Mermaid( love the name!) thanks a lot, a big help!!

Give your sister a big hug on behalf of all of us who have been subjected to rude dealers!

update on my machine
 

I found a fixit website and "dived in" this morning--took the end cover off--and it is definitely thread wrapped around a bearing near the thread take up lever. A rainbow of colors. This machine was bought 2nd hand last Dec., and I know I'm not responsible for all of this! Seems when our thread breaks, we pull the end out or break it in the machine and it builds up. In future I will do a thorough look-see when I have breakage. Meantime, the instructions on line say if you can't remove it all, then it's up to repair man to remove the needle bar . The wheel is still locked tightly.

Re: the problem seeing downloaded designs...there are many free programs to help with that....There is a viewer that lets you see thru folders as well as singles, and has a print function. At Secrets of Embroidery you can download a free file that has category folders to sort & store ..install into your docs. There are other free software programs that you can use until you decide to buy an expensive program....when you want to "create" your own designs.

Mermaid, I couldn't find your free file on Sec. of Emb. You can download a free part of Embird, but then you have to buy it if you want to keep it. I went back and looked at Catalog It and decided to go ahead and order it. I think it will do everything I want it to do now. I'm not ready to get into digitizing yet, just need to get organized. Catalog It looks very easy to learn, too, and I don't need anything with a big learning curve since I'm just starting out. I really appreciate everyone's suggestions. And I'm sure I will have more questions. My closest dealer is 2 hrs away. Wish I knew someone closer that had either this machine or the PE 780.

Take a look at Buzz Tools before you order. See if this would meet you needs. I use it and really like it. It organizes, it gives you a thumbnail of the design, it converts designs, it is easy to learn. It did take me awhile to get use to it, only because I kept putting it aside before diving in to learn it, when I did, I was amazed at how easy it was.

organizing designs
 

Go to http://www.secretsof.com/content/608 and it opens the page telling you how to use this organizer..be sure to read or copy the instructions how to open the downloaded file. I just ck'd and it is still there. Sorry you didn't find it . There are many categories of folders and you can add or change the name of the folder you are storing in. And go ahead and try the Embird free for 30 days. I like it for converting formats--an entire folder full at one time. It is not expensive to own unless you want to add a lot of extras. You can open a folder and see thumbnails of each design stored in the folder. Really neat.

emblibrary has a project that shows you how to embroidery on balsa wood. It's a great site with lots of projects; tips and techniques; and lots of designs. If you order once a month they'll include you in the sale; like the one they just had, any 10 designs for $10.

Viking's web site offers advice on stabilizers along with free designs and emblibrary.com also has lots about stabilizers. It even shows you what happens when they've tested different stabilizers. it's a great site.I have a Ruby and Viking is great.

Just came across a wonderful sale on machine embroidery.
If you buy three, you get six free
Buy five and get ten free
And many of the sets only cost $2.50!
How can you go wrong?
http://www.wattsemb.com/index.htm

Recently I was telling you all about the embroidery thread
that I bought from Amazon, and how much I liked it.

Also talked about how I was not going to have enough of
one color to finish my "Year of Angels" in the end I got ALL
but one angel finished before running out of thread.

Well last week I broke down and ordered another set of
that thread just so I could get the one color I really needed.

Now to get rid of the 9 colors that I DO NOT like lol.