AnnTheBlogger : ann cobb

A new roommate, a new niece and a new quilt!

AnnTheGran — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

You may remember my January 17 post "What is all this stuff and how did it get into my house?" Well, the situation has worsened. There is now 3 people's stuff in a house that was already overstuffed with 2 people's stuff. How in the world can this have happened? I was just beginning to clear out the clutter when my life turned an unexpected corner. Then my son moved into the house to help me out; help both of us out, really. Have you seen any of those television shows about people who hoard newspapers and such, how their homes are like labyrinths? My house looks a lot like that now. But we (Josh and I) are dealing with it slowly as he has the time and I have the inclination so I'm sure I'll be able to post a good report soon. Or eventually. I'm kind of taking things one day at a time right now, sometimes one hour at a time.

This is how special a son I have. It's been raining non-stop for several days here in Central Florida. Remember the song "Rainy Days and Mondays?" No sunshine for days in a row isn't good for my psyche, let alone my temperament. Last evening Josh came in from work, soaked and miserable, and said, "Hey, Mom! I brought you something." What he'd brought was a container of chopped liver and a loaf of New York rye bread. Amazing how a schmeer (or two or three) will cheer me up! Such a good boy!

Maybe you also remember my January 3 post, "Yes, it WAS a good year!" where I mentioned that my favorite niece was expecting her first and long awaited baby.

After a long, tough labor and then a C -section on May 8 that sweet little girl joined the family, which had an empty space longingly awaiting her. Mother and daughter are doing fine. Daddy is, of course, proud as punch and my sister is glorying in the joy of a new grandchild. I'm excited to have another whack at the pile of little girl fabric in my sewing room and the mass of baby themed embroidery designs on my computer. It's a good thing and, according to her maternal grandmother, Eliza is a good baby. Practically perfect, I suspect.

I had a real treat last weekend. My close and long-time embroidery friend, Dawn Wenner was part of a "sparkle-embroidery" cruise that was leaving from Port Canaveral. She came in 2 days early, so we had dinner together on Friday evening and I got to mingle with lots of old friends on Saturday. One of the gals brought along a quilt she had made using embroidery designs and applied cyrstals from Dawn's web site. It was so beautiful I was really glad that I always carry a little camera in my purse so I could take pictures to show you. Amazing, don't you think?

What as Ann been up to the past couple of weeks? Well, I bought a refrigerator and moved all the food into and the magnets onto the new refrigerator. I built a glass door cabinet from IKEA; have yet to assemble its pair. Where would I put it? I finished up with Social Security (Whew!) Drove round trip to Clearwater to visit another long time, at least a couple of years before AnnTheGran, embroidery friend, Lee Alpern. And, of course, spent time with friends last weekend. It was the first time I'd driven on the highway in as long as I can remember and I'm glad the kids made me get a GPS unit for the car. Just in case you were worried.

I think that's it for now. I'm glad I've gotten over my first "real" post since, well, you know. Until next time, y'all take care of each other. TTFN

Yes, it WAS a good year!

AnnTheGran — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:50:00 GMT

Long about New Year's Eve I was hearing a lot of mumbling and grumbling about 2008, talking heads saying that thank goodness 2008 is over. Well, yes, the economic messiness of the last couple of months of 2008 was bad thing and embarking on a brand spanking new 2009 is a good thing, even though that economic crisis will surely get worse in 2009 before it gets better.

I have to say, though, that, on the whole, 2008 was very good to me. First, Bill and I got to visit Hawaii. Then we had our Community Circle in Orlando and that was lots of fun. After that we spent a week with Loes and Theo in Toronto where we got to have dinner with Greg's delightful family. Then, most recently, Bill and I were lucky enough to visit the Amazon, spending 26 days aboard a small ship round trip from Miami. Nothing to complain about there. Most importantly, everyone in our family is in good health and, after a two month kind of scary glitch, all the adults are employed. To top it off, my favorite, most dearest niece and her husband (Okay, my only niece, but she is most dear to me.) are, after several difficult and disappointing years of trying, expecting their first born. There was that terrible time when our son lost his job, but he begins a new one next week. It's at half the salary of the job he lost, but it's a job in his field and he's been able to drum up some part time work to make up the difference. So maybe 2008 wasn't all good, but it certainly wasn't all bad.

Now, I don't know what 2009 will bring. There will probably be some bad stuff and some good stuff, just like other years. In any case, it's always nice to have a clean slate to write on. I hope that what will be written on your slate are health, joy and prosperity for you and all in your family.

The photo above was taken on Devil's Island in French Guiana. Well, not EXACTLY Devil's Island. Apparently there is a group of 3 islands commonly known as The Devil's Islands. All three of the islands were used as the French penal colony. The island actually named Devil's Island, once used for solitary confinement, is pretty much inaccessible. We visited Royale Island, where some of the other prisoners were kept and the guards and administrators lived with their families. Bill and I are smiling in the picture because it was taken as we began our climb. Had the picture been taken upon our return it would look a lot different!

Now, about that trip up the Amazon . . .

I'll be telling you more about it in blogs and pictures to come, but the one main thing I came away with was a renewed appreciation for how lucky I am for how and where I live and all that I have, both spiritually and materially. But there was something else in a small island village at the mouth of the Valeria River. There was poverty to be sure, but all the children were well fed and appeared healthy. They were laughing and playing, running in and out under the houses. The ship we were on calls at that village only once a year and, to my knowledge, is the only ship that calls there. Our visit was a great annual event and I'm sure that the children were turned out in their nicest clothes. Yes, the locals offered handicrafts for sale and yes, the children put out their hands for payment when their pictures were taken. The cruise line sent ashore donations of school supplies and a pile of bathrobes that were promptly sold right back to the passengers. (What else would one who lives 3° south of the Equator do with a thick terrycloth bathrobe?) We made cash donations to the school and the church, purchased lots of handicrafts and took lots of pictures. As we went back to the ship I said to another passenger, "What must they think of us?" We agreed: not very much. Boca de Valeria and her laughing children will stay with me for a long time.

The babies on the right are twin girls, probably identical (My Portuguese really isn't very good.) I know the one in the back is Patricia because I heard her mother call her that as she attempted to put a feathered bonnet on her for pictures. Patricia had other plans. Pushing the stroller was one of the proudest papas I've ever seen.

As I said, I'll have stories and pictures for you in future blogs. I have just under 2,000 photos to go through . . . Until then, here is a small collection of Amazonion faces from Boca de Valeria, Manaus and Santarém:

I reiterate my fondest wishes for you for the coming year. You are my friends, my family, my neighborhood. Let's all hope that 2009 will be good to us.

TTYL,
Ann

The last Minute-Addendum

AnnTheGran — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:39:00 GMT

As you can see, I found the gaggle of travel drives and software security devices that I THOUGHT I had inadvertently left at home when I flew to Kentucky last week. Of course, as soon as I get home, the first place I went was to the computer bag from which I had transferred my laptop for travel. I felt in all the pockets. Nothing. Nada. Goose egg. Well, I wouldn't panic about misplaced travel drives, inconvenient as it might be, but lost security devices? Not a good thing. I had already checked and checked in the combination camera/computer bag with wheels that I had taken with me, but I checked and checked again. Then a light bulb went off in my head. I lifted out a short camera lens in its case and there, just where I had put them for safe keeping, were, you guessed it, that gaggle. So, here's the picture that was supposed to be on last week's blog post. Feel free to laugh at the perm and marvel at Bill's beard. I made all my square dance dresses and all Bill's matching shirts. I probably made 25 or 30 outfits for us. When we finally stopped dancing after 10 years or so I donated all the dresses, petticoats, western shirts and the accompanying themed accoutrements to our square dance club to sell in their re-sale shop. I’ll tell you, though, after making all those western shirts for Bill, whipping up a couple of short sleeve sport shirts is a piece of cake.

In honor of our newest blogger, Stacy Carlson, who will be our resident digital scrapbooking maven and who posted the very first installment in her new blog this week, I'm writing this little "bloggette" with a series of digital layouts recalling my latest visit to Kentucky.

Reed was coloring Spiderman pictures every day. “Can someone please print a Spiderman picture for me?” Finally DD told him only one picture a day, so his sisters began drawing Spiderman for him. Then they got tired of that and poor Reed was Spiderman-less. So I told him that he could draw Spiderman himself. After much whining and protesting, Reed finally did begin drawing his own Spiderman. You can tell it’s Spiderman by the big red head and the long blue legs. Here’s a photo cluster, not a full scrapbook page.

When I was in Kentucky in July Jen and I went to Kohl’s to shop for school clothes for the kids and a few things for me. If I applied for a Kohl’s card I would get 15% off the entire purchase. It was a large purchase and 15% would be a nice chunk of change, so I filled out the application. A couple of weeks after I got home my Kohl’s card came in the mail. Now, the thing is, I don’t have a Kohl’s nearby. The closest one is in Altamonte Springs, about 30 minutes up I-4. So, when I was in Kentucky last week I had this Kohl’s card with me that needed to be warmed up. You can see where this is going, right? Jen and I and the girls planned a girls day out. Before going to Kohl’s we stopped at the hair salon where Jen got highlights and a trim. I needed a trim, too, and there was a gal free to do it, so I had one, too. Here’s my scrapbook page about the hair salon. If you click on the picture you’ll bring up a larger version.

I’m always taking photos. I was doing that even before I became a digital scrapper. I can’t even remember when I didn’t have a camera. Now I have three cameras: My good DSLR camera with several lenses and other bells and whistles, my “travel” camera for when I don’t want to haul a heavy camera bag and I recently got a little waterproof camera to use when I go snorkeling and to otherwise keep in my purse or pocket so that I always have a camera with me. The first day in LaGrange was a school day so Bill and I and SIL Steve (a Gulf War veteran on 100% disability) were left to our own devices. We went downtown to have coffee and wander the little shops on Main Street. Downtown LaGrange is so small that the railroad tracks run right through the middle of the street! We actually had to wait for a train to pass before we could cross the street! I had my little pocket camera with me and took pictures of items of interest along the way, and here’s my scrapbook page. If you click on the picture you’ll bring up a larger version.

Reed is used to my following him around with a camera and now his brother and sisters have purchased cameras of their own with their birthday money this year. I got Reed one of the toddler cameras and he took pictures from the time he got it until the day I left. It really would never have occurred to me before to put a camera in the hands of a three and a half year old. It was really interesting to see the things that attracted Reed’s attention and, of course, here’s my scrapbook page and, again, if you click on the picture you’ll bring up a larger version.

I guess that’s about all I have for you this time. I hope I’ve whetted your appetites for some digital scrapping. If you haven’t already, do read Stacy’s blog. She has some exciting news. Until next time, y’all take care of each other. TTFN.

If it weren’t for the last minute I’d never get anything done.

AnnTheGran — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:16:00 GMT

Well, this is a first for me. I’ve frequently thought that if I didn’t get something finished before leaving on a trip I could do it in the airport or on the plane, but I’ve never actually done it. Until today. As we were leaving for the airport I turned to Bill and said, “You know, it takes us longer to get on the plane than we’ll be on the plane.” It’s 2 hours and 15 minutes from Orlando to Louisville. Our plane is scheduled to leave at 2:25 p.m. We left the house at a bit after 11:00. I think it took about 20 minutes to get to the car park and check in. We waited for the shuttle about 10 minutes and the ride to the airport was another 10 minutes. Check in at the curb took about 10 more minutes and security took about 20 minutes. That’s an hour all by itself. We’ve had lunch and are now waiting at the gate. It’s about 1:00. So, there you have it. By the way, Orlando International Airport has free wifi. Cool, eh?

Ah, technology!
Back when Bill and I were square dancing we were getting ready to go to Indianapolis for the national convention. We made arrangements for our daughter to stay with a friend and we boarded the animals. In the hubbub of packing and getting ready, I turned to Bill and said, “You know this would be a lot easier if we could just throw the phone in our suitcase and take it along with us.” Now, I’m not saying that I invented cell phones, but I definitely had the idea years and years before cell phones became part of our lives. During the years that we were motor-homing our way across the country it was such a hassle to keep in contact with the kids. Every evening I had to call our home phone from a public phone to check for messages. That was the only way we could be reached in an emergency. Now with computers and the Internet and cell phones motor-homing would be a snap. I even have a miniature Brother sewing and embroidery machine I could take along. Alas, we sold the motor home when the grandchildren began coming along.

The best of times
I get up to Louisville a few times a year for a grandchildren fix. The airport is a pretty small one and every time I walk from the plane past the security check-in I (or we) eventually run into our son-in-law who has been waiting for me. He helps me with my luggage and Jen brings the car around with whatever children she has with her. Hugs and kisses all around and then we’re off. But every time I take that long walk I have a faint flicker of hope that some, or even one, of the children will be waiting for me and will fly into my arms as soon as we spy each other. Today that happened! I could see Steve as we got closer and I thought I saw a thatch of blond hair beside him. As we got closer I saw Reed. I put out my arms and he came laughing, flying into them. It was the best and oh, my word, he’s already grown out of the goody two shoes I got him in July!

The worst of times
Well, nothing ever goes off without a hitch. I put the pictures for this blog on a thumb drive so that I could upload them away from home. Well, I switched out laptop bags and somehow managed to leave my gaggle of thumb drives and software security devices behind. So, the picture of Bill and me in full square dance regalia will have to wait until another time. Instead I will offer for your consideration, completely off topic, a picture of what it looks like when a bag of popcorn explodes in the microwave and a picture of me, my brother and two cousins on a horse at an aunt and uncle’s farm in Virginia. I look to be about 4 or five and, well, to get a bit back on topic, my overalls were made from left over fabric in my dad’s blouse factory. Here’s my scrapbook page commemorating that visit.

Well shut my mouth!
We have Pat and Judy to fill you up with their wonderful blogs full of sewing and embroidery tips, techniques and projects. And we have LaRue telling us everything we could ever possibly want to know about quilting and fabrics. Now we have June waxing poetic about Brother’s wonderful new Quattro, Leora dazzling us with tales of Africa and Susan filling us full of projects using her remarkable blanks. What more is there for me to say. Every time I sit down to blog I have to rack my brain to come up with something and usually can’t think of anything that someone else isn’t already talking about in their blogs. I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings this week because I’m afraid that it’s all that I’ve got.

Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other and don’t forget to turn your computer off once in a while and sew something.

Fay, Fay, go away!

AnnTheGran — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:05:00 GMT

and take your wind and rain with you! Although we havent had any flooding as some of our Central Florida Embroiderers have suffered, or gale force winds, the constant rain and wind for 5 days has my brain jumbled and I'm ready to tear my hair out. But, as far as I know, all of us embroiderers here in Florda are fine, so keep your fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Digitizing tips, as promised. I can’t teach you how to digitize in my blog. I can’t even teach you how to digitize in a classroom. What I can do is to help you along with some basic tips and techniques.. If you’re serious about digitizing, and you’re prepared to spend a bit of time learning and practicing, I recommend my friend and colleague John Deer’s Basic Digitizing Made Easy. John’s instructions are generic, not tied to any particular software product, so they’re good to go for everyone. If you get a chance to take a class with John, do it. He’s not only talented and knowledgeable, but very cute.

I think I’ve learned more about digitizing from watching designs run than from any other source. That means sitting and watching every stitch. One time I was stitching a strawberry, one of the very few free designs that used to be available to us. As I watched I had one of those “aha!” moments. The first thing to stitch was a bunch of black blobs. Then the red strawberry stitched, leaving little holes that allowed tiny bits of the black blobs to show through. I was so excited by this technique for eliminating short, difficult to clip jump stitches that I’ve used it many times since I first saw it.

This is how I did it for flowers on a band. I did this in PE-Design. I don’t know how you would accomplish “hole sewing” with your particular software. You’ll have to consult the dreaded manual for that, but I'm sure it's something simple.

First I drew 3 circles with no stitch data.
Then I duplicated the circles, added stitch data and made them larger.
Next I drew the flowers with no stitch data."
Then I duplicated the flowers, added stitch data and made them larger.
Then I drew the rectangle (with stitch data).

In order to be able to grab hold of each of the individual parts I pulled them apart and arranged them on my workspace. The circles and flowers without stitch data are the “holes.” They’re smaller than the same shapes with stitch data so no empty space will show when the design is assembled.

Now I pulled the round holes onto the flowers and applied hole sewing.
Then I pulled the flower holes onto the rectangle and applied hole sewing.
Next I arranged the pink flowers under the holes in the rectangle.
Then I arranged the yellow flower centers under the holes in the flowers.
Last I checked my stitching order to be sure that the centers would sew first, the flowers second and the rectangle last.

And this is the finished product. It’s just a rough, poorly drawn design for demonstrating the technique. In real life I would do a more precise job with different kinds of stitches and, of course, so would you. But give it a try and once you’ve mastered the process go ahead and digitize something pretty!

Don’t feel bad if you have no interest in doing this exercise. Not everyone who embroiders needs to be a digitizer. In fact, if there were as many moderately priced designs available when I first started out as there are now, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into digitizing at all. Most of us use our digitizing software mainly for editing designs, combining designs and adding text.

French Bath. We were off to Normandy for our D-Day tour. When we stopped for petrol and potty I had a small but long lasting incident in the ladies’ room. I guess we must have been in Belgium because the signs outside were in Dutch while inside everything was in French. To get on with the story, when I went to wash my hands I squirted soap on them from the dispenser right above the sink. OH, NO! It wasn’t soap, but toilet water! I guess the joke about a “French bath” is more fact than fiction. Scrubbing as hard as I could with soap from the correct dispenser, I couldn’t get the smell out off my hands. Four people were trapped in an enclosed car with that scent for most of the day. Well, at least we had chocolate. Lots of chocolate. And here's the scrapbook page.

I think that's it for me today. I'm having surgery on my left foot in the morning and I expect that I'll be "out of it" through the week-end. Stay dry, my friends in Florida! TTFN

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

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

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

Easter Break to Prepare for Community Circle

AnnTheGran — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:43:00 GMT

Hi, everyone,

The gang here is taking a little break for Easter and using the time to polish off some final preparations for my Community Circle event in Orlando, so I thought I'd just put together a brief note to let you know that I'm still alive and kicking -- well, moving my legs anyway.

I am very, very excited about seeing some of you in Orlando -- I'm hoping to give you back as much energy and enthusiasm as you give me. I must confess though, that I am a little sad that we still haven't managed to fill up the event. It seems this old gal can't attract the crowds she used to! I guess that's what I get for not showing my face for so long...

But seriously, for those of you who aren't coming, I'd love to know why you aren't. This was our first time organizing this type of event, and there have been a few glitches, but I thought we really put together something special. Eileen Roche and I in the same room as a group of embroiderers? I mean, c'mon; does it get any better? So I'd like to know, if you aren't coming, is it because we made it too expensive, is it too far away, are the dates wrong, were you hoping for different kinds of classes? This is a learning curve for all of us and we want to make sure we're climbing up the curve rather than sliding down. Please use the Comments feature below to tell me why you aren't coming.

And if you've considered coming but still aren't quite sure, let me know what I can do to get you here! We're already giving away TONS of stuff and I've been hitting the treadmill so that I'll have enough energy to keep everyone buzzing, but maybe there's something that my team and I have missed. If there is, and it's something I can reasonably provide, send me a personal e-mail at wow-you-made-that@annthegran.com and I'll see if I can get you to Orlando! If you've just been procrastinating (especially if you live here in Florida!) and you need to register, you can get all the info here. The very latest that you can register for the special dinner event with me and Eileen is March 26. You can be sure it will be a hoot!

Hoping to hear from you either way!

Ann

Community Circle April 3-4 in Orlando - Registration Ready at Long Last!

atgadmin — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:13:00 GMT

It's the gathering of the year and even if this is the first time you have joined me I know you'll be re-energized and ready to go after two full days with Eileen Roche and me. We'll share our best techniques and insider tips for expressing yourself through embroidery.

For all the details, including registration and hotel information, please click here. We do have a cap on the number of attendees, as well as on the number of hotel rooms, so please register early to avoid disappointment.

To register, you don't need to fill out any forms; just use the Add to Cart links on the landing page, check out, and our system will retrieve your contact information from your AnnTheGran user profile. You will then be sent a full itinerary by e-mail as soon as one is available. For questions and information, I have also set up a forum so you can stay up-to-the-minute on news about the event.

Please note that this is not a "hands-on" event; classes will be lecture/demo format, so there is no need to bring your machine. I received a lot of feedback from our users (thank you!) and, even though many of you were okay with bringing your machines, most of you weren't, so we decided that, as this is our first year doing this, we want to see how this format goes and we will then evaluate whether or not to run hands-on events in the future. Thanks again for providing me so much feedback; I was truly humbled!

Hope to see you in Orlando in April!

Ann (AnnTheGran) Cobb

AnnTheGran Community Circle in Orlando - A Few More Hints

atgadmin — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 20:52:00 GMT

OK, gals, mark your calendars today – April 3rd and 4th – less than 9 weeks away. It’s time to get together and re-energize our passion for embroidery at the first annual AnnTheGran Community Circle retreat. I love sunny Orlando and we’ll spend two whole days exploring innovative techniques, inspirational tips and the latest and greatest in the world of embroidery.

Now, here’s the plan:

On Thursday:

- To kick off the fun, we’ll all gather for a continental breakfast and coffee. I’ll tell you some of my stories. We’ll have some laughs and rev up for the day.
- Then it’s off to morning seminars. Of course you’ll see me and I’ve invited embroidery expert and educator, Eileen Roche, to share her knowledge and inspiration with you as well.
- At lunchtime you’re on your own. You can visit the area restaurants and then do a little shopping in our AnnTheGran travelling store.
- Afternoon seminars will be packed with more project ideas, and “how-to” techniques and tips to take back home.
- Then we’re planning a dinner and evening of more fun with Eileen and myself.

On Friday

- We’ll do breakfast again, I'll walk you through my new site and, if you're not afraid of cracking the lens on your camera, you can have a photo taken with me if you like
- We’ll share more enthusiastic morning seminars with Eileen and me.
- Lunch same as on Thursday.
- Then we’ll wrap it up with more information packed seminars.

Now, here are a few of the details:

-You get to attend all the seminars and breakfast with me both days for only $129.00.
-And you won’t want to miss a great dinner and an evening with Eileen and me – Your choice whether or not to attend, but a great bargain for $30.00
-While at the retreat you’ll get a stuffed goodie bag including samples of some of our products, but in addition a one year membership to Ann’s Club worth $60.00 and AnnTheGran Essentials Embroidery Design CD valued at $199.
- When you register you’ll be entered into a drawing for some fantastic prizes.

More on how to register, how to get your hotel room (if you need one), and details on the seminars will be coming your way very very soon. But remember to put a big X on your calendar for April 3rd and 4th now and make plans to join us. We’ve got lots of new ideas, creative techniques and innovative embroidery processes to share.

Hope to see you in Orlando!

Best Wishes,

Ann

AnnTheGran is Getting a Facelift!

atgadmin — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:52:00 GMT

Dear Friend,

2008 is going to be quite a year for me, and I hope it will be for you as well. My big news is that AnnTheGran is getting a complete facelift! No, I don't mean me -- I like myself the way I am (well, most days anyway) -- I mean my site! You see, as we've grown, some of my site's users have run into issues getting around on the site, especially as we've added new services and products over the years to keep up with your requests and try to offset some of the costs of running the site. I certainly share some of that frustration, but there's a good reason for it. We started off as just a group of ladies sharing designs; the original site was never meant to do all the fancy things it does now.

Well, after compiling all your comments together, my team has spent a very long time and a ton of effort developing an absolutely incredible new web site, of which I am so very proud. I'm going to give you a few sneak peeks now and over the next few weeks, as we prepare for the official launch of the new site in February. Click on any of the images in this post for some enlarged screen shots of what we have in store for you.

You're going to be able to "do some really cool stuff", as my grandkids might say. First of all, the layout and navigation is going to be ever-so-much better and cleaner, and you'll be able to get around the site much more easily. If you're a shopper, the shopping experience is improving by a factor of about a million, as our new structure will allow us to offer you one-click access to all our most popular products and much better and more frequent bargains.

What I'm most excited about is our new Community section. I love it because it brings us around full circle to where we began, which is as the best place on the Internet to share the results of our creativity with others. With a simple mouse click, even the most basic computer user will be able to upload tips, projects, videos, design files -- pretty much anything really -- to share with our entire community. The most popular ones will even make it to the AnnTheGran.com home page, the busiest place in the embroidery universe! How's that for bragging rights on your latest project!

Some of our best features of all will be reserved for my biggest supporters, our Ann's Club members. We'll be adding additional benefits to all of the great things Club members already receive, with so many treats that I don't think anyone will be able to resist getting onto "the inside track" with us.

So stay tuned to this space over the next little while as I tell you about my new site and all the fun you are going to have on it. At the same time, please keep sending me your creations while we wait for the new site to go up, and I will keep posting them. If you're not sure how to do that, click here for info.

Happy New Year! All the best to you and yours in 2008!

Ann (AnnTheGran) Cobb

Personal Holiday Greeting from Ann (AnnTheGran) Cobb

atgadmin — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 21:55:00 GMT

In December, 1996, AnnTheGran's Design Exchange had been online for 2 months, and it was all very, very new. Our small community had shared a hundred or so designs and I sent the Christmas greeting you see on your right, created around my greatest blessings at the time.

AnnTheGran, my Internet nickname and persona that grew out of those early days, is celebrating her 12th Christmas this year, and you can see on the left just how much those blessings have grown.

In the intervening years, I've traveled the country, and the world, meeting many of you and sharing our wonderful embroidery hobby. The travel hasn't always been about being AnnTheGran -- Bill and I both love to travel for pleasure -- but it seems that, everywhere I go, embroidery somehow ends up playing a role. For that, I have all of you to thank.

As we all gather with our families and friends for the holiday season to share our stories and experiences with those in our lives who are important to us, I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the stories that I've been sharing with those in my life, and some of the places that you, my embroidery friends in the AnnTheGran community, have afforded me the opportunity to visit. I've heard from many of you that you thought I'd disappeared -- some even thought I'd kicked the bucket! -- but I can assure you that rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated! In fact, I'm going to be announcing very shortly an opportunity where I can re-connect in person to those of you who've been so supportive to me over the years. I'm looking forward to a very special year in 2008.

Scattered around this post, you'll find a few pictures that reflect experiences that you have helped me enjoy; experiences that have influenced my growth as a person, even as they may have been fuelling stories of my disappearance! In 2002 Bill and I flew to Australia for an embroidery seminar; guess which picture is from Australia! Last year, I was lucky enough to be able to meet many of you during a visit to Holland; look for the photo with the background signs in Dutch. There is also one of Bill and myself meeting a future Iditarod champ in Denali, Alaska, this past September. Everywhere I went, I have considered myself an ambassador not only for embroidery but for the idea that a little creativity and a few of the right tools can make a real difference in someone's day, and maybe even in someone's life.

The last project I've posted for this year speaks to that sentiment. As you enjoy time with your loved ones and count your blessings, I hope you'll take a moment to have a look at this story of how some very charitable souls are using their creative talents to make a real difference in the world. You can view the project and the story behind it by clicking here.

It is with a full and grateful heart, then, that Bill and I wish all of you, who created AnnTheGran and have kept her going for so many years, the most wonderful (belated) Hanukkah, the merriest Christmas, the most fulfilling Kwanzaa, the happiest of holidays and a healthy and prosperous 2008. I can't wait to see what new adventures the coming year will bring.