I've Got the Bernina Embroidery Machine Back in Operation!

I was having great difficulty over the past few months getting my old Gateway laptop to "play nicely" with my Bernina 440QEE sewing and embroidery machine.  I would load up a design, transfer the design from the computer to the machine, it would stitch a few stitches and then stop midstream.  Uggh!! I was very frustrated, so I resulted in letting the machine collect dust for a couple of months.  However, back in December a friend of mine passed along a great deal on a new laptop.  I got an HP laptop with Windows 8 and lots of memory for a great price.  I took advantage of one of these dreary, rainy, cold days that we have been frequenting here in the South.  I hooked up the machine, installed the software, and hoped for good luck.  The software installed just fine.  I am using version 5 of the Bernina embroidery software.  I hooked the USB cable from the embroidery machine, turned it on, and waited for that wonderful little sound to tell me that the machine had been recognized by the computer...and I waited....and I unplugged and replugged and waited....and NOTHING!!!  I decided not to give up, at this point deciding I was not a fan of Windows 8 either  (why in the world would Microsoft try to change something that worked fine...Windows XP).  I did some research on the internet and found that some Bernina owners were having trouble installing the software on their Windows Vista and 7 machines.  I took the advice provided to these users and checked my list of programs and sure enough there was the culprit.  Apparently the Bernina machines/software do not like the Microsoft Net Framework programs. I had the 1.1 version installed in my programs.  It took some coaxing to uninstall but finally I got it removed.  I hooked up the computer and embroidery unit again and VOILA!! it worked.  I played around with the machine testing some simple one thread color designs to make sure that it was fixed before I attempted any major design work on garments. 

Once I felt confident with the fix, I decided to create a design for a shirt.  Actually, the design was not my own.  I discovered in my email inbox last week that Designs by Sick was having an embroidery design sale.  Each of their design sets was $1.00 each.  I found six packages and quickly downloaded them to my computer.  The first design I decided to play with was one in a cute owl design set.  I received this cute little owl iron-on patch in my Christmas stocking and had put it on a denim shirt shortly after the holidays.  I then decided to take a plain white, long-sleeved t-shirt and coordinate a similar embroidery design.  I modified the colors, found in the original design, to better match those in my iron-on patch.  The design was the "perfect A" grade as suggested by Bernina, but I think it turned out nicely.  What do you think? 

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!!    Patty