Tote Bag Photos - Folks! Where are your tote photos? Last time I checked there were only two in the gallery and, although those two are pretty spectacular, they're getting lonely. I really want to see what you've done with your totes, so hop to it!

Photos from Community Circle - If you took pictures at the Circle, I'd love to have them so I can scrap a memory book of the event. If you're willing, please send the full sized photos to me at the address I gave you. If the photos are too large you can use a service such as YouSendIt or Pando to get them to me. Pando is my favorite and I use it often. Putting them in our gallery is fine too -- Beamish Boy has a great post on uploading photos, and there are links in our galleries to information on re-sizing photos for upload if you don't know how.

New Laptop - For those in my classes when I was wrestling with my laptop, I want to assure you that I've gotten a new laptop and everything is running tip top. Well, almost everything. And, believe it or not, I'm actually beginning to like Windows Vista. So, next time, no computer hang-ups. New computer=New Desktop, so, as many of you commented on my computer's desktop in Orlando, I'm showing you my new desktop (the picture on the left).

Onward and upward! One of the things we talked about at our Community Circle was how important it is for us to get together locally once in a while. Machine embroidery is a very solitary hobby. Sure, we have lots of friends on the Internet, but how often do we get to sit down with our embroidery friends, face to face. It doesn't have to be an "embroidery event." Getting together for lunch would be a good start. As soon as I get myself settled down and together I'm planning to corral the bunch in Central Florida for a sit down. Please feel free to correspond on our forums to get a local group together. I see we already have someone from Alabama trying to get a group together. Remember that your privacy is safe with us. Talk about projects, problems and kids, whatever. Just GET TOGETHER. Please? I'm going to keep nagging you until you do it!

Empty Container Challenge - How many of you have empty containers that were just too cute to throw away? Or that looked like they could be turned into an interesting project? Well, I have a bunch. Right now, sitting on my coffee table, is one of the little round boxes that Laughing Cow cheese came in. Every time I toss one of these out I regret it, so I'm keeping this one around. If anyone has any suggestions about what I can do w ith it, please tell me! In fact, I am going to do something with it and I challenge you to do something with one, too. It doesn't have to be an embroidery project, though that would be nice. I'm giving myself a week to get a picture of my project into the gallery.

Spring Cleaning - While you're dusting and scrubbing (You were, weren't you? ), don't forget your bobbin case. If you haven't been cleaning it regularly you're going to find a lot of gunk in there. Once you've polished it up you may find that some of your embroidery problems, like bird nests, skipped stitches and broken needles, disappear. I like to take the bobbin case out of the machine and brush it off with the wire handled brush that came with the machine. Then I moisten a cotton swab with alcohol and wipe around the inside. When it's dry and shiny I pop it back in. Sometimes I have to wrestle it back in. Next time don't wait so long!

For Your Computer, Too - Don't forget your computer either. Empty your recycle bin, delete your temporary Internet files, do a search for *.tmp and delete all of those. When you're finished run defrag, then click here for a FREE computer screen cleaner. There, doesn't that feel better?

Until next time, keep on stitchin' and stay out of the kitchen!

Ann

Community Circle Thanks and Video Demonstrations

AnnTheGran — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:15:00 GMT

Hi, everyone!

Well, I think I've recovered from our fabulous Community Circle! I want to thank everyone who attended as well as Diane and Pardeep for keeping things running smoothly and, of course, Greg, for overseeing everything. Thanks also to Eileen Roche for her terrific classes, great products and those questionable questions during our question and answer session at dinner. I fear that all of you who were there now know more about me than you ever wanted to know (or I ever wanted to tell you)! And how about the terrific deal on the new Brother machine? Thanks to George and Jewell from Brother for bringing the machines to us and showing all interested parties how to use them. Congratulations as well to Cathy Spencer, our very popular winner of the Brother PE-700 machine that was our big door prize! What a great story, that the one attendee who comes without a machine to go home to is the one to win it!

I had such a special time meeting and eating with you. AnnTheGran has been around for nearly a dozen years now and I can't believe you all are still with me! Lets keep those tears I shed on the first day just between us, okay? I sure hope we can do this again. It was too much fun not to repeat!

Please, please keep in touch with each other and try to meet up every once in a while. The forums are a great place to do that! And by the way, for those of you who watched Greg post on my behalf on Friday morning, that question about the life of thread is still mostly unanswered in the forum, even though we had some great answers in the room! It's not too late to go and answer it! Anyway, I know I'm going to be in contact with the Central Florida contingent and we're going to be planning some hi jinks. We do need to get out from behind our computers and machines once in a while!

We took lots of videotape at the event, much of which you'll be seeing up on the site in the coming weeks and months. Some of you mentioned that you'd like to see more video on our web site. Well, we are working on that, but in the meantime, I thought I'd send you a list of items for which we do have video now. All of the following links are product videos, but we are definitely planning to post some "non-salesy" video links as well. Also, if any of you have instructional video that you've posted on YouTube, let me know and we'll be happy to link to it from my site.

Here are some products that include video demos (sometimes you need to scroll down to the tabs to view the videos):

Alphabet Xpress lettering software

Catalog Xpress software

Magna-Hoop

Perfect Placement Kit

In The Hoop Kit

Perfect Towel Kit

Madeira Incredible Threadable Box

Madeira Thread Treasure Chest

Klasse Needle Value Pack

That's all I have for you today. I'm still getting back into the swing of things after Community Circle, so if my correspondence is a little disrupted, I hope you'll forgive me. Keep sending in your projects to me at wow-you-made-that@annthegran.com and I'll keep posting them for all to see.

Talk to you soon!

Ann

Brotherly Love, Online Scrapbooking & Ideas from Down Under

AnnTheGran — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:26:00 GMT

Greetings, friends!

Once again, I have been truly humbled by the sheer numbers of you who took time to consider and respond to my last post. I received hundreds of e-mails from well-wishers as far away as South Africa, Korea and Australia, all with essentially the same message: we wish we could join you! Some wonderful stories too, a couple of which even brought a tear to my eye. I had absolutely no idea how many of you out there actually listen to what I say! Scary thought...

Brotherly Love

The news has started to leak out about my big announcement, so I might as well let you in on the secret if you haven't heard it yet. I will be announcing at Community Circle and on my site next week my very strong endorsement of the Brother PE700, which really is just a wonderful machine for embroiderers, at a price point that the budget-conscious among us can afford. Those of you who know me know that I've been a Brother user since day one (counting how many people to whom I've taught Brother machines and software makes me feel old!). Anyway, we'll have some folks from Brother there demonstrating and answering questions about the machine, and Eileen and I will both be using the PE700 in all of our classes. We will have several machines available for purchase, and, as a little personal touch, Eileen and I will be signing any machine that is purchased at the event. I also hope to be doing a little demo of my own of the PE700 that we can get on video and post on the site so you can see just how deep my love goes for all things Brother!

Beamish Blog

I'm pleased to say that my beamish boy has not been too busy toiling away helping me prepare for Orlando to write another informative post, this time about posting photo to what he calls our Digital Scrapbook, the area of my new site where our users can show off photos of all the beautiful things they have created. Please take a moment to stop by his Magic Bookshelf blog and keep yourself in the know.

New Project - Ruffled Crib Quilt

I also got a great new project submission from Leanne Jenkins, a relatively new embroiderer Down Under who was recently blessed with a new grandchild and wanted to share her "first attempt at something other than tea towels and oven mitts" with our community. I'm sure you'll agree when you take a look at Leanne's Ruffled Crib Quilt that she deserves to be commended for her efforts! Remember that you too can share your favorite projects with our community; all the details are here.

Hasta La Vista

So, for those of you who I'll be seeing in Orlando, see you next week, and for those of you who kindly shared your thoughts with me about why you couldn't be there, I'll be thinking of you, and hoping that we'll catch you next time around!

Keep filling your creative space!

Ann