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It seems there is a lot of support for having a separate place for this discussion. By the way, I'm suggesting this for the Quilting Board, not an off board site...similar to the Vintage Machines site and "recipies" and general chit-chat, etc. I for one, would still be on the quilting discussions, because that's what I do most. But I've found this discussion to be very valuable as I am a beginner as far as embroidery goes. And I would never have bought the machine if I didn't intend to use it in quilting. I'm interested in learning to do actual quilting with it on small quilts.

I've ordered the Stitch Era Universal CD and it should be here tomorrow. I hope I don't have any problems downloading it. I think there is a site to help with that. Anyone have that program? Do you like it? If I don't like it, at least I haven't wasted too much money on it!

I have the 830 and love the machine. There is a learning curve, but I truly find the machine very easy to use.
Would be happy to answer any questions.
Donna

I'm getting the ERA this weekend but if you just type in Era universal into google you can pull up their site. Since it's free they say the only support they have is basically a FAQ online tech thing. For the price (free w/out CD) you can beat it. It's supposed to do it all. Let us know how you like it. I have a small version of 5D that came with my Viking. Next month the Viking educator is coming to our LQS where I bought mine and they'll load the big software package onto my pc and let me hook it up to my Ruby and teach us all kinds of things that we can do. The class is only $10 so it is really worth it. I want the big package to really get into creating and redesigning but want to wait until I'm a little more organized and ready to take the classes for it. So this will be a start along with my monthly classes that I get with my machine. I agree; I like the embroidery link to a part of this board since I also like to quilt and want to do them both together.

All machines have a learning curve. Check your area to see if you have a dealer and how much classes are. Even if you don't buy from them you can take their classes. Mine is Viking and they'll teach anyone with any machine and it's $40 a year plus monthly cost of supplies. I think that is a great deal to learn.

romanojg, thank you for the info on changing needles. Do you mean to change the size of embroidery needle - 70 or 80? I usually keep the speed about midway so will try slowing down. I have been using the "deal" thread on the bobbin. That let's me match the top thread and so far, so good! I have two Baby Locks - ellure plus and ellageo. I bought the ellure plus then decided I wanted a larger design field. I really like both of them but mostly sew on the ellure plus. I have several things I want to embroidery so I may set them both up to embroidery and drag out my older Pfaff machine. It sews well.

SingerSewer, Yes, the 70 or 80. Plus if you are doing the FSL the sharps work better than the embroidery needles because it doesn't cut the stablizer so for the cone thread instead of the sharp size 11 needle that is recommended for rayon I use the sharp size 14 and it made so much difference. I got the Viking Ruby because I knew that I'd want the larger hoop size as well and I find that I'm using the 360 x200 most of the time; I normally put several designs in it to save time. I like the stablizer on the roll but it's a little narrow so I run blue painters tape along one side to give just enough width to it to make it stay in the hoop better and then put the clips on the hoop as well. Now I want to see when they have the next endless hoop class so that I can take it. The hoop is alot cheaper thru Amazon than at the LQS. I normally end up using my other machine to piece with as well.

romanojg,
Using the Madeira or Sulky thread there are no issues...just the thread I got the "great" deal on! I always use the embroidery needles so might try a sharp.

Does anyone ever find the designs will sometimes have so many stitches that they get thick in places?

I just looked up the ERA program. It looks like it does a ton of stuff. More then I really want but I like the idea of being able to resize things and the lettering stuff looks good too. So I will probably download the free version.
I also have a question. On HSN they have the Brother PC770 for $799. Looks like a great machine. Since I have the smaller Brother this might be just the thing I need to be able to do larger designs. I have seen a few of you have this, machine. Is this a good price and do you like the machine? It only comes with the 5x7 hoop (if you have the machine) do you know if we can get the 4x4 hoop for it also?
Wow you all are a wealth of information. Thank you for sharing. This is a very popular thread and moves fast. Hopefully they can at least pin it to the top for us. I too still look at all the other forums.

Hi,
I have a Janome 300e, embroidery only machine and have had it for a little over a year. I love, love, love it!!!! Every quilt that I make now I have to put some type of embroidery on it. Here are a few of the quilts I have made and a bag for my grand-daughter. I bought the Janome Digitizer MBX program to learn how to digitize my own designs and I am taking the online classes by Trevor Conquergood. He is very good a teaching the program. Embroidery is just so much fun.