Charlotte Gilmour - Newsletter Editor, Yahoo Marketing

Hi, my name is Charlotte Gilmour =0)

I'm married and have four children and a lot of critterz ;0) We are medieval recreators, so I also have a historical interest in many art forms, including textile
embellishment.

I've been "behind the needle" for 40 years, my grandmother started me off very young, whip stitching the frayed edges of her washclothes (I still remember doing it too LOL). From there it was doll clothes, fun pillows and clothes for myself and as an adult, I worked from my home as a seamstress for hire. Over time, I have learnt or taught myself to practice many arts (too many to list here). As far as embroidery, that for many years was strictly by hand for me, barring the priviledge of some limited
pre-programmed stitches in my sewing machine. I remember seeing my first real home embroidery machine, which was way out of my price range, and something I just felt was beyond my reach . . . then one day we found *a deal* on a Simplicity SE3 (very similar to the Brother PE150) and I was hooked . . . from there it was a Singer XL6000 and a Janome MC11000 (did I mention debt? LOL).

While I waited for my little Simplicity SE3 to arrive, I joined a lot of Yahoo groups, and remain a member of most of those to this day. Living in a small town, I needed to learn as much as I could over the internet, this meant groups. I also knew almost immediately that I wanted to digitize and through information on groups, finally settled on Embird products.

I began to purchase tutorials and lessons and learn via the groups and am still learning today. Eventually, I started my little site The Enchanted Cottage and also, because I saw a need for affordable/cost effective promotion, started DigiFavs Embroidery Vendor Advertising Service (most visit the Vendors page there) it was never my intention to advertise embroidery or related products, but having had some experience in sales previously and seeing a need, it just sort of happened one week, LOL.

I was thrilled the day I heard from Shawn regarding helping with his newsletter (it just so happens I have a background in hardcopy newsletters, from which I'm sure I can implement some of that knowledge) as such things are right up my alley and I look forward to being part of the DesignsbySick.com team.

Rhonda Slack - Digitizer

I am a work at home mom and a retired Air Force wife of 20 yrs.
I have traveled the world with my husbands career and loved it. My favorite is still Guam.
I sew and donate to New Borns In Need and to my local Church Humanitarian Projects.
I learned to digitize out of the pure love of the embroidery machine.
It's great to be an American!
God Bless Our Troops and Bring Them Home Safely.

Rhonda
Designs By Rhonda

MaryCatherine McCoy - Technical Writer

MaryCatherine was inspired by both of her grandmothers to sew. Her Grandmother McCoy left a small sewing basket to her, which has a special place in her sewing studio. And she learned how to sew on her Grandmother Barnes’s sewing machine as soon as her feet could reach the treadle. In fact, she still has that cherished old sewing machine.

Her Mother was her first teacher. Patiently showing her how to guide the fabric under the foot and let the feed dogs move the fabric along, MaryCatherine had to master the foot treadle before she graduated to the electric sewing machine.

Now, many years and many teachers later, MaryCatherine has also mastered computerized sewing machines and embroidery software. In fact, she teaches and continues to enjoy sewing, passing along new techniques to her students as well as heirloom projects to her family’s next generation.

Hi Y'all! I hail from Texas, between Houston and Galveston, so I have the best of both worlds as a crafter, embroiderer and sewer. A large city which offers many wonderful resources and the friendliness of a small city, where they know me by name at the local fabric store!

As a mother of two young children and someone fairly new to the world of machine embroidery, I have can offer a novice view to this intriguing hobby. I have written articles for the Designs by Sick newsletter on a variety of topics from organizing your sewing room to a newbie's first embroidery machine shopping experience.

I learned to sew as a very young child by helping my mother (probably more of a hindrance) and it must be in the blood, because even my 2 year old daughter is interested in "making things" with me, and loves to push the start button on my Brother ULT 2003.

I enjoy everything machine embroidery has to offer, especially the connections I have made with others from all over the world!

Anne - Tester

Born and raised in Chicago area,now living in Indiana. Married for 27 years, 2 kids(?) Beth 24,Andrew 16. When I am not testing, I work as a substitute teacher.Been sewing forever,now learning to quilt, and experimenting with other fiber arts. Picture is of my 4 legged child, Ginger 1 1/2 years old.

Carol - Digitizer

My name is Carol, I'm from Lexington, Illinois. I've been married for 35yrs, have 2 wonderful daughters. Four beautiful grandchildren, 2 girls and 2 boys, ages 12 down to 1yr. They are truly my inspiration.
I've been sewing practically all my life, I learned everything from the best teacher, my Mom. Love to quilt, sew, and of course machine embroidery. I didn't start digitizing until I took an on-line digitizing lesson. Been hooked since then.

Cutiepie - Forum Moderator, Digitizer

I am Cutiepie and I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. Obviously, that isn't my given name, but when we got married, my husband added an email account for me on to his and chose the name "Cutiepie" for my address. Well, it stuck, and here I am. Aside from my DH, our family includes son Liam, who turned 2 on August 5, 2007, and we are pleased to announce that we will be growing by one more come May 2008. Anyone who wants to submit a potential name for the new baby can Private Message me from the DesignsBySick Forums, where I am one of the moderators.

I have been sewing for my entire lifetime, taught by my mother and grandmother. I believe I was about 6 the first time I was allowed to use mom's sewing machine, and I was hand-sewing for a few years prior to that. I bought my first embroidery machine in 2000, and have gotten another (with a larger field) since then. I am saving up my pennies for when I have space and can get a BIG 12-needle machine, if I don't come to my senses first. Why would I need three embroidery machines? Well, why wouldn't I?

I've always been interested in crafts and creative things, and so when I got the chance to learn machine embroidery digitizing, I jumped in with both feet. I freely admit that I am not the absolute best around at digitizing (I'm still learning and hope I never stop), but I do pretty good if I do say so myself and I enjoy it greatly.

Laura Clayton - Digitizer, Web Site Promotion, Support Specialist

Hi my name is Laura Clayton. I am 33 and have 2 sons.....Christopher and Austin. I started in crafts at the ripe age of 7 learning to create ceramics..went from that to creating porcelain dolls...I knit, crochet, macrame, draw (when I have time), sew, plastic canvas...you name it I have done it! ggggggggg

And then came the wonderful world of Machine Embroidery...oh I love it! I love how a design comes alive as you are inputting
stitches. As you can tell I love the digitizing side of it the most....but it still amazes me how we create the designs in our software and the machine sews it out. My Grandmother would have loved our machines as she had to do all her embroidery by hand.

I have been digitizing for 10 years and am the original Digitizing Diva. I have a new web site at http://www.digitizersfriend.com and I am proud to be a part of Shawn and Linda's team here at DesignsbySick. We are always happy to help you with any of your concerns just contact us through the Site Support...we love for our customers to be happy.

Jonell - Digitizer

Hello, my name is Jonell and I am a digitizer for DesignsBySick. I have been digitizing & doing machine embroidering for 5+ years. And all aspects of machine embroidery have become my passion. I just love to sew and embellish with crystals and machine embroidery. I have always enjoyed sewing, even made my kids summer clothes and such as they grew up. Once everyone was gone, I turned to craft sewing and quilting. Then about 7 years ago, I took an embroidery class at the local sewing store. I didn't even own an embroidery machine. But the owners were VERY willing to loan me one any time I wanted to take a class. LOL Well, I was hooked!!! My first machine was a used embroidery machine from a fellow student. A few years later I bought a newer model and the shop included a digitizing program. I started taking weekly classes (sewing, digitizing, & serger) and within several months I was helping other students during classes. I found that I enjoy teaching. And the more I help out, the more I seem to learn myself. I spent several years helping teach sewing & embroidery classes before I became hooked on digitizing. I have helped teach Pfaff digitizing software and Generations digitizing software, though the programs I use the most are Generations Digitizing software & Embird for my editing.

I love being part of the DesignsBySick family. We have so many wonderful digitizers in our family with lots of great creative diversity. Working closely with these talented digitizers has given me the confidence to experiment with new projects and digitizing techniques. I have also found yahoo groups to be so very helpful whenever I needed help or inspiration. The internet has opened a whole new resource of creativity and friendships all over the world for me.

Navy Vet, turned Cable TV expert, turned Customer Service Professional, turned Computer Geek, turned Embroiderer. Not exactly the career path most people would follow, but that’s Corky’s life. After working his way up in a major telecommunications company and then loosing his job of 15 years, he took his retirement fund and used it to start his own embroidery business, called simply, Corliss.

He taught himself embroidery and digitizing and learned to enjoy his job again. He learned what was important in his life, God and his family. Working out of his home gave him time to be with his wife Molly and his 3 boys, Robert, Johnathon, and Benjamin. And, when he started taking his machine to different shows doing mobile embroidery, it turned into mini working vacations with his family.

His wife is a Special Ed Teacher and his oldest just graduated from Navy Boot Camp and is going to be a culinary specialist in the Navy Reserves. The younger two are still in school, 1 in 10th grade and 1 in 5th. Corky and Molly are active in their church and rely on their faith in Jesus to get them through it all.

Corky keeps pretty busy doing custom embroidery locally, digitizing for Designsbysick.com and creating custom designs for embroiderers who are looking for something special, and he still does the mobile embroidery every other weekend or so. You can check out his work at www.corlissemb.com

Shawn Knight - CEO, Internet Marketing, SEO, Digitizer

Shawn i Charles Knight (SiCK), digitizer since 2002, Janome Guy. 43 years old. First computer when I was 14. Programmer since 14. Computer consultant, self employed over 10 years. Short attention span. Father of 2 girls, Alayna and Savanna, born 2004 and 2005. Made this site and keep adding features to make everyone happy. Many thanks to all the digitizers who came on board in 2007 to help out!

Heidi Kilgore - Digitizer

I'm Heidi Kilgore, and I'm from the hills of Kentucky. I am 49 years old. I'm married and have been for 10 years to a very supportive husband for the arts. I have have 2 girls both which are grown and gone, one is 26 and one is 23.

Like everyone else I have been sewing in some fashion all of my like, my passion is embroidery and quilts, they go together in perfect harmony. I love dealing with all of the colors of the fabric, and the software and computers of the embroidery machines and digitizing.

My first machine was a PE-150 and was bought about 5 years ago, and an automatic digitizer. I was hooked from that point on. I started playing with the manual punch after my brother-in-law's death, it was a therapy for me (he was so much like one of my brothers to me)

I started to give up several times, but my sister always reminded me that the person who usually gives up is about 5 minutes from learning what they need to know, and she was right.

The path to digitizing has been a learning one and I haven't quite learning yet.

Bonnieta Tatro - Digitizer

Hi! I am Bonnie, I was born in West Virginia, but raised in Cleveland Ohio. Graphics digitizer, commercial embroiderer & business owner. After living from Maine to Alaska in the Navy, we have settled in the country, so I have space for my three rescued alpacas. I began sewing at the age of 7, never learned to use a pattern so nearly failed home economics in junior high! For over 22 years I designed and created porcelain dolls and their costumes, ranging from antique reproductions to modern style dolls. I also sculpted several of my own dolls and taught classes.

I have been married almost 26 years now! We have two sons. Both boys, Daniel 23 and Jason 21, were home schooled and are currently attending college. My husband and I are active in our church and mission programs as he currently chairs a partnership of churches working in West Africa. We have also trained and led young adult mission teams working in Peru the past seven years. My family is an active supporter of the local Boy Scout troops, having raised two Eagle scouts.

I occasionally travel out of the country with my husband while he goes to meet with other governments. While he works I get to see all the sites and museums :0) We have been to Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Africa. I am looking forward to Sweden this spring.

My digitizing “career” actually began 7 years ago when I purchased a home embroidery machine and software package. I self learned the software as I found out after they had no one that really new anything about the software they were selling so I became proficient in a very short time and the local store asked me to teach classes. This went on for a few years while I expanded my knowledge of the industry and determined it was time to obtain a commercial machine and software package and in doing so I started my embroidery business. I do custom embroidery for local businesses and home embroiderer’s and digitize for Designsbysick.com. I enjoy working with Shawn and Linda as I am able to be more creative with my digitizing and expand on my ideas. My husband supported this “business” change, as I sold my doll business and “focused” on embroidery, but he does think sometimes that he has lost me to the computer!

Linda Albert - Customer Service, eBay Sales Support, Digitizer

Well what can i say about myself? Hmmmmm? I guess I'll start with the beginning. I am a 29 year old mother of 2: Alayna(3) and Savanna(2), and I work from home online for the business my husband has created, hopefully with my help in some way by affording him the time to work from home as well. It is not something that I really got into, but rather given to me when I was off on maternity leave with our first daughter. Shawn decided to put me to work and started by teaching me everything I know which began with digitizing. There are 11 pages on the site with designs I have done. My favorites include: Hip Hop Posse, The So Cool series, The Elegant ladies series and Girl power and of course many others.

Since we have such a great team of digitizers working with us now, I have moved on to the front lines with customer service and eBay sales support, so I have not had to digitize for quite sometime and would you believe I still have not learned our machine. I do hope to get back into it someday and take a course related to the field to give me a stronger foundation to build on, but for now I am quite busy being a mom and doing this aspect of the business as well as a wife and Secretary to the Alcona beach Club (ABC).

The three children and I sign (American Sign Language) and hubby understands more than he lets on and will sign occasionally. Oldest was an Interpreter for 2 years at the local college. We just all enjoy it.

Married to childhood sweetheart for 27 years. Traveled the world with him. Lived in Egypt for a year, Texas, Louisiana, Bahamas for 7 years (went there with 2 kids, came back 7 years later - with 3!)…lived on 3 different islands and currently live in a big ol' log house in the middle of 20 acres of woods in the FL panhandle which he built for us. Florida panhandle: Aka: Emerald Coast, Redneck Riviera, LA (Lower Alabama.)

Overly involved in community service projects (hubby wants to have a shirt made for me which reads: "Stop me before I volunteer again.") 4H leader for 8 years, elected County Fair Board member for 4 years, and began writing for the local newspaper 2 years ago. Recently had an article published in Pensacola Magazine. I create web pages, too! - again...for free. Community service rears its ugly head once again. Oh, and I love to make custom candy wrappers! Have given them (made into favors) as wedding gifts several times.

I have been sewing since 8th grade Home economics class. While living in the Bahamas made costumes for the kids for play (Robin Hood and Maid Marian, Pirates)- no patterns, no sewing machine. Took classes in Nassau Bahamas and learned to hand smock.

Most cherished possessions are hand-embroidered pillowcases made by my mom each year for Christmas. She has been gone for nearly 19 years and I still use the pillowcases. Fell in love with the idea of machine embroidery. Bought the Brother PE150, went to a seminar and won 48 spools of Madeira Thread as a door prize and have been giving away everything I make since that time. Would love to have the bigger machine, maybe one day.

I love working with this group and the folks who visit the website.. Am tickled when folks think I am a fella.