I have a good embroidery machine but perhaps I am not using it to it's fullest potential.

ck hoopsisters.com or smithstreetdesigns, have done both. Emb library has great designs for quilting including Japenese ones

These quilt books come with a CD/DVD with designs. Install and enjoy.
http://www.nancysnotions.com/product...e+hoop+book.do

The projects are simple and easy to do. Good way to see if you like quilting in the hoop. Hoop Sisters and Queen of Stitching are expensive. (worth it)

I just mentioned digitizing, since I see how the flip and fold works, I can do my own if I feel like it.

Try looking at the quilts by HOOP SISTERS...The battilizer is normally used with similar quilts - where the fabric is a solid color (much like a whole cloth quilt) and the actual "quilt" or the pretty stuff is the actual quilting, which is very dense, and is normally done on a block by block quilt as you go basis.........Hope this helps you some.................

Hoopsisters, Kenny's creations and a few more I would have to look up have great "in the hoop" quilts..I like Kenny's creations, they have some really pretty designs Storm at sea, pineapple etc...Eliminates a lot of rotary cutting not all but a lot...the battilizer is a Hoopsister's product, it is a batting and stabilizer combination..

Battilizer is a "Hoop Sisters" product. They use the battilizer instead of regular batting. It is quite stiff. I have completed two Hoop Sisters projects. In the first one I used the battilizer. I realized that it is not necessary to use it so in the second one I used 80/20 batting and it stitched up just fine and I actually preferred it as it wasn't so stiff.

You "kind of" can do that....for instance...get yourself an outline...say of a dresden plate...then you have to decide if you are going to applique it, or stitch it out as a quilting motif. As a quilting motif, it's pretty straight forward..just practice on some scraps first so you can get an idea of how different battings work with the design..(good idea to label them and save for future reference)...experiment with different decorative stitches, etc..,.
for applique..just go on you tube and do a search for applique with machine embroidery...tons of tutorials on there..
Either method is not hard, I just think you're intimidated...so go for it! Especially if you're using sample blocks at first, you have nothing to lose!

do you HAVE to use battilizer or can you use a batting like warm and natural?

lol sorry I read this AFTER I asked my last question about having to use battilizer.

you can do that sept97. That is what I do with all my designs, well mostly anyway. There are lots of in the hoop quilting designs out there, you can but them on a cd or order them off Embroidery Library. I have beautiful Quilt Block designs. Just look around you will find them, no stabilizer needed for me either.