The Bobbin Buzz & Stitchin' Bits

A WOMAN almost died after becoming stuck in the tiny slot of a recycling bin. The woman had apparently dropped off some clothes and then changed her mind and tried to get them back. But despite being slightly built, she became trapped in the slot with only her feet showing.

Another recycler spotted her plight and raised the alarm when he couldn't drag her back out. The 35-year-old was going in and out of consciousness. Firefighters said yesterday she was lucky to have survived her ordeal in the car park of an Asda store in Sittingbourne, Kent.

Watch manager Mark Innes said: "We were originally told it was a child stuck in the bin but when we got there, we discovered it was a fully grown woman. "Apparently she had put something in the bin that she hadn't meant to and when she went to retrieve it, she fell in.

"It was a very strange job." Mark added: "Asda was closed at the time, so she was only saved thanks to someone else turning up."

This story is TRUE! Here's a link to the newspaper's website in UK!

"With you and Holly becoming RVers what's going to happen to Mary and shipping, etc. I'm not worrying, just wondering. I wish you both the best as you travel this wonderful country visiting with the people who make machine embroidery and quilting and all the other handcrafts so much fun! I know we'll be seeing designs with the flavor of the locales you visit and I'm truly excited!"

I answered the email but thought our readers may like to know the same thing...

About a year and a half ago our employees (we had two at the time beside Holly and me) set up workspaces in their own homes. Both were expecting for the first time (must have been the water at our house) and we wanted them to be able to work from home while raising their children and not to have to commute to anywhere.

Since then we have added a several more people part-time that also work from their own homes. They warehouse our videos and handle the shipping for us, and do our test-sewing, help people with changing email address, file corporate papers, and we even have one that's working part-time on a secret project that will be a new concept in the embroidery industry when we are ready to release it several months from now.

Holly and I work wherever we are located, either in our house, in our motorhome or in a hotel room or even while visiting friends. We've been traveling in the motorhome for almost two years now for as much as 5 months at one time and always able to work. So going fulltime shouldn't affect anything for us except that we will have more opportunities to visit people around the country. We are hoping to work with various educators as we travel and create videos with them like we just did with Dawn. It should open up some new doors for people in the embroidery and make it possible for you to see educators that you'd otherwise never be able to see in person.

Thanks for asking about this and for the well-wishes! We do spend time smelling the flowers along the way. While we spend many long hours working on ATW, we also have the ability to stop at any time and take a mental health break. We usually take a couple nice walks together every day with the girls and enjoy every day. We also get to know people in the campgrounds and get to visit with our club members wherever we are. We've enjoyed this so much that we just want to do more of it now while we are still young enough.

From our "Computer Help Forum" on ATW...

Has anyone used the Back Up Utility in XP? Hi all, I am about to install a new hard drive, my old one is old and I need more space. I haven't done a clone copy since Windows 98 - so I'm wondering if the Back Up Utility will work to make a clone of my drive and be able to put on the new drive? Or am I better off installing a fresh install of windows? *ugh* Thanks, -- Cindy

Hi Cindy -

I have used the backup utility built into Windows many times BUT I've never tried to use it to move to a new hard drive. For that, I would suggest you try something like Aloha Bob.

1) Make a backup of your hard drive on a separate external hard drive. BE SURE all your data gets moved over properly.

2) Follow Kim's instructions here...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/2005-01-03-komando_x.htm

I've used Aloha Bob's software before and found it to work pretty well. The data moves fine but don't be surprised if you have to reinstall some of your programs.

Thanks Cindy for the question! This question was from our Computer Help Forum where you'll always find a helping hand with your computer and software questions.

We also offer a VIDEO on CD that plays in your computer and shows you Basic Computer Skills For Embroidery...

We left the Chicago area on Wednesday morning...

... and are heading South for the Indiana Embroidery Conference. We've stopped in Springfield Illinois for a couple days to visit with my sisters Susan and Maggie and to take some photos of intersting things in Springfield. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning to arrive on the shores of Lake Barkley (Kentucky) in the early afternoon. We plan to relax there a couple days and visit with some friends in the embroidery business in the Paducah area, then Holly will make the drive to Indiana for the IEC while I continue working by the lake.

Here's a website showing the place we'll be staying... http://www.eddycreek.com/rvpark.htm and one of the photos from the RV park...

I'll try to get some better pictures while we're there. That one looks pretty old! Anyway -- hopefully the park will be nice and quiet where I can finish up some projects I've had in the fire for a while.

Here in Springfield there a rodeo going on so most of the hotels and RV parks are pretty well packed. It's the National High School Rodeo Finals so there's lots of teenagers here at the park. They're having fun and it's great to see kids involved in sports and fun like the ones I've seen around here the last couple days.

-- Larry

Native-Butterfies Embroidery Design Set

Set of 10 delicate butterflies. Artwork from Clipartopolis.

Someone asked on another website's forum recently... "Should I Join ArtisticThreadWorks?" Maybe you've wondered the same thing. Is it worth it? Here's what was said about ATW...

Read more here... in the SewForum

And then there are the comments from our members in our own forums...

Read more here... www.artisticthreadworks.com

Friend, I don't make this stuff up! It's really how people feel about ATW. Why not join and find out for yourself?

ArtisticThreadWorks is sponsoring two contests that anyone can enter!

Just tell us your best tips for machine embroidery or for computers and you're in the contest! Enter as many tips as you'd like! Each tip is another entry into the contest and you can enter as many times as you'd like.

We'll pick the best tips and announce the winners on September 1st 2007. Details and entry for both contests are here...

(From my mailbag...)

Hi. I'm new to machine embroidery and I have been downloading the free designs and I just adore this site. I decided to go ahead and get a subscription so I can support such a great site and get fantastic embroidery designs from. I am wondering the best way to save these files? Should I keep a zip folder and another for the open files? Keep under sections? Help appreciated.

Welcome! Glad you're here and I appreciate your support. :-)

Most people just download to their "my documents" area at first but soon realize that they can't find anything once they have a lot of designs. If you just download the designs from the ArtisticThreadWorks Design Library alone, you'll have over 13,000 designs to organize!

When faced with that many designs -- people start the quest for how to organize!

Here's a picture of ONE of this week's design sets...

Members of ATW can download all of this week's new designs, along with more than 13,000 other designs in the "Design Library"... Join Here!

Here's a couple other newsletters available this week...

http://www.cigarcityarts.com/newsletter/vol2iss16.html

http://www.nitasplace.com/public/757.cfm

That's got to be what Phillip Riley of Brooklyn New York is thinking today! I just smiled and shook my head over this one...

sam715 @ verizon.net has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim before noon tomorrow.

Help yourself to this weeks free design set "BigHead Critters". These are for everyone that is a subscriber to Bobbin-Buzz, our free weekly newsletter!

Have fun!

(This question was from our Computer Help Forum where you'll always find a helping hand with your computer and software questions.)

I had to put a new CD/DVD RW into my computer and the new one does wonderful on copying from disc to disc, but it takes over 2 and 1/2 hours to copy files from my computer to a disc. I was told that my drivers might not support the new CD/DVD RW drive. What are drivers and what do I need to do to fix the problem? Right now I can't back anything up from my computer and it is driving me crazy, I spent the whole day getting pictures off my computer when it should have only taken 20 minutes each CD. -- Faryn

Answers...

A driver controls the input and output data to a device.
Generally, a device that requires drivers will come with an installation CD of some type. If it didn't, you can go to their website, and download the drivers. There should be installation instructions as to where on your harddrive you need to install your drivers. -- Siobhan

Also, be careful which blank cds you buy, [the speed will be on the package] First number is the speed that it can be written. Like 52 x /700mb/80 min or 12 x/700mb/80 min or 24x/700 mb/80 min. As you can see the speeds are very different.

This answer may be too simple, but burning takes so much RAM that i re-start my p.c. before i begin burning and restart after it is finished. -- Mama_Duck

What is the brand name and model number on the new disk drive you bought? I've never seen this problem before -- never even heard of this happening so I would guess a couple of things...

1) You got a defective burner
2) The software you're using to burn is not recognizing the 48x in burner (Driver problem)

I would try checking with the drive mfr on known problems and also report back here on the make/model and I'll see if I can find others with the same issue and see how they resolved it.

One final solution would be to replace it with a different CD/RW drive! Can you exchange it where you bought the thing? -- Larry

Thanks Faryn for the question! This question was from our Computer Help Forum where you'll always find a helping hand with your computer and software questions.

We also offer a VIDEO on CD that plays in your computer and shows you Basic Computer Skills For Embroidery!

I picked this photo as a "weekly photo contest winner". Thanks for sharing with us Judy! You've won a 3 month extension on your membership for posting this photo!

Here's a bit of the story that goes with this photo...

"This is the dress for the big sister. Its made from the Martha Pullen A-line pattern. I added the pleated bottom and insert for her name."

Thanks to all of you who post photos regularly in the photo gallery. It's hard to pick a winner every week because there's so many great ones to choose from.

We release a 'Member Bonus Set' every month. IF you are a member DURING THE MONTH the set is released, you can download that set for FREE. Once the month is over, that month's 'Member Bonus Set' goes into 'OUR STORE' as a 'Premier Designs Set' and is available for purchase only.

ArtisticThreadWorks is sponsoring two contests that anyone can enter!

Just tell us your best tips for machine embroidery or for computers and you're in the contest! Enter as many tips as you'd like! Each tip is another entry into the contest and you can enter as many times as you'd like.

We'll pick the best tips and announce the winners on September 1st 2007. Details and entry for both contests are here...

As of this morning (8/3/2007) we have collected 746 Embroidery Tips and 321 Computer Tips!

Folks -- this is an EASY contest to enter and the prizes are incredible if I do say so myself! Don't miss this chance to enter several times! And here's a hint... the contest with the lowest number of entries gives you the best odds of winning!

(Now where was that book I had called "500 Computer Tips and Tricks"... :-)

Hi All. I am Francy. I'm new to machine embroidery and have a Brother SE-270D that I just love sewing on and doing embroidery! I have been downloading the free designs and I just adore this site. I decided to go ahead and get a subscription so I can support such a great site and get fantastic embroidery designs from. I am wondering the best way to save these files? Should I keep a zip folder and another for the open files? Keep under sections? Help appreciated.

Welcome Francy! Glad you're here and I appreciate your support. :-) Most people just download to their "my documents" area at first but soon realize that they can't find anything once they have a lot of designs. That's when...

From: Naomi...

"Hey you guys. Glad you are coming to visit in my neighborhood. I live only a few minutes away from Eddy Creek Marina. (in Eddyville.) My husband grew up on Eddy Creek. Hope you enjoy your visit. This is a beautiful area. It has really been hot and dry here this summer. Thanks for all of your designs. Have fun while you are here. I know Mandy and Bart, too. They are wonderful people." Naomi in Eddyville, Ky.

Hi Naomi -

Thanks for writing.

We ended up not staying at the Eddy Creek Marina and RV Resort. Their campsites were too difficult for us to access with our motorhome. There are two entrances there -- one winds up a very steep hill with a 180-degree turn that our coach is too long to make. The other has a metal gate across it that opens up wide enough for a standard pickup truck, but our coach is the size of a GreyHound Bus and would never fit through the gate.

Mandi said she thought we could get through the gate but I've had enough repair bills already for bodywork that I didn't even THINK about trying that one. The campgrounds and marina are beautiful and Mandi is very nice. We decided to head down the road a ways to the Calvert City KOA. It's actually outside Calvert City near Possum Trot and that's very convenient for our stay here.

The area is beautiful and the weather has been great. Holly's up in Indiana at the conference and will be "home" on today. I've been staying here with the girls and enjoying the quiet time and getting some work done. Less than a mile from the campground there is a DQ, a Waffle House, a Cracker Barrel and several other fine eatin' establishments so I'm in hog-heaven. (even though it's really Possum Trot!) -- Larry

PS: They spell it "Possum"... guess the "O" at the beginning was just too many letters to fit on the sign.

Here's one from my mailbox today...

"Hi there,

I received a rather inexpensive Brother Disney SE270D embroidery machine a few weeks age as a gift. I was excited about it at first, but after using some of the designs on the machine and subscribing, downloading and sewing designs from other sites, I quickly became disappointed. I thought,perhaps I just wasn't doing something right with the fabric preparation. After researching other sites, I decided to give yours a one month try. The very first design I sewed came out perfectly. I am excited again. Thanks for the beautiful designs." -- Tammy

Hi Tammy -

Glad you found our site. There is a lot more on the site that you'll find helpful too. One of the most common problems people have when starting out is in how they hoop their projects. We've got a short video on the site that shows how to get perfect hooping every time. Here's the page...
http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/members/1397.cfm

-- Larry

Our friend Ron Bynum in Tampa has released three videos now about Embird. These videos are VERY GOOD and do a great job of covering how to use Embirds editing features in depth.

You can see SIX PREVIEWS of his videos here... under the "Now Playing" marquis. Ron does a great job of making Embird's many features simple to use.

If you like the previews, imagine what you'll get in the full length videos! He offers the following...

Embird Techniques Vol 1 - The Basics - Covers all the basics of Embird. Take an in-depth look at Embird Manager. Learn how to change colors, work with thread palettes, transfer designs and more. Also includes some simple editing techniques.

Embird Techniques Vol 2 - Advanced Editing - Already know the basics? Volume 2 goes right to the heart of Embird. Take an in-depth look at Embird Editor and learn how to perform more complex editing tasks such as resizing and splitting designs.

Embird Goodies - "I didn't know you could do that in Embird." This special editon takes you beyond the techniques you learned in Volumes 1 & 2. This video CD is loaded with many little known functions in Embird you will find extremely useful.

Still not sure? See what some of his customers have said about his Embird videos!

This one is from the Main Forum on ATW...

"Does anyone with the 4000D run at full speed? Just wondering, as so far I usually set to 600 and I'm curious." -- RosieH

And some answers...

"I usually run it full out unless I am doing something dense like lace, then I slow it down. My repair technicain said that it should be fine running at full speed. It will speed up and slow down as the machine tells it that it needs to. Good Luck!" -- Holly

"I run my 4000D at all 3 speeds. It depends what I am embroidering. When I do lace I run it slow. If I know I have serveal minutes of one color I run it at 1000. If I am doing lettering I usually go with the 600. I guess it is what your comfortable with and experience."" -- Susan

"I run mine at full speed unless I am working on a questionable design or delicate like lace which I really don't do much and if I am actually sewing, I slow things down." -- Cari

"I used to run mine at full speed and then had some problems with the machine and since then have just run it at the slower speeds." -- Sikart

"I ran my full speed when I first got it and then had problems with the machine. My dealer told me to not run it so fast. I was thinking, then why did you use that as a selling point when I bought it. Don't take advice from me as I got a lemon and am not happy with the Innovis." -- Charlotte

The BIG QUESTION is WHY?

Take a look at the gray box in the article just below this one. You'll see one of the tips we've collected there. And if you come back to Bobbin-Buzz every day for the next 3 years, you'll see a new tip every time! Some will be embroidery tips and some will be computer tips, but all will be useful to you!

As of this morning (8/7/2007) we have collected 1,092 tips and we're still collecting them!

This is an EASY contest to enter and the prizes are incredible if I do say so myself! Don't miss this chance to enter several times! And here's a hint... the contest with the lowest number of entries gives you the best odds of winning! So far - the computer tips area is running really behind the embroidery tips area :-)

If there was a really good repair tech that you could ship your machine to for repairs, rather than taking it to your local repair shop, would you?

A repair tech we know from our travels around America is considering going solo with a repair-only business. I'm trying to find out how many people would use a service like that for repairs and/or maintenance.

I realize there are QUESTIONS that anyone would have before answering so I've tried to anticipate those questions here...

1) Shipping would obviously involved. A machine that weighs 30 pounds would normally cost about $30 to ship across the country, and $30 to ship back. That would add to the total cost of having a machine repaired. So if you have a repair tech right down the street that's good, you wouldn't use a service like this. On the other hand, if your nearest tech is 50 miles away, it costs you $12 in gas just to get the machine there, and another $12 to get it home again.

2) Packing is important when shipping a machine. If you still have the case that came with your machine, then you've got a good start on shipping it properly. You'd still want to box it and add packing materials.

3) Is the tech good? That's what I'd want to know! Yes! We've had him work on some of our machines and he's excellent.

4) Brands... BabyLock, Brother, Bernina, Viking.

So -- is this an idea whose time has come, or would it be like trying to sell door-knobs for pup-tents?

Today's Weekly Sampler has been released. The designs are shown below and are called "Little Kitties 1". They are a set of 5 and can be downloaded by anyone... both members and guests alike... for the next 6 days. After that, they'll be a part of the members-only design library that currently has more than 13,000 designs in it.

After several hundred comments about our "makeover" for Bobbin-Buzz the response is that 97% have said they LIKE the new look BETTER than the old. Over and over I keep seeing the words "fresh", "clean", "soft", and "easy to navigate".

Glad you like the new look as we continue to make the ArtisticThreadWorks websites your home for online embroidery designs and information. Here are a few quotes from the feedback so far...

The only negative comment I heard was that the font size was too small for older eyes. That was about 6% of the total which meant that the font size IS too small. So I've added the button on the top right that shows how you can enlarge the font size on your computer easily.

The 3% that liked the old look better included feedback from one person that thinks the new look is too "feminine" and another that liked seeing Holly and the girls at the top of the pages. I appreciate those comments just as much as the ones that liked the new look but I'd have to say that hitting a home run with 97% is amazing and I'll try not to muck it up too much with future changes and additions.

One other note I should add...

The main page that you see here contains all posts for the last 8 days. You will still be able to read older posts, just follow the links on the right-hand side. There you'll be able to click into older posts EITHER by choosing a TOPIC (such as "M.E. Tips" or "Travelog" etc.) or by clicking back into previous months. Right now the months only show "August 2007" but those will continue to grow as the months go by.

Our "Old" Bobbin-Buzz issues will continue to be on the ArtisticThreadWorks site and I'll add a link to the Bobbin-Buzz Archives 2001-2007 in the right-side column soon.

As you've probably noticed, Bobbin-Buzz now has its own website. There are several reasons for doing this and I'll share the main one with you here.

To end confusion. We get emails every day from our Bobbin-Buzz readers that say "I can't login to the site!" They're referring of course to the ArtisticThreadWorks website where Bobbin-Buzz has been hosted until now. Robin and I send back an email explaining that Bobbin-Buzz is our online newsletter that everyone is able to read for free, while ArtisticThreadWorks is our membership site that they can have full access to for a very reasonable subscription fee that works out to about $6.65 / month. (It's actually $19.95 every 3 months)

We feel that giving The Bobbin Buzz it's own website, we may be able to cut down on that confusion a bit. You'll still have access to Bobbin-Buzz through the ATW websites, it's just going to take you over to this location instead of pages within ATW.

As a side benefit, I'll be able to give Bobbin-Buzz it's own look and style. I hope you like it!

-- Larry

In case you're wondering about the tips...

They are all collected in our current contest for embroidery and computer tips. One tip will appear here at about 1am every day automatically. So far I've collected enough tips to do this for a little over 3 years!

If you look along the right-side menus of this site, you'll see a menu that looks like this...

Just click the one that says "TIps For M.E." and you'll see just the tips! The other categories work the same way. If you click the "Travelog" link for example, all you'll see is our travel adventures. Same way with the "Designs" category and so on. I hope you like this feature and enjoy the new look to Bobbin-Buzz. But don't forget that our main site is still ArtisticThreadWorks. Come on by for a visit!

I have a Bernina 200E and I would like to start using embroidery to start a business but I am not sure if this is the machine to do it with. Can you give me your recommendations?

The motors, bearings, and other mechanisms in a commercial machine are designed for long-term heavy use. Those in home machines are not. A home machine may have a lifetime of 10,000,000 stitches, or even 20,000,000 stitches. A busy embroidery shop sew out 2,000,000 stitches per month!

On top of that, you'll also have speed issues. The time required to sew out a design with 6 colors and 6,000 stitches usually would be about 10 minutes. Unless you have a single needle machine -- because you'd then have to babysit the machine, changing colors every time you need a new color. With a commercial machine, you load up the colors once and sew out the design while you go do something else.

Here's a video you would benefit greatly from BEFORE you make expensive mistakes...
http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/products/item523.cfm

Help yourself to this weeks free design set "Flower Girls". These are for everyone that is a subscriber to Bobbin-Buzz, our free weekly newsletter!

Have fun!

Holly and I left Kentucky on Monday morning heading back for Union Illinois. We stayed overnite in Mohamet Illinois then finished the drive to Union Ill on Tuesday. If there's a railroad buff in your family then you may have heard of Union Ill before! The Illinois Railway Museum is located here. There's also a really nice KOA and a great little restaurant called "Checkers II" that serves terrific stuffed green pepper soup.

We're still debating a trip to Knoxville TN for the Hands-On Sewing School in early September. And we'll winterize our RV by heading South at the end of September, starting with a trip to the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. Why the balloon fiesta? Take a look at the photos from previous fiestas and you can imagine what we'll be doing there with our cameras... and the designs that will come out of that trip!

Our house sale is scheduled to close on August 24th and at that time we'll be officially "homeless" or (as I like to think of it) "digital gypsies". Holly got an email a couple days ago from someone that said she couldn't believe we'd sell our house and live in a trailer. LOL! It's true... but it's not a bad place to be until we get tired of traveling!

One of our goals is to visit ALL the states that we can over the next couple years. And we'd love to meet you in person when we get there. If you haven't joined a local UnRavelers group yet, (or started one if there isn't one in your area) then please consider getting involved now. Getting together with the groups will be one of our main focuses while we're on the road.

Well, I'm writing this on Thursday night and I've got lots to do before tomorrow when this post goes out so I'm out of here for now! Thanks for reading Bobbin-Buzz!

Here's a post from Cathy Butkovich (cabmarshall) in the ATW main forum...

Okay Ladies... the gloves are off....Here we go...

ROUND ONE was the start of the charity quilts... we won that round... delievered 5 amazing internet quilts to the KIDS IN DISTRESS, last December2006,

ROUND TWO.. came this year when we started back up after a short month break for the holidays.... We have won that round also... we came back so strong, we knocked them out with 5 consecative months of Charity quilts... 14 completed and donated to the KIDS IN DISTRESS, 10 completed and donated to PROJECT LINUS, and 7 completed and donated to WOMENS SHELTERS. We ALSO acquired a photo gallery, a web page, and a discussion forum to post all our NEWS.. I call that a win!

ROUND THREE came in July with the Patriotic Quilts... I thought 20 quilts was being crazy, but went for it anyway... We KNOCKED THEM OUT WITH 60... these are not complete yet but they are humming along. We also have approx 30 some quilts in various stages of completion from the months March thru June. Some are complete but not donated yet. Not to mention the 9 or so from the month of August.

We decided as a group to get caught up on the quilts and our own projects... so the quilts will end for this year with the AUGUST blocks......

NOW HERES THE CHALLENGE.... Some of the ladies who regularly make embroidered blocks and the filler blocks have been sewing Christmas Charity Stocking also.... NOW we are in the ring for this years final round..... And we need every available pair of sewing hands... even if you are a beginning sewer.... any one with a machine can make a Christmas Stocking. We need 1000. Is that to much to ask? I dont think so! I thought 350 embroidered blocks was to much but all you came thru with over 900 embroidered and filler blocks... to be creating over 60 quilts....

I have patterns ready to mail in envelopes with stamps all I need is your address... Email me with your mailing address, get some material to make the stocking and go sew......
We have several places to send these stockings to, one is a group in IL that only need the stockings... they have the stuff to fill them with..these will be going to approx 1000 service men and women. The other is some Shelters and childrens facilities that need the stocking and the fillings... but you can just send $ to help buy what is needed to fill the stocking.

Debi H in California is heading this endevor... I am her biggest cheerleader...

Monica J in IL has the contacts with the group fro the service men.

Please help us reach our goal and WIN this entire round and a year of the greatest charity work I have ever been involved with. Remember... nothing ventured nothing gained.... if you dont at least try to sew a christmas stocking how do you know you cant!

So thats my challenge.... WE CAN DO IT!

Email me at Cabmarshall@yahoo.com or look for Debi's post earlier in the ATW forum.

LETS GO! -- Cathy B.

Note: Here's one of the quilts for the veteran's project...

In Janary of 2007 we went to Busch Gardens in Tampa FL for a photo outing. We use the photos as artwork for designs and we also find other things of interest for ATW when we visit places around the country. I'll share some of those "other things" in the Travelog section of Bobbin-Buzz as time goes on.

Busch Gardens offers an "Animal Adventure Tour" and Holly was keen to see what it was like. I went along with the idea but really had doubts that it would be anything worthwhile. Okay -- so I was wrong! :-)

There were about 15 of us in the tour and it starts with a ride in the back of a flat-bed truck into the animal habitat area. They've cleverly segregated the animals into compaitlbe species in each area and there are no lions or tigers in the area with giraffes, gnus, iboks, zebras and similar critters.

The first stop is in an area that the giraffes hang out. The giraffes know the routing and seeing the truck load of tourists to them is the same as a kid seeing the ice cream truck coming up the street. The giraffes come a'runnin for the truck!

As they're coming up, the tour guide is opening a cooler filled with lettuce and other treat and handing the food to the people standing on the truck bed. The giraffes stick their heads in among the people and are fed snacks by hand from the visitors. It's really COOL! Here's a photo I took of Holly with a couple of her new friends...

I'll show other photos from Busch Gardens but I have to say it's a blast and you really should take this tour if you go to Tampa. Children must be at least 5 years old to take this tour and be sure you have fresh batteries in your camera and enough space in your memory card. We like it so much that we went back a couple months later for a second and longer visit.

I picked this photo as a "weekly photo contest winner". Thanks for sharing with us Sandy! You've won a 3 month extension on your membership for posting this photo!

Here's a bit of the story that goes with this photo...

" made this for a close friend of mine. "Chick magnet" was a freebie from SewForum"

Thanks to all of you who post photos regularly in the photo gallery. It's hard to pick a winner every week because there's so many great ones to choose from.

Here's a picture of ONE of this week's design sets...

Members of ATW can download all of this week's new designs, along with more than 13,000 other designs in the "Design Library"... Join Here!

rpruby1113 @ aol.com has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim before noon tomorrow.

These amazing but true stories never cease to amaze me! My favorite for 2006 is the following...

(January 2002, Italy) A violent attack on an innocent man? Andreas, a 23-year-old ex-bouncer from Italy, was found lying in a pool of blood near a country road. Police initially mistook him for a victim of sadistic mutilation. His left leg had been nearly severed by a chainsaw. His last act was an emergency call to operators who heard only a "death rattle." By the time help arrived, copious bleeding had drained his body of blood.