Thanks, Maria, very helpful.
On my machine there is a button that you can push to tell the machine to stop at the end of a decorative stitch as well, so you don't stop in the middle of the stitch unless you want to.
Thanks too to all you well-wishers. This was a bit of defiance on my part since my husband likes to talk me out of anything that costs more than $20. Of course, if it's something he wants, the sky's the limit. We've been married 34 years. He's a great guy and I love him to pieces, but I find this part of our relationship extremely annoying.