440QE Machine Cover progress

Slowly but surely, the cover for my Bernina 440QE is getting close to done. At the Bad Herrenalb retreat, I got the top assembled, sandwiched and stitched in the ditch.
A few days ago I machine-stippled the KO applique part.
Tonight I used my embroidery module on my 830 to embroider a stipple fill around the name Gertrude Alice. My top wasn't exactly square, so I went back and touched up a couple of places. Then I basted around the outside.
That means there are just 3 things left to do:

1. Add the ribbons (still on their way from stoffe.de)
2. Bind the edges
3. Tack back the geese so they will have a curved look. 
4. Ok, and add a label. I rarely remember the label is a step, too.

Getting excited!

Prototyping an embroidery design

So there's this embroidery design I'm creating. For me it's all new and tricky, trying to get designs and fabric and needle and thread to all work together.

This project is an applique project, in which I applique an embroidered piece to a background piece. So I need placement lines, need to make sure the satin stitch will cover the fabric edge, and so on. 

So I decided to stitch out just some key areas - the largest curvy bits, the outline, and the width of the applique outline stitch. Thanks to the features of my nifty machine, I can just jump from one area of the design to another with the use of a stylus. 

And here's the result. Everything seems to fit nicely, although I might widen the applique satin stitch a bit.

The outer circle is a basting line, delineating the edge of the embroiderable area. The next oval is the applique line, and you can see 4 points where I checked the width of the satin stitch. 

All that mess in the middle were tricky bits of the actual design.

I like it when I get to plan a project and the prototype looks like everything will go fine.

More lace, this one will choke you up

OK, not really. It's a choker, made at DD's request.
We both love Urban Threads, because their designs are all a little weird. Also their explanations are clear, and I love their creativity.
The choker is going to be nice enough if you tie a little black velvet ribbon at the ends, but it also has enough little places to sew on delicate chains or other things.
Now that I've finally learned how to make Free Standing Lace, or FSL, it's a lot more fun. The shiny stuff you see at the edge of the lace is the stabilizer, Solvy Ultra. I've also used Soluvlies, and it works better than the Solvy.

Here are the next designs DD wants, and this time she wants them on fabric-covered boxes, like in the course I just took.

http://www.urbanthreads.com/product_details?product_id=5153&category_id=29

http://www.urbanthreads.com/product_details?product_id=7346&category_id=29

New tool - graphic tablet

Embroidery software. Quite a challenge. Sure, it's easy to move a design from the computer to the computerized sewing machine, but doing more than that takes some serious learning.
What I want to do is make changes to existing diagrams, load clipart and convert to stitches, or modify photographs to convert them to stitches.
Enter the graphic tablet. That lets me use a pen to make adjustments, or to draw. This is the one I chose - the Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch. Last night's efforts to actually use it to modify a design didn't work out so well, but at least I was able to do this last weekend:

I'm putting these painting of my daughter's up on our walls, but I didn't know which way was up. So, grab the tablet, scrawl some letters on them and send off the email. Got my answer quickly, and now I can hang the pics.
(Just in case you want to know, up is side C and side 2B.

I can embroider!!!

Here's proof. I'm still experimenting with the adjustments needed to get the stitching right when I change sizes of the designs. All of the little pink bars are the letter "I" at different sizes and with different stitch densities.
Off to do more!

Thinking about buying an embroidery machine

If you have an embroidery machine, I'd like to hear about your experiences. I'm considering buying one, and have just found out that I don't really have a clue of what I'm talking about.
As best I can figure, I need to make some of the following choices:

• Do I want to buy an add-on module to my Bernina 440QE, or a standalone machine
• If i buy the module, what kind of sewing machine should I buy to be able to sew while the other machine is embroidering
• What kind of software do I need to buy to do the things I want to do
• What services and products would be cheaper for me to "outsource," that is, buy from some other source? I'm thinking designs, or digitizing services, or who knows what

At least I know what I want to do, which is (ideally) create my own graphics and stitch them onto my home deco projects, quilts, bags and my own clothing. 
Let me know your opinions, either here or by email. I'm quite confused right now.