Wow! I’m amazed at what Internet technology allows us to do! Did you know that Bernina offers webinars on their website teaching you about different techniques on embroidery software, different models of machines and lots of different projects?!?!?! Do you know that that means? You can sit at home, in front of your computer and learn new stuff that your software or machine can do!! Yay!!! In fact, right now, I’m listening/watching a embroidery software lesson on applique–it’s great!

Now, the software and machine classes are showing you techniques and features on Bernina machines, but many of the same functions are very similar to other machines, so even if you don’t own a Bernina, you can still gain from watching these webinars. You can see the list of webinars being offered at berninausa.com and you’ll receive the latest news if you’re signed up for Bernina’s newsletter list. One of the even greater things is that these webinars are usually scheduled for one day, but at several times that day. AND they are live! Which means as you are watching and a question pops in your mind?? Simply use the email link in the webinar window and ask your question! How great is that?!

But sometime those times don’t always match our schedules or you’ve registered and it’s totally slipped your mind until 50 minutes already into the webinar! So, guess what?! Those webinars are archived for two weeks to two months on Bernina’s website so you can watch them later at a time that works better for you!

And the even better thing about these webinars? I can watch those while I’m doing something else! Ummm, hmmm….if you’re a multi-tasker (and let’s face it, who isn’t?), it’s a perfect solution for squeezing one more thing you want to do into a day!

Isn’t the online world great?!

The solution: create it!

I sandwiched a piece of batting between two layers of poly satin. Using my software, I selected the one little flower from this OESD design. I then copied and pasted it multiple times on my screen to create an area large enough for my fabric.

Then (this is the really great part!), using my Bernina jumbo hoop for my 830, all I had to do was hoop the piece of fabric twice to stitch the entire 15″ x 20″ rectangle. Whoohoo!!! That makes it simple! I hooped the first half of the fabric and stitched it, then hooped the second half and stitched it.

Then my fabric was created!! Lovely!!

Then I could pin on my pattern and cut it out.

It’s simple to create your own fabric! Give it a try!

More on finishing this project coming next week…

Version 3 and 4 of my Bernina DesignerPlus software, I know like the back of my hand, but V5…that I’m still learning all the *new* things that have been added! (I know, I know….V6 is now out, but I’m still loving V5 features! And when I install V6 on my computer in a couple weeks…well, I’ll be wowed away by all the new stuff in it as well!)

But take a look at this! It used to be back in the old versions of software that I would have to manually digitize an applique shape or design. You know, digitize the placement line, cutting line, tackdown stitch and then the cover stitch. Each. One. Separately.

Then the auto applique tool was developed and oh, did that ever speed up the process! And now the partial applique and advanced applique tools have been added, but the thing that caught my eye today as I’ve been designing is this: bringing the fabric into the applique so it shows onscreen.

Yep, that’s right! Here’s my design and inside the square on point, I can see the fairy frost fabric in my head, but I can’t actually SEE it onscreen.

Until I bring in that little scanned fabric swatch. See?! How cool is that!

New Diamond Layout – The new diamond layout is neat, although I’m not sure how much I would use it. Since I’m not a traditional quilter, but prefer to work with larger pieces and incorporate embroidery, I have used the square and on point layouts quite a bit. One item to note: A diamond and square on point look like the same shape, but nope, they aren’t! A diamond is a skewed square where a square on point is actually a square that has been turned 45 degrees, making it much simpler and easier to add pieces around it.

Block Editor – You can draw and create your own custom blocks to import into your block library. Cool feature! What can I see doing with this?? Paper piecing! I don’t do a lot of paper piecing but have done a little and created a couple paper pieced blocks for an embroidered project I taught. So I can definitely see using the block editor to create paper pieced blocks specifically designed with an open area for embroidery. Yep, I can see that.

One thing I do like to do is use the quilter program to bring in a design and place it in a border and resize the design so it will fit in the space I want it to. There are other ways to do this on the embroidery screen of the software, but if I do it on an actual border, it’s a bit easier to visualize and see what will and won’t work.

The basic key to Bernina’s Quilter program is that you can see it before you stitch it! If you are having trouble envisioning the fabrics together or knowing what embroidery designs to add in or where to put them, the Quilter program is a jewel to use because you can see it and play with it before you go to the work of cutting and stitching it.

This webinar will be available on Bernina’s website for about a week if you would like to watch it and they are always scheduling more webinars which are always informative! So be sure to sign up for them!

One of the next webinars I’m looking forward to is on the new CutWork Tool & Software. That will be neat to see!

What can I say? I’m already addicted! I’ve just seen a little of what Bernina has packed into their new version of embroidery software and I’m just thrilled! Of course, I knew that V6 would be on my “want list” as soon as I heard that Bernina was introducing a new version of software.

With every version Bernina has released (and I’ve been using it since V2!), there are always so many creative tools that I think there just can’t be improvement on what is already so great! But there always is and Designer Plus V6 is no different – just much better! I can’t wait to get my hands on it on my own computer!!

If you want to see the new color wheel tool, the lettering that makes you think “WOW” or find out what the halo and ripple effect can do to your designs, take a peek at Bernina’s Designer Plus V6 webinar. The webinar will be on Bernina’s site until Monday, August 17th, so don’t miss out on seeing what’s up and coming!

Did you know that Bernina has a new webinar every month and YOU can join in on their seminars? Be sure to sign up for Bernina’s newsletter to be informed of the upcoming webinars.

The tablecloth – This is the first thing I thought of doing with the beautiful borders in this collection. Those large, beautiful borders on that bolt of fabric are just calling for mitered corners!
The red background with the holly on it will be on the outside and probably on the other side as well that joins the border to the rest of the tablecloth.

The edge is figured out, so now it’s time to make a decision as to what’s in the middle. Here’s some of the images I played with in BQ and I think the choice is pretty obvious. I put the placemat with red borders on top to see the results. The red version also has the placemat with green borders on it because the red borders just get lost.

What do you think?

ivory center

red center

gold center

green center

Something else I’ve been thinking about is how to finish the tablecloth. Here are my choices I’ve been considering as I stitch the borders to the center and miter the corners:

1. Stitch 1/4″ seams and serge the seam allowances. It will be on the back, so it shouldn’t show, except for perhaps the corners where the fabric drapes off the table.

2. Stitch the seams in a french seam so the seam is completely enclosed. It would just make for a nicer finish if the back did flip up. Or I could do a stitch and serges seam on the sides and just do a french seam on the mitered corners.

3. Line the tablecloth, so then the seams would be inside and enclosed and the back would look nice. But if I do that, I need to do some stitching in the ditch and other stitching in the center to hold the layers together and keep them laying flat on the table.

Then for finishing the edge, I also have a couple of choices:

1. Roll hem the edge. This is quick and easy and I really like a rolled hem edge, but it’s not quite as durable as a turned under and under hem.

2. Turn the edge under and under in a 1/4″ seam and straight stitch.

3. If I line it, I can stitch the edges together with right sides together and then turn it to the outside for a finished edge.

4. Or if I line it, I could also stitch a binding around the edge. This would add another fabric into the mix and would add a little weight to the edge to hold the tablecloth down which wouldn’t be a bad idea. Of course, this would also be the most time consuming.

Hmm…..choices, decisions….I’m going to start cutting the fabric on these next week, so I still have a little time to make a decision.

I’ve been wanting for the last couple of years to make a table wear set with a Christmas theme, but haven’t found the time (imagine that!) or haven’t found the fabric that I thought was just perfect….until now!

This is the embroidery design I am going to use that matches the print fabric. It’s OESD design FP044 and I took out the upright flower and extra stem cause I wanted this floral to be the focal point. I love being able to do that – match the motif in the fabric to the design. It makes it look so neat!

A great thing about this design is that it is not filled in, so it is not as dense as some others. That will (1) make it quicker to stitch and (2) will not add the bulk of stitches to the place mat which plates and flatware will have to sit over.

I played with some design various for place mats in my Bernina Quilter software and here are my favorites.

This one is design 1 with red borders:

This one is design 1 with green borders:

I couldn’t decide if the triangles around the center block added to or were distracting to the rest of the place mat. So I did this one with red borders eliminating the triangles:

And the same design with the green borders:

I think I do like the mats better with the triangles surrounding the center block. It seems to keep the colors blending together.

What do you think?