My little family of three is staying with my father-in-law while our household goods make the slow trek from Greece to California. Over the years, this has been the norm, but it is much different this time because my mother-in-law is no longer here to run the household. That now falls to me. While I’ve cooked in this kitchen off and on for 25 years, it is so different now actually doing instead of just helping. I find that even my tried-and-true recipes aren’t turning out the same. Very strange. I’ve begun making notes on my computer so that I’ll have some idea of what I’m doing right or wrong. Luckily, I won’t be in charge of holiday meals this year!

I have similar problems in machine embroidery. I’m rarely satisfied to leave things exactly as the designer suggests or the embroidery patterns insist on. Of course, sometimes I just understand they my machine will be happier if certain adjustments are made. As long as I think things through before making changes, all is usually well. Of course, these are intentional changes and not the weird, unidentifiable ones happening in the kitchen.

There are several things that can go wrong, though. If I set up a design to stitch over a pocket, I may have to adjust the machine to center the embroidery design exactly where I want it. I love that I can do this. However, what happens if the power goes out? Instead of panicking, this is actually the easiest problem to recover from IF I haven’t skipped a step. What is this miracle step? I simply write down the adjustments I made to the embroidery machine before starting. That makes it possible to reposition the machine to exactly where I started the first time before advancing to the area where I need to continue stitching. I even note it when I’ve made no adjustments so that I am never confused.

Then, there are those very in-depth machine embroidery patterns for things like cutwork embroidery doilies or free-standing lace 3D boxes. I don’t make any changes to the actual embroidery designs, but I may change what I do to create them. If they don’t turn out, I can try again. If they do turn out, though, I’ve got a winner that I’ll stitch over and over again. IF, that is, I didn’t skip that magic step.

For example, if I modify a project so that my doily comes out to a different size than the embroidery pattern specifies, I need to make extensive notes and keep them somewhere safe so that they are there if I ever want to recreate the project. No notes? No easy way to recreate it. Machine embroidery thread also comes in so many wonderful colors; if I don’t make notes about those I chose, I can’t color-match properly.

Sure, I’d much rather just be stitching, but these extra steps keep my embroidery humming along once I do get started. Now, if I could only figure out what I’m doing in this kitchen and have my notes be as helpful, I’d be happy!

It was early afternoon today when my son and I realized that we hadn’t seen our two kittens since early morning. On any normal day, this wouldn’t have been much of a concern. On a moving day, though, all bets are off. Especially when the kittens’ favorite hiding place is inside the couch and those couches have been fully encapsulated with cardboard and tape.

It’s not a good feeling to think of what could have happened. Luckily, with the help of the movers, we were able to find them and remove them from the couch before it began its 12-week journey. The scare was horrid, but the joy at finding them soon overshadowed it. Still, I was rattled for quite a while.

I find myself responding like this more often these days when creating my beloved machine embroidery designs. Once I get the machine set up and going, I tend to do other things until the next color stop. If I leave the room, I keep an ear open for audible changes that could signal disaster. After four years here in Greece, my embroidery machine is making strange noises more and more. Taking it to the dealer for service is something I look forward to.

The problems got worse and worse as the noises became more frequent. I became flustered thinking that I was somehow forgetting my knowledge of machine embroidery. I thought the mistakes were my fault, instead of the fault of a machine that needs some tender loving care. Regardless, each mistake or problem makes me more jumpy than the last. Finally, I watched every stitch as it formed. That, along with listening closely, helped me to finish more projects.

When I become nervous about something, I do a lot of research on the subject until I feel certain that I can overcome any issues. With embroidery, I end up at my favorite embroidery design gallery instead. It’s so much more interesting than reading about a million and one machine problems. I’d much rather be finding new embroidery patterns! And I’m always guaranteed of finding a new free embroidery design for my efforts. Much more fun than research!

Now that I’m an experienced embroidery artist, I think I need to remind myself of the lessons I learned as a newcomer. It’s important to take time to get the project hooped properly. Take a little more time to study the embroidery designs before they stitch so that I am familiar with them. Then, just stitch. If it gets messed up, it gets messed up. There will always be some flaws or issues with machine embroidery, so it’s important to just go with it as much as possible. Agonizing over mistakes or what ifs will only suck all the joy out of the endeavor.

One thing that I do enjoy about watching every stitch form, though, is the knowledge I gain in how each embroidery design is created; how the beauty forms. If mistakes didn’t occur, I probably wouldn’t remember to take the great opportunity of this. Much like my cats hiding in a sofa and scaring me so badly, mistakes in embroidery offers a wonderful silver lining.

My number one tip is to just enjoy the calm after the storm, although dancing in the rain can be fun, too.

It was early afternoon today when my son and I realized that we hadn’t seen our two kittens since early morning. On any normal day, this wouldn’t have been much of a concern. On a moving day, though, all bets are off. Especially when the kittens’ favorite hiding place is inside the couch and those couches have been fully encapsulated with cardboard and tape.

It’s not a good feeling to think of what could have happened. Luckily, with the help of the movers, we were able to find them and remove them from the couch before it began its 12-week journey. The scare was horrid, but the joy at finding them soon overshadowed it. Still, I was rattled for quite a while.

I find myself responding like this more often these days when creating my beloved machine embroidery designs. Once I get the machine set up and going, I tend to do other things until the next color stop. If I leave the room, I keep an ear open for audible changes that could signal disaster. After four years here in Greece, my embroidery machine is making strange noises more and more. Taking it to the dealer for service is something I look forward to.

The problems got worse and worse as the noises became more frequent. I became flustered thinking that I was somehow forgetting my knowledge of machine embroidery. I thought the mistakes were my fault, instead of the fault of a machine that needs some tender loving care. Regardless, each mistake or problem makes me more jumpy than the last. Finally, I watched every stitch as it formed. That, along with listening closely, helped me to finish more projects.

When I become nervous about something, I do a lot of research on the subject until I feel certain that I can overcome any issues. With embroidery, I end up at my favorite embroidery design gallery instead. It’s so much more interesting than reading about a million and one machine problems. I’d much rather be finding new embroidery patterns! And I’m always guaranteed of finding a new free embroidery design for my efforts. Much more fun than research!

Now that I’m an experienced embroidery artist, I think I need to remind myself of the lessons I learned as a newcomer. It’s important to take time to get the project hooped properly. Take a little more time to study the embroidery designs before they stitch so that I am familiar with them. Then, just stitch. If it gets messed up, it gets messed up. There will always be some flaws or issues with machine embroidery, so it’s important to just go with it as much as possible. Agonizing over mistakes or what ifs will only suck all the joy out of the endeavor.

One thing that I do enjoy about watching every stitch form, though, is the knowledge I gain in how each embroidery design is created; how the beauty forms. If mistakes didn’t occur, I probably wouldn’t remember to take the great opportunity of this. Much like my cats hiding in a sofa and scaring me so badly, mistakes in embroidery offers a wonderful silver lining.

My number one tip is to just enjoy the calm after the storm, although dancing in the rain can be fun, too.

In terms of decorating, whether it is your home or your person, I am a firm believer that less is always more. Too much of a good thing just spoils the whole endeavor! Unfortunately, I get hopped up on the power of the sewing or embroidery machine and stitch until my original project idea is barely recognizable. I know I should stop, but I just can’t seem to do so.

If the project is for the home, I quietly remove as much of the additional “décor” as I can before using it as intended. If I’m unable to salvage it, it becomes a new fixture in my sewing room to remind me not to do the same again. As for clothing items, they sit in my closet, never worn, looking beautiful and embarrassing. I would never actually wear them outside the house. From the looks of my fellow crafters at times, though, I don’t think all of them share my less is more philosophy.

Matching tees, totes, jackets, wallets, hats and more welcome me to any crafter’s venue I attend. Quilted fabric, machine embroidery designs on every available surface, appliqués and 3D objects adorning ladies who are happily unaware of how, well um, colorful they look. Actually, their happiness at their handiwork does give them a certain glow that is beautiful, so there is definitely something to be said about that! And, maybe they just have more confidence than I do. Maybe I just need better self-esteem in order to wear some of my own more, um, creative outfits.

While my own fiendish little heart refuses to allow me to follow them, there are some basic fashion guidelines that we should follow in order to look our best and not draw undue attention to make our kids squirm. When using a favorite embroidery design, it’s best to only stitch one or two motifs on a shirt or skirt; not both. The item not embroidery embellished can then match any color of the machine embroidery thread, adding versatility.

Just as one’s top and bottom pieces shouldn’t be matchy-matchy, it’s definitely a fashion faux paux to make matching jackets, totes, and more. One tends to look like a tourist, even in one’s own back yard. What I do like, is making a matching tote, wallet, makeup pouch and anything else that can be put into said tote. I don’t care what the fashion police say; some embroidery patterns just cry out to be made as identically as possible. Sometimes matchy-matchy is cute, especially when my embroidery supplies include several yards of fabric that I can’t find another use for.

On a recent visit to my favorite embroidery design gallery, I picked up a free embroidery design that I simply adore. I like it so much that I stitched it all over my comfy, faded chambray shirt. Once again, the embroidery imp just wouldn’t let me stop with the pocket and collar points! When I showed it to my friend, who dropped in just as I was about to cut the whole thing up for rags, she exclaimed that it was just the cutest thing she had ever seen. Can you guess what she’s getting for her birthday next month?

No, she’s not getting my shirt. Instead, I’ll make her one of her own. Then, I can wear mine at the same time. If my embroidery machine won’t stop me from stitching a hot mess, then I will just have to enlist my friends to wear my creations. There is safety in numbers after all.

Maybe I’ll even stitch us some matching hats.

During our four years here in Greece, I’ve has so many people get excited when they find out that I do machine embroidery. They always say they should have me create this or that project. In that time, only one of them actually did so, and I had to turn down the commission because the project was both against copyright laws, and would not have been a proper project to highlight my skills. Strangely, now that we are leaving for home in a couple of weeks and my embroidery supplies are packed up, everyone seems to want me to create something for them.

When it rains, it pours!

When I have to turn down every request, I get one of two responses. The first is a glad assurance that their project will just take a second. Really. The second is a knowing look followed with the sudden remembrance that moving is time consuming. Regardless of the response, I’m reminded of a good reason to move. None of these people have offered true neighborliness, instead asking me to do something for them when I have very little time for myself.

My friends and family at home aren’t much more helpful, but at least they understand how time-consuming a well-made embroidery project can be. My sisters-in-law understand that they can request projects all year long, but each and every project becomes their birthday or Christmas present for me. They understand that the time I spend on them is time I’m not using for myself or my own embroidery patterns. I wish everyone else was as understanding!

Being overseas, I don’t mind not doing projects for others. I have to get all of my embroidery supplies through online mail-order, so running out of the perfect color of machine embroidery thread half-way through a project was always a possibility. For my own projects, I could just switch to a similar thread, but this isn’t good practice when the project is for someone else.

This is another good reason to move home. Easy availability of embroidery supplies, quilt patterns, thread and more is very attractive. Revisiting my favorite fabric stores where I can actually feel the texture and see the colors almost has me wanting to jump on the plane tonight! I’ll have to be very, very careful of my budget in the next few months as the excitement of physical shopping might just overwhelm me!

If you haven’t already picked up on it, I am not really looking forward to leaving Greece. I knew we could only stay for 4-5 years, but the reality of it doesn’t mean I have to like it. When I get blue about our upcoming move, I start reminding myself of all the good things of the move. Donut shops. Sewing machine dealers. Fast food. Faster internet. Well, I’m sure you get the idea.

Something I’m very thankful for is all the embroidery digitizers who offer free embroidery designs! When I blow my budget on stabilizer, bobbins, new tools, and donuts, I know that there will always be fantastic free embroidery designs for me to discover. It may even put me in a charitable enough mood to create a project for someone else, also free of charge.

I like that!

This has been a weird sort of week. First, we have a houseguest; a female friend of my son visiting from Finland. Then, my husband who usually works a 2-day-on/2-day-off shift schedule is in a class for two weeks. That means instead of coming home after his 48-hour shift, he’s in class and only gets to come home a couple of nights each week. It’s really messing with my calm, especially since he’s the more social of the two of us. But, our houseguest is very shy, and I think she’s afraid of my husband, so I guess it’s better that it’s just me here trying to make sure she has a good time.


Strangely, other than spending a bit more time each day keeping the house tidy, I have found myself getting a lot more done than I usually do! I’ve met all my deadlines for the month, when I usually am rushing to get done. I’ve been working on quilting, embroidery and my writing as the mood hits. It’s a wonderful feeling!


With all this energy for work, I’ve managed to get quite a few machine embroidery designs completed. I love digitizing, but it can be very time consuming. This week, the work has flowed so easily. Maybe I should have a houseguest more often! My husband already works 72 hours a week, so I don’t think I can ask him to work even more so I can work on my embroidery passion.


Because my creativity has come so easily this week, I’ve even tried a few new techniques and have ordered some new embroidery supplies as well. I’m looking forward to trying out my new embroidery designs on the Mulberry Paper that’s coming. Embroidered holiday cards have always been a favorite of mine, but I never had time to do them by hand. Thank goodness for machine embroidery!


Once my son and his guest go out for the day, and leave the internet to my sole use, I’ll upload a new set of designs to the embroidery design gallery that I belong to. While I’m there, I’ll also look over all the great designs by the other digitizers. If I’m lucky, I’ll find a couple of awesome free embroidery downloads or a couple of new embroidery patterns. Although I’m a digitizer, I still stitch lots of embroidery designs by other designers. We all have such different talents and styles.


Now that the day is coming to a close, I need to rush a bit to complete the embroidery projects that I set for the week. Tomorrow, I’ll be getting my hair done (a rarity) and then getting the house in order and making lasagna. My husband will be home tomorrow night and Saturday, and I want it to be as pleasant as possible for him. The embroidery can be put on hold for him.


As much as I love machine embroidery, I love my husband more. Actually, without his support I wouldn’t even be involved in the art of machine embroidery or the creative endeavor of digitizing embroidery designs.


Maybe his favorite cherry pie after dinner would be a good way to tell him how much I appreciate him. I wonder if my Finish guest will like it.

This time of year, moms are thinking about the new school year. Now that my son is grown and college is his responsibility, I’m free to think and worry about and plan other things. Some years, it’s all about the upcoming holidays, décor and gifts. Other times, like this year, it’s all about calendars, organization and making my house look like the home I want it to be. Of course, my stitching comes into play in a lot of this, whether it’s making quilted tote bags or tablecloths embellished with machine embroidery.

My husband is in a career that has a messed up schedule. Most of them work 48 hours on and 48 hours off, while others work weekdays, and some work weekdays, but also put in a 24-hour shift sometime during that week. It’s confusing for them, and nearly impossible for us wives to figure out, especially when they get a 4-day break once a month and an 8-day break once per quarter. How do we plan our days, parties, and more? When do I have a full day to devote to playing with my machine embroidery designs?

Three years ago, I took over making the pocket schedules and wall calendars for everyone. These calendars, through an intricate system of color coding denote days on shift, days off, and whether those days off are the normal 48 hours or the more anticipated 4- and 8-day breaks. Last year, I took it a step further and created a planner for each of the wives. These include extra calendars, like showing who is off at the same time. It also includes our contact information, conversion charts and lots of local information for getting around and enjoying our brief stay in Greece.

As well as enjoying what I can do in the realm of machine embroidery, I love using my computer for paper crafting in an arty way and in putting together things like those planners. Most of the wives make some sort of ornament or small gift to give at Christmas, so while I created the planners, my embroidery machine was right beside me, stitching out lovely free-standing lace ornaments. My husband and son got involved by adding hot-fix crystals to the rinsed and dried ornaments and also added pretty ribbon as a hanger. Every year, we also create a CD of holiday music. These all packaged together quite well, and we all had a blast doing it.

This year, I need to update the planners and create additional ones for the newcomers. I need to collect phone numbers and email addresses, find out kids’ names and everyone’s birthdays! I used to be an office manager, so this type of thing lets me enjoy the work I did for so long.

However, this year, thoughts of the planners have me thinking of my home. Doing animal fostering as I do, the house gets to be a real jumble. Ordinary, every-day cleaning just doesn’t keep it organized. Two weeks ago, it got a thorough going-over because my son had a house guest. Since this is the first girl he’s brought home, I wanted everything to be perfect. Unfortunately, I forgot about making the new couch pillows with that great free embroidery design I found. Instead, I concentrated on making our American-Clutter house look modern and European. I succeeded to a degree, but then had nothing on hand to show our guest when she asked what I do. This got me thinking about what I really want my home to reflect.

I only began my machine embroidery passion after many, many years of sewing and quilting. Once I understood just how versatile embroidery designs could be, I decided to try my hand at digitizing my own. My first attempts were awful, but I enjoyed the process so much that I just kept trying. I soon realized that I had discovered a passion that I could actually embrace as my new full-time job, leaving behind the dry and boring career of accounting forever. This was something I had been looking to find for a long time, so you can imagine my excitement!

Of course, providing top quality machine embroidery designs takes more than just deciding to do so! It took more than a year to find my style and test my own designs until they were all that I hoped they would be. Placing my first designs for sale was both exciting and terrifying! What if I had failed? Dreams are hard to put aside, so I just kept moving forward. I’m so glad that I did.

Every digitizer of embroidery designs has their own style, own goals, and own ideas on what they want to provide for their customers. Because I love to share and teach, I like to provide free embroidery designs as often as possible. This allows embroiderers to test my designs to make sure they like them, and also allows me to help out those whose budgets don’t allow for a lot of different embroidery patterns.

My style keeps evolving, which is both wonderful and not. Each new style shift means many more hours of practice and test stitching, which takes away from my need to create. But, trying out new ideas also keeps my creativity going strong. It is obvious that I will never grow bored because there are so many different types of embroidery designs and styles to try out!

My goals are twofold. For those who stitch my designs, I want them to enjoy every step of the process and never have any issues with the embroidery that they create. I know that I will not always succeed with this goal, but I always try! For myself, I simply want to never have to go back to the staid, uncreative job of number-crunching. Creating machine embroidery designs will never make me monetarily successful, but my life is so much richer for the choice I made to follow my dream.

I sometimes wonder what the future may hold for me. Will I create my own line of embroidery supplies? Will I discover a machine embroidery thread that never breaks? Will I discover a way to make my embroidery machine also sweep the floor and fold the laundry? Hey, it’s my fantasy! Dreaming big just means that our smallest dreams will come true. We may have to work hard for the biggest dreams, but I believe the journey is worth it whether the dream is realized or not.

Take a moment each day to work towards your dream. Everyone should be as content as I am today.

It is better to give than to receive. This is a quote that most of us know. For me, it is also very true. I love Christmas, birthdays and other gift giving occasions like new babies, weddings, anniversaries, housewarmings, and more. I adore giving hostess gifts whenever we are invited to someone’s home as well. I just love giving gifts. I’ve never been able to afford extravagant gifts, but I think that my joy in giving shows in the choices of the gifts.

With my love of quilting, machine embroidery, crochet, cross-stitch and decorative painting, along with soap-making and cooking, I’ve given my share of homemade gifts over the years. With rare exception, my gifts have always been much appreciated. I’m very glad I took up soap-making and made time for embroidery as these are the quickest of crafts!

During a recent online discussion at a machine embroidery group, it came up that those of us who make homemade gifts rarely receive homemade gifts. Instead, we receive purchased items. While any gift is appreciated, it is the consensus that we would all love to receive something that was crafted just for us.

While I do create homemade items for my friends who are also crafters, they never reciprocate. They show me their projects for praise and pointers, overjoyed when I compliment their work (I always pronounce ever project as perfect). But, I am never the recipient of their artistry. Maybe they feel that it’s not good enough, or maybe they feel that I could just make it myself if it was something I wanted in the first place.

I had been quilting and doing my other fiber arts for 10-15 years before I finally allowed myself to purchase that first embroidery machine. I had convinced myself that I just didn’t have time for it with everything else that I was doing. I was both right and wrong in that assumption. While learning the intricacies of machine embroidery and discovering all the free embroidery designs I could find online, my other fiber arts suffered from neglect. But, once I stopped discovering and started stitching, my new embroidery passion enhanced all of my others crafts! I’d call that a win!

Not long after this, and after a huge bout of stocking up on new-to-me embroidery supplies, I realized that I would like to digitize my own designs. While I could find just about anything I wanted to stitch, I like to think that my style is just a bit different, and I wanted to be able to reflect that in embroidery. So, new software and thick manuals once again took time away from my quilting. I forgot how to crochet and cross-stitch entirely. Cooking became a dirty word!

Like many before me, I had the thought that I no longer need purchase beautiful linens or someone else’s embroidery designs. I could do it all myself. And, like all those before me, I was woefully wrong! While I gained the knowledge and skill to be able to make just about anything my heart desired, I still lacked all the time in the world to do it all.

Ten years later, I have a system. I will happily buy pretty linens and clothing if they fit in my budget. If not, I will think about the time needed to digitize similar designs. If I can find something close at my favorite embroidery design gallery, I will humbly succumb to another digitizer’s artistry. It’s all about time, now.

It works great for me. Now, if I could only convey to my crafty friends that I really can’t just make whatever I want and would love one of their homemade hand-painted silk shopping bags or crocheted cashmere scarf, my world would be complete!