All classes were lots of fun, with lots of happy students! The Dudes filled their classroom to capacity for Quilted All Over and had one student who was unable to make it in. No Hands Piped Binding this afternoon had my first Mother/Son duo taking a class together.

I got to the gym twice this week – and would have made it a third time on Saturday morning, except a friend called just as we were about to leave and suggested a playdate at the train park (the McCormick Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale, AZ). We decided to take advantage of the cool after the previous night’s storm to go and play – although it did get a little steamy later in the morning!

One more week to go before heading out to Cleveland on August 31 to tape a 10 minute segment for Quilting Arts TV on September 1. And so much still to be done!

The quilting on the Hearts quilt is finished – it’s now just waiting to be bound. Pam and I were able to stitch out all 6 of the small hearts and 2 each of the 6 medium sized hearts in a very productive day on Tuesday. So this week there is a lot of finishing to do, as well as quilting the Jewels in Silk quilt.

Classes coming up this week are part 2 for both Digitizing for Beginners at Sew from the Heart on Wednesday, and Quilted All Over (peacock feathers) at 3 Dudes Quilting on Thursday. Wednesday evening I get to go to Sew from the Heart for the second time that day to give all the staff an overview of what version 6 of the Bernina Embroidery Software has in store.

And not to be forgotten – I need to write the directions for the project I will be presenting on Quilting Arts TV!

I confess to being a little mystified by the new Morphing Effect tool in the new version 6 of the Bernina Embroidery Software. It can create some wonderful effects, but so far I have not come to any conclusions about when and how I will use it. So I went back to basics with a circle and a square, and a simple lacework fill, to take another look at what it can do. Here are the results:

Above are the results of applying the Morphing Effect to a 2″ diameter circle filled with the lacework fill (default settings) and outlined with satin stitch, stitch width = 0.06″. Below see the results for a square with the same fill and outline.

Top row: Pinch, Ripple, Skew Horizontal, Wave Horizontal.

Bottom row: Punch, Twirl, Skew Vertical, Wave Vertical.

There are definitely possibilities to be explored!

New in v6 of the Bernina Embroidery Software: to copy and paste, right click on the object you want to copy and drag it to a new location. Releast the click and there is your new embroidery object.

Quick and easy.

So starting with what can we do with the Morphing Effect tool?

When using the Morphing Effect, there is a recommendation to increase stitch spacing by about 20%. The default stitch spacing is usually 0.40mm, so an increase of 20% gives you a new stitch spacing of 0.48mm.

There are 8 different morphing effects, which can be used individually, or more than one can be applied to an object. For all, select the object or objects that you wish to morph. And then click on the desired effect in the Morphing Effect panel.

The real subject of this post is all about the new Morphing Effect tool. But you have to start out with something to morph, so in preparation for morphing, let’s check out the new Art Canvas and create a star.

Picture View is no more! It has been replaced by the Art Canvas. Art Canvas is no longer “just” a place to import a picture. It is a fully functioned vector editing tool – using CorelDraw Essentials 4.

Creating a star is easy! Click on the Star tool. Click and drag to create a star. Holding down the Ctrl key while clicking and dragging will create a symmetrical star. Holding down the Shift key while clicking and dragging will create a star that expands from the center. Holding down both Ctrl + Shift while clicking and dragging will create a symmetrical star that expands from the center.

Select the star and you can change the number of points. You can also change the sharpness of the points – to make them short and fat or long and slim.

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Having created some shapes, you can now select one or all of them and “Convert to Embroidery” at the touch of a button! A simple outlined shape will create the same shape as an embroidery object, with a single running stitch outline.

A shape with a thicker outline and a fill will create an embroidery object with a thicker outline and a fill!

And now we are ready for Morphing Effect!

New in version 6 of the Bernina Embroidery Software: to zoom out (to make more of your embroidery fit on the screen), press F10!

Quick and easy!

Artistic View Toggle

Bernina Embroidery Software v5 has a tab for Design View and a tab for Artistic view. Most of the editing takes place in Design View. But if you want to see what the embroidery is “really” going to look like, you have to switch over to Artistic View.

Bernina Embroidery Software v6 has an Embroidery Canvas. No more switching between tabs. Simply press “T” to toggle from one view to the other. You can edit in either view!

Quick and easy.

The girls are back in school and loving it; the Calico Cutups in El Mirage had fun with Spirals and are looking forward to doing Feathers in early Fall; Nina McVeigh and Embroidery TnT were wonderful; and Bernina Embroidery Software v6 is packed with new features!

Jewels in Silk is now pieced and waiting to be quilted. Taking a sharp photo of the silk has been somewhat challenging, but I had some success while the quilt top was hanging at Sew from the Heart during Embroidery TnT on Wednesday.

It wasn’t until this afternoon that I got to work on quilting the batik Hearts quilt, and that only because my class at 35th Ave Sew and Vac was cancelled. After some in-the-ditch stitching to anchor the quilt (and get rid of most of the pins I used for basting) I started to do the background quilting around the actual hearts. I love the way the embroidered applique “pops” up when the background has been quilted. It really adds a stunning finishing touch to the embroidery.

So that’s what happened last week! Now for what’s in store this week.

Going to the gym and taking a daily vitamin supplement have been sadly neglected during the summer months and I’m beginning to feel the effects. Now that the girls are back in school, getting back into some sort of routine will be much easier. And when I take good care of myself, my quilting improves! So my aim for this week is to visit the gym at least 3 times, if not 4, and to start taking my vitamins again. Even if I have to come up with some sort of chart to remind myself to do it!!!

Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday are all teaching days. Digitizing for Beginners part 1 at Sew from the Heart on Wednesday. This group will get a sneak peak of v6 of the Bernina Embroidery Software, so I’m very excited about that and hope that they will be too. Quilted All Over part 1 (Spirals) at 3 Dudes Quilting on Thursday. This is always a fun class – I love to see the progress people make over the 3 sessions. No Hands Piped Binding also at 3 Dudes Quilting is on Sunday. Another fun class, especially when people finally get how the binding comes together.

That leaves Monday, Tuesday and Friday for quilting and Saturday for having fun with the girls. Can I finish quilting the Hearts quilt this week? Time will tell! Given that I’m flying to Cleveland on August 31 to tape a 10 minutes segment for Quilting Arts TV on September 1, and I’m demonstrating how to do Embroidered Applique using my Hearts designs, the quilt had better be finished by the end of this week! Tuesday is going to be a marathon embroidery day, assisted by my friend Pam. The theory behind this is that if 2 of us can do all the embroidery I need for Quilting Arts TV in 1 day, then the rest of the next 2 weeks can be spent finishing it all off – mainly quilting.

Carving Stamps

Go into any arts and craft store and chances are there will be a section devoted to stamps. What if you could create your own stamps and use them in your embroidery? Bernina Embroidery Software version 6 has given us a way to do just that!

Start out with a filled object. Satin fill works for smaller obects, but you will run into problems if your stitch length gets too long. Step fill has dozens of variations and can give you all sorts of different effects. The example on the left is the default step pattern #1 with default stitch spacing and length.

Select a stamp. Click to set the anchor point. Click again to set the guide point. And there is your stamp!

Top left is the basic stamp using basic stamp letters, giving an outline to which ever shape is stamped. Top right the stamp has been softened.

Bottom left is a raised stamp – the inside has been changed to a satin stitch. Watch the size of the stamp – if it get’s too big the satin stitch will be too long. Bottom right is a raised and softened stamp.

Don’t like the stamp that you have created? Select the object and Clear All Stamps so that you can start again!

Just about any digitized object can become a stamp. Version 6 comes with lots of embroidery samples, many of which make great stamps. On the right is part of one of the floral samples, basic stamps on the top row, raised stamps on the bottom row.

What if you want to change the size of the stamp? Easy to do! Click to set the anchor point. Then hold down the Shift key and drag to the required size before clicking again to set the guide point.

If you have a specific idea for a stamp in mind but can’t find the right object to stamp with, create your own! Version 6 gives you everything you need to digitize your own stamps, using all the functionality of the open curve tool.

The following simple digitized stamp was created and then used to create the following design.

Each quadrant was stamped 3 times, using the Shift key to re-size and rotate the stamp as necessary.

The 4 quadrants were then selected and raised stamp was checked.

Got questions about how to use this tool? Drop me a line in a comment and I will be happy to provide an answer to the best of my ability!

The last two days I have been at the Fiesta Resort Conference Center in Tempe, AZ, participating in a 2 day training for Bernina dealers, learning all about the new Bernina Embroidery Software version 6. About 50 people from the Southwest – Arizona, California and New Mexico were all represented – came together to find out what’s new and improved and take it back to their home stores.

There is so much that is new, it’s really difficult to know where to begin! Since so many people love to personalize their projects with a name, how about some fun with fonts?

Version 6 contains 11 new digitized fonts. But that’s not the most exciting thing. It’s what you can do with them that I love!

First of all, when you are choosing a font to use, you can see a preview of what the font looks like right there in the drop down list.  No need to refer to the online manual anymore.

What about being able to change the color of individual letters, while maintaining the integrity of the word? Easy to do with the new lettering tool: Using the Select Object tool, click on the lettering object to select it. Now click on the Lettering / Fill Values tool. A cursor will appear at the end of the lettering object. Use the cursor to select which ever letter or letters you desire and choose a new color from the thread color list. Repeat for as many letters and colors as you wish. Hit Enter to fix. Watch the colors change right before your eyes!

How about different sizes and shapes for each of the letters in your name? Using the Reshape Object tool, click on the lettering object to select it. Click on the purple diamond in the center of a letter – various handles will appear around the letter. Click and drag on the top right handle to proportionately resize the letter. Click and drag on the top center handle to increase or decrease the height of the letter. Click and drag on the right center handle to increase or decrease the width of the letter. Bottom right is a tiny circle – click and drag to rotate the letter about its center. Top left is a tiny diamond you can click and drag to skew the letter to the left or right.

We’re still not done with fun effects for letters! Still using the Reshape Object tool, click and drag the purple diamond in the center of a letter – you can move it to the right or to the left of it’s original position. Hold down the Shift key and then click and drag and you can move the letter up and down. Hold down the Ctrl key and then click and drag and you can move the letter in any direction!