What's your preference? Do you like to use pre-wound bobbins, or do you prefer to wind your own? Perhaps you do a little of both. There's nothing wrong with doing it either way.

Whether to wind your own bobbins or not is a personal choice. Some embroiderers fancy the idea of winding their own bobbins for various reasons. Some don't have the time or simply couldn't be bothered. If you do prefer to wind your own bobbins, would it surprise you if I told you winding your own bobbins can actually cost more?

Everyone likes to save money, but if you wind your own bobbins for the sake of economy you may be doing it for all the wrong reasons. To see what I'm talking about, take a look at a comparison I did recently that explores the per bobbin costs between pre-wound and self-wound bobbins.

Read the comparison here.

Many of you that are new to the world of machine embroidery find yourselves totally confused about software. What do you really need and is it within your budget? Can you enjoy your new hobby without having to shell out additional cash for special software?

Quite possibly when you purchased your machine the dealer spent a considerable amount of time explaining the virtues of their particular brand of software. It may be great software, but they often have a way of making it sound as though only their software is compatible with your new embroidery machine. Their software normally comes with a high price tag as well.

So, how much of that sales hype is really true? To be honest, quite possibly none of it is true. Dealers are in the business of making money. The more they can sell you the more money they make. There is nothing wrong with that since making money is the only way to stay in business, but at this point you have some difficult decisions to make. It would be prudent to obtain a few unbiased opinions before you make those decisions.

The truth is you do not have to purchase the software being offered by your dealer in most cases. With only a few exceptions, any embroidery software on the market is compatible with your machine. Bernina is one of those exceptions. Bernina is still clinging to their highly guarded proprietary design format. No software on the market, except for Bernina Artista software, is 100% compatible with the ART format.

For the rest of us, viewing and editing designs can be done in programs like Embird or Buzz Tools. Both of these programs, as well as other third party packages, are fully compatible with nearly every home machine on the market. They are capable of working with many different machine formats.

The same is true with digitizing software. All digitizing software programs have the ability to save designs in a large number of different machine formats. You have many choices, so take a look at several. Compare their features and eventually you will find one that works well for you.

Consider too what training is available on the product you are considering. If your dealer does not offer classes, you might want to check online to see what tutorials are available before making your final decision.

If all you wish to do is purchase a few designs and sew them out on your new machine, you may not need any additional software at all. The only thing you will need is a method for transferring the designs from your computer to your machine. Windows Explorer can do that for you. It can copy designs to a flash drive or compact flash card with ease. If you purchase pre-loaded design cards from your dealer, they will plug directly into your machine and you won't even need a computer.

Determine exactly what you want to do with your embroidery hobby and then explore the software options that are available. You do not have to purchase software being offered by your dealer to fully enjoy your new machine. Ask for help if you need it. Don't be in any rush to spend your money.

A brand new set of Penguins At Play. Everyone loves penguins and these are just adorable. For a limited time you can save $5.00 off the regular retail price.

Meet the penguins here...

Here's a question submitted to Ask Mary! from an embroiderer seeking help with software for resizing designs.

Question:  I do not feel that I am ready for the Embird program at this time. I was wonderung if it is possible to get a program that would allow me to re-size a design without all the other stuff that I am not ready to use so early in my experience. My machine will decrease just 10% and I need a little more than that.

Answer:  To my knowledge, there is no program that only resizes designs. They all include many other editing features that you may or may not want to use.

Embird is a very powerful and comprehensive program and it really is the best value for the money. I would recommend it over all others. If you only want to use it for resizing, there is no need to learn all the other features until you feel you are ready.

To be honest, resizing designs isn't as straight forward as you might think. It isn't a matter of just pushing a button and the design gets larger or smaller. There are many other factors that must be considered when altering any design. Stitch density is one of those factors. Without properly adjusting the density, your resized design may turn out to be a real mess.

My recommendation would be to go with Embird. Concentrate on learning only the parts you want to use now. The rest can come later. If you need help learning Embird, we have several comprehensive video tutorial CDs that will guide you every step of the way. In fact, there are lesson that cover resizing designs and an in depth look at density.

Taking things one step at a time is the way to go. Don't let it overwhelm you.

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to create or edit an embroidery design only to have that pesky little hourglass spin endlessly on your screen. One thing that contributes to this is a bogged down computer. A computer that is loaded with junk that you don't want, need or even know exists.

Last time I wrote about Registry First-Aid, a great little program that will help you keep your registry file clean, but that's only the beginning. To keep you computer in tip-top shape there are others things that you want to do as well.

The first thing you should do is run a complete virus scan on a regular basis. Viruses can cause many problems and it pays to detect them early. If you don't have an anti-virus program installed on your computer, you should. Set it to scan your incoming email as well as other files you download or install over the internet.

It's also important to keep your virus defintion file up to date. New viruses are created all the time. If your virus defintion file is out of date your anti-virus software can't detect the newer strains. Most good anti-virus software companies provide updated virus definintion files regularly. In most cases you can set your anti-virus software to do this automatically.

Another important maintenance task is running a good Spyware checker on a regular basis. If you download and install programs from the internet they often contain pesky Spyware programs that are installed on your system without your knowledge. This is another potential source for problems that can really bog down your computer.

One Spyware detection program that I highly recommend is Ad-Aware from Lavasoft. I have been running this software on my system for several years and it does a pretty darn good job. As with your anti-virus software, new Spyware definition files are issued regularly to keep the software up to date.

There are two very important things to remember. Nothing insures you will always be 100% safe from viruses and spyware. The programs I have mentioned help keep you safe, but there is always the possibility something will slip through the cracks. The second thing is remembering to run the software. If you don't do it on a regular basis, you might as well not have it at all. Establish a schedule and stick to it!

Designed to get you in & out of the kitchen fast and back to your embroidery machine.

Recipe Name:  Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cooking Time: 2 minutes

Serves: 24 pcs

Ingredients:
1 Can Vanilla Frosting **
1 16/18oz Jar of Peanut Butter (Creamy or Crunchy your choice)

Directions: Fold ingredients together in microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and stir until well blended. Return to microwave and cook 1 minute. Remove and stir until smooth. Transfer to a 8X8 container, refridgerate until hard. Cut and serve.

Tips: This sounds to good to be true but it is a hit with my family and friends.

** Can substitute Milk Chocolate Frosting.

Submitted by: Irene S.

For users of the Towa Bobbin Case Tension Gauge, there has been a minor change to the measurement scale used on the gauge. This has caused some confusion among new owners that are unaware of this change.

If you own one of these gauges, or plan to purchase one soon, click the link below for more detailed information.

Towa Bobbin Case Tension Gauge Update

Our thanks to TL Hamby for submitting this helpful embroidery tip:

Have trouble stitching the sections of free standing lace bowls together? Here's an easy fix. When trimming the pieces leave about 1/2" on every other piece. Use Elmer's Glue to glue the pieces together (it is water soluable). Stitch and wash out. Everything is where it is supposed to be.

Want to win FREE designs? Submit your tip or trick to us. If we publish your tip you will win your choice of any downloadable design or design set from our online catalog.

• Creative Sewing, Quilting & Embroidery Expo - January 17-19 San Antonio, TX
• Imprinted Sportswear Show (ISS) - January 18-20 Long Beach, CA
• Imprinted Sportswear Show (ISS) - February 8-10 Orlando, FL
• The Original Creative Festival - February 15-17 San Mateo, CA
• Original Sewing & Quilting Expo - February 21-23 Tampa, FL
• Sewing & Stitchery Expo - Februrary 28 - March 2 Puyallup, WA

Are you still looking for an alternative for preventing your thread from unraveling during storage? Here's one product that really works and it's a snap to use.

Hugo's Amazing Tape is a product that we use when storing our spools of thread on the rack. The tape sticks to itself and is easily removed when you once again need to use the spool of thread. Simply cut off a length long enough to wrap around your spool a time or two and you're done. No muss, no fuss. The tape can be used over and over again. It doesn't wear out.

The tape has many other uses and is reasonably priced. It comes on 50 foot rolls in various widths and colors. Our preference is the clear as it allows the thread color to show through. You can visit Hugo's Amazing Tape web site if you'd like to learn more.

Two (2) lucky winners in every isssue!

Today's lucky winners are:

If your email address is shown above, you have won a complete set of our extremely popular Retro Restaurant Advertising design set. Please contact us by email within 5 days to claim your prize. Be sure to let us know what format you need so we can get the designs on their way to you.

Others interested in this very popular set can see it here. Be sure to visit our customer showcase while you're there. See some of the creative ways other embroiderers have found to use this set.

Two "Happy Chicks" that are a preview of a brand new set we currently have underway.

Please enjoy them with our compliments.

For the 4 x 4 hoop

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