Merry, Thank you for the links. I never saw "search" at the top of the page because I was looking for a box like on sales sights! lol Dummy me! I found the abbreviations and that makes things much easier. Your wedding ring cross stitch is beautiful! I don't think I would have the patience to finish it! You have undertaken a workload! I am not familiar with Jack Dempsey Needle Art and will look for it. That sounds like a good idea. I am waiting for ink for the printer that becomes an iron-on and then washes out in water to alleviate some of the steps I go through making my own patterns. Have you seen any? I wrote Nancy's Notions and asked, but they don't have such a product. Maybe I am wanting eggs in my beer! lol
I know about Eleanor Burns' method and think that I am going to use it on my circles quilt. (Did you see all the circles on the leaf quilt? Wow!) I found one even better on one of the Interweave sites. If you need to make a perfect circle, take a thumbtack and lay it on the table pointing up. Place a length of sturdy tape on it so the pin goes through the tape, sticky side holding the thumb tack flat. Peel the whole thing off the table. This you can tape onto the machine bed parallel to the needle, the appropriate distance from the it - 1/2 of your finished circle. Cut a piece of fabric a little more than 2x the distance of the tack. Place the center of the fabric on the thumb tack. Cut an eraser off of a pencil and push it onto the tack to avoid poking yourself. Sew carefully and the fabric will pivot on the tack and you will sew in a perfect circle. I was so amazed when I found this I am going to combine the two and use iron-on interfacing to back my circles like Eleanor Burns did! Then I can embellish them with embroidery! Is this Heaven or what!
Thanks for the link to applique. I marked it so I won't lose it. It will take some time to peruse! I am sure there is a lot of information on that link!