I have been practicing fmq on my brother machine (not very good at it yet). Recently I was told that I should do this on my older machine as I can mess up the timing of the machine on a compterized machine. Is this right. I don't want to ruin my embroidery machine, but I prefer it to my regular machine.

Never heard of this myself.

i have a viking- with embroidery unit---the dealer offers classes to teach you to quilt with your machine- and it is very very computerized-...
i don't understand why it would be a problem---most of the new computerized machines even offer a (quilting stitch)
so, i would be interested in just what this person is basing this on....we have one lqs that sells janomes---and they offer quilting classes on them too...

My Bernina 440QE has embroidery capability which I haven't purchased yet. I did purchase the BSR foot that is for FMQ. If you aren't supposed to use a embroidery machine for FMQ, why would my Bernina come with a Bernina Stitch Regulator especially for FMQ? I would question that advice unless they were the dealer for your machine.

I would think that you should practice on both machines as you may find them different and prefer one over the other. Check with your dealer about the Brother though and whether FMQ is advisable, but in theory I would think if the feed dogs drop it should be OK (what other reason would the feed dogs drop? This is a real question - not a sarcasm).

thanks, that's what I thought. My embroidery machine has a bigger throat area, making it easier to move the sandwich.