Sunday, January 13, 2013

What a way to start the New Year off with a BANG!

What a way to start the New Year off with a BANG!  Linda at Buzzing and Bumbling is cheerleading for Madame Samm at www.sewwequilt.com!!  I love both these ladies and am thrilled to participate in their "In Your Words" blog hop.  My theme is "Machine Embroidery" ...something new for you?  If you are interested or if you've never before thought this was a viable option due to expense, then, this is the post for you!
WINNER CHOSEN BY RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR - CONGRATULATIONS TO COMMENT #99 Judy JCnNC from Shade Tree Quilting  is the winner of one of her choice of the tea/coffee towel - Please let me know which day of the week you would like!
Judy JCnNC said:I am a follower already - and love your blog. Judy C
How sweet!  Thank you all for your kind comments - I have tried to answer all your e-mails directly.  All the Best, Mary Ann @ RocknQuilts

The 'broken photos' have now been fixed!!    
Madame Samm has all photos from each day placed on a Pinterest board HERE
When Linda of Buzzing and Bumbling approached me for this blog hop, she said she would like to feature embroidered words on useful household items.  I was right in the middle of a set of tea towels, so without hesitation, I signed up for the blog hop!  I hope you'll enjoy my entry...

What could be more inviting than a set of embroidered towels for your kitchen (or a friend's!)?

These did not take long to do.  I could embroider one towel in about 25 minutes.



How, you may ask?

With an embroidery machine!

If the costs have scared you away in the past, please read on...things have changed!

Brother has just come out with a 'get your feet wet' embroidery + sewing machine for around $399.  It features a 4" x 4" sewing field, which is great for many projects.  It comes with seventy built-in designs that are really easy to stitch out, plus more designs to choose from at www.ibroidery.com or a limited edition Simplicity line embroidery machine for around $300  (Please consider purchasing from your local quilt shop so that you will have someone nearby for lessons, supplies and for warranty work.)



Both machines would be perfect for monogramming, enhancing 5x5-8x8 quilt squares, and sew much more...please feast your eyes on the following projects from www.emblibrary.com

You can use designs for quilting a quilt sandwich (limited to your hoop size), making jewelry, lace, Christmas tree ornaments, decorating purses, backpacks, jeans, shirts, making logos, personalizing your work, creating quilt name tags, appliques, in-the-hoop projects that sew themselves, etc.!

Giveaway instructions below...

My most recent project is a set of seven dish towels for my sister-in-law who just moved in to a new house. I'd like to show you how I get a project started:

1.  Collect necessary items


Embroidery scissors
Embroidery and bobbin threads
size 80 needle (new is best)
Madeira bobbinfil in white (make up three to four bobbins for the seven towels)
Madeira Rayon embroidery threads (the colors do not wash or bleach out)
Stabilizer:  wash-away, tear-away  (See Nancy Zieman's book for assistance with stabilizers for embroidery.)  Cut all seven at once to save time.
seven flour sack cloth dish towels (bought at the local Dollar Store for only $1 each!)
Days of the Week dish towel designs from www.emblibrary.com  in the size that fits your hoop capabilities
laptop or desk computer with flashdrive and internet connection

All embroidery machines can handle this size :-)


2.  Hoop stabilizer and dish towel


Wash-away, tear-away stabilizer on bottom, flour sack tea towel on top
with three inches left at the bottom of the hoop for each of the seven towels


3.  Transfer design from www.emblibrary.com to flash drive on your computer, then enter into sewing/embroidery machine


flash drive inserted into the USB port of sewing/embroidery machine


Select appropriate design according to your machine's instructional manual


4.  Turn the design in the sewing machine before stitching out so that it stitches out in the correct direction.

utilizing my instructional manual, I turn the design to match how my towel is hooped.


5.  Stitch out the design - the machine does all the work!  My granddaughter loves to do this part :-)



The Pfaff creative performance being used here has pop up display windows showing
which color to switch to and when.  Some displays are in black & white only, but still let you know what color changes to make according to the number listed on the spool and thread number charts available from thread companies.



6.  Snip jump threads, unhoop, tear away stabilizer from the back and launder.


7.  Iron, fold and wrap to present to your lucky recipient!


A magazine that I subscribe to that has loads of helpful tips and information is Creative Machine Embroidery.  They also have a free blog! And for my blogging friends and followers, a free, online PDF file entitled "Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid".



Hopefully machine embroidery is something you might try - please let me know with your comment!  What questions do you have for me?  I'd love to help!

GIVEAWAY!!!  Thank you for sticking with my long blog post - as a reward, I would like to offer one embroidered tea towel in the day of the week of your choice.  If you love coffee as much as my sister-in-law and I do, you'll want to win one of these!!  

Five chances to WIN!

1.  Please leave a comment here on this blog stating which type of coffee or espresso you enjoy most.
2.  Please visit www.emblibrary.com or and tell me what embroidery design(s) you enjoyed most.
3.  Let us know what project you'd enjoy making with an embroidery machine.
4.  Leave a question about machine embroidery OR let us know what embroidery machine you own.
5.  "Follow" me here at Rock n Quilts or let me know if you are a current follower.  Thank you!

(Open to international addresses.  Must leave your working e-mail address if you are a no-reply blogger, or a new winner will be chosen.  One winner will be chosen at random and notified on Tuesday, January 15th, 2013.)


Please visit all the bloggers participating in the hop today - thank you!


Monday, January 14
Clothes and Crafts (Maria K.)
Simple Sew (Shirley T.)
Woolie Mammoth (Anna B.)
RocknQuilts (Mary Ann)
Quiltsmiles (Jane E.)


For a complete list, click HERE.


@



P.S.  Wouldn't these be cute?




104 comments:

  1. Mary Ann, Many of your pictures are not there. From what I can see, I like the towels you embroidered. I would love to try out more machine embroidery too as I am a novice in that area and I just know how to manipulate via my hands or by controlling my machine with my hands to embroider.
    If you can get your photos to show, go ahead and delete this comment. I can alway come back to post a different comment for the giveaway, just let me know.
    Good Luck, I hate it when this techy stuff gives us troubles. I am still having google picture uploading woes on mine! GGgrrrr!!! Jane

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  2. We drink Frappe's here in Greece, I just did a post for the recipe, http://www.grecomara.blogspot.gr/2013/01/pay-it-forward-mail-treats.html
    I don't have an embroidery machine, but they look sweet and there are so many designs I would like to do, I would prefer a color display rather than black and white, do you really have to buy a lot of different colored threads?

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  3. The towels really are sweet. Great idea. I do not have a an embroidery machine. And I love latte macchiato very much!

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  4. Your photos are not showing up on your post.

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  5. I could only see a couple of pictures but they were lovely!

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  6. Very nice. Looks like you are on a roll with all those wordy towels.

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  7. You could do all kinds of fun things as gifts with your machine. =D What fun!

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  8. Thank you for sharing with us. I own a Bernina Artista and used it for years designing logos for other people. I look forward to using it for me more in the future.

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  9. I love americano and expresso coffee!

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  10. I liked the bird embroidery designs most - especially the red cardinal which is a bird we don't have in the UK but I would love to see one!

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  11. I don't have an embroidery machine but I'd love to embroider my children's book bags and shoe bags!

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  12. Love your towels and imagine you could do so many things with an embroidery machine. One thing I have always been curious about is how the back looks on a project like a towel.

    PS...love my skinny vanilla lattes!

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  13. What different fabrics can you use for machine embroidery?

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  14. I wish your pictures would have shown up because it looks like you have a wonderful tutorial. I own an Elna machine and enjoy doing embroidery with it.

    Happy quilting,
    cindy at quiltdoodledesigns dot com

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  15. Like the tea towels = thanks for sharing. I drink tea, not coffee (smile).

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  16. Only one photo of 3 towels were visible. All the rest had a little red X in the corner and no photo, so I couldn't see your towels. I scrolled down to another posting and again the little red X and no photos. Yet other things showed up like in your sidebar and the photo of the sewing machine, so I don't know if something is wrong on your end?

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  17. :( Sorry to have missed your photos...your directions have me wanting to see each step. Especially since I do not have an embroidery machine. I am not a coffee person...Tea for me! :) Not sure why, since I like the smell of coffee, one would think that drinking coffee would be a 'go'.

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  18. Hi Mary Ann, not sure why some of your pics are missing..if you need help let me know....and I will load them for you...I loved what I could add to our pinterest board..I love t-towels and these are beautiful

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  19. I only got a few of your pics Mary Ann ...so sorry. but what I saw was great. I don't drink coffee..a tea lady!!

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  20. Not all of your pictures came through but the ones that did are beautiful. I want to buy a smaller sewing machine in the spring and that gave me an ides of what to look for. I am a tea drinker or a capchino drinker myself so andy towel would be lovely.

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  21. I missed most of your pics but am intrigued by the idea of an embroidery machine.

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  22. What cute towels!! I like plain, strong, black coffee -- I love gevalia, and caribou, and paul neuman's fair trade organic, but I'll drink whatever I'm offered. :)

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  23. What beautiful tea (or should I say, COFFEE) towels! I'm a Nantucket Blend girl!

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  24. Love the Mola designs! That is right up my ally!

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  25. I have a 10 year old Janome embroidery machine.

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  26. These are beautiful...I am a huge coffee drinker..I have learned to drink Maxwell House Instant at home and at work I drink Community Coffee that my employees make fresh for me several times a day. Community Coffee is uniquely Louisiana and is a dark rich roast. Thanks for the chance to win.

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  27. I am one of your followers. Have a great day.

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  28. I love your towels- never thought of checking out the Dollar Store for towels for machine embroidery!

    LOVE Embroidery Library- favorite patterns are their dachshund patterns and their Sunbonnet Sue designs! Have only been embroidering 11 months and love it! My baby is the Baby Lock Ellure Plus and MY HUSBAND insisted that I get it. He had already purchased the Janome 3160QDC for me in NOvember 2011, and in February 2012, when the LQS in NE Ohio was having a great sale, told me to bring the BabyLock home-

    Have made several prayer wall hangings for my old parish and bible covers for my Women of Grace group back in Ohio. Am working on dog bandanas and treat bags now, as well as a banner made from the Embroidery Library Spool alphabet for a good friend.

    While I do not care for coffee, when I wa stationed in Vicenza, Italy during the mid 1980s, I would enjoy a cappucino at the carbinieri bar on base.

    An finally am a new follower!

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  29. Mary Ann-Not all the pics on your blog loaded so I am frustrated. I've been wanting an embroidery machine so I'll have to come back later to see if I can get the pics to load. My niece has a Brother and she embroidered the days of the week for me on hand towels as my husband uses paper towels and I'm trying to get him to stop using so much paper! Thanks for sharing

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  30. Thank you for sharing your process with all of us. I was able to see the tea towel pictures over at Sew We Quilt and they are gorgeous. Favorite coffee is French Roast. Judy C

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  31. Hi!!! Beautiful projects!!! Love the days of the week towels!!! I love really dark coffee and no sugar or cream!!! Thanks for the fun!!!!

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  32. The picture of the towels came through, thankfully, because they are beautiful! :O)

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  33. Cute towels :) Too bad all the pics wouldn't come through though.

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  34. I don't drink coffee but I do drink tea and I thought your towels turned out great, especially the Sunday towel. it looked like a tea pot to me.

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  35. I have a viking embroidery machine which I enjoy using. Last thing I made were some cute animals for a baby quilt.

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  36. On the website, I liked the winter birds group, that cardinal is just beautiful.

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  37. Oh, would I love to have a machine that embroiders. Lovely tea towels. Thanks for sharing...Judith, Texas

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  38. Beautiful towels! I don't have an embroidery machine but maybe some day! jbechosend at sbcglobal dot net

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  39. What cute towels. I enjoy dunking donuts coffee

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  40. I love the bird embroidery with the houses, especially the "around the world" birds. So cute!!

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  41. your tea towels are lovely! My favourite coffee is vanilla nut fudge, yum!

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  42. I own a neglected Bernina 170. Love the celtic designs at the other web page. Love their generousity withthe freebies monthly but don't know how to transfer the gigital design to my Art card.

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  43. VOILA!!I just purchased a new Brother PE-770 embroidery machine!! My sweet husband made sure I got this for Christmas even though I had to go through a few exchanges to get the machine I wanted. Yesterday, Miss Kay, came home with me and I've been learning how to operate. I have a pretty steep learning curve and need to get a subscription to that magazine you mentioned. I can't wait to embellish some of my quilting and sewing projects. Love you Tea Towels
    Blessings
    Gmama jane
    Oops, you forgot to turn of Word ID for the Blog Hop

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  44. I do not have an embroidery machine, but your towels are amazingly adorable!

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  45. I would like the coffee one for sure.

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  46. Love your tea towels :) I have never used an embroidery machine - I love all that you can do with it! I drink hot chocolate - no coffee for me!!

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  47. Mdm Samm has posted your photos on her blog. Lovely works of art.

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  48. My favorite coffee drink is Mocha - what can be better than coffee and chocolate combined??

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  49. I don't drink coffee at all, so no favs - now, chai tea latte is my weakness! Sure would have liked to have seen your pictures on your blog, don't know why they aren't showing up :( I have a Bernina Artista that I embroider all my quilt labels on - love it!

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  50. My favorite type of coffee is a mocha frapachino light from starbucks. But at home I make my own type of coffee drink . It is ascoop caffeeine freee instant cofee to a coffee mugh of steaminghto water, 3 teaspoons of organic cane sugar i squirt of vanilla syrupt and 3 teaspoons of cofee creame....
    conn_and_vans_mom(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  51. I love embroidery Librarys peaceful paisley flower design. I love their designs and they have wonderful monthly freebies and I love their christmas club as well. conn_and_vans_mom(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  52. My favorite project for machien embroidery is ITH projects and machine allplique .
    conn_and_vans_mom(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  53. I am a new follower to your blog .
    conn_and_vans_mom(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  54. I machine embroider on my Babylcok Ellisimo. I have been doing machine embroidery for 4 years now and love it.
    conn_and_vans_mom(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  55. what fun towels! I love the idea of weekday items around the house! My favorite kind of coffee is a toffee nut latte. I have to have decaf because my body does not handle caffeine very well at all.
    Thanks for sharing

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  56. Wonderful contribution to InYourWord's Bloghop!

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  57. I loved the coffee towels. Thanks for sharing. You do very nice embroidery. I have a Pfaff machine. It is nice for embroidery. Have been buying from Embroidery library for years. Very nice designs. Thanks

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  58. Wonderful towels! I used to have an embroidery machine but had no time to do that and quilt too. But the designs are so gorgeous these days that I almost wish I still had it. I bought many designs from Embroidery Library while I had it. I'd love a Sunday towel but instead of coffee I drink chai tea. :). Blessings, marlene

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  59. Rosemary B here:
    hoo boy, great blog, adorable towels. I do not have any embroidery options on my machine. I have an old Singer 316G it was my moms and I like it
    My favorite coffee is Godiva chocolate truffle. It is super yummy

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  60. Lovely tea towels! As for coffee, I like mine rich, strong and black. When I am out, I order an Americano. Thank's my favorite coffee drink.

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  61. So many cute motifs to chose from... for tea towels I do love the coffee break embroidery...for baby...love the plush stuffed bunny and the penguins.

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  62. Since I know of quite a few new babies coming, I would embroider on a blanket/quilt or a hooded towel. Ideas for both! Thanks!

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  63. My favorite bean is a Nordic Roast which our local coffee company roasts up for us here. Next to that, I enjoy a good French Roast!

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  64. I'm afraid if I had an embroidery machine, I'd be stitching up everything in site! I do like monogrammed tea towels or hand towels, and if I had grandkids, I'd certainly make things for them.

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  65. The snowflakes are AWESOME. And they're on sale. Too bad I don't have an embroidery machine....

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  66. I'm a new follower - I like the name of your blog!

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  67. Embrodiery question? What is the biggest size you can embroider on your machine?

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  68. Great tea towels ..... I'm more of a tea drinker but if you put some choclate in that coffee just maybe I would have a mocha.
    thanks for sharing
    in stitches

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  69. Mary Ann,I just adore your tea towels! I remember my grandmother having days of the week towels that were embroidered! Love the ladies also,just too sweet :) You do awesome work by the way ;) Thanks for sharing.

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  70. I love coffee, too, and usually go with Starbucks Breakfast Blend. I've tried different brands but always come back to the 'star'!

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  71. I use Embroidery Library lots - they have awesome designs and super sales!! Anything Christmasy is marvelous and I have the "Elf Christmas Alphabet" that's just adorable.

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  72. I've made beach towels for each of grands and they were fun to make. I have made each of them their own pillowcase with their name and specific designs just for them. Love making things for the grands!

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  73. I have a Viking Embroidery machine; I am such a lucky lady to have a generous hubbie.

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  74. I like coffee lattes the best..I have an espresso machine and make one for myself every day!

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  75. My favorite type of embroidery designs are usually food or holiday related.

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  76. I also like making towels on the embroidery machine, as I find they make great gifts. You can personalize them with the person's name, and my friends are really impressed!

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  77. I have a Bernina embroidery machine, and love it!

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  78. What beautiful tea towels!Your set is gorgeous! Thank you for a great post, wonderful photos and sharing your project with us, awesome job! My favorite drink at Starbucks is a white mocha, yumm! My mouth is watering just thinking about it, hehe.

    Thank you for a great giveaway and a chance to win. I love all the towels and would be excited to win any of the days.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

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  79. I visited emblibrary.com and gosh, tons of great designs! I'm loving the cute birdhouses. Did you see the "sewing" inspired one? Too cute!

    Thanks again for a chance to win.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

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  80. I'd love to machine embroider lots of things, hehe. I'd like to fancy up some project bags, sweatshirts gosh I guess there are too many things to list. I do hand embroidery and have done tea towels before. It took longer than 25 minutes, hehe. Looks like great fun though!

    Thank you for a neat giveaway and a chance to win.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

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  81. Is there any fabric that you can not embroider on? What is the most thread changes you've had on a design?

    Thanks again for a chance to win.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

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  82. I'm a new follower via GFC.

    Thanks again for a chance to win.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

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  83. Your granddaughter's part reminds me of pushing the button on the dishwasher. Too fun! Alas I don't have an embroidery machine ... or a dishwasher. I still enjoy hand embroidery. And a strong cup of plain ole coffee, 1 sugar!

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  84. I love these towels! I hope to start using my embroidery machine soon!
    hulseybg at gmail dot com

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  85. I have a Janome 12000.
    hulseybg at gmail dot com

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  86. I love french roast coffee.
    hulseybg at gmail dot com

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  87. Now it`s good old Dunkin Donuts coffee for me. When we lived in Germany I did enjoy the espresso offered in the local small bakery. Yum!

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  88. I am a follower already - and love your blog. Judy C

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  89. My Bernina is an embroidery machine and I would love to get a head start on Christmas and the designs now available are gorgeous. Judy C

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  90. :) I'm glad you got your photos 'fixed' :)
    I do have a question.... What is the number one bit of advice you would give for one considering a purchase of an embroidery machine? I've never ever used one and have no clue where to begin in searching. Thanks!

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  91. Totally ADORABLE! Thank you for sharing... this has been such a fun hop.

    I hope you'll check out my daily blog.. my day is the last day, tomorrow!

    Pat Sloan
    Radio show Host... The Voice of Quilting
    http://blog.patsloan.com

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  92. Love your towels! I have an embroidery machine too. I love emlibrary.com for designs. I am a new follower. Can't wait to see what you do!

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  93. Thank you for such kind compliments, everyone! I tried to personally answer each and every question and comment. Please let me know if I inadvertently missed answering your question, or if new ones come up, please feel free to contact me! I love to quilt and do machine embroidery. All the Best! Mary Ann @ Rock n Quilts rock n quilts at live dot com

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  94. OH, I'm drooling! Thank you for sharing your lovely work. I was already wanting an embroidery machine. I want one even more after going to the emblibrary site. Oh man! Just wish I could save up enough money to get one.

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