Many new to embroidery have experienced numerous problems because of the inferior quality of free embroidery design files that they downloaded over the internet. One of the biggest mistakes that many new sewists make is using free designs patterns that have problems built in. Even if you are lucky enough to do everything else right and use inferior designs, results will probably not be good. Many of the free embroidery designs files that one can download are the first efforts of someone that has just begun to digitize and thus are not very well made. Many new to this great hobby use these because they are free and easy to download without using a credit card, but this is where the trouble begins. Then when outlines are off or there are gaps in the sewing and poor results are evident, how does one know where the problem lies? Is it the designs or the stabilizers or even worst - Can it be the new embroidery machine? We have a test so one can determine if the design is at fault or if the stabilizer is the problem. We make available free designs, free sewing lessons, free thread color charts and info that you may need to learn so you can get great results with your embroidery designs projects.

There is a big difference in the way embroidery designs patterns sew out because of how the designs files were digitized. All designs should have a foundation, underlayment stitches that sews before the design itself, to help stabilize the fabric. These underlayment stitches are put in so that the stitches on top have a minimum stretching effect on the fabric, so stabilizing will be easier. - this takes careful planning as one needs to know what top stitches are needed to make the design and what stretching effect this will have on the finished design pattern and fabric. The goal is to put the underlayment in so that the thread art designs on top will have no or very little effect on the fabric. (no puckering, no cupping or off outlines or miss-aligned parts) Without proper underlayment, it is almost impossible for a design to sew out well, even with the best of stabilizing. Another important consideration for sewing ease is thread changes and jump stitches. Skill and careful planning is necessary to eliminate all unnecessary jump stitches and thread changes. So choose your embroidery designs well and avoid the disappointment and frustrations of trying to use poor designs. Even free designs can cost a lot more in time, garments, frustrations and disappointment that a purchased quality one - there really is no comparison in the pleasure you will have while sewing quality embroidery designs patterns.

Terry Carter is the webmaster and author of embroidery articles at
embroidery designs by Thread Artist. He has an article about embroidery software for digitizing and lettering fonts
at embroidery software. There is free embroidery digitizing Tutorial at this web address - embroidery by Thread Artists. You can email Terry at this address - ThreadArtist@qx.net

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In Poetry: Meaning of Words

When I write poetry, I check out the meaning of words for too often they sound the same, but once written, and if spelled wrong, in consequence, give a complete different meaning of what I had intended; this I call a moment of damage control. If my rhyme is flat, and my cadence is off, so what, I can survive, as long as the meaning of my words are not; and are as I meant them to be. Even punctuation can be off, and not do too much damage, but not so with my meaning of words, when they are off; or, is not as I intended them to be. I am not a professor, or perfectionist in/of English, nor need to be, a minor in literature is it and will do, but here is the bottom of the iceberg in poetrythe meaning of words. Write what you mean in words, and mean what the words say in writing poetry; or so I must remember for myself; or at least now and then remind myself; remind myself that poetry is the highest point or form in/of writing. Yet, sometimes I must give up something to get something, but never the meaning of a word. Well, that is how I feel anyhow. Why? it is damaging not only to me, but to the reader.

A poem on Vietnam called:

“Corporal Siluk and the Rocket-belt”

“It’s a ‘ell of a night
for rockets in flight,”
Private McGee reminded me…
thinkin’ we’re done for the day
ready to go to sleep
(perhaps, thinking about his pay).

When, out of the clear
we both could ‘ear
the whistle of a rocket’s thrust
‘verour little tin-roofed hut.

“Got to grab our rifles again,”
said I, to Private McGee
“Steady there, ol’ pal,”
half drunk, falling to his knees…;
as the rocket explodes
somewhere, nearby
in the shrubbery.

#738 6/24/05

Dennis Siluk’s new book, “Spell of the Andes,” presently on http://www.amazon.com; he lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Lima, Peru. He is working on two more books, and several short stories.

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Everyone who has met Peter Sutherland would agree that his unique mix of charisma and robustness has served him well over the years. Peter Sutherland was instrumental in negotiating the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and it has been well documented that in order to get the accord passed, it was not unusual for him to keep negotiators at the table into the small hours of the night. The deal came together after almost a decade of negotiations, and the very gavel he used throughout now sits on his desk at his office in London where he serves as chairman of the arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that oversees Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

It was back in the mid nineties when he rejoined Goldman Sachs, where where previously he had a position as an adviser. Eugene Fife then head of the firm’s London office recruited him after they met on a London-to-New York flight. Not only current but also former Goldman Sachs employees say Mr. Sutherland gave the bank a lift when it was trying to position itself in Europe.

Peter was widely recognized as being key for winning business away from London’s big merchant banks as well as European financial firms. He brought with him a stable of high-level contacts. Not only that but he is also known to be close to Italian Prime Minister Prodi. In more recent times he accompanied former Goldman CEO Henry Paulson on trips to Russia and China before Paulson became treasury secretary last year. Not only this, he also played an important role in forging a relationship between Goldman and Mittal Steel Co. That paid dividends when Mittal hired Goldman as lead banker in its $39 billion takeover of Arcelor SA last year. By all accounts Peter Sutherland has been instrumental in some keys bits of business which have had a massive impact on the development of Goldman.

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Soy candle wax was only invented in 1991 but it has already become a very popular wax. There are a number of advantages to using soy wax. First, soy is a natural and long lasting. Soy wax is much less expensive than other natural waxes like bees wax. Soy candles also produce less soot than synthetic candle waxes.

A man named Michael Richards invented soy candle wax in 1991. He had recently entered the candle making supply business earlier in the year. Richards noticed that there was a large consumer demand for natural waxes, but most people could not afford them. He experimented with the waxes and oils of many different plants before realizing that mixing soybean oil with palm oil and coconut oil made a great wax. He also mixed a small amount of bees wax into the mixture to make it an even better candle-making wax. By 1995 he had perfected the mix, when soy candle-making supply stores first appeared.

Soy wax has many advantages over other types of candle-making wax. Soy wax is natural — it does not include petroleum or other environmentally unsafe ingredients that synthetic waxes may contain. Many soy candle-making supply shops only sell wax made with soybeans grown in the United States. Purchasing these supplies helps the farmers that grow the soybeans.

Another advantage of soy wax over synthetic wax is that it gives off much less soot. There is less of a need to clean up after burning a soy wax candle, and there is no risk of the soot starting a fire.

Soy wax is much less expensive than other natural waxes. It can cost less than half as much as beeswax. Candle makers who want to use a natural wax but can’t afford bees wax are advised to try soy wax.

Soy wax is a great alternative to synthetic wax. It is all-natural and is much less expensive than bees wax.

Candle Making Supplies Info provides detailed information on wholesale, discount, soy, gel, and bee wax candle making supply, and more. Candle Making Supplies Info is affiliated with Original Content.

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Mother, how special is that thought;
Grand memories of all you brought
To my life.
How forlorn I would truly be
Without the precious memory
Of my father’s wife.

Crushed was my heart that awful day,
When you were required to move away,
And leave me behind.
I know if you had had a choice,
Or if death had listened to my voice,
All would be fine.

But the wheels of time did stop.
For you as it did for “Pops”
So, again, I am left to grieve.
Oh mother nearest to my heart,
How soon you had to depart,
And your daughter leave.

My being, my soul in so much pain,
How can I ever be whole again,
Without you here?
My world turning gravely dark,
Life flames waning into mere sparks,
The future I do fear.

Mother nearest to my heart,
Why did you not to me impart,
Some wisdom to carry me through?
The anguish of a heart that’s shattered,
Trying to live when nothing matters.
What am I to do?

How can I live out each new day,
When I can’t call you just to say,
“Hi mother dear?”
My home is now forever gone
My soul in solemn transit roams
A desolate sphere.

I must hold on to the promise made,
When I was scarcely more than babe,
That one day we’ll meet again.
Until that glorious future day
When this brief life has past away
My love shall never wane.

My heart is grieved as I once again approach the anniversary of my mother’s illness and eventual death. Though it has been over twenty years since her demise, it still seems as though it was yesterday. Thank you for allowing me to share this poem written a couple of years ago during a time such as this.

Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, veteran social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach which can be reviewed on her site. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, though delayed in publication, is expected to be available early 2006.

You are welcome to visit AMEN Ministries: Your Soul’s Service Station for reviewing spiritual services being offered, obtain spiritual refreshing and soul edification, browse our newly expanded Stop & Shop Specialty Store or review our recommended books you may want to add to your personal library.

Blessings to all!

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sports betting online web site

Some bettors will have encountered the caption “offshore sports betting” in recent months, though some may not be completely confident of what that stands for in detail. A foreign betting internet site in essence acts outside the authority of any distinct state or else it could mean a machine-accessible betting website that has their computer servers inside the boundaries of a nation in which networked betting is not currently banned. To sum up therefore, it can be identified as a wagering business that functions extraneous of the authority of the area of the customer. Online gambling webpages are mostly regulated via three agencies. They are the OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association (the FTGA).

The Offshore Gaming Association are a nonpartisan institution which regulates the modern offshore sports gambling trade with the task of to also provide sports gamblers the capability to easily distinguish honorable businesses to play games of fate with. The agency aims to look after consumer’s rights, and also they do not impose any annual fees. The association are a well qualified and non-biased third party company that reveals neutral impressions, established on your assessments, objective investigation, phone chats, inside information also offers inside communication.

The Interactive Gaming Council are a not-for-profit organisation. The organisation has been designed to furnish an arena for curious people to talk over problems furthermore to move forward shared matters in the global interactive betting trade, in an effort to establish even-handed not to mention duty-bound business instructions and practises which improve customer certainty in online gaming products and functions, and to assist as the gaming trade’s global strategy representative and in addition the council functions as an information center.

The IGC has made a regard for advocating trustworthiness, stability and credibility via the scrupulous criteria it displays, also its appeal for business organizations of honest practise. The Interactive Gaming Council governs offshore sports gambling through advocating a unique ten step code of conduct furthermore charges sports gaming sites fees for displaying their logo. Disenchanted gamers can also state their issues to the Interactive Gaming Council.

The FTGA has been established in order to set a standard which will improve the procedures of internet gambling business concerns. The agency suggest that by conducting trade solely with internet sites of good reputation, they can build a coalition of the most honest and professional offshore gambling companies all over the world.

To recapitulate, there are organizations that oversee the practises of world wide web based gaming and which should hopefully aid to ease a few of the trepidation experienced by detractors. Networked sports gambling sites are today actually trustworthy, now that private data aren’t requested and the returns not to mention the betting odds are always as balanced and honest as in your familiar Vegas-type sports bet. These sites eradicate traveling outlay, but still retain of a conventional casino, but these days you are enabled to wager in your house.

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Would you like to add more creative appeal to your scrapbooks? Here are three methods to add more depth and creativity to your scrapbook creations.

A good way to make your own personal seals is with Crayola Model Magic. Simply, roll out a small ball of the clay. Then, imprint this ball with a small rubber stamp or a brass seal. In this way, you can create whatever stamp impressions you can imagine.

Also, who would of ever thought ripping or tearing your project would be a good thing. Well here’s how tearing actually adds character to your scrapbook.

As the word suggests, tearing is the ripping of paper or tissue paper into various shapes or abstract forms. Tearing creates an artist look to backgrounds, borders, and embellishments.

Be aware however, because tearing does not comply well with all themes. In some more formal themes tearing appears unprofessional. However, when used correctly it really adds a nice look to your work.

Fraying can create extremely interesting and artist border accents. Fraying looks especially good in children’s scrapbooks, as well as pages for your more creative and imaginative friends. Be careful, fraying does not comply well with all themes. In some more formal themes fraying creates an unprofessional appearance.

Just cut your paper border about an inch larger than you need. Then, dampen this border by dipping only the edges of the paper into a shallow dish of water. Then, the edges of the paper can then be easily pulled off.

Mia LaCron is the founder of 101-scrapbooking-tidbits.info - http://www.101-scrapbooking-tidbits.info - devoted to helping individuals record, store, and preserve their most cherished memories via the art of scrapbooking.

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Mother nature is very unexpected, it can bring you the most amazing weather and make your life really easy or it can really pound you and make your life very difficult. The unexpected weather scenario something that you should really prepare for just in case the unexpected happens. Among having a first aid kit, it is essential that you have the right tools. Like hammers, screwdrivers, saws, shovels, chains, and anything else that you may think is important depending on the type of weather patters you get where you live. If you are in a hurricane prone area remember to have always extra plywood to protect your home, if you live by near a river make sure that you have anything that you may need in case of a flood and of course if you live in a snow prone area, shovels, chains and a nice pair of warm boots will make your life ten times easier. The most important to prepare for when these types of weather patters hit the area you live is to give human life more importance over everything. Things, and even a home can always be replaced, life can’t. So have your stuff ready and be alert of any authority recommendation. Using all of these tools requires some exercise, so take Acceletrim beforehand to give you the energy that you need.

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Here is a formal dress that is an all-time classic and still works today. It is a great idea for bridesmaids dresses.

This clever dress actually leads a double life. It’s design gives it the unique ability to be worn long to the ankle or as short as you like. It is one that doesn’t have to spend most of its life in the closet. It converts into a short length with the drop of a skirt.

The secret of this simple slender dress is the second skirt which is attached to a half slip of lining and is worn underneath the short dress.

When worn together, they give a tunic like effect. To convert to the short length, the half-slip is removed and with it the attached lower skirt.

This idea is not for flared, full or bouffant skirts. But, it works beautifully on slim straight skirts or dresses.

To sew this skirt, you need an additional 1-1/8 yards of the dress or skirt fabric and about 2 yards of 42 inch lining fabric. (Ambiance Bemberg Rayon works well.)

Finish sewing the short dress or short skirt first.

Then sew a long half slip of lining fabric.

1. Use a simple straight skirt pattern that fits you. It should have a center back seam.

2. Add about 12 inches to the length. Plan to finish the lining hem about 2 inches above the ankle.

3. Cut the width of the lining slip the same as the bottom width of your short dress or short skirt.

4. Stitch the side seams at 3/4″ rather than 5/8″. This will make the slip slightly smaller to fit under the short dress or short skirt.

5. Make a narrow elastic waist or a narrow waist band with a side opening. A zipper is not necessary.

6. Plan to have a slit in the center back seam for walking ease.

7. Try on the short dress and long half-slip.

8. Mark the half-slip 3 inches above the finished lower edge of the dress. This is where you will attach the lower skirt.

The Lower Skirt

1. For the lower skirt, use the dress pattern.

2. Measure 20 inches up from the lower edge of the pattern and mark front and back. Use this lower marked section for your under lower skirt pattern.

3. Stitch the center back seam at 5/8″ and leave a slit opening for walking ease.

4. Stitch the lower skirt together making the side seams 3/4″ deep.

5. Place right sides together with the bottom of the lower skirt laying up toward the half-slip waist and the top edge of the lower skirt laying along the marked line on the half-slip.

6. Stitch the lower skirt to the half-slip along the marking that is 3 inches above the short length dress.

7. Turn the lower skirt down over the stitched seam.

8. Hem the lower edge to your desired length.

9. Whip the half-slip lining slit to the lower skirt slit to secure.

Enjoy your “All-In-One” short/long formal.

It just makes sense!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

- by Marian Lewis

©2006 Marian Lewis - All Rights Reserved

1st Step To Sewing Success

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Marian Lewis is a sewing instructor and the creator of an amazing new fitting method for hard-to-fit sewing folks.

In her ebook, “Common Sense Fitting Method For Hard-To-Fit Sewing Folks Who Want Great Fitting Skirts And Pants”, find out step-by-step WHAT you really need, WHERE you really need it and HOW to apply that to a commercial sewing pattern.

For more information, go to:

=> http://www.1ststeptosewingsuccess.com/fitting.html

Marian is also the author of other eBooks related to sewing including, “Sew A Tee Pee And Accessories For Your Tribe Of Kids” and “Classy Designer Straight Skirt” where she teaches basic and advanced sewing techniques.

To learn more, go to:

=> http://www.1ststeptosewingsuccess.com/sewing.html

To discover sewing and fitting secrets to achieve sewing success, follow the link:

=> http://www.1ststeptosewingsuccess.com

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If you’re just starting out in internet marketing, you probably feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available. The learning curve is less like a hill and more like a cliff! If you’ve been at this business for a while, you may be frustrated that you’re still not making any money, or not enough money. You may be wondering why no one is reading your ads, or why all those visitors to your site are not buying anything and not returning. Where do you start? How do you convert the casual visitor to a return customer?

Relax and breathe. None of us was born an internet marketer. We all have to start someplace. A great place to start is by looking at something you already DO know, offline business. We all shop somewhere. Pick a store you’re familiar with, maybe the grocery store where you shop at least once a week. Pick a small store to focus on, not a huge supermarket. Now pretend that’s just an empty lot or building, and you’re an aspiring grocer. What do you need to do?

There’s 3 big steps you need to take.

1) First you have to have a crystal clear picture in your mind of exactly what you want to do. What do you want to sell, and what do you want your store to look like? Spend some time dreaming, so you can see everyone who is in your store and what they are buying. Your store needs four walls, a floor, doors and windows, and a roof. You need to decide on size, the first step is to figure out what you want to sell. You think about what people in your town need and buy regularly, the availability of these products in other well established stores, and decide on your niche and your location. Maybe it’s bread, canned goods, cereals, candy, ice cream, soda, milk, and cigarettes on a busy corner near a residential area with no other store in walking distance. Maybe it’s a natural food store in a yuppie neighborhood. Maybe it’s gas and snack foods near a highway.

2) Secondly, you have to understand what you need to have in place to make that dream come true, and how you’re going to do it. What does your store need by way of infrastructure? You need shelves, freezers and refrigerated cases, a counter and a cash register. Probably you need a small office and bathroom as well. You need electricity, lighting, heat, air conditioning, desk, chair, phone, fax, maybe some music, paint, flooring, security cameras and so on.

Once you decide on the layout of the store, you will know what size of a building you need to build, buy or rent. How are you going to finance this, and how will you afford to stock your store, from savings or from a loan?

3) Assuming that you now have a fully-stocked and operational store, how will you get people to shop there? You could advertise in newspapers, radio and tv; put up signs; offer door prizes and/or sales; offer free advice and information (recipes, menus, shopping lists, health and nutrition information, diet information); sponsor events (a booksigning by a famous cookbook author, co-sponsor a food related festival); build familiarity and trust by joining social, charity or business clubs, or volunteering at local events.

Fine and good, you say, but I still don’t know how to make money online. Let’s take the example we just developed and convert it to online business.

Gazing Into Your Crystal Ball

1) First the concept. What do YOU want to do? What do the people that frequent the internet want? First and foremost, right behind email, people online are looking for information. There are places online you can go to research hot topics, such as Overture’s Keyword Selector Tool. Here you can see how many times a word or phrase was searched in the last month. You can do a Google search for these terms to see how many websites are already available sharing that information. As you keep narrowing down your focus, balance between your passion, what other people want, and what’s already available. A very small niche with very little competition with targeted promotions can become a very lucrative business.

Your Shopping List

2) Now the infrastructure, the Short List:

a) internet real estate = a website. This can be an affiliate site or your own. You can get a free website with no outside advertising here: FiniteSite.

b) products: No matter what your interests, there’s an affiliate program with products that fit; you may want to sell related ebooks, Amazon.com books, etc. Clickbank is a good place to find electronic information products.

c) tools: you will need a tracking system (known as a link tracker); an autoresponder; a link rotator.

d) knowledge: you will need a splash page program and/or some basic html and advertising knowledge. A free html tutorial is PageTutor.

e) an expense budget, no matter how small at first.

You Need More Than Two Cans and a String

3) Promotion: people enter your world (the internet) via a browser. Since “the internet” is intangible, many people confuse the vehicle (AOL or Yahoo!, for example) with the destination itself, the internet. So let’s be gentle with our potential visitors and make their journey from landing pad to your neighborhood as effortless, pleasant and convenient as possible.

If they are interested in buying widgets online, they will soon realize that there are a million widget salesmen out there. So they start narrowing down their search, and they comparison shop. First and foremost, they are information gatherers. Where do they go first? Probably to a search engine. Then they start exploring. They visit a site; if it fits their needs, they may bookmark it before they move on. When they move on, they may return to their Google or Yahoo! search results, or they may follow a link off of the page they visited.

So getting yourself listed in the search engines is important. This does not require your own domain name, but a website where you can control your page content is essential. A search engine will not list a replicated affiliate website, such as http://aff-masters.sitesell.com/marketing101209.html but it will gladly list http://aff-masters.sitesell.com/. Search engines want new, original information.

Your own domain name, carefully chosen, will help to brand either your name or your website name. wallywalton.com wallyswidgets.com widgetworld.com etc. If you get a free website with finitesite.com, your url will be finitesite.com/wallywalton or something like that. It might be finitesite.com/member/wallywalton — I forget, it’s been a while since I had a site with them With some work, you can get a site with a url like this into the search engines. It’s a great way to start if you can’t afford domain name, hosting etc.

Sooner or later, your site visitor will be ready for a purchase. Maybe they will drive off to the nearest hardware store armed with all their new information and buy a widget there. If they found your site in the search engine, visited and bookmarked it, maybe they’ll return and buy from you. Maybe they’ll buy from the site they went to after your site. But 9 times out of 10, once they’ve left your site, they’re gone forever.

And Now the Quiz, Purely Common Sense

How do you get them to come back? Here’s a pop quiz for you, choose the best answer (it’s a no-brainer):

a) offering so much valuable information, they bookmark your site and return on their own;

b) building so much trust and familiarity that, when they think of widgets, or of asking for an opinion, or for buying anything widget-like, they think of you (that’s called branding your name);

c) promoting your website so much that, when they think of widgets, they automatically think of your website (that’s also branding, the name of your site in this case)

d) have a mailing list they can subscribe to (this might be the online equivalent of a guest book in a store) and receive updates on information on your website;

e) have contests on your site;

f) endorse other people’s sites and products, with an appropriate byline including your own url;

g) give away things;

h) hang out in places online that your potential visitors frequent (forums, bulletin boards, chat rooms, conferences, seminars) and make friends, give away free information and helpful links and tools, include your url in your signature where allowed;

i) blogging and using RSS feeds to keep people thinking of you and your widgets;

j) being a part of the search engine revolution and exploring the world of tagging, or social bookmarks (creating your own search engine with other like-minded anarchists

k) all of the above.

Each of these concept, infrastructure, and promotion ideas could and will be an article in its own right; but this is your basic outline for building your online business. The ultimate power of the internet is to level the playing field for both major corporations, little ol’ you, and everyone in between. A business that fully utilizes the internet can throw away the purchased leads list, because cold calling and cold emailing is a thing of the past. Using the internet to its fullest business potential means putting your message where your potential customers can find it, and letting them come emailing, looking and calling for you.

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