A note from Elaine Emmons, blogger, BERNINA owner:

The other day I had the privilege of leading a service club of at-rish youth. With a couple of BERNINA sewing machines and a bolt of fabric in tow, I arrived to find the school group and their counselors mildly curious about what I had to share. We worked together cutting, serging, sewing, and ironing to make pillows for cancer patients. Though some of the teenagers were reluctant at first, by the end of our work session all were involved, teaching each other to operate the machines, even using the decorative stitches and adding creative touches to their gifts for others. Their support and compassion for each other as they accomplished these new tasks was an inspiration! "At New Hope, lives are reborn every day."

A note from Lezette Thomason, Children's Corner, --- and BERNINA National Artisan:

Every Tuesday at Children's Corner in Nashville a wonderful group of grandmothers meets with their fearless leader and teacher, Betty Little, age 84, for a "sit and sew" gathering. Mrs. Little owned her own shop in Nashville until her "retirement." This is a PARTY group. These 10-12 ladies love to eat and sew on BERNINA sewing machines. This ageless group has been sewing all day every Tuesday for years.

This week's reason for a "potluck party" was "Bring a Baby Picture of Yourself." Clipped to a clothesline were baby, wedding, graduation, and prom photos. What a fun day of BERNINA stitching, story-telling, and eating fabulous food. Try this with your own sewing group!

By the way, have you checked out my new bi-monthly ideas at www.childrenscornerinc.com? I've come up with some easy revisions for your Children's Corner patterns. If you like this new feature, I'd love to hear from you at lezette(at)nashville.net. (To protect my address from spamers I've used "(at)" here instead of "@".)

by Jo Leichte, BERNINA Education Editor -

BERNINA University -- Bernina of America's annual dealer meeting -- was July 9-12, and I'm just now catching up! BU is like a huge family reunion -- it was wonderful to see so many of my Bernina friends there -- dealers, teachers, resource people, and vendors, plus special guests from Switzerland, Canada, Russia, and Thailand. Some of the highlights:

• The US introduction of the new 3 Series machines -- the B330, B350, and B380. So sleek! I haven't had a chance to play with one yet, but you can be sure I'll have one here in my studio before long.

• The beautiful new limited-edition artista 635. Sooo pretty! (I'm a sucker for machines with blue trim -- my first BERNINA was the 1030, with a pretty blue faceplate.) Don't you just love the bubbles? There's a matching tote bag, too.

• The Fashion Show -- aren't these garments gorgeous? I love working backstage and seeing all the exquisite details. A digital camera is a great way to capture my favorites, and much faster than taking notes and making a sketch.

• Classes -- I wasn't planning to teach this year, but I stood in for a teacher that had to return home. So I got to teach one of my favorite things: making t-shirts on a serger :) Here are some of the students with their finished shirts.

There will be more blog posts about BERNINA University over the coming weeks -- stay tuned!

A note from Lezette Thomason, Children's Corner, and BERNINA National Artisan:

The Children's Corner Sewing School of June 2010 in Nashville was June 17-19. We have such a great time! We had 28 students -- that's all we have room to teach! These ladies come from all over the country. I had wonderful classes and terrific students. We drafted patterns for two dresses from scratch by hand, then set up all the BERNINAs and made one dress in cotton lawn and the other in knit. Just look at all the BERNINA sewing machines in the classroom!

The following week we held Children's Corner Kid's Camp with young ladies between 9 and 13 years old, all sewing for the first time -- on BERNINAs of course! They made such cute projects, including a quilt!

A note from Linda Teufel, publisher, and BERNINA National Artisan:

My company, Dragon Threads, been publishing books for over 16 years now and some years it is difficult to find or decide on an exciting new book to publish. A few years ago, world-renowned author and crazy quilt expert, Judith Baker Montano, wanted to meet with me during the Houston Quilt Market to discuss a new book idea that she had. I was reluctant at first since the books I'd been publishing were more contemporary art quilts and I thought of her as the silk ribbon embroidery / crazy quilting queen, but when I saw her presentation, it changed my mind.

Mixed media has been growing stronger and stronger throughout the years in the needlearts industry, so I'd been wanting to create a book on that theme. Judith's work was so incredible, it took the art to the next level.

Well... On May 24, 2010, I was in New York City at a hotel ballroom to receive the Benjamin Franklin Gold award for Best Crafts book of the year for Fiberart Montate, Combining Quilting, Embroidery & Photography with Embellishments from the Independent Book Publishers Association! The award was from amont 4,000 publishers and the book was judged on both editorial and design merit. I was thrilled! It was so exciting to be in this beautiful place, but also nerve-wracking to have to go on stage to give an acceptance speech.

I was sitting at the same table as one of the other finalists in this category, Maria Peggler, who wrote a quilting book called Color Mastery. She had emailed me when the finalists were announced and we made a plan to meet there. She was a very gracious, lovely person with a beautiful book. It was her first time in New York City - she's from Georgia - so it was very exciting for her.

If you haven't seen Fiberart Montage yet, take a look at some interior pages on my website - www.dragonthreads.com - or go to Judith's website - www.judithbakermontano.com. Judith has been a Bernina afficiandao forever and is a great promoter of the machines. She has many in her studio where she gives monthly workshops to small groups in the picturesque town of La Veta, Colorado.

Ed - You might recognize some familiar faces in this photo: front row, left - Nina McVeigh, BERNINA Educator; back row, far left - Gayle Hillert, former BERNINA of America VP of Education; back row, far right - Judith Baker Montano.