The Latte Quilt Lessons on DVD are up and coming! Pre-order now for a special discounted price of $129.99! Sets will start shipping November 1st!

The Latte Quilt is an embroidered quilt pattern that is a timeless heirloom with its elegant embroidery and decorative stitches. Although Kerrie Hay provides instructions in her book, the Latte Quilt, for completing the project, it’s always helpful to stitch the quilt as someone is leading you through it step-by-step. This DVD is an additional tool to her book to give you the confidence to complete this quilt. Every area of creating the quilt will be covered, from picking out fabrics to the quilting, binding and label!

Fabric cutting and preparation.
Print embroidery templates.
Easy hooping techniques.
Embroidery design stitching tips and placement.
Helpful hints for decorative stitches.

This series of 12 lessons consists of written handouts with clear illustrations in addition to step-by-step instructions on DVD to assist you in completing this quilt project! Plus revised embroidery designs with added placement stitches making it simple to stitch each block!

Anyone from a novice to advanced machine embroider will find it easy to stitch this quilt with these lessons! If you’ve found this quilt intimidating before, fear no longer! With Serena’s onscreen directions showing you how to complete each step, you’ll be stitching block after block in no time!

As an added bonus, discover Serena’s favorite products for machine embroidery and her own tips and techniques she has learned. You will gain loads of information that you can use with many other projects.

After teaching two online Latte Quilt classes and many requests from you, I’m making available to you the exact same lessons on DVD!! You will have access to everything on this series of 8 DVDs just as though you were taking the class! Plus you’ll also receive a bonus cd with ALL my written instructions that you can print for yourself AND my revised embroidery designs for the quilt with added placement stitches! In addition to all that, this set also includes Kerrie Hay’s Latte Quilt Book and embroidery cd! You’ll have all the tools you need to complete the quilt!

Pre-order now for a special discounted price of $129.99! Sets will start shipping November 1st! Order your copy before the November 1st deadline to save $50! Sets will ship in the order received.

Set includes:
8 DVD discs with onscreen videos
Bonus cd with written instructions & revised embroidery designs
Latte Quilt book & original embroidery cd

Get your Latte Quilt DVD set today and start stitching!

Free-Standing Lace Church (Collection #61038) –have you seen this?! Free standing lace in all shapes and sizes have been around for a couple of years, but a church? And just in time for Christmas?! (Yes, believe it or not, Christmas is just around the corner! :))

Endearing Rose Heirlooms (pack#12309) –love the dainty, elegant designs! Just love them!

Holiday Cheer (pack#12307) –this is another Christmas pack, but those swirly designs could be used for sooooo much more than just around holiday time!

After I created my quilted fabric and cut out the purse pattern, I started digging for embellishments that would work. I had decided to use burgundy with the ivory fabric, so I found some sheer burgundy ribbon that would work perfect.

One problem: it was only 1″ wide. Too narrow for the pleated satin I wanted to stitch on top of it. Solution: Stitch two pieces of ribbon together to make it wider. Perfect!

Then stitch the pleated shiny satin trim on top of the ribbon. I found this pleated trim on one of my fabric shopping trips and loved it. It turned out beautifully on the ribbon.

Then this ruffled velvet trim fit perfectly right down the center of the pleats. Stacking trim and ribbon is fun and creates a neat layered effect. I should do more of this to use up the huge stash of ribbon I now own.

I stitched the layered ribbon down the center of the cut-out pattern and then stitched the binding to the outside edge.

After I stitched the bias binding to the edge, I then encased the raw edge in it and tacked it to the inside edge by stitching in the ditch around the edge. Perfect edging!

The last step was to stitch the purse sides together and add the magnetic closure.

Add a ribbon/corded pin I found at the Houston Quilt Market one year and it’s finished! Quite stylish and unique! And every single bit of it used from my collection of stashes!

It’s at times like this that I’m so glad I have those little (or rather large!) stashes!

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…

One of the unique stitch details about this design is that the vines running between the florals is a running stitch repeated over and over until the appropriate thickness is achieved. Most designs are digitized with a satin stitch in this area rather than a straight running stitch which gives it a heavier and unique look.

And to answer the question that many of you have been asking…..yes, these are the designs that I will be using in the next online quilt I will be teaching! :)

There are instructions included on the cd for a quilt, but I am making some changes and revisions for the quilt I will be teaching. I will be using some of the block layout designs, but adding a center medallion, adding some decorative stitches and increasing the amount of embroidery in the border of the quilt from what is pictured in the quilt on the cd. More details will be coming in the next few weeks.

EDIT as of September 2010: I do not have a starting date as to when I will be starting this new quilt as right now I am still working on stitching out the blocks and designing the quilt top. I have taken the next few months off from teaching as I am getting married in May 2011 and will be moving at that time as well. My goal is to start this new quilt in the fall of 2011! So stay tuned over the winter months to updates on the blocks and pieces as I’m able to design and stitch each one!

Get a head start on next year’s Christmas projects with all the ideas packed into Creative Expressions Issue 25!

In this issue:
Christmas Star Quilt
Scissor Caddy
Coconut Ice Snow
Galleria Pillows
Victorian Christmas Quilt

Note from Serena: This issue is full of Christmas projects and ideas! Don’t miss out on it!

Believe it or not, sewing machine needles are not intended to last forever. The little mechanism that holds the needle in place on your sewing machine has a screw that tightens and loosens. That means you are able to take out the old needle and put in a new one.

As I pulled my needle from my machine this morning, I felt the rather large burr at the tip of my needle. Oh, yes! It was time for a new one! Especially since I was planning to stitch on satin fabric which easily shows runs in the fabric from a less-than-perfect needle.

Unless a needle breaks or is bent, it’s easy to forget about changing the needle as you are sewing, but it is important to do so. Not only can a slightly bent or dull needle cause damage to your bobbin case, presser foot or stitch plate, but it also can damage your fabric. Thread breakage, shredded thread and skipped stitches can many times be eliminated with a change of the needle.

The next time you sit at your sewing machine, take a moment and look at the needle and see if you need to replace it. When was the last time you changed it? Try turning that screw sitting above your needle. It’s not glued in place; it really does work! :) And then save that old needle for hanging up picture frames!

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!

Fragrant Delights is an embroidered quilt in soft, pastel colors. As well as the instructions to make the Fragrant Delights quilt, this magazine show cases 10 wonderful pillows submitted by embroidery designers and distributors from around the world who also are giving away free sampler designs from their collections – 17 FREE designs that you can download!!

In Moulin Rouge, color seduces the eye and excites the senses on this richly designed quilt that features black velvet with red and black silk, embellished with rich red roses, bows and gold lattice. Plus there are many other projects included from great designers such as Kerrie Hay from Bernina with a bridal trousseau, Robyn Cawdron from Elna with summer outfit fun and Sharon Bummer’s school formals. All fantastic ideas to keep your mind overflowing with possibilities. Plus a cd is included with the magazine filled with FREE designs!

These issues are no longer in print and once they’re gone – they’re gone! So be sure to get your copy today! Machine embroidery ideas galore plus free embroidery designs; what could be better?!