Notes from Ellen

I’m very proud to bring you the first issue of the new-and-improved CME! For months we’ve carefully considered numerous reader satisfaction surveys and spent countless hours fine-tuning the new design and content. You’ll see the results of all of that hard work on the pages of this issue.

We appreciate your willingness to participate in our surveys. After reading each and every entry, we incorporated a plethora of new content to satisfy your creative cravings. The most overwhelming request we received was for digitizing tutorials. I looked high and low for an expert to impart extensive digitizing knowledge and I think I found the best man for the job—John Deer of Adorable Ideas. His column, "Digital Age," will appear in all six issues this year, so you better not miss one! Check out the first installment of his series on page 66.

Many more experts have joined the CME family, and you can read about them on our new contributor page. I invite you to send them feedback and content requests at [email protected]. And keep sending in your tips and tricks so fellow readers can learn from your trials and triumphs—see "Tips & Tricks" on page 14.

One more thing—exclusive CME embroidery designs are BACK!! Our newest designs are featured in this issue, and they’re available for purchase at sewnshop.com. Incidentally, my dog, Bear Jones, was the inspiration behind the Bad to the Bone design (that’s him modeling on page 36). And the CME Heart design was inspired by Bernina’s Sew Red campaign (see page 34).

Once you’ve read this issue and tried out some projects and techniques, please send your thoughts to [email protected]. I can’t wait to hear what you think!

Ellen