pj1042

I have used both. Decorative stitches on the sewing machine instead of straight stitch quilting can be interesting. The embroidery machine is more "aggressive". Test, if possible to see which you like best or as a combo.

AZ Jane

LOVE Jack Dempsey, so much easier than having to draw a pattern on fabric. Also LOVE http://www.crabapplehillstudio.com/patterns.html. But you do have to draw out her patterns. I learn most thing by having a pattern (book, sheet of paper, drawing) on one side of me and a how-to on the other. For crochet, a pattern and the a book to tell me what the pattern says. LOL Pattern ( 6 sc ) book (6 single crochet) (picture what a single crochet is). Just do one step at a time.

I find I need to have a desire to make something, then find a way to do it, whether it is a video, book blog, etc.
Jack Dempsey[ATTACH=CONFIG]554176[/ATTACH]
http://www.crabapplehillstudio.com/patterns.html[ATTACH=CONFIG]554177[/ATTACH]

lots2do

I love, love, love, hand embroidery. In addition to the designers mentioned above, these are some of my favorites: Gail Pan, Lynette Anderson, Bareroots, Bird Brain, Blueberry Backroads, Red Button (something)... I like Sulky 12 weight cotton thread. It comes on a regular spool. It's equivalent to two strands of regular floss. Great colors too! I just bought a bunch of muslin to try instead of iron on interfacing.
Machine embroidery is a whole 'nother beast, in my humble opinion. Although I have noticed a new trend at the quilt shows, machine embroidery that looks just like hand embroidery. Kinda sneaky. Bird Brain Designs has started dping this with their patterns. Smart move for them to open up a whole new market but I like the calm feeling I get by doing it by hand.

Bree123

I started doing cross-stitch with yarn and giant punched plastic when I was 5 years old from a kit. My mom is not a good sewist but she loves crafts. Wish I had a picture now of that first orange & green butterfly cross stitch, but it was fun! I traded that for latch hooking for a while, only to return to stamped cross stitch when I was in my teens. I graduated to counted cross stitch & then onto embroidery of stamped items like pillowcases that I would buy at my local Michael's (they don't have the selection they used to, sadly). I also did beading. I just kept picking progressively harder kits & following the instructions & my grandmother would help me when I'd get stuck or if she saw I'd not formed a stitch properly. I also took a class at LQS that was for a quilt with a lot of hand embroidery stitches (and hand applique) and I must say, that was the most helpful because I could get direct input from the teacher & when I thought I had it but really didn't, she could point that out & help me correct it before it became a bad habit.

I do little bits of embroidery on pretty much every quilt I make (see eyes & noses on bees and bears, & love it. Like any physical skill, the muscle memory builds the more you practice.

tessagin

craftsy.com has a step by step tutorial you can download. It has 10 basic stitches. I have my embroidery in a small tote I found years ago. I keep it in a plastic scrapbook tote that I can also use as a light box for tracing. I have a small led (battery operated) light I picked up for a couple dollars. I just use the threads from DMC. You can use beeswax or dryer sheets to allow the thread to move smoother through the fabric. I don't do a lot of embroidery but when I do it's hand. If nothing else just practice small things like daisies or border with a straight or chain. You can actually embroider with any stitch you want for the look you want. It's hard to remember all the stitches. I have an embroidery stitch book in my tote.

DonnaC

I'm a pretty experienced hand embroiderer, but there is always so much more to learn! The most important thing is to be kind to yourself. You're not going to do perfect work, but it is so much fun.

I love YouTube, and recently found a fabulous resource for learning hand embroidery stitches. This person is from India, does not speak English on any of the videos I've watched, but her tutorials are beyond fabulous, and the way she films everything is so clear and concise, you'll be able to follow along with no problem. Her name is Shagufta Fyms. Here's one of her videos (she has lots of them): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBiVS19vk0c

Machine embroidery, as others have said, is a whole different ball o'wax, with lots of equipment involved (machine, stabilizers, hoops, threads, on and on!). I do enjoy that as well, in some circumstances. On Sewing with Nancy (Zieman), there's a whole series of shows on doing machine quilting with an embroidery machine. Looks fascinating, but honestly it's a little fuss-budgetty for me. As someone else mentioned above, hand embroidery is calming and soothing. Sometimes, machine embroidery causes me to cuss like a sailor. LOL

Evie

This is my go-to site. I think the first stitch to learn is the running stitch -- your quilting stitch. Can't get any easier than that!

Pique

If you are interested in hand embroidery there is a series of books put out by Country Bumpkin that give clear instructions along with step by step pictures. A~Z of Embroidery Stitches, A~Z of Wool Embroidery, A~Z of Embroidered Flowers, A~Z of Ribbon Embroidery, A~Z of Bullions, etc. Because I am a visual learner these are my go to sources. In running a google search I found you can now download the books in PDF.
Images for a-z of embroidery stitches pdf

dirty1mom

DMC website has info. Where in Ohio are you - I can teach you.

Notwendy

I got started with some cute patterns from Sublime Stitching. She has some very nice tutorials and her books are fun and full of great motifs. Here is her tutorial page:
http://sublimestitching.com/pages/tutorials