Design Wall

A few weeks ago Debbie from Quilting Possibilities in New Jersey posted a photo of her design wall and openly wondered what everyones looked like.

Well, here is mine:

The green table runner on the left is the Scrappy Table Runner by Nina McVeigh. Bernina will be sending the instructions (if they haven't already) in a consumer email. As a new Bernina dealer I have been busy encouraging everyone to sign-up for emails at:

http://www.berninausa.com/

The site is packed with wonderful projects as free downloads and great tips and video that you can access for free. As you can see I was a good little dealer and made the sample. When you see Nina's version you will also see that we have very different taste in fabric.

The cheery cherry blocks in the middle are the beginnings of my version of the Western Pennsylvania Shop Hop project. Here in the greater Pittsburgh area our shop hop happens in June but we start selling passports (still just $5!) in April. This Thursday, April 8th is the kick-off day for the sale. (The quilt doesn't have to be finished by then, I have until June to do that!) This years theme is dancing and our shop is having a sock hop. The cherries seemed to fit a 50's theme.

On the far right is the banner I made for my niece Abby. She is making her first communion in early May and I was asked to help with this project. I can't remember when I had so much fun. That's a green satin background that I quilted before layering the other items on top using applique. The grapes are assorted size and different color purple buttons. You can't tell but the leaves are three dimensional and it is hard to see the shear ribbon leaves on the wheat in the photo. I learned to embroider and position script on this project - ya gotta love that virtual positioning on the Bernina 830! It was a really enjoyable creative process. Rarely do I get to do something this much fun that I don't have to write instructions for when I'm finished. Several of the girls here at the shop have suggested that I write a pattern because they know it would sell - not a chance, Abby is one-of-a-kind! I have 2 years to plan for her brother Andrew!

That large roll of fabric leaning on the wall is 60 yards of one of the prints from my Counterpoint line. It is intended to be the new drapes and pillow shams for my bedroom. Someone (me) decided that having FOUR windows in the bedroom and another DOUBLE WIDE window in the bathroom was a great idea. Because tackling 60 yards of fabric is a daunting task, that roll has been leaning there for months. The other reason it has been on the back burner is that I just finished putting together the matching King size quilt top. (Don't be too impressed, the pattern is just large squares). Now I have to deal with the batting. King size batting is 120" by 120". To fit our bed, with the new high mattress and calculating for quilting "shrink" the quilt should be at least 132" wide to have the proper drop on each side. Would someone please have a chat with the batting manufacturers and tell them about this problem?

What's on YOUR design wall?

The Sewing Zone

Normally Sunday is my day off, but this week "company" was coming to visit the store and I had to get things ready. If you are adept at reading between the lines, you already know that means "clean". Our store is generally organized, but I WORK here. I sew, cut, design, publish, and all that it entails right on the sales floor, in the corner of the Bernina area. It is less than a month until International Quilt Market, so there is a mini frenzy happening as I design, stitch and write the last bit of instructions. I rarely worry about what people think because my customers ARE creative people, they understand the process. This visitor was a bit unusual. "Mr. Bernina" in the form of H.P. Ueltschi, the owner of Bernina International himself was scheduled to pay us a visit on Tuesday. I thought wearing my shoes and getting the threads off the floor might be appropriate.

I came in early, about 8am, on Sunday morning. I made a deal with myself, if I cleaned up the part of the mess I was dreading (instead of hiding it in the closet) I could treat myself to an afternoon of sewing. It seemed like a total waste of time to be cleaning without the embroidery machines running, so I powered up the 830 and let it finish the "quilting" on these pieces for a jacket. The jacket is patchworked pieces of Fire & Ice batiks (obviously I used "fire") and the stitching design is one that is pre-programmed into the Bernina 830. I stitched it randomly over the fabrics and flannel interlining before cutting out the pattern pieces. The jacket pattern is our Fun On The Run pattern. I love the way it fits and I cut it without the button closure in the front - I never button it anyway.

The plan was to clean-up, not just push stuff into a drawer. By my definition that meant that I had to deal with each pile as I got to it. Therefore I did not consider it cheating when I took the time to get caught up with this years First Friday/First Saturday project and assemble my missing blocks. I powered up the 820 and had them stitched together in no time while the 830 hummed away at embroidering my jacket pieces.

I was ruthless with the trash bin, scrap basket and charity box. I think I filled all three. If I couldn't finish it, file it or find it a proper home - out it went. Ta-Da! Clean!

Then I started to really sew! It was like being in "the zone". Everything worked perfectly. Did you ever have a day like that? One where the machine hums, you never touch your seam ripper, everything matches perfectly..... ahhh,.... it was sewing bliss. I didn't want to stop!

I constructed the smaller size tote bag for our new "Zip It" pattern (available soon) and used the 830 and my new found software skills to reduce the same quilting design that I used on this Lauren table runner to fit the 4 inch blocks on the tote bag. The virtual positioning on the 830 makes ME, with my weeks of experience, look like an expert at embroidery.

I don't see myself embroidering kittens or flowers on my shirts, but WOW do I love that jumbo hoop and the quilting possibilities!

My loving husband must have known better than to interrupt my perfect day. He stopped in to change some light bulbs and before he left he suggested that he pick up a pizza for dinner. He is a very smart man. I joined him and our son for a few slices and when they decide to watch an old war movie on TV I jumped at the chance to get back to the shop and sewing until bedtime!

The only disadvantage of spending the day sewing after cleaning, is that I made another mess that had to be cleaned up on Monday morning. Luckily I had another whole day to prep for Mr. Ueltschi's visit. I will tell you more about that as soon as I have the time!

Chicago, Chicago

My husband, our son and I arrived home late last night after six full days in Chicago. Cary and Brandon were in training to become certified Bernina Sewing Machine Technicians. As a new Bernina dealer we want to provide top notch service. Even though it is a well known fact around here that my husband is capable of doing anything I ask of him, certified training is the only way to go.

A great tec person is worth their weight in gold and the only way "good" becomes "great" is through experience and training. After all, nobody wants to trust their sewing machine "baby" to unqualified hands. I am happy to report that I feel very confident that once my customers meet Brandon, they will be willing to trust their "baby" to MY baby.

Little did I know that years ago when Brandon was using my scrap basket to make ponytail scrunchies as a way to meet girls, I actually had a Tec in training! I should have seen the clues, especially because he developed an interested in exactly what my machines could do much earlier than his sisters.

To prep Brandon for his repair class, I insisted that he actually sew several things starting with Christmas gifts for his sisters. He learn to embroider and experienced several successes as well as a few failures before attending training. I think it is important that he understand YOUR level of frustration when something is wrong with your machine.

His experience certainly helped him understand what to look for in training. It also helped build his confidence along with the fact that he has unlimited access to this amazing Chicago Tec department that is staffed by Swiss Technician if he ever feels he is in over his head.

While my Tecs spent long days ripping apart and reassembling thousand dollar sewing machines I spent the week in new dealer training classes.

Six days is a long time to spend on a business trip. It means 5 nights of sleeping in a Holiday Inn while the work at home keeps piling up. In my case it also meant spending from 8am until 6pm each and every day in a hotel conference room with the same people. That could have been a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, it was a very enjoyable group! I think that we would all agree that our tour of the home office was the highlight of the week.

You can see us in their spotless warehouse ohhhing and awhing over carton after carton of sewing machine accessories. LOOK AT THAT STACK OF MACHINES! They would fill several tractor trailer trucks. With the top of the line selling for around $12,000, can you imagine what that pile of goodies is worth? The Bernina warehouse also houses Brewer, a book pattern and notions distributor. I would have gladly skipped lunch if they would have allowed me to roam these aisles and peek inside all of those bins of goodies! - maybe next time.

Now I have to get back to work and catch up on my quilt shop responsibilities.