Just finished putting together the lesson for the Angelina Applique Butterfly event training in Spokane, WA this weekend. The sample came out beautifully!

Next week, it's back to book writing now that the wedding suit is complete and the lesson plans are written.

I haven't meant to ignore the blog, but I've been working on a wedding commission that's due this month. I'll get back to actively answering questions and sharing information after the wedding.

In the meantime, Floriani released a new update to the Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro product the last weekend in April. You can check for updates by opening the software and selecting Check for Updates beneath the Help menu. After running the update, you should have version 4.73 of the software.

I've been asked by a number of people if you can run digitizing software on a netbook.

Here's the quick answer: yes.

This answer comes with a proviso. If you purchase a netbook with a small screen (i.e. smaller than 11 inches) you can run the software, but you'll have a hard time seeing what you're trying to digitize on the screen. With some netbooks, if the screen is too small, you won't be able to view the whole user interface at the same time or important parts of the interface will be covered by other minimized elements.

If you have an external screen that you can connect when you're doing most of your digitizing at your primary desk, this shouldn't be an issue. If this is going to be your only screen, I would strongly suggest using a netbook/laptop with a minimum screen size of 14 inches.

Training in Spokane on January 14 and January 15 was a blast. What a great group of students. We tackled a lesson on personalized labels first and then explored the techniques in the tricolor viola lesson afterwards. Students had great questions and super enthusiasm. They are what makes teaching a joy for me.

After the fun we had last weekend, it looks like we'll be making this a quarterly event. I'll be putting together more lessons for them, and they'll be gearing up for another boot camp like day of training!

If you have a group of Floriani users in your area and you're interested in having me come out to train, let me know. You don't know what's possible if you aren't willing to ask.

Monday, January 10 was the first Floriani Series 2 class to be held at the Issaquah Sew & Vac in about six months. We were doing the lace insertion towel for the first time. Everything was going smoothly until we went to add the Q from one of the Text Design alphabets to the towel. Of the eight of us there, about half of us didn't have the alphabets in the Text Design catalog anymore and the other half did.

Here's the thing, however. When I prepped the lesson about 2 weeks before class, I did have all the files in the Text Design catalog. When I went to insert the Q in class, my Text Design alphabets were gone. Now, I know that I didn't delete them, but just the same they weren't there. Fortunately I was able to copy the library of files from someone in class who still had them to those of our computers where they were missing, and we could finish the class.

As soon as I get some time, I'll go up and post this issue in the Floriani Support Forum. In the meantime, since I know that neither I nor anyone else in class deleted the files from our computers, I would suggest that you backup the files in the following folder to a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM:  C:\Program Files (x86)\G7Solutions\Click2Stitch\Library. This way if yours should go walkabout at some point, you can just copy them back to where they belong.

I've created two lessons to teach in Spokane this weekend. One, the tricolor viola, is strictly design and can be embroidered onto anything (within reason) with the stabilizer one would normally use when embroidering on that fabric.

The second, personalized labels, is a little more complicated. I had ordered 2 inch satin ribbon from JKM Ribbon & Trim, but they are pretty slow in shipping so I picked up some 2 1/4 inch ribbon from Joann's as a backup. Unfortunately, neither Joann nor Michaels had 2 inch ribbon.

As a result I'm stitching out my sample with a larger ribbon size than I wanted. I'll need to put together a copy of my class with instructor notes on them. That way I can tell students what needs to change if they want to use a different ribbon size.

Fewer than two days till I fly to Spokane. I'm looking forward to a new crew of faces!

I've updated the front page of the Literary Ends Press website with a list of when and where I'm teaching classes in Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro in January, 2011. Hope to see you there!

I've approved the proof for the second print run of Pictures to Stitches. Now onto the writing of book 2!

I'm currently booked to teach the following classes in January, 2010:

This is a reprint of the 12/14/2010 Shibui Originals From Thought To Thread blog entry of the same name.

Starting a home-based embroidery business and need to know about software? That's what this blog discusses.

If you need to be able to create your own designs for machine embroidery, you need to have digitization software. Why? You need digitization software because  while you may have some clients who will pick out a predigitized design from a catalog that you offer, you'll have others who want you to digitize their logo or their custom design for them before you do any embroidery.

Now I've used Pfaff 3D and Pfaff 4D both of which had multiple programs operating within the one umbrella. Creating a design and editing a design were done in separate windows. I used this software on and off for a couple years, but it wasn't terribly intuitive.

After Pfaff software, I used Brother's PE-Design 7 solidly for a year. I got decent results, but once again, different functions used separate modules rather than one unified interface. Also, anytime that I wanted to digitize a curve, I had to represent it with lots of points which made editing the curve a nightmare. Everything was based on bunches of points which eventually drove me nuts. I was working for another company, at the time, and started doing research on what software would make me a more efficient digitizer.

I stumbled across a magazine advertisement for Floriani Embroidery Suite Proaround that time, and the features intrigued me. So I loaded up the demo (which is a full version of the software that doesn't allow you to save) and tried digitizing one of the designs I'd been working on in PE-Design 7.

After a couple hours I knew that this was the software that I wanted to use for future digitizing. Several months later, my boss and I were laid off, and we started our own embroidery business. Within three months, I went out and purchased Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro.

Let me say this right off the bat: if you're looking for a digitizing package that will be able to easily and effectively auto-digitize designs, give up now. I've never seen a demo of a digitizing package that doesn't tout its auto-digitizing or magic wand features, but this rarely works as well when you get the software home. Furthermore, wizards and magic wands don't give you the quality that you need for professional embroidery.

That said,  a number of things make me recommend Floriani Embroidery Suite Pro: