One thing I didn't mention when I described John Deer's 2 day class- I bought a 12 month membership in his Ultimate Embroidery On=line Stash Club. You can download up to 100 points per month - and a single embroidery is 1 point. That means you get 1200 single embroideries in a year!
The 'packet' of embroideries that you buy in a store or at a show usually has from 8 to 60 embroidery designs and sells for around $60. Generally, I don't use all the designs in a packet. This club lets you 'buy' only the designs you want to use! The 12 month membership costs - gulp - $400, but when you break it down, that's 1200 designs for $0.33 apiece! And you don't have to buy designs you don't think you'll use.
The 100 points don't 'roll over', so you have to download them each month. Great fun! I've alread downloaded 25 of my first month's points! And he adds at least 4 new packets a month! He's an amazing designer.
There are already 20,000+ designs in the collection, so there are plenty to choose from. You won't have any trouble picking 100 per month. I THINK you can join the club without going to one of his shows - but I'm not sure you can get the $400 price. I'll check it out and come back here in a later post.