Red I looked this up and you don't need a box as long as you have a floppy, memory card, stick, or cd. Depending upon your computer, you might already have the slots for those items. I know you have another embroidery machine you saved designs to use so there could be a xxx or psw format in there when you unzip the file. From the instructions for the XL6000, as long as you have the design to use on your desktop, you can open the design in the software and transmit to the 6000 to sew out. I have a Singer CE200 that sews out any format you throw at it. It is also computer dependent via a USB port (I can use any type of UBS cable I have, not just the one from Singer). Since you already have a card you save pictures on, you can use that also. Here is a link that might be useful: Sew Ware instructions

Sandra, Amazing! I can' t imagine hand piecing 100 squares, let along hand sewing them together, then hand quilting! It is truly a labor of love for you and I am sure your parent will really appreciate all of your work. But better you than me! I machine pieced a queen size quilt in 2000 and have been hand quilting it since then ... maybe I will get it finished in the next 10 years! I do like hand quilting but it is with black thread on black and batiks so really hard on the eyes. I get sidetracked easily, too! :) Keep us posted with pictures as you make progress! Sue

Thanks Amy, the play quilt has satin stitch around it. They boys came in and wanted it "right now" so I just quickly stitched around and it has held up for 6 years and 2 boys now. The first I-spy has a fleece backing. The others have denim on the back. One is ragged to the I-spy side, the other to the denim side. beverly

Love your idea and I have played around with that idea a bit myself. Haven't made any cards yet...still toying with how to. Anyway...for applique there is a product called Heat and Bond which comes in a couple of different "stiffness". You iron it to the wrong side of your fabric and then peel off the paper backing and then iron onto your main fabric. Be careful or the stuff gets onto your iron and board and can be a mess to clean off. Anyway there is another product called Timtex that is really stiff and would give your card an almost cardboard type feel. Use it as backing to the main fabric of your applique. For puffiness you can also use fusible fleece or regular batting. This is what I would do: decide on the fabric for the background. Decide on the fabric to be used for the mini quilt you talked about. After the mini quilt is designed iron some heat and bond on the back of it and iron it to your background. Then use your decorative stitches to "quilt" it to the background. When this top part is done, layer with some fusible fleece or batting with the Timtex stuff, bind off the edges and voila, you have a card. Good grief...after re-reading what I wrote I wonder if this makes any sense....anyway. It may give you some ideas of what product to look for and a method of madness too. I hope it helps and you have inspired me. I bought a fabric panel of Maxine sayings and thought about making cards out of it. Maybe someone who has actually done this will chime in with more better ideas. Please let us know what you did and post a picture. Murphy