The weather in New Jersey this week is snowy and really cold and to some folks that may not seem so wonderous but when we had an unexpected family gathering in New York last week it made one little girl happy.  My 16 year old niece was visiting from Ocala, Fl and she had never seen snow in her life.  Picture a young girl standing out in the snow, in her flip flops, letting the snow flakes melt on her face.  She loved it.  Her dad and brother even got into a snowball fight.  A day later they were back in Florida where it was sunny and much warmer. 

I hope to have time to see her, at the end of March, when I am with all of you at the annual Ann The Gran Community Circle event being held in Orlando. We are going to have so much fun, I can’t wait!  I submitted my class today and learned a little about the rest of the classes and I think you are going to love them. Rita Farro is going to be there and I’ll let you in on a secret, she loves pink flamingoes so you might want to give her something with a pink flamingo on it.  Brother is the sponsor for this event and I can share with all of you that we are planning to have some great deals on products and accessories for you at this event. For those of you that have not had a chance to see the exciting new Quattro machine from Brother, you will be able to see it up close and personal at this event, too!  Be sure to visit the Community Circle part of this site to register now! Click here to check it out.

Since the last time we visited I have been to Denver to visit our son and his wife.  Like so many visits, they end too fast and you wonder why you never got around to talking about so many things.  Christine has an at-home embroidery business and she is always fishing around for ideas and tips on how to do things better.  Of course I told her that AnnTheGran.com has been the premier site for just that for so many years, I can hardly remember.  About an hour before we were to leave for the airport my son and husband decided to adjust the bi-fold doors on the closet that Christine has turned into a office for her business.  To add to the fun, Christine asked me to show her how to use PEDesign while two kids and dog were running around.  No problem.  She loved it when I showed how easily she could personalize the towels that she wanted to give as a birthday gift the next day.  She could not believe how she could surround a ship with lettering in seconds. Being the good marketer that she is, Christine was going to present Captain Randy with his own towels so he could show them off at the marina next summer.  As soon as someone asks where he got them, he will present Christine’s business card.  My son also got a personalized apron for Christmas that he is going to wear at the next neighborhood rib cook-off.  The kids have their personalized backpacks too!  Christine promised me that she was going to sit down and use the free Instructional Tutorials that are included in several of our versions.  She could not believe how easy they were to follow.  I want to remind any of you that might have the latest version of PEDesign, we do put a Quick Start Guide in the box but the program CD also has an expanded instruction book and that pdf file is where you are going to find the tutorials. 

I also wanted to be sure to answer a question here that our friend Nelta sent me an email about.  Nelta wanted to know if she could download the free programmed fill designs from the AnnTheGran site and how she could use them with the Floriani Digitizing Program.  I do not know how that program works but I do know that you can use programmable fills in PEDesign.  I copied a page from the instruction book so each of you could see how easy it is to open a .pas programmable fill pattern.  It’s the best I can do for you Nelta.


 
Well, we are just about to enter the Lincoln Tunnel as we head in New York City to see “Jersey Boys” so I'd best sign off. 

PS  You have to admit that is pretty good that I could sit in my car and type this blog on my laptop in the dark…..don’t worry, I wasn’t driving.  I can only multi-task so far.  Have a great day!