Current Mood : Relieved I won't have to do that again any time soon !
Spent on Sewing today : $3. for three downloaded sets !
OK, so here's what I can tell you if you ever get bit - and bit hard ! - by the machine embroidery bug, and start downloading free images online. For starters, there's millions of ‘em, but the ones you absolutely flat-out adore are either $7. for a single image or $20. for the package. That said, even if you only download the free ones you're sure to stitch up, and can ‘see' yourself using and enjoying, you'll soon have a huge pile of ‘em, and even sorted into folders, they're a mess.
Windows of any vintage doesn't recognize various sewing machine formats as images. So when you look at what you got, you see a lot of plain white ‘sheets of paper' and ‘manila folders'. Especially if you're a dingbat like me and didn't bother to cut/paste the little images of your downloaded goodies when you got ‘em. So now, you have a Milky Way of different versions of ‘star.pes' and a Humane Society-load of ‘cat.pes'.
There's only two ways around this. One is to be intelligent and forward thinking, and snag the image when you get the design. The other is to download a digitizer like Embird or Pe-Design, both of which will gladly give you tiny thumbnails of it all. Too bad each only has a 30-day free trial, and after that, keepin' up with yer crap will be $145., minimum.
Well, maybe I mis-spoke. There is a third way, if you've already booted One. And that's how I spent most of today. Trying to find all the downloads - where I got ‘em, and from what pages - and copying the download images, then editing them so I can add tiny little .jpg images to the files. Whew. And, seriously, I don't really have that many. But with so many sites putting out so many designs, remembering if I got this cat there, this sewing machine from the forum, and this star set was a ‘free with purchase' bonus... whoo. That was really stupid of me !
It didn't take all day - just most of it. I got to go out with Beloved Hubby, and we had fun just driving and doing a bit of shopping. We stopped at the Asian grocery, and I got some rice crackers, but I don't really like them. I may have to make peace with Target once my Molly-car is back up.
Once home, I found that an the 70s-era eBay lot I won Friday had already arrived ! Wow. The Ballerina Barbie was near mint - only one of her hair's rubber bands had broken. Aside from a bit of surface dirt, she is just beautifully perfect. And, as a surprise, one of the seller's clothing lots didn't sell, so she tossed it into mine ! I don't recognize any of the outfits, but it's always nice to have more ! I need to write her a nice thank-you note beyond just the glowing feedback...
I also got the Brother registered, just in case.
