Have you checked out LensHero yet? If not you should. I ran across it by accident killing time the other afternoon and was pretty impressed. It's a fairly straight forward system to help you choose a lens (or several) that fit your budget and your camera system. You can filter them by style of lens (macro/zoom/etc) or have the system suggest something for you. The results are nicely done and include photos of the lenses, your typical specs (aperature/stops), and weight/size information. The page for an individual lens has linked reviews and more technical information. The only thing they don't seem to offer is telling them what you have and suggesting lenses that would fill in the holes in your system, or a space to share photographs taken with a particular lens to get an idea of what's possible. Overall? I think my wallet may get a little lighter now that I've discovered more lenses than I knew existed for my camera. LensHero has the foundations of what looks like it's going to be a great site. They're also giving away some nice lenses and toys to kick off the launch of the site- but be quick. The contest ends on the 23rd though, so be quick.

I have to admit that while I love to cook, life gets in the way of making delicious goodies. I had seen a post that gemma made that she had ordered sinfully delicious cookies from thecountrybaker over at etsy. So the other night in a fit of chocolate cravings and PMS, I ordered both a "Three Fudge Sampler" and a "Surprise Box." I came home today and there was a nice box on my porch.... I was surprised to note that even though it was 85 today, the fudge was not melted! (it was soft, but not liquid).

Soooo goood. The "Surprise Box" was filled with individually wrapped little bars, cookies, and fudge. So far I've tried two different types of cookies and some Double Dark Fudge. I can *feel* the pounds packing on...

They also offer packages for troops in service to our country, and if you don't know someone but want to help they maintain a list of troops who are more than willing to receive extra goodies.

A quick additional shoutout to themommyandmeboutique who did a neat little feature on some of my bobbies on her blog.

I do and I love it. I do hand work too, but there's something soothing and relaxing listening to the machine run. (besides you can start the machine, and sew on a second machine and be twice as productive) It can also be quite hypnotic to watch the needle jump up and down.

I buy many of my designs at the shop I work at, but I also really like being able to buy my designs individually. Unfortunately design collections can be really expensive, and as cool as they may be, if I'm not going to use them all it's just not practical. So here's my reviews of some of my favorite places to get machine embroidery files online. Some of the sites are country specific (I'm in the US) so if you have a problem let me know and I'll see if I can find you the right link.



Embroidery.com is one of my favorites for downloading both packs of designs and individual designs. They're the online vendor for Cactus Punch designs and you can buy them individually as well as the whole package. They also sell lots of smaller vendor designs, and I've never purchased anything that has stitched out poorly. Make sure you get on their mailing list, they've got amazing sales.

I also have a coupons for 5 free designs from them... We hand them out at work for people to try the site and start embroidering on their new machines!
1. Go to www.embroidery.com
2. Enter your sewprize number in the box on the upper right hand corner AFG6K8PC427J
3. You can then download the 5 designs in your choice of formats

Ann the Gran.com

Ann the Gran has lots of designs as well, including large names like Dakota and Vermillion Stitchery. They also have a large section of the website devoted to free designs that can be stitched on items to sell, give, or keep for yourself. The free designs vary in quality as they've been digitized by users of the site and not necessarily an individual company or a professional.

Criswell Embroidery and Design

The Criswell site is full or gorgeous machine embroidered lace. They do sell through dealers as well so you may want to see if there is a store or shop near you that sells them. They're thread intensive, but are amazing once they're finished! My personal favorites are the snowflake lace and the Peacocks 2 CD.

Embroidery Library

Again- lots of designs and well organized. Also well digitized, and they offer various free and cheap designs. They have great sales a well and routinely have 17 cent designs.

Zundt Designs

These are some of the most elegant designs available. They've got religious designs, kids, lace, etc. They're amazing well digitized and again, stitch intensive. I have one of the butterfly CDs and it's unbelievable. They sell hard copies (CDs) and downloads.

Pfaff Software Online

These are a sampling of Pfaff Embroidery Designs online (often including the ones they use in their advertising campaigns). These are the FREE designs :) click on the Downloads sections, and then on "Showcase Sample Designs" for the different groups. It's a random assortment of files, all well digitized, but only available is *.VIP, *.PCS and *.DST. You can always convert them if necessary. Pfaff's home website also has a few free designs available here. The design to the right is from the Grand Elegance Collection by Pfaff (Not Free though, Sorry).

Inspira

Inspira designs have been bought by VSM (which owns Pfaff, Viking, and Singer), and are now available here. They're great for kids, but not so much of it is grownup looking. They're pretty straightforward designs, few color changes, and nice.

Bernina Designs

Bernina designs are in the same quality bracket as Pfaff and Viking. They stitch amazingly and they're expensive. So even better if they're free! Bernina has an inspiration gallery with free designs located here.

Viking Sewing

Viking again are high quality designs, and expensive. They have a selection of free designs on their website here and here.

Whew! That's a lot of links for you to look at- This is just a beginning, I'm sure There will be more to come.