Thank you Libbi!
Any and all tips you want to share, especially for the 830 are greatly appreciated. If the techs ever return my Princess (830) I will be able to put into practice all your great tips!

Thank you for sharing, Libbi.

I am getting to grips with quilting in the hoop. I thought that I'd pass along some tips on getting good results. This is actually a reminder since I am sure that others have "been there, done that" before.

To use a stabilizer or not. If I hoop the quilt or quilt block, I don't use stabilizer. For me, the sandwich is sufficient. But I don't like to hoop the quilt in the traditional way. I use stabilizer to secure the quilt to the hoop which is resting over the hoop. This avoids hoop burn and potentially distorting the block (or area being quilted). I use straight pins away from the stitching field. My machine will also do a securing stitch out that either frames the design or outlines the hoop itself. Test whatever stabilizer you want to use but I prefer a heavier wash away or tear away.

Make sure the weight of the quilt is distributed so there is no pull on the hoop. I do not have a lift on my 830 table so the surface of the machine is not level with the table surface. I use books, boxes, whatever is on hand to create a level surface on which to lay the quilt while stitching out the design. If there is any pull whatsoever, there is a great probablilty that double run designs will have double vision, that is, the second line will not stitch over the first. It is also possible that the joins will be off.

I am not familiar with embroidery machines other than Bernina. When I do quilting designs in the hoop I thread the bobbin for general sewing, not embroidery and I increase the upper tension to achieve a balance between the needle and bobbin tension (evenly matched tug-o-war teams). My machine is default set to tighter bobbin tension to pull the needle thread to the back. This eliminates bobbin thread showing in the embroidered design. This is not what you want for a quilting design. Otherwise, you will probably end up with the needle thread pulled to the back with the bobbin thread not pulled into the quilt sandwich at all.

To avoid birdnests. If you have an automatic cutter option, shut it off. Manually cut jumps. There usually aren't many jumps anyway. Bring the bobbin thread to the top and give both threads a good tail. You don't want either thread to get sucked to the back. You can either bury the tails or if your machine give you a reasonable tie off, cut it off.

I have no room for a longarm with a computerized quilt design option. For me, this is the next best thing.