Loving Stitches Quilt Shop

If you haven’t noticed, we have a custom image skin on our floor model 210. It’s of baby Mikayla and it is oh so cute! We went to the BERNINA Skin design page, selected the machine model, uploaded a photo and viola! We had a skin. It cost just under $40 ($29.95 + 7.95 shipping) and it took about two weeks to arrive.

So many people have asked about it and commented on it and have wondered how to get one of their own. Unfortunately, the skins are not available for all machines yet – we keep hoping that they will be! Currently, you can get skins for the Activa line (210, 220, 230PE, and 240) or the limited edition 635.

As mentioned, it is so easy to create your own skin. You start by going to the BERNINA skin design page and selecting the machine you have. Then you have the option of using some of their stock designs or uploading your own photo. You can place the design anywhere on the machine (we chose to cover the entire machine) or you can place it in just a small area. You can also add text – we added Mikayla’s name to the bobbin door.

If you do get a skin for your machine, take a photo of it and share it with us. We love to see how creative our customers are!

AND – BERNINA is donating the proceeds from the skins to support breast cancer research!

Many of our customers and staff have fallen in love with this nifty little tool.  Some even say it’s the best invention since the rotary cutter!  It has become so popular that it often sells out as soon as a shipment arrives! The Fons & Porter Binding Tool definitely does take the guesswork out of completing your binding and making the ends meet.  No more incorrect cuts or incorrect measurements!

Granted, most of us have learned the traditional way of figuring out how to get our binding ends to meet, so it does require that you read and follow the instructions.  For some of us, we have to pull out our instructions every time we use the tool!  Others have no problem using the tool…but many of these are ones who had problems with the “old school” method.

So it may take you a little bit to become comfortable using this tool, but we do recommend it to our customers!

Linda Parrish, one of our dear customers, does wonderful hand applique work, as you can see from these photos. We’re also going to be posting our customer creations on our Facebook page. We’ve created a “Customer Creations” album on our Photos tab.  So check it out! We’ll be posting more photos as our customers give us permission to do so.

If you would like us to post one of your creations, send us a digital photo! You can email it to us at info@lovingstitches.net and we’ll post it on our Facebook page. It’s always nice to see what other customers have created and be inspired by their works. Here, we are so often amazed at how talented our customers are and love to share!!!

I know we have many people participating in our Floral Visions block-of-the month program. I just thought I’d share some of the finished versions we’ve seen at BU. Aren’t they gorgeous?! If you weren’t too keen on Floral Visions before, this just may inspire you to make the quilt!

Our days at Bernina University (BU, for short) are filled with learning and lectures. Since there are three of us here, we’re doing the ‘divide and conquer’ method to try to get as much information as possible. Classes and lectures are divided into 4 main areas: Technical, Software, Sewing & Embroidery and Business Management.

Margaret is focusing on Embroidery, of course. Carrie is filling in for Carol and taking many of the Business Management classes as well as getting into some others that interest her. Nancy is checking out Software and Sewing classes, where she’s bringing back some great ideas and projects for SERGERS!!! Nancy and Margaret also attended a class on Designer Plus Version 6 where the got some good ideas and further knowledge of what the software can do. This software is just amazing!

Sample T-Shirts

From Nancy: The Serger T-Shirt class was a blast! And much easier than you would expect. One really neat thing is that we used the t-shirt pattern from My Label. Since it was my first time working with My Label, I was a bit uncertain as to how the t-shirt would turn out, but it fits to a T! It just goes to show that if you do have someone take your measurements correctly for My Label, then the items will be a custom fit for you.

Never used a serger before!

Another great t-shirt!

These two ladies also modeled their t-shirts, once finished. The one on the left had NEVER touched a serger before this class and she had NEVER used My Label. And she still finished a spectacular t-shirt. Did I mention that we all finished during the 3-hour class? Yes, it is possible and quite easy. We also have enough material left over that we can have fun making a coordinating scarf or belt.

Carrie, Margaret and Nancy all also got a sneak peek at OESD’s Christmas Collection. Once again, these will be offered in the shop later this year. When Nancy has the opportunity, she’ll take some photos of the stitched-out designs and post them on Loving Stitches’ Facebook page.

For those of you who love Floral Visions, later this evening Nancy will also post some different Floral Visions colorways on the Facebook page. There are a number of different ones here and each is beautiful in its own way.

It’s going on 8 am and we’re off for another exciting day of learning and lectures!

If you have been wondering what has happened to Carrie, Margaret and Nancy, don’t worry – they’re at Bernina

Margaret and Carrie at the Opening Session

University learning all sorts of new and exciting things in the world of Bernina. The classes and lectures kicked off onFriday with an opening session – at 10:30 am! We entered the big convention room to upbeat music and everyone full of welcoming smiles and hugs. Once everyone had their seats, and the official presentation began, we were treated to something akin to a Vegas show with a band and dancers – all this to create excitement about what’s coming from Bernina.

Martin Favre, President of Bernina USA, opened the presentation with some inspiring word on this year’s theme of “Innovation.” We all know it’s hard to improve upon the 830, but there are other ways to make our sewing, quilting and embroidery experiences more exciting. Mr. Favre also intoduced us to Bernina Thailand, which is adding to the success of the company. The head of Bernina Thailand was also at the event and he introduced us to his staff through a video montage. Also during the event, Mr. Favre invited Mr. Ueltschi -  the owner of Bernina – to the stage to add some thoughts on the year ahead.

But the biggest excitement was generated around the official introduction of the new 3-Series machines: 330, 350 and 380. Don’t they all look fantastic?!

The new 380

The new 330 and 350

For those of you who own an 830 and don’t like carrying it to class, doesn’t the 380 seem to be the younger sibling to the 830? Gee….even the numbers are the same, just in a different order! Or, if you really want an 830, but the time just isn’t right, this could be the machine for you!

Also introduced were two – yes I said TWO – new roller bags for the standard size machines. Sorry 830 owners, you can’t have all the neat toys !! We haven’t seen the grey one up-close, but it appears to be a suede-like fabric, which is ultra chic for you stylish sewers. The blue circle case just screams “fun” and “creativity” to me. Who wouldn’t want either of these bags for their machine?!

Bernina with Skin

Oh! I almost forgot – how would you like a new skin for your machine?

Bernina with Skin

You know the kind -you may already have one on your cell phone, laptop, iPhone, etc. Bernina has launched a website where you can design a skin for your sewing machine! Unfortunately, this will not be available for all machines, but we can hope! The proceeds from these skins will be donated to support breast cancer research. I was just on the website for the skins and it does not seem fully functional for those of us in the US, but I will let you know as soon as it is functional for us. However, at least you can get an idea of how it works from the site as well as from these two photos.

All this excitement before lunch! Unbelievable!!!!

Here at Loving Stitches we are having a close-out sale on our current inventory of the Bernina 210, 220, 230 and 240 machines.

Only a limited number of these machines remain and once they are gone – they’re gone! Carol has drastically reduced their prices to move these machines.  Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity!

We all know Carol is a treasure trove of information regarding quilts of all kinds, but did you know that the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, houses the International Quilt Study Center & Museum? Their website is full of fabulous photos of all types of quilts as well as recorded quilt stories.

Their Quilt Explorer allows you to search their database of quilts from around the world and throughout history. It’s a wonderful source of information and inspiration.

Also, for a dose of monthly inspiration, sign up for their Quilt of the Month email and have the inspiration delivered to your inbox each month! I know this monthly email reminds me to visit their website and inspires me to continue quilting. Plus, I enjoy learning more about each monthly quilt.

Do you enjoy reading the Through the Needle magazine? Are you inspired by their projects? I know here at the shop we ooh and aah over the latest issue.

Well, Through the Needle magazine is going green! You can sign up for the NEW Through the Needle Online magazine. It’s free, and beginning August 1st, you will receive a link via email to each bi-monthly issue. Click on the icon to sign up!

Go Green and be inspired!

We all gush over the 8 Series machines from BERNINA, and owners of the 820 and 830 just adore the machines! I know not everyone has one at home – yet – but here’s an opportunity to learn more about the machine. Not only is the site useful for more information about the 8 Series, but it is also a great resource if you already own an 8 Series machine.

On the Test Drive page, you will find some short “how-to” videos for threading the machine. Also, on the left side of the page, you can download a simulator to your personal computer to really experience what working with an 8 Series machine is like. If you can do it in the simulator, you should be able to do it on the machine.

My favorite part of the new site is the Project Showcase on the Get Inspired page. Not only are the projects inspiring, but you can also download the instructions for each project!