AnnTheBlogger : community circle

Random Thoughts and Mindless Miscellany

AnnTheGran — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Ways to save!

I’m not unaware of or unaffected by the present state of the economy and I know that this isn’t the time to be asking you to spend money on non-essentials. On the other hand, when times are difficult it’s more important to connect with friends and take time out for ourselves. In order to help you do that we’ve come up with a couple of ways to save on the registration fee for the upcoming AnnTheGran Community Circle.

Bring 3 and you come free! Yup, just round up 3 friends and you can come for free, or get together with three friends and divide the saving among the four of you.
Oh, you came to the Community Circle last year? That makes you an alumna (or alumnus!) and you qualify for the $60 alumni discount.

Now there is a downside: you mayn’t combine discounts. Choose the one that’s best for you. If you're unsure about how to take advantage of either of these discounts, contact support@annthegran.com and put "Community Circle Registration" in the subject line.

Now about digi-scrappery . . .
I’ve enjoyed seeing a few of you getting into digital scrapbooking and visiting my "other home" at Gotta Pixel. Stacy has been writing some really terrific tutorials to help you get started. I have several graphics programs: Photoshop, Elements, Paint Shop Pro and others that I use with photographs, preparing graphics for embroidery digitizing, web site design, etc., but for scrapbook layouts I use a simple program called FotoFusion. All of the layouts in my Gotta Pixel gallery (I'm ScrappyStitcher" there) and FotoScraps gallery (and I'm PurpleCow there) were created with FotoFusion. Recently I spent a few days in Atlanta helping a few embroidery friends get into digital scrapbooking with that program. Now these are women who have worked with computers and graphics for embroidery and web site design for years and who have several of the graphics programs I have, so they’re all very bright and no slouches in the art department. Yet, they needed a little help getting started. Believe me when I say a “little” help. Once I got them started they just took off. Anyway, that got me to thinking that maybe there are some of you who would like to get into digital scrapbooking but you’re a little intimidated by the software and might feel more comfortable with a simple scrapbooking specific program than with a complicated graphics program. FotoFusion is a simple program to use and the learning curve is nearly flat. You can download and use the program for as long as you like before purchasing. The only difference between the trial version and the registered version is that you can’t save your layouts in the trial version. There’s a video demo on the web site and a really friendly and helpful support group on Yahoo. Stacy wrote a tutorial on using quick pages on her blog a couple of months ago and I thought you might enjoy a mirror tutorial for the same thing done with FotoFusion. I’ve created one in PDF format so you can download and print it. Just click here if you’re interested. Oh, BTW, there was an acronym that we used in my first machine embroidery group when we recommended something: NAYY, which stood for No Affiliation Yadda Yadda. I have no affiliation with FotoFusion other than being a happy customer. NAYY

Points I’ve been pondering

All of my life until the past few years the term “off the wall” meant wild, wacky, unconventional, etc. and the term “off the hook” meant freed from danger, obligation or blame. A few years ago I began hearing people say “off the hook” when they obviously meant to say “off the wall,” i.e. “That party was really off the hook.” At first I thought these were misguided errors. Lately, however, I’m hearing people all over the place saying “off the hook,“ meaning wild, wacky, unconventional, etc. I’m not resistant to change, so my question is: now that we’re apparently saying “off the hook” instead of “off the wall,” what are we saying when we want to say what “off the hook” used to mean, freed from danger, obligation or blame and, just as important, do we say “off the wall” anymore?

I’ve been watching a series about the British monarchy on PBS. So far I’ve watched episodes about the queen’s visit to the United States, the queen’s birthday and, today, about the opening of parliament and the queen’s visit to Estonia. That last episode was of particular interest to me because Bill and I will be visiting both London and Tallinn, Estonia, in the spring. Anyway, I’ve noticed that wherever the queen goes she’s carrying a purse. Being a person who never carries a purse if what she needs to carry will fit in a pocket or tucked in a sleeve, I couldn’t help but wonder what in the world the queen of England could possibly be carrying in that purse. Finally, this morning, I Googled “what does queen elizabeth carry in her purse.” I’ve found that Google is surprisingly responsive to very specific questions like that and I was not disappointed this time. I was whisked to a web site that answered that question for me. So now I know. And if you want to know, too, you can visit the site.

The acronyms “ATM” and “PIN” have become such common parts of the ordinary conversations in our daily lives that I’m thinking that either people have forgotten what those acronyms stand for or, perhaps, never knew in the first place. As all of you who are reading this know, ATM stands for Automated Teller Machine and PIN stands for Personal Identification Number so people who say “ATM machine” or “PIN number” are actually saying “automated teller machine machine” and ” personal identification number number.” Just saying . . .

Well, this one isn’t something I think about very much but here it is anyway. Here in Orlando Who Wants to Be a Millionaire comes on right after Good Morning America so sometimes I get hooked into watching it. Then a contestant will miss as question like “People buy a surge protector for protection from unexpected surges in electric current, water flow, air pressure or buyer's remorse” and the contestant answers, “water pressure.” That’s when I slap my forehead, roll my eyes and decide it’s time to get to work. Want to bet he calls an ATM an ATM machine? Big sigh . . . .

Yeah, I know, I spend WAY too much time in my own head . . .

Speaking of acronyms, as I seem to be doing today, and that first machine embroidery group, one day I was reading the digest and I saw someone referring to my web site as ATG, as in “ I found the design I was looking for on ATG.” At first I didn’t even realize that the person was referring to me and then, when I did, I said to myself, “Wow! I’m an acronym! Who knew?” And with that I leave you for this week. Take care of each other until next time. TTYL

What is all this stuff and how did it get into my house?

AnnTheGran — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:40:00 GMT

We’re trying to pare down here at the old homestead. I have no idea where all this stuff came from but it’s gotta go! Okay, I know where it came from . . . . Live in the same house for 47 years and stuff piles up. Plus, Bill has a habit that I’ve heard that a lot of men have: Something is broken, like a toaster oven. It costs more to fix it than to buy a new one, so we buy a new one. I put the old one out for trash pickup. Some time later I notice that the broken item is sitting on a shelf or on a pile of boxes in the garage. I ask Bill why he took it out of the trash. You all already know the answer: I might need it for parts. Well, the mortuary for broken small appliances is going to be sitting on the curb this Thursday, our weekly large item haul away day. Usually we put large items out on Wednesday night and they’re often gone by Thursday morning. Someone else’s husband has taken then home “for parts” I imagine.

Anyway, all that was by way of saying that I did two things this week for the first time and I may be hooked. First, Bill and I went to IKEA looking for a television stand so we can bring the television in the garage into the house, where it will replace the smaller one in the living room that will replace the even smaller one in the den that will replace the really little one in the bedroom which will hopefully go at an upcoming garage sale. Oh, I could do a lot of damage at IKEA and probably will once the economy turns around. How could I have waited so long to enter those hallowed blue and yellow doors?

The second thing I did for the first time was to look at and then buy something from craigslist. I wanted a normal size roll top desk to replace the door slung across two filing cabinets that has been Bill’s desk and refuge these many years. He doesn’t need that much space to pay a few bills and keep our financial records on a yellow legal pad. (I know; I know. Bill just refuses to be pulled into the 21st century.) But, because he has so much space, including all that space under the “desk” he’s managed to fill it up. We’re trying to pare down, remember? When my mother moved from her house to a retirement apartment in Tallahassee she would have gladly given us her roll top desk, but it was too wide for the space we have. I needed a desk 48” wide or less. Standard roll top desks are 53”. I looked online and 48” roll top desks are readily available, costing upwards of $1,000. Not gonna happen. Then I remembered that our DD has been selling things on craigslist so I took a look. Sure enough, there were several roll top desks, including one that came with a matching wood chair for $200. Bill and I drove over to take a look at it, paid for it and arranged for our DS to pick it up with his trailer. I’m not looking for anything else to buy on Craig’s List, but I have a whole lot of that I can be selling there, such as the entertainment center that the new IKEA television stand will be replacing.

I have no idea whether or not any of that was interesting to any of y’all, but it comprised the highlights of my week, which tells you a lot more about me than I should probably be telling you. The highlight of the last week in March will be our 2nd Annual Community Circle here in Orlando and I can hardly wait for that. We had SO much fun last year and this year will be more than twice as good. More about that coming up.

Also in March we will all be celebrating my mother’s 90th birthday. The family is more scattered now than it was on her 80th, and with the economy the way it is, not all her grandchildren (6) and great grandchildren (10) will be able to celebrate with her.

Talking about my mother brings to mind a project that I made for her several years ago. I had a long sleeved denim shirt that I wanted to embroider for her. I could have simply stitched something about the pocket and that was my original plan. But after I chose the design I saw some other possibilities. I began with SS0030.PES from Brother Pacesetter’s Fancy Pockets Collection. I used PE-Design for my editing and the first thing I did was to delete the entire scarecrow. I then mirrored that design and saved it. Next, I deleted everything except the three whole sunflowers, saving that file and continuing to delete the sunflowers one at a time, saving as I went along, until I had three files, one with three sunflowers, one with two and one with only one sunflower. I did need to use the Point Edit tool to fill out some of the petals on the one and two sunflower designs. I opened the second file I had created, the one without the scarecrow, and deleted everything except the one crow partially covering a sunflower and the sunflower he’s covering. I now had all the designs I needed to complete my project: two different sunflower fences for the left and right chest, two sunflowers for one collar tip, one sunflower for the other collar tip, three sunflowers for the pocket (which I partially removed before embroidering so I could hoop it, and then stitched back down) and a crow and sunflower for one cuff.

While the machine was busily stitching, I could already see ways in which I could have improved upon the designs. I decided to create the additional designs I would want if I should ever make this project again. I opened my second file, the one with the missing scarecrow, and added bhflorel.PES from the Cactus Punch Birdhouses collection. I chose that birdhouse because it had the shape of a barn, but I did have to change the colors. I placed the birdhouse in the blank space created by deleting the scarecrow and drew in the post for the birdhouse to sit on. I drew the post in 3 sections so that it would look to be sitting in back of the fence. Wanting yet another variation of the fence with sunflowers, I added the design of two sunflowers to the fence with the scarecrow removed. It seemed to want another crow, so I opened the file with the crow and the sunflower, deleted the sunflower, and saved just the crow as a separate file. I added that crow to the design.

Since I was in for a dime, I figured I might as well be in for a dollar and saved a file of only the fence and another of that fence with a row of crows sitting along it. Now I was ready for the next time, with lots of varied designs on the same theme. I very often say that not everyone needs to be a digitizer, and I firmly believe that. In fact, if the number of designs selling for reasonable prices that are available today were available when I began machine embroidery, I would probably never have begun digitizing at all. But that doesn’t mean that everyone doesn’t need some kind of digitizing software for editing designs. I’ve used PE-Design from the beginning, and now there’s a PE-Design Lite. There’s lots of other software out there, and I’ve used several programs, but PE-Design remains my favorite.

I guess that’s all for now. I’ve got to get on with sorting and organizing and getting rid of stuff, a good thing to do on a very cold day. Look after one another

‘til next time,
Ann (AnnTheGran) Cobb

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

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

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

Orlando Itinerary, Handsome Men & New Project

AnnTheGran — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:42:00 GMT

So Much To Share!

I have so much to share with you this week that I hardly know where to begin. Like many of you (but not all of you ), I love our new site, especially the way it lets people in our community talk to each other. Free designs are great, and I know that's why many of you still come to my site, but we have so many more ways to share now than just designs. Spend a few minutes in the Community section of the site (Blogs, Forums, Galleries) and see how much you can do.

Orlando Itinerary

First of all, I'm pleased to announce that we have our itinerary finalized for my first annual Community Circle in Orlando. If you haven't registered yet, it’s not too late to get in on the fun -- if you register before March 14th you will be entered into a drawing (and yes, if you have already registered you have been entered) to have a cozy little lunch with me during the event! Of course, I'd like to have lunch with all of you, but there's only so much (too much ) of me to go around! Anyway, Eileen Roche and I are ready to take you on a creative journey into the world of embroidery. We’re excited to be able to show you our favorite techniques for creating great embroidery and give you lots of insider tips to inspire your creativity. Whether you are just beginning or have been doing embroidery for years you’ll go home with lots of new ideas for expressing your creative side through your embroidery. For lots more laughs plan on attending the special dinner presentation too. There will be door prizes and a great goody bag valued at over $250. It’s my event of the year and we’re sure to have a blast!

My Beamish Boy

I really appreciate everyone's comments on my new site, and yes I do know that I can't just expect you to start using it without giving you some idea how! With that in mind, I would like to introduce all of you to my "beamish boy" (he hates when I call him that, so feel free to call him that in Orlando ), the young fellow (yes, Greg, 41 is still young!) who is a big part of making all the neat stuff on my new site happen. His actual name is Greg, and I've asked him to give you a tour of my new site over the next little while, and show you how to get the most of it. Want to know how to upload free stuff of your own or find lots more free stuff? He's your boy. Trying to find some advice on a new technique, or looking for something you saw on tv and desperately want to make? He'll tell you how to find what you're looking for. He's funny, he writes well, and I know you're going to love him! In his first post, he'll teach you everything you need to know about blogs. If you like his post, make sure you tell him (and use the nickname!).

Guest Bloggers

Speaking of handsome men, I'm really excited as well that we've lined up our first guest blogger for the new site. What is a guest blogger, you may ask? Well, Greg tells you all about it in his post, but basically it's someone in the industry who knows what s/he is doing, who is going to share all that expertise with the AnnTheGran community. Think of us as a kind of online magazine. Our first guest blogger is Ken Parsons, who is going to drop by from time to time and give us some little snippets of projects ideas that he has created with his software and designs. We've got five other guest bloggers lined up, all of whom will post regularly and share their knowledge and ideas with you. Doesn't that sound like fun?

New Project - Sheepdog Wall Hanging

We have a lovely wall hanging project, submitted by AnnTheGran user Barbara Schleter, that I think is also a great gift idea, especially for the dog lover in your life! Heartfelt expressions such as this are sure to be cherished by those who recieve the gifts. Remember that I love receiving your projects and posting them, so if you've got something that you'd like to show off to our community, send it to me at wow-you-made-that@annthegran.com.

Share the Magic!

In closing, I want to send out a special thank you to all of you who have sent feedback and suggestions on my new site. Way back when we started thinking about how we would re-build it, I thought it was very important that we have a structure that would come as close as possible to the magical atmosphere of a bunch of creative people gathering at a sewing retreat sharing ideas and inspiration. My beamish boy calls his blog the "Magic Bookshelf" for a good reason; we've had a few bumps in the road with the new site, but the general feeling among all of you seems to be that we're on the right track to re-creating that magical atmosphere of the sewing retreat online. The magic comes from you, our users and my friends, so I hope you'll continue to contribute, encourage, criticize (constructively!) and share so that the site grows to show just how much magic there is out there.

Talk to you soon!

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

Embroidered Hot Cup Wraps

atgadmin — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:59:00 GMT

I know you are all waiting patiently (or if you’re like me maybe not so patiently) for more on the great time with at the AnnTheGran Community Circle 2008 in Orlando. We’re ironing out the final details so please just hold on a few more days. Some of you have been asking about the hotel; I can't give that information out until we get everything finalized, or the hotel will have a deluge of calls they don't know how to handle. Also, I've had a fair few gents tear a strip off me for addressing all my correspondence to the "gals". A recent survey showed that 97% of our site's users are women (does that mean I can tell my husband I'm right 97% of the time?), but for all you fellas out there who make up the other 3%, I stand corrected! Old habits die as hard as old broads.

In the meantime, while you wait in anticipation, we had so many requests for Diane’s hot cup wraps from last week's promotion that we decided we should share her secrets with you all. Fun gifts that are easy to make and can be given for no reason at all are always popular. Aside from being cute, this wrap is reusable so it is helpful to the environment. Whether you make just two or a whole bunch, you’re sure to get a giggle from each and every recipient.

Diane's Description
I was trying to think of a fun little gift for the girls in my morning study class when one morning a couple of them walked in grumbling that the local coffee store was out of jackets and their cups were too hot to handle. In the same class they got their cups mixed up and didn’t know which was which. That gave me the idea for these personalized wraps.

Step-by-step Description
1. You’ll need:
a. A 6”X12” rectangle of fashion fabric for the front.
b. A 6”X12” rectangle of fashion fabric for the lining.
c. A 6”X12” rectangle of leftover batting (Hobbs warm and natural type works best)
d. An alphabet, font software or embroidery design of your choice. One collection that is absolutely fabulous for this project is the Mornings collection, from Amazing Designs.
e. Matching embroidery thread.
f. Tear away stabilizer
g. One paper coffee jacket
2. Carefully cut the coffee jacket down one seam. Fold in half. Fold all three rectangles in half so they are 6”X6” and place you pattern on top so the folded edge of the jacket is lined up with the folded edge of the fabrics.
3. Trace adding ¼” on the 3 sides (not on the folded edge). Cut one wrap piece each from front fabric, lining fabric and batting.
4. Using whatever method you like center your design or text on the front wrap piece. Hoop fabric with the stabilizer and embroidery the design. Remove the stabilizer.
5. Baste the batting to the wrong side of the lining. With scissors trim the batting close to the stitching line.
6. Pin front and lining right sides together. Using ¼” seam stitch along both long sides and one short side. With pinking sheers or a rotary cutter and pinking blade, pink close to the seam.
7. Turn the wrap right side out and press.
8. Fold the raw ends of the open side in ¼” and edge-stitch along the fold.
9. Fold in half with right sides together. Align the ends and stitch a ¼” seam. Press this seam open. Top-stitch ¼” in along top and bottom catching the opened seam at the top and bottom. (You can edge-stitch or tack the open back seam down if you like – I did not.)
Note: Add some trim to the bottom if you like for even more giggles from your friends.

What makes this project special?
It’s fun to gift small gifts that are easy to make and provide laughs as this one did when I took a special one for each member of the group.

Skill Level
Beginner

Products
My embroidery machine
AnnTheGran Alphabet Xpress
AnnTheGran tear-away stabilizer
embroidery threads
fabric

Time Investment
About 4 hours once all the supplies were gathered. (But I made more than one.)

Why I love this project so much
It was different and useful and gave the girls something to giggle about. My 3- year old granddaughter had to have one too - with her name on it – and she doesn’t even like hot drinks.

Send Us Your Creations
Do you have any creations that go with a great story? If so, we'd love to hear about them, and see them! If we choose to post your project, you'll get a free $25 gift certificate to use in the AnnTheGran.com online store. Click here for details on how to submit your creation.

What Would You Do?
This is a great way to make a quick, personalized gift. Share some of your favorite sayings and quotes or a project idea that gave you the giggles, by clicking on the Comments link to share your story.

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

I'm Having a Party, and You're Invited!

atgadmin — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:23:00 GMT

Let's face it, gals, it's been far too long sinced I've rubbed elbows and shared stories with most of you. So, I've resolved this year to put myself back into circulation, at least a bit and, unlike most of my New Year's resolutions, this is one I intend to keep!

To celebrate the launch of my new web site in February, I've decided it's high time for some festivities! To that end, you are therefore cordially invited, on April 3rd and 4th, to join me and my gal pals here in sunny Orlando for the first annual AnnTheGran Community Circle.

We're still putting together all the details, but here are a few of the things you can expect:

classes, seminars, workshops and general learning opportunities with me (of course) and some of our favorite vendors whose stuff we sell on our site
a couple of scrumptious banquets hosted by none other than yours truly
goodie bags stuffed to the brim with all kinds of stuff from AnnTheGran.com
a great time!

Best of all, it's going to be cheap, cheap, cheap; hotel rooms, great eats, and tons of tips and techniques for less than you'd shell out in one post-holiday trip to the mall.

What I need from you to help me finish off the preparations is your answer to a couple questions. If you think you might like to come, please send your responses to the following e-mail address (don't worry, we're not going to put you on any lists or anything -- you don't even have to give your name -- this is strictly for me to give you the best possible event):

wow-you-made-that@annthegran.com

Here are the questions:

If you came, would you want to bring your machine?
If you came from outside the area, would you rather stay at the hotel for one night or two?
In which type of classes/seminars would you be most interested?

So there you have it; come as you are, drag hubby, the kids or grandkids with you (it is Orlando, after all), bring your budgie if you have to, but mark that first week of April on your calendar and do whatever you have to do to join us. You will not be disappointed!

And please keep sending me your projects! If you don't know how, click here.

Hope to see you in Orlando in April!

Ann