rexie; I agree it can be intimidating. I've been embroidering for about 3 yrs now and still uncertain on many things. Just about every website that has designs has tutorials or projects that help in those areas. Jenny Haskins has webinars, there are retreats, some very reasonable in price. I'm going to Anita Goodwin one in April, its 59 for 2 days and I've been to John Deers and also the Floiani ones. I don't know if you have a dealer there that offers classes, it doesn't have to be a brother dealer, some like mine takes anyone with an emb machine no matter what the brand. Tidewater Sew n Vac has a club and it welcomes all machine owners, plus they do classes, some you don't even bring your machine too, you use thier machines which is nice. Look around and see. I agree with the other person about Floriani's stabilizer solutions, its a great place. I know that even Viking and probably Brother too have tutorials on stabilizers, it doesn't mean you have to own a Viking or a brother or any other specific machine to take advantage of their tutorials, stabilizer is stabilizer and alot of things on it and thread, etc is good for all machines. Good luck and if you have questions, ask on here, you're sure to get lots of answers and then you can figure out what works best for you. I do buy my WS at JoAnns by the yard, I take one of the noodles for the pool and cut it the width of the WS and then wrap it around it. Its cheaper and you can use the 50% coupon and save even more.