The Bobbin Buzz & Stitchin' Bits

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...

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.

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.

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"... :-)

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 :-)

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.

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.

You'll want to enter this one... it fun AND has a great prize for the winner!

jonell40 @ 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.

I picked this photo as a "weekly photo contest winner". Thanks for sharing with us Linda! 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 a few Angels of Light yesterday. Took someones suggestion to put a little bit of sparkle on them."

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.

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

There's just a few days left to get your name into our "Tips" contests!

Here's the details on the contests... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/public/1736.cfm

Two Grand Prizes -- One for the Embroidery Tips contest and One for the Computer Tips Contest is a 22 Month Subscription To Nita's ThreadNest! That's 22 months of spectacular designs mailed to you on CD-rom AND the thread to sew them out with too! When the 22 months are up, you've got every color available in the Floriani line. That's right... 15 spools per month in themed color sets x 22 months is 330 spools of thread! Pretty cool eh?

Two First Prizes -- One for the Embroidery Tips contest and One for the Computer Tips Contest. A 3-Year Subscription To ArtisticThreadWorks! Plus the complete collection of our Premier Design sets!

Two Second Prizes -- One for the Embroidery Tips contest and One for the Computer Tips Contest. A 2-Year Subscription To ArtisticThreadWorks! Plus the complete collection of our Premier Design sets!

Two Third Prizes -- One for the Embroidery Tips contest and One for the Computer Tips Contest. A 1-Year Subscription To ArtisticThreadWorks! Plus the complete collection of our Premier Design sets!

There are just 7 days left to get your entries into the contest. And just so you know... the odds of winning as of right now are REALLY GOOD! There are only 889 entries in the Embroidery Tips contest and only 390 entries in the Computer Tips contest. And you can enter as many times as you want -- all you have to do is tell us your favorite embroidery tips or computer tips and your in the contest.

Good Luck To Everyone! ENTER HERE!

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

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.

The entries to the Embroidery & Computer Tips contest are closed. We have received hundreds and hundreds of embroidery tips. That's a lot of info you'll be able to use!

So what's next? I've been going through the tips as they came in but of course the last couple days with the end of the contest deadline the pace has picked up and I've got hundreds of new ones to sort through. I'm still reading them and looking for the prize winners. So far I have about 100 in the "finalist" category so it's going to be tough to choose the very best.

If you've been reading Bobbin-Buzz for the last month though, you've seen a few of these tips already. They're in the gray boxes throughout the newsletter. These new tips will continue to show up here one per day for a LONG, LONG TIME! So our contest has been fun and you'll reap the benefits of it for years.

Okay -- I've got to get back to looking through those tips. I'll have winners announced as soon as I can finish reading them all. -- Larry

I have been reading through the entries for the two contests and frankly it's a bit overwhelming how many great answers there are to these two questions...

What's the best embroidery tip you can give us?
What's the best computer tip you can give us?

There were 1,035 answers to the first question and 469 answers to the second one! That's a lot of reading and I've gone through everything now once but still have over 200 potential winners. So -- I'm going through the 200+ again and looking for the diamonds amidst the gold.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I'll have the final winners announce as soon as I can.

-- Larry

Every week we draw a winner from our email list and this week's winner is...

pattyary @ aol.com who has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim anytime in the next 7 days..

The following 3 members were chosen as Photo Contest Winners for posting photo's in August...

Picture# / Member
27593 - tizzylishy
27590 - czgrad
27764 - ahberry

Each of you has won a free 1-year membership extension at www.ArtisticThreadWorks.com and your membership has already been extended.

Congratulations to you and thank you to all who enter photo's in our Photo Gallery every month. Thanks to your contributions we now have over 28,000+ embroidery project photos in our galleries!

You can click any of the numbers above to see their photos!

It took me FOREVER to read through all the embroidery tips and computer tips! There were over 1,500 tips, some quite long. I felt like I was proofreading War & Peace but it's finally done. We have our winners and I'll start with announcements today.

Here's how we chose the winners...

First -- the tip had to be "good". I say that because there were a few that suggested things to do with an embroidery machine that I'm not 100% positive your repair technician would endorse. Hey -- if it works for you then it's your machine, but I didn't think we'd want to pass on something that could cost you money for repairs.

Second -- the tip had to be useful to a large percentage of our readers. There were a few great tips that only applied to people in certain niche areas of the hobby. While they were good tips, most of our readers wouldn't be able to use the ideas.

Finally -- They had to stand out above the others and that was the most difficult part of all. I first narrowed it down to my favorite 100, then my favorite 50, then favorite 35, then best 17, then finally top 4. And we finished that this morning.

We have TWO contests and TWO complete sets of winners! The prizes are as follows for both the Embroidery Tips Contest AND for the Computer Tips Contest...

We'll start with today announcing the 3rd Prize for "Best Embroidery Tip of 2007" and continue for the next 7 days with the other winners.

Here's the 3rd Prize Wiinner for Best Embroidery Tip...

"I store my embroidery thread in two 6-drawer plastic units which sit side-by-side to the left of my machine. Spools are arranged in "rainbow" order, with some extra drawers to further divide the colors. For example, I have reds, pinks, oranges, yellows and golds, etc. I also have a drawer for dark neutrals and light neutrals. Nets from a floral shop hold threads neatly on the spools, and strips of clear vinyl wrap the smaller spools. The true color lights I have on the sewing table also enable me to choose the correct colors for my project as well as clearly see my embroidery area."

This tips was submitted by Barb Torrey. I have Barb's email address and will send her a notification that she has won third prize. Barb, welcome to ATW and I know you'll enjoy this prize!

Check back tomorrow for the 2nd Prize Winner!

We have TWO contests and TWO complete sets of winners! The prizes are as follows for both the Embroidery Tips Contest AND for the Computer Tips Contest...

This morning we'll announce the 2nd Prize for "Best Embroidery Tip of 2007" and continue for the next 6 days with the other winners.

Here's the 2nd Prize Wiinner for Best Embroidery Tip...

"Trimming threads and getting them off the project can sometimes be a real challenge. In addition to using Holly's Tweezer Tip as demonstrated on the "Now That I have the Machine Home" DVD here's a tip that has been invaluable in my sewing / embroidery domain. I keep a small vacumn cleaner nearby. A dust buster, car vac, Dirt Devil, computer vac, any vac will do - as long as you are careful. After trimming all the threads, i carefully "swipe" the hooped design area near the intake of the vac. This gently removes all those loose threads from the surface of the project. I find this easier and cleaner than using the lint removal rolls - since vacs are usually close by the sewing area it is one less thing to keep track of, and I don't have to remove the used roller sheet. happy stitching"

This tips was submitted by Joyce Santoni. I have Joyce's email address and will send her a notification that she has won third prize. Joyce, welcome to ATW and I know you'll enjoy this prize!

Check back tomorrow for the 1st Prize Winner!

We have TWO contests and TWO complete sets of winners! The prizes are as follows for both the Embroidery Tips Contest AND for the Computer Tips Contest...

This morning we'll announce the 1st Prize for "Best Embroidery Tip of 2007" and continue for the next 5 days with the other winners.

Here's the 1st Prize Wiinner for Best Embroidery Tip...

"I hate "losing" all that beautiful thread doing a test stitch out. I know I could always save the test stitch outs to make a quilt, but then I'd like them to all cooridinate and that could take forever to have tested enough similar designs, so I've come up with another solution. Now I look for an article of clothing that maybe I love but never wear due to a stain, or maybe it's just something a little outdated but I still love, or perhaps it's even just a wear around the house only piece of clothing. Now I test stitch on these pieces and more times than not when the stitchout turns out to be good, I find I am now the proud owner of a newly restored old favorite piece of clothing often nicer than the original !!! And some of those just around the house pieces turn out to go back out on the town. The flip side ( a bad stitch out ) is a win/win too, as I will now finally have no excuse to keep hanging on to it and my closet gets a little cleaner !!!! I also do the same thing with my families clothes and give new life to old favorites !!!!!!!"

This tips was submitted by Michelle Blitchok. I have Michelle's email address and will send her a notification that she has won first prize. Michelle, welcome to ATW and I know you'll enjoy this prize!

Check back tomorrow for the 1st Prize Winner!

We have TWO contests and TWO complete sets of winners! The prizes are as follows for both the Embroidery Tips Contest AND for the Computer Tips Contest...

This morning we'll announce the Grand Prize for "Best Embroidery Tip of 2007" and continue for the next 4 days with the Computer Tips Contest winners.

Here's the Grand Prize Wiinner for Best Embroidery Tip...

This tips was submitted by Jan Pratt. I have Jan's email address and will send her a notification that she has won first prize. Jan, Thank you for all you bring to ATW!

Check back tomorrow for the 3rd Prize Winner in the Computer Tips Contest!

We're now ready to announce the winner in the Computer Tips Contest! I've read through and sorted and re-read through almost 500 computer tips. The top ones were narrowed down then sorted through again to come up with the 4 best tips.

The most useful tips I read were those that were probably not known by everyone and yet would be useful to almost everyone. So we'll start with what the prizes are again, then get into the winning entries...

We'll start with today's anouncement for the 3rd Prize Wiinner for Best Computer Tip...

"The best tip I ever received was to back up my computer regularly onto cds, even though I use an external hard drive also as a back up already. Prior to getting that tip, I was using a brand new external hard drive for my main backup source. Unfortunately, it crashed unexpectantly, and I lost everything!!! I never dreamed that I would need to worry about it crashing so quickly, so of course, I did not have anything saved on any other media. I learned the hard way!"

This tips was submitted by Paula Kimmich. I have Paula's email address and will send her a notification that she has won third prize. Paula, welcome to ATW and I know you'll enjoy this prize!

Check back tomorrow for the 2nd Prize Winner!

The 2nd Prize Winner for our Computer Tips Contest is...

"If you are in and out of your computer a lot of times during the day, you don't have to keep it on all of the time. If you are using Windows XP, this is a simple and easy way to have it available quickly. Left click on "Start" Select "Settings" Select "Control Panel" Select "Power Options Properties" Select "Advanced" Select "When I press the power button on my computer. . ." Select "Hibernate or Standby" Select "Apply and then OK" When you don't need your PC, press the power button for a moment and your computer will close down. When you are ready to go back on the PC, press the power button (just as you normally would) and you are already back to where you left off! Quick, time and energy saving."

This tips was submitted by Pat Snyder. I have Pat's email address and will send her a notification that she has won 2nd prize. Pat, welcome to ATW and I know you'll enjoy this prize!

Check back tomorrow for the 1st Prize Winner!

The 1st Prize Winner for our Computer Tips Contest is...

"We all love a free design, but then when we want to recall what site it came from, then there is often a problem! After unzipping take the time to right click on properties and click the tab summary and cut and paste the URL or type in the information there. If when you right click there is not the summary option, then just create a notepad with the details and name the notepad the same name as the file. A little time spent doing this is such a time saver late."

This tips was submitted by Carolyn Robertson. I have Carolyn's email address and will send her a notification that she has won 2nd prize. Carolyn, welcome to ATW and I know you'll enjoy this prize!

Check back tomorrow for the Grand Prize Winner!

Every week we draw a winner from our email list and this week's winner is...

christina.strom1 @ telia.com who has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim anytime in the next 7 days..

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

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.

Every week we draw a winner from our email list and this week's winner is...

epetrini @ sbcglobal.net who has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim anytime in the next 7 days..

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

I am teaching arts & crafts to 6-9 year olds for my homeschool group and here is one of the projects we are making...more craft pictures to come as I finish my examples of the goodies we are making! Directions here...
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/projectsheet?pid=k00195&categoryid=96383

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.

Stocking/ornament for the troops contest:

Part one: Guess how many stockings we will send to the troops...

Rules:
1. Anyone who contributes a stocking may submit a guess.
2. One guess per person.
3. Guess must be submitted by Oct. 7, 11:59pm to be eligible.

Part two: Guess how many ornaments we will send to the troops...

Rules:
1. Anyone who contributes an ornament may submit a guess.
2. One guess per person.
3. Guess must be submitted by Oct 7, 11:59pm to be eligible.

All stockings and ornaments must be tallied by Monica, and must reach HER by Nov 1.
All guesses to be submitted to Beth at czgrad@yahoo.com.
Prizes will be... 1st place - $25 Visa gift card; 2nd place - $25 gift certificate to www.sewingforsarahembroidery.com; 3rd place - 3 yds fabric (1 yd each of 3 different fabrics); 4th place - 1 yd fabric.
Ornaments pool: 1st place - $25 gift certificate to www.sewingforsarahembroidery.com; 2nd place - 2 yds fabric (1 yd each of 2 different fabrics); 3rd place - 1 yd fabric.

All fabrics will be chosen by Monica and Beth (the donators), and mailed to winners after stockings and ornaments are mailed.

Prizes are for closest guess WITHOUT GOING OVER!
In case of tie, first person to submit the guess wins.
Get going on those stockings and ornaments and make sure they get to Monica by Nov 1.
Stockings/ornaments do NOT have to be in before submitting a guess. Just by the deadling of Nov. 1.

Every week we draw a winner from our email list and this week's winner is...

tjlaurie @ bigpond.com who has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim anytime in the next 7 days..

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

"The bear hugging the pumpkin is Nita's. The primitive type ones are cindysembroiderydesigns.com and the applique one is ATW. The initial's I did on felt and sewed on with a pumpkin button. Those were done with Font Engine on Embird. Every bag has something on it with glow in the dark thread."

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.

Every week we draw a winner from our email list and this week's winner is...

grammiegumbo @ yahoo.com who has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim anytime in the next 7 days..

Every week we draw a winner from our email list and this week's winner is...

mariehines @ sbcglobal.net who has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim anytime in the next 7 days..

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

" The designs are from all over, Nita's, ATW, Stitch it Cheap. For the small jars I looked for designs around 48mm high the large jar I used 70mm high some are a little more or less. Made wraps out of fleece. I put the stablizer (light weight tearaway is what I used) along with the piece of fleece and hoop them both. The directions are from www.adesignbylyn.com There are also other directions on www.hollyberry.com -- look under 'projects'. "

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.

Every week we draw a winner from our email list and this week's winner is...

stitchbystitch @ insightbb.com who has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim anytime in the next 7 days..

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

"Spiral skirt. Pattern from youcanmakethis, Michael Miller fabric. Laura "

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.

This week's JoAnn's $25.00 Gift Card Winner from the mailing list is Estelle from Viginia-- email address estelle . murphy @ gmail.com

The winner has 5 days from today to claim the card by emailing me nita@nitasplace.com or you may call me at 281-559-146

Every week we draw a winner from our email list and this week's winner is...

nana9595 @ zoominternet.net who has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim anytime in the next 7 days..

I picked this photo as a "weekly photo contest winner" because I love to see NEAT looking sewing rooms. I realize it probably looked that way only long enough to get the picture, but it's still great to see once in a while eh? Thanks for sharing with us smeeslady! You've won a 3 month extension on your membership for posting this photo!

"this is the sewing area, that is a TRIPLE door closet that is FULL of sewing and crafting supplies too. We made use of EVERY bit of space the was. I even hide my TV in the closet. It's like home sweet home when I'm in my sewing Room."

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.

Time is running out to to enter those funny embroidery stories. Contest ends November 30th. Submit yours today! You could win a full 22 month subscription to Nita's Thread Nest and fabulous Floriani Thread to stitch out the Signature Design Sets you can win with the 22 month subscription!

Nita's Place is sponsoring a contest for a FULL 22 month subscription to Nita's Thread Nest.

To get in on the fun and have a chance to win, tell me your funniest embroidery story.

Click on this link and submit the story.

http://www.nitasplace.com/stories

This week's JoAnn's $25.00 Gift Card Winner from the mailing list is Sharon from West Virginia--email address angeline @ citynet.net

The winner has 5 days from today to claim the card by emailing me nita@nitasplace.com or you may call me at 281-559-146

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

There are just a few weeks left to to enter those funny embroidery stories. Contest ends November 30th. Submit yours today! You could win a full 22 month subscription to Nita's Thread Nest and fabulous Floriani Thread to stitch out the Signature Design Sets you can win with the 22 month subscription!

Nita's Place is sponsoring a contest for a FULL 22 month subscription to Nita's Thread Nest.

To get in on the fun and have a chance to win, tell me your funniest embroidery story.

Click on this link and submit the story.
www.nitasplace.com/stories

This week's JoAnn's $25.00 Gift Card Winner from the mailing list is Barbara from Florida -- email address allenz @ clear wire.net

The winner has 5 days from today to claim the card by emailing me nita@nitasplace.com or you may call me at 281-559-146

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

I picked this photo as a "weekly photo contest winner". Thanks for sharing with us Patty! 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...

"I'm not sure if I'm keeping this set or giving to MIL for Christmas. All the designs are very detailed with about 60 minutes of stitching time on the back and 45 minutes each for the designs on the front. I got the idea of the snowflakes going over the shoulder from someone here and their bug shirt. Thanks for the idea. All designs are OESD. Patty "

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. Members of ATW can post their photos in our photo gallery with more than 25,000 other embroidery project photos!

g_clark67 @ att.net has just won a 3-month membership at ArtisticThreadWorks! You can claim the prize here... http://www.artisticthreadworks.com/prizeclaim before noon tomorrow.

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

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

We have a Winner in the November Photo contest and it is .........

Donna Coffey

Donna, you have just won a 1 year membership to Nita's Place. Congratulations!!

See the winning photo here: