There is so much to quilting and machine embroidery, one can not simply learn it all in one weekend or just by sitting down and reading a book. Taking one or two classes just isn't enough to get you to the point where you feel close to being an amature never mind comfortable with a computerized machine that can do just about everything (except cook dinner, AHEM). I digress.

"There is just so much to learn!" Probably the most over said in any class I teach be it quilting, machine embroidery or just a basic computer class. "Yes, there is SO much to learn!" But that's not reason for tossing in the towel. That's no reason to sell your machine!

It takes baby steps. It takes learning to crawl before you can walk. That means learning how to thread your machine properly before you can spit out 15 customized towels that you promised your neighbor for the minute she learned you "can" embroider with your machine!

STOP! Slow down. Don't jump into big huge bulk projects that will just fester your frustrations! Take a step back and remember this is a hobby. It's supposed to be fun, right? What's so fun about having to pump out 15 towels for someone else to enjoy while you are fighting with your machine, cursing at it because YOU put the bobbin in backwards!

Now don't get me wrong. I don't mean to pick on you, or you, or you... but come on! You can't win the tour de France if you've only first started to learn to ride a bike!

Take your time. Learn the basics. Make sure you know how to thread, wind bobbins and clean your machine properly. Make sure you take a hooping class, or a stabilizer class, or a whatever class. Even if it's a repeat of what you already know, you will walk out of there with one little nugget that will make the price of the class worth it.

Hand-Made-Hugs.com is pleased to announce that in the next coming months we will host online classes and clubs. You can sign up for classes or clubs and reminders of new classes/clubs will be sent directly to your e-mail box.

The purpose of these classes is to keep you practicing the basics. They are to show you what we've learned through many mistakes, so you won't have to make the same (albeit stupid) mistakes we did.

We want to advance you from mere towels to more complicated, more advanced machine embroidery, quilting and digitizing skills. There will be sporatic computer classes to help you get familiar with the basics needed to do some projects. We will try to keep our focus on the projects yet attempt to expand to your own customizations.

Look back in the coming months to see what we have to offer! I'm sure you will love it!