I normally don't take pictures of the charity quilts I do and this was no exception. Wish I had.

The quilts might still be at the LQS where I drop them off for donation and I'll be in there on Saturday. If the quilts are still there I'll get a picture of them to post.

Judy, sounds like a great idea. Do you have any pictures you can post?

I just recently made a charity quilt and decided to "play" with the software for making my quilting design and using the module for quilting it. Since the child's quilt had lots of balloons & hearts on it I found an embroidery design (in my V5 software) that would work wonderfully with it. I then loaded the design into my V5 software and did an auto outline (which became my quilting design!). This would work for making a quilting design that you wish to print out and use on paper for machine and/or hand quilting. For embroidery module quilting, which I did, I had to add a few more things.

For embroidery module quilting, I then did a slow redraw to see if the design would stitch the way I wanted it to. I noticed that in a few places it double-stitched and in some places it single stitched. Realizing that I was limited by this design I would have to double-stitch to make it work (luckily it looked great because it just stitches on top of the previous stitch and just makes the quilting stand out more). Some designs could be continuous single stitch but not this one. For the areas that were singles I just duplicated that area, moved the duplicated sequence right after the first stitching and i had my double-stitch for that area.

I also went into design properties and increased my stitch length to 3.0 I think. It made a much nicer quilting looking stitch.

I hooped my baby quilt multiple times and put these clusters of balloons & hearts all over it for an all-over quilting effect without having to line up any designs. I liked the way it turned out.

Then for a border I used a simple heart outline and repeated it as many times as would fit into my mega-hoop to do the border. A little border length/width planning was necessary when spacing the hearts in the software and spacing each hooping was easy. It made a fantastic border. Only one thread to clip between each heart and it sure was cute. I'll definitely do it again. I make a lot of charity baby quilts so this heart border will be a new standard for my use! Yay!

I want to continue practicing on this method because I want to make more of my own quilting designs. I can tell you, though, that I think working with with a larger quilt on the embroidery module is going to be cumbersome. I'll try one sometime and decide after that if a long-arm quilter will be getting ALL of my larger quilts.

Judy

Interesting! I have bought some things from OESD too (I think the only place I purchase embroid. designs anymore). I did buy one packet of quilting deisgns, but have not done anything with it yet. I am such a rookie! Last time I thought about using it, I was not sure if I had the ability to resize the pattern to fit the block. I guess I need to get busy and see what I can do with what I have already purchased!

Thanks again to everyone who shared your insight with me!

Mary Kay

You are so welcome!
I just remembered that I put the trick about scanning an item to create a quilt design in a blog. (Photos included)

It is here: [url]community/my-profile/Wren1010[/url]

Maybe that will make some sense out of what I was trying to explain.
I am still discovering and imagining new ways to use the capabilities of this software. It is amazing!

Let me know how you like your new hoop set up. I have not ventured that far yet. Just give me time---LOLOL!

Karen, thank you for this tip on how to create a quilting design! I have the Holice Turnbow quilting designs and did use them to quilt my 4 patch posies blocks. My only complaint is that I wanted the size to be bigger than my hoop would allow. I have since ordered the Hoop-it-All Quilters Square so I am not so limited in size. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, though.

Just yesterday I used the software to make quilt labels for my two quilts I just completed.

I am not an expert, but i am so glad to share what I have learned so far. I know that there are many others that are much more knowledgeable than I am.

I did use the software to design the quilting on one quilt. I scanned a smaller quilting template. I saved it as a jpeg. Then in the software I used that image to trace with one of the tools. I then could combine it as a mirror image. I created a cross out of a single element that way. I printed out the design and then transfered that a sheet of Golden Threads paper, and then machine stitched it with a walking foot.

I am also planning the quilting for a 4Patch Stacked Posie quilt where I would use the embroidery module on each of the blocks individually.

I would not bother to use it for an all over quilting pattern because I would find working out the exact placement tedious. But I would use it for a border or a medallion in a block.

I tend to purchase quite a bit from OESD at http://www.embroideryonline.com You can go and look at their designs. They do have continuous line quilting designs that you can look at in both their stock collections and also in licensed collections.

Another thing that I realized is that I can take a single element of a continuous line quilting design and scale it to size to make it fit a border perfectly.

Interesting comments, Karen! Thanks for sharing! I am thinking about taking the plunge and buying the software - How often are you using the software to do your quilting? What types of quilts? Best for blcoks within the quilt or all over quilting? Thanks so much for sharing your perspective! Mary Kay

I was on vacation when this post was originally made. So I am really late. I have Designer Plus V. 5. I chose this because I wanted to have the ability to design my own embroidery from scratch. It is an incredible program. I have worked with other graphic software, and I have to say that this is an incredibly powerful program. I love it. I can also design my own line quilting designs with it. I can then make a choice to quilt the design by hand, by machine or by embroidery module. I can also digitize photos and clip art.

My LQS has ongoing classes for educating us. They are terrific.

All of this being said, there are issues with this software not being written for Vista 64 bit operating systems. So that can be an issue I guess.

I have Editor Plus with my 200.

My embroidery techniques and quantity (much more!) increased dramatically with getting the software! If you can, get the Designer. I miss a few of the tools I don't have.

It is wonderful!!

If you don't have a dealer for software classes, the tutorial with the software is great. Just going through those lessons really got me going.



Joyce

I have Editor Plus with my 640E. Haven't really gotten comfortable with it yet, but haven't taken my class yet either. It is more than I need right now but I think I will grow in to it...lol. Elizabeth

Thanks, All! I really appreciate your guidance on the software. I might take the plunge. Will let you know! Mary Kay

Mary Kay, I don't digitize, but I'd be totally lost without the DP software. I'll confess right here and now that I haven't a clue how to use the built in embroidery function on my 730, because I've always used the software to do all my editing and what not. I've had it since version 3, and I still really have little desire to learn digitizing, but there is still SO much you can do with the software that doesn't involve digitizing.

I love to edit the stitches of purchased designs, some of the fancy fills are just amazing. I also love to combine decorative stitches in the software and embroider them out for perfect results, rather than sew them out on my machine.

Being able to manipulate designs though, is the best. Say you buy a large floral design, but you'd like the bottom 2 leaves removed, and another flower bud added somewhere else. With the software, you can do this. With just the sewing machine, you cannot.

Then of course there's super large designs, which require splitting and multiple hoopings. I've no clue how one might go around doing this without the software, but with it, it's quite easy.

Have you "Tinkled" today?

Hi, Mary Kay. I have Designer Plus V. 5. I am not all that good with computers and find I don't like to spend lots of time learning software, so I haven't even begun to use all the features available. And since I'm a 2 hr. drive from a Bernina dealer, it is hard to take classes. However, I think you will love it. I always work on all my designs in the software. I change the colors there, etc. Then I transfer them to my sewing machine. So I would say yes - if you have a machine as wonderful as the 730, you definitely want this software to go with it. There is a yahoo group that I find very helpful in figuring things out and another member of this group, CJ Tinkle (http://www.tinkletimes.com/) has a blog that is very helpful. She also manages the Yahoo group.