Fabric! Lots and lots of Fabric!!

Been by the store lately? If you haven't then you are missing out on the (almost) daily deluge of new fabric! I can't remember ordering it all at the same time, but maybe we did!!

Some notables include Nancy Halvorsen's 'I Believe in Santa' collection, some beautiful home decor fabric from Anna Maria Horner's second collection called 'Drawing Room', four bolts of wool blanketing for coats and blankets, and a ton of Fossil Ferns!! Coming soon: a shelf full of laminated fabric that you can use for raincoats and lunch bags, a gorgeous collection from Laura Dunn called 'Lantern Bloom'. I also secretly ordered a collection of fabrics called 'Tattoo Parlour'! The rest of the ladies at the shop may kill me, but I couldn't resist! The colors are amazing!

Also coming soon: Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons and a beautiful collection of his newest fabric designs. We'll let you know when they arrive. Since Mr. Fassett will be visiting our area this fall we felt it fitting to spotlight his beautiful work at our store as well.

Hope to see you soon!

Merry Christmas in July!!

Next week, Bernina in Stitches will be celebrating Christmas in July with the reveal of our Christmas fabrics! This will afford our wondeful customers the opportunity to get a jump on their Christmas sewing projects. We are so excited for everyone to see our choices from Nancy Halvorsen's 'I Believe in Santa' collection, including a beautiful wall-hanging that Charlotte Ryan put together for our display.

We will also be offering several make and take classes next week featuring machine embroidered ornaments and gift tags. Stop by and enjoy a little holiday fun in the midst of the summer heat. The punch will be chilled, we promise!

The picture above is Linda, me, Cyndi, and Carol, freezing in San Francisco last month at the doors of Britex fabrics.

Stitchin Fool!

You know you love to sew when you (1) see a fashion item and think 'I could make that'
(2) browse pattern websites (3) keep 3-4 projects going at the same time (4) have emough of a fabric stash you could insulate your abode with it or (5) work in a fabric/sewing store and never have enough fabric! Or in my case, all of the above!

July block of the month is tomorrow and after that there are 3 more blocks left and the year will be over! But my mind is light years ahead (well, maybe a few months ahead) planning on the next year long excursion for block of the month! Just a little something to look forward to is a sit and sew to be added to block of the month. For those who want to jump in and get their block finished, maybe even start constructing the quilt top throughout the year!

My favorite thing to do is go on sewing retreats. I get so much work done away from home and all the distractions there. Would be interesting to hear from any of you out there if you might be interested in putting together a weekend long sewing retreat! Let us hear from you!

Serena

My First Purse

I finally took the plunge and constructed my first purse from some of the beautiful fabrics at Bernina In Stitches. My pattern choice came about due to the need for a 'Purse of the Month' for August. Since this will be my first purse class, I needed something that I could easily teach in 2 hours or so. I had some ideas for patterns, but Carol reeled me in and suggested Anna Maria Horner's Multi-Task Bag. She told me that several customers had asked if we would teach this purse as a class, and from looking at the pattern she thought it would be a good 'first purse' for me to try.

I chose some of Anna Maria's fabrics that we have, brought the new 450 Fashionista sewing machine home for a sleepover, and had this purse completely constructed in about 3 hours (not counting the layout and cutting!). I have to tell you, I have been bitten by the purse bug!

I think I will be able to teach this purse class. Now all I need are some willing participants!

Back from BU!

Linda, Carol, Cyndi and I, along with our male Stitchin' buddies Steve and Scott, just returned from a week of Bernina fun in San Francisco, California at Bernina University! We arrived Wednesday, registered early Thursday morning, and spent the next five days in Bernina heaven, learning about new products and programs that will be released this fall.

A highlight for us all was hearing about the Version 6 Designer Plus software that will be released in September. Linda spent much of her California time learning about this upgrade and all it has to offer the embroidery enthusiast. Another wonderful product to be released very soon is the Cutwork Tool and software. With this little gadget and your embroidery system, you can cut intricate designs into fabric (and paper!) with ease.

We enjoyed our week, learned alot, and are ready to begin the second half of 2009 with a new energy. Visit us soon, we will tell you all about it!