This week I needed a quick bridal shower gift. After researching the traditions of the bridal handkerchief I fired up my BERNINA Embroidery Software 6 and got to work. The OESD Platinum Design Collection #61001, Love and Lace, was perfect! I brought in multiple designs from the collection and combined them with lettering from the software to create a one-of-a-kind heirloom keepsake.

The scallop border was created using Pattern Run for a perfect finish. Then I stitched out the handkerchief in the Jumbo Hoop on the BERNINA 830.

I printed the History of Bridal Handkerchiefs, adding embroidered embellishment to my document -- all in v6 Art Canvas -- to complete the gift.

Everything is a little better with a cherry on top! With my BERNINA Embroidery Software 6 I embroidered the cherry outlines, the chocolate chips, the modern flowers (even the stitching designs on some of the flowers!) for that extra touch on these Ice Cream Cone Purses! There is NO END to what you can create with V6!

I recently enjoyed seeing some darling nieces at a family gathering whose ages ranged from infant to pre-teen. Kay Hickman's Sewing Room blog using the Zenspirations embroidery collection proved to be the perfect idea for my next project. My BERNINA Embroidery Software 6 easily took me from "idea" to "stitch-ready" in about 30 minutes. Starting with a new page in the software, I inserted each letter in my quilt, enlarging the large 6" L by 20% using the Rescale tool. The remaining letters were the smaller 3" letters in the collection, and I reduced ROOM to 70% in the Object Properties box.

With just a couple of clicks of the Open Objects tool, I quickly digitized the apostrophe for Lilly's name. All I had to do was recolor it and move it into position.

I wanted to stitch the large design in the new BERNINA 830 Jumbo Hoop, and I used the Multi-Hooping feature of the software to split the design into two pieces and add registration points for a precise stitch-out of my embroidery.

I consider myself a beginner when it comes to machine quilting. The BERNINA Stitch Regulator kept my stitch length consistent for my free-motion quilting between the letters. The ever-practical Triple Straight and Triple Zigzag stitches frame the quilt with a simple but pronounced border.

With creative embroidery collections, and fantastic BERNINA software and embroidery machines, it's never been easier to create beautiful, personal gifts for family and friends.

When using BERNINA Embroidery Software 6 you can use Auto Scroll to scroll the design automatically while you are digitizing. This can be more convenient than using panning or the scroll bars.

This feature can be toggled off if you find it interfering with a particular activity such as freehand drawing. To change the settings and turn OFF the Auto Scroll feature select Settings > Options, and select the Auto Scroll tab. De-select the Auto Scroll check box and click OK to close the dialog box and save the setting.

Open Art Canvas, select Basic Vector Shapes, and draw a "long" heart shape. Change the Fill Color to green and the Outline to "none."

Copy the heart and Paste to create a second heart shape. Change the angle to 90 degrees. Move this heart into place beneath and to the left of the first heart.

Copy and Paste another heart shape and change the angle to 270 degrees. Move this herat into place beneath and to the right of the first heart.

Select Basic Vector Shapes and add a trapezoid shape for the shamrock stem.

Select Arrange > Shaping, and the "weld" option. Select Convert to Embroidery.

Change fills and outline stitches to create your own unique shamrocks!

Use your BERNINA Embroidery Software to create a unique Valentine's Day card with printed three-dimensional embroidery and drop shadow text.

File > Open > C: My Designs > Embroidery Software 6 > Seasons > Hd215.ART60.

Select the Art Canvas tab and Zoom Out (F3)

Drag a guideline from the ruler on the top of the screen out to the page center. Look for the "0" on the left ruler indicating the center of the page; click. Now drag a guideline out from the ruler to the left, to the page center. Look for the "0" on the top ruler; click.

Select the Text icon, click an empty area of the workspace, and type "Be My Valentine." Drag your cursor over the text to select it, and choose a text that appeals to you from the dropdown menu at the top of the page. (I used Cooper Black.)

Click on the Select icon. Select and then move the text into the bottom right panel.

I added a drop shadow to the text. Click on the drop shadow icon and follow the directions in the Hints Docker Panel to click and drag a shadow.

To correctly position the embroidery, select the Embroidery Canvas tab. Select the design and move into position beneath the text. Select the Art Canvas tab to preview the card.

Select File > Print. The 3D embroidery and drop shadow print beautifully!

Fold the card in half and in half again. Fits a standard No. 5 1/2 envelope.

I had so much fun using the BERNINA Embroidery Software Quilter program to create "Going in Circles." The pattern I chose was the Drunkard's Path, and I used the software to audition how I wanted the blocks to go together.

I used a 4-thread overlock stitch to piece the quilt together, and a combination of chain- and cover-stitching to quilt the blocks. "Going in Circles" was stitched on a BERNINA 1300 MDC, but other sergers with these stitches could also be used. King Tut by Superior Threads was used in the needles and coverstitch looper, with Pearl Crown Rayon by YLI in the chainstitch looper.

Ed: Instructions for this quilt will be posted at www.berninausa.com in the near future.

Import your graphic using the Load Picture icon in Art Canvas. Press ENTER to set the graphic.

Select the Embroidery Canvas tab to move to the Embroidery Canvas.

The Auto Digitizer and Magic Wand tools are used to create embroideries from raster images (like .BMP and .JPG).

Select the Auto Digitizer tool.

The Image Preparation dialog box pops up so you can make adjustments to the artwork. Click OK when the Auto Digitizer dialog box appears, and select the Omitted Colors tab. Press and hold the CRTL key and de-select each of the available color chips. Your workspace should appear blank. Place a check in the Add Outlines selection box and click OK.

The design is automatically generated as outlines.

Delete the background image, save your design, and then Write to Machine to stitch your outline design.

Create a simple shape for one "leg" of your snowflake.

Use the Wreathing Tool to create your flake.

Select "Yes" to merge overlapped objects.

Select the Outline Tool: Outline Count = 1, Offset = 0, Outline Type = Satin.

Delete the first color chip to leave only the satin-stitched snowflake.

Select the Advanced Applique Tool, place fabric into the selected area - and you are ready to sew!

Once again my sister and I are chairmen of our Christmas Bazaar at St. David's Episcopal Church in Nashville. One item that I am making this year are Bags for Baking Potatoes. I drew a little design, scanned it into my BERNINA DesignerPlus Software, and Presto!! I digitized it! So easy! Then using the Lettering tool wrote "Potato Girl" beneath the design. Hope you enjoy it!

Click HERE for the free ART and EXP+ embroidery designs.

Click HERE for the project instructions.

BERNINA's new version 6 Embroidery Software automatically creates echo quilting that fills your block perfectly.

1. Open your v6 software. Select File > Open > and browse to the Animals folder in your Embroidery Software 6 folder, and select the dragonfly design #FM608.

2. Select a hoop to fit your quilt design, and use the Rectangle Tool to create a satin stitch border to replicate the outer edge of your quilt block (use the Control key for a perfect square).

3. Select All, and use the Align Center Tool to center the design, and then select the Outline Too. I used the Jumbo Hoop for Foot #26.

4. Offset = 10mm, Outline Count = 6, select/check Outline Holes, and select Triple Stitch. Play with what works for your block and design. Switch to Design View by pressing the letter T on your keyboard, and select the outer lines by holding the Shift key, and Delete.

5. The outer satin border can be deleted - or converted to a Triple Stitch. Your design is ready to sew!

v5 Auto Digitizer sample: time - 11 minutes, 30 seconds; 11 colors. Note some object areas unfilled, stitches in object areas run in multiple directions, colors not accurately read.

v6 Auto Digitizer sample: time - 6 minutes; 11 colors. Only one object area unfilled, stitches in object areas run in consistent directions, colors more accurately read.

v5 Auto Digitizer sample - close up of the head

v6 Auto Digitizer sample - close up of the head

Here I've selected the Vector Lettering tool and used it to write my name, then used the sizing handles to make it bigger. On the right side of the screen are hints for inserting and editing text - a great feature when working with unfamiliar software.

Here I've added color to the letters by selecting the lettering object and then clicking on a color from the bar at the far right of the screen.

To add simple shapes to my project I'm going to use the new Object tool from the menu at the left side of the screen. Here I've moved the flyout selections out onto the workspace; this makes it so easy to work with when switching between shapes!

Notce that the Hints box now has instructions for creating perfect stars. I can grab the handles to resize, rotate, skew - anything I want to do to make the shapes the way I want them.

To add color I just select an object and click on a color chip.

Here's one of the coolest things - to change my drawing to embroidery all I have to do is select all the pieces and click on the Convert to Embroidery icon...

...then it converts the vector shapes to stitches and my design appears in the Embroidery Canvas. Notice the new and improved color bar, with easy-to-see shapes - stars, outlines, letters.

Pretty cool, huh? And I haven't even shown you the changes that have been made to the automatic digitizing tools in Embroidery Canvas!

I manipulated the designs in different ways to place them on a jacket that was pieced together from various scraps and pieces from men's suits. (Thanks to Jo who shared some of these great suiting fabrics with me!) Embroidery is great to use to give the different fabrics a coordinated look.

The pattern was created in My Label 3D Fashion Pattern Software and the pencil tool was used to plan the cuts in the pattern pieces. I love My Label! It gives you a great opportunity to preview the proportion of your pieces on your body.

Because I wanted the flowers to remain flexible, I decreased the density of the stitching. I did this using the embroidery controls on the 830, but could also have done this using BERNINA Embroidery Software.

Applique designs are divided into several steps:

The first stitching is the placement line - this shows where the outer edge of the applique design will be. For this project I cut a square of fabric larger than the applique outline, then placed it ove the stitched placement line.

(I'm showing this in v6 software - notice how BIG the images in Color Film are!)

The second stitching line is the tackdown stitch that holds the fabric in place. After this line stitched I removed the hoop from the machine and carefully cut the excess fabric away from outside the stitching line.

The third color for this design was some decorative stitching inside the petals.

The fourth line of stitching is the applique stitch - in this case the chainstitch around the outside of the pink petals.

The remaining stitching adds the embroidered flowers and leaves to complete the stitching.

Simple! You can also create your own applique designs using Designer Plus BERNINA Embroidery Software - the applique tools are awesome!

Here's BERNINA in Castle, one of the built-in alphabets:

Here's how it looks when I select it using the Reshape Object tool: Notice the little purple/pink diamond in the center of each letter.

I can grab the diamond and move it to the left and right to change the spacing between the letters:

If I hold down the shift key, I can grab the diamond and move the letters up and down, above and below the baseline:

Pretty cool, huh? It gets better!

When I click on a diamond, little arrows and things appear around the letter:

Using these I can increase/reduce the size of the letter horizontally or vertically, or increase/decrease both at the same time, skew it to the left or right, and rotate it clockwise or counter-clockwise:

Plus, I can still manipulate the shape of each letter by clicking on it again with the Reshape Object tool - this makes all of the reshaping points appear, which I can then manipulate to change the outline and shape of the letter.

Keep watching the blog for more about Version 6 Embroidery Software!

Hope Yoder's design CD, Button-Ups, provided the perfect opportunity to add some pizzazz to the covered buttons. They were so easy to stitch in the large oval hoop! I brought the design into BERNINA Embroidery Software and cloned the design five times and arranged them in the large oval hoop to stitch out. The design includes a button template that fits a 1 1/2" button-to-cover - the perfect touch for an otherwise plain jacket. There are 18 different designs to choose from. I think my next project with these buttons will be for a pillow.

There's a preview Version 6 webinar coming up on August 6 - the link to sign up is on the Bernina of America home page - www.berninausa.com.

Creating the personalized monograms for each graduate's towel was so easy with version 5 BERNINA Embroidery Software's monogramming program! Once each was completed I sent it directly to the embroidery machine for stitching.

To prepare the towels for embroidery I used my favorite water-soluble stabilizer - OESD AquaMesh Plus. First I hooped the stabilizer, removed the paper, and secured the towel (unhooped) to the adhesive surface of the mesh stabilizer.

To protect the stitches from sinking into the towel loops I placed a layer of OESD AquaFilm topping on the top prior to stitching out the personalized monogram.

The monogram stitching was complete in no time at all. Quick and easy personal gifts for my nephew and god-son. Congratulations graduates! Go Cougars!

Here's why I bought my 830! I created each block using DesignerPlus software and Elly Sienkiewiez's Studio BERNINA Exclusive Embroidery Collection, Baltimore Elegance designs. I used the Jumbo hoop and cut the blocks down to 10 1/2" squares and the rest is history. Sooo... when asked the question "Why did we buy the 830, for embroidery or quilting?" I had to answer "Both!" I hope now you understand why. Enjoy!