Loving Stitches Quilt Shop

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.