Hey Nancy -- I basted my wholecloth together today from my class with Karen McTavish. I sure hope I can quilt it half as well as you did yours. I'm having major reservations about it because I made it a little too big for my first attempt at this.

Renata wrote:
You are putting enough work into this quilt, even without the applique change, that you should definitely persevere and make it exactly what you want! I think it's a good thing!

Nancy

May I call you? I have free long distance for the states or you can call me. My number is 503.756.1426

ladyquilter wrote:
I should be able to, JoJo. I just called my dealer and double-checked on this. What I do is open the .dst file in my V6 software and the file is converted automatically to an .ART60 file; then I send it to my machine as an .ART file instead of a .dst. I can certainly try. My machine is a Bernina 830.

Renata, can you embroider a dst file on your machine?

Hmmm... I can see the picture on my end -- I love the online world! Let me try again...

JoJo, thanks for your help. I feel like I was so close to what I wanted but not close enough to be successful. I would have never thought of adding a triple stitch for example or a fancy stitch, yet, as I was loading up some OESD Holiday designs to deconstruct what they did to achieve the effect I wanted, and it looks like they did exactly what you suggested. I kept thinking that I needed to use the reshape tool to move nodes to get the tapers and curl endings, but to no avail... So, I will go back in and try again. Your picture did not come through, so if you have a chance to reload it, it would be much appreciated. Thank you and since you can't see me, I have a little smile on my face and I feel like happy dancing a bit until I open up my V6 software again.

PS Why can't I just use Sarah Vedeler's design for this BOM???... (because I really don't want to?) I don't know whether this is stubborness or persistence... but I just can't give up!

Renata wrote: I drew it in xp Paint (I do have a drawing tablet though), saved it as a 'jpg' - you have to watch out for that, it's default save is 'bitmap' which doesn't upload (don't ask how I know ) Put it somewhere you can find it again , and upload like any ordinary photo. Simples!

You are on your way to a successful digitizing experience so please don't stop now. Play some more and do some sample stitch outs on practice fabric.

I recommend that you digitize a running stitch placement line so that you know exactly where to place each piece of fabric. If you do not want to digitize a tack down stich in either a zig zag or an e-stitch, you can use a temporary spray adhesive. I do not recommend just laying the fabric down and having the satin stitch start because the fabric can shift very easily and then you will have registration issues and not be satisfied with your efforts.

You don't have to use a satin stitch everywhere. I would play with your fancy stiches in those curly areas and either use one of those or a triple stitch because they will just be for decorative purposes on the solid parts of the applique fabric.

Here's a very quick screen snapshot of me playing with your design. The green stitches is a placment stitch. I usually put this so that it fall just inside of the lines. That way if any applique fabric is not covering it, you will know that you need to reposition the fabric until all of the stitches are hidden underneath. The red area is a tackdown stitch which can be eliminated with spray adhesive. The blue area is the satin stitch with a triple stitch for the curly areas.

Hope that helps you keep going!

Thanks, Rosemary! What program did you use to send that picture below? I like that!

Just read your second post - whilst I have absolutely no experience of digitizing embroidery, I do know that to get a nice taper with satin stitch, instead of having the stitchs at right angles to the sides you need to angle them

Glad you have found ways of avoiding boredom

rehak wrote:
Thanks, Nancy! I'm taking it all on board so I can sort through your suggestions and play and see what will work for me. Step-by-step...

PosyP wrote:
Good points! As with everything, it will really depend on what makes the most sense to you and how you are doing other things. I haven't had much trouble with applique drawing in the fabric, but I never use a satin stitch and for my BOM I'm using Ricky's Stable Stuff and am leaving it in, so that would help to stabilize the applique.

Isn't it hard that there is never one right answer!

Well, Rosemary... I've made blocks lately for the Sedona Star 2012 BOM that have become my practice pieces for FMQ when they did not quite turn out as I wanted for the BOM... I still put my mistakes to good use in one way or another... but I am getting more and more confused... I get bored with the easy stuff so I start in over my head. Just so grateful you all are out there to bail me out!