I've just left the International Quilt Festival in Houston and there were thousands of enthusiastic and creative people who attended the show.

At the BERNINA booth we had ten BERNINA 830's set up to give as many people as possible a taste of the 830. We gave 30-minutes classes from the time the show started until the show ended each day and it was so much fun to see the reaction of our guests. Many people had seen the machine at their dealers' stores but many had not.

The most impressive and obvious feature was the size of the machine and all agreed it would be a huge benefilt not only for quilting but also for sewing and embroidery.

In 30 minutes we were able to customize the screen with the built-in wallpapers, use the BERNINA Dual Feed to stitch through ribbon, paper, fabric and stabilizer, experience on screen drag-and-drop using beautiful new stitches in a stitch combination - a BERNINA exclusive - and embroider our BERNINA 8.

We began early one morning so that a group of quilters from Japan could experience the BERNINA 830. They loved the machine.

The comments that we heard the most were: "unbelievable," "fantastic," "it has everything we ever wanted in a machine."

Many people were also impressed with the BERNINA quilt frame which will accommodate the BERNINA 830 in addition to all other BERNINA machines.

Our staff was all smiles on preview night - please notice that the owner of BERNINA, Hanspeter Ueltschi, was with us in Houston. Many people approached Mr. Ueltschi to thank him for the quality of the BERNINA product throughout the years. BERNINA has changed many creative lives for the better.

One of the highlights of my visit in Houston was to attend the Silver Star dinner - a tribute to Alex Anderson. Please visit the Quilt Show blog to share this special night with Alex: http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog/php. Alex has inspired thousands of people and she is so deserving of this special recognition.

So, Houston was lots of fun - more next week!

While you are waiting for delivery of your BERNINA 830, you might want to start dreaming of the projects you will create. Lots of inspiration can be found on the 8 Series Website under Inspirations and 8 Series Creations. Let me walk you through some of the projects and tell you how they were created on the BERNINA 830.

First, let's look at the 830 gown which is the foundation of the advertising campaign. The gorgeous embroidery motifs are built into the 830. The gown is silk dupioni and is double-lined in silk and stitched with silk thread. Bernina Dual Feed was used to insert the zipper and the Jumbo Hoop was used to easily embroidery those wonderful motifs. The speed (1000 stitches per minute) really helped meet the photography deadlines. Jet black crystals were added to the motifs to make them sparkle!

The red tote is a project that showcases the excellent stitch quality of the BERNINA 830. Lots of fun ribbons and trims were added to the tote and the Bernina Dual Feed handled the application with ease, in addition to stitching the faux leather trim you find on the tote.

With 1162 stitches (261 brand new stitches) you will find more than enough inspiration for your creative needs. Plus using functions like Long Stitch, Pattern Elongation, Stitch Combinations and Connecting Stitches create a variety of new possibilities for stitch patterns. And remember, you can bring your sewing stitches into embroidery with the BERNINA 830.

And speaking of embroidery, the 830 Quilt is an embroidery masterpiece. Built-in motifs, including Jumbo Hoop designs and quilt designs from Diane Gaudynski make this quilt a vision for the eyes. The quilt, made completely from silk, makes great use of the Bernina Stitch Regulator which is standard with the 830 and the remarkable Bernina Walking Foot for stitching in the ditch machine quilting. The quilt binding was applied with the Bernina Dual Feed. Embroidery and Quilting - go together like peanut butter and jelly - and are just as yummy!

More on the Create with 8 projects next week! And check out the 830 on YouTube by clicking HERE.

Whenever I demo the BERNINA 830, there are lots of WOWs! But perhaps the biggest, loudest, most amazed WOW comes when I show the BERNINA 830's patented hook system. BERNINA has a front loading bobbin (you don't have to disturb your work when changing or reloading a bobbin - it can stay right where it is) - the legenday stitch quality can partially be credited to the BERNINA front loading bobbin.

With the BERNINA 830, not only is the bobbin front loading, but it swings to the front of the machine and emerges...just like the little bird in a Swiss cuckoo clock...when the bobbin door is opened so that the bobbin is right at your fingertips for easy insertion and removal.

When the bobbin door closes, the bobbin and hook swing back into position and you are ready to sew.

It is such a simple system and it gives soooo many benefits:

HIGHER SPEEDS

FEWER SKIPPED STITCHES

EASY ACCESS

EASY TO SWITCH FROM SEWING TO EMBROIDERY

BETTER SEWING QUALITY

And our own Captain Hook, Mr. Gerard Durville, Head of Research and Development at the factory, says the hook is so robust, it will last a long, long time. Here you see Mr. Durville with Jakob Richenbach who also worked on the hook and has been with the factory over 50 years!

So check out the hook online (CLICK HERE and HERE) and you'll want to go into instant replay and see it again and again. And once you do, you'll be reeled in "hook, line and sinker!"

BERNINA dealers have been working hard for the last ten months to qualify for and win an incentive trip to beautiful Switzerland. Part of the excitement for the trip was the tour the BERNINA factory, see the new BERNINA 830 being assembled, and to spend one day on a "Date with 8" getting to know the machine and its wonderful qualities. Three hundred sixty five dealers and store employees were able to enjoy the trip and the beautiful weather and landscapes that Switzerland provides.

As the buses rolled into the factory driveway, the attendees were greeted by a huge banner letting them know they had arrived...

The BERNINA factory's Creative Center was decorated, the 830's were set up, and the staff was waiting for the Americans and their enthusiam.

Mr. Hanspeter Ueltschi, BERNINA's fourth generation owner, not only greeted everyone at the factory but also hosted all the attendees at his home.

The attendees made a beautiful portfolio for their 830 manual while discovering the BERNINA 830's charms, in addition to getting better acquainted with the factory employees.

The first "Date with 8" was a huge success and all the attendees can hardly wait for date Number Two!

At the end of the day, the amazed and delighted attendees honored the factory teams that developed and roduced the BERNINA 8 Series machines with a standing ovation.

Be sure to visit your local BERNINA dealer's store to hear all about the "date" and the beautiful Swiss trip. All of us at the factory are still smiling and happy - the Americans can invade any time they want!

One of the most important tasks in the development of a machine is the testing. The BERNINA 8 Series machines were tested for months and months by different departments in the various stages of development. Watch "The Making of 8" video to discover the amazing story of the 8 Series machines. In conjunction with the Swiss testing, we began testing the usability of the 830 in January 2008 with a group of dedicated US Educators from Bernina of America. The US testing team consisted of five educators who joined me in January, March, May, June and are here in the factory with me now for our final week of testing. The US testers were to stretch the machine to its creative limits, using all types of fabrics and threads, all the BERNINA feet -making mistakes that all sewers make as well as placing demands on the machine that BERNINA customers make. Whereas the factory testing is very systematic, the US testing was also very demanding. The testers had to write step-by-step bug reports and had to repeat steps many times in order to reproduce certain machine behavior. Testing requires focus and patience. It was excellent to be able to test in the BERNINA factory where we had direct access to the engineers. They were eager to hear the US feedback and that testing feedback contributed to the fine tuning of several features. The photo shows testers in the factory with Mr. Hanspeter Vogel, head of Application and Testing. The testers from left to right are: Nina McVeigh, Susan Fears, Jennifer Gigas, Jeanne Delpit and Jill Danklefsen Braley. I asked some of the testers to give me their thoughts about their experience and this is what they had to say:  

"Having the opportunity to test the BERNINA 830 at the factory in Steckborn gave me a new appreciation for the ingenuity, workmanship and pride that goes into the development of every BERNINA product. Every feature has been carefully thought through to develop a machine that puts the creative sewer first, whether it be the ease of Automatic Threading, the Jumbo Bobbin or Absolute Check.

Absolute Check is hands down my favorite new feature. For new and experienced embroiderers alike, accurate placement of embroidery designs on a project can be a challenge. Absolute Check makes it so easy to ensure the design will end up exactly where I want it-every time."

Jennifer Gigas, Director of Education and Training

"To watch the Swiss team and the US team come together to make the 830 the best machine possible was amazing to me. In testing, you write a lot of bug reports - the best part was to be able to explain and show the bug to the specific engineer responsible for that area - and hearing them say - oh I know what I need to fix - and then to see it happen. It was also a unique experience to work with the engineers who developed the new technologies on the 830 and learn from that engineer the attributes of that feature - to see in detail what makes each Bernina so special.

My favorite feature: Absolute Check in embroidery. I design 'as I go' much of the time, and to be able to know 'absolutely' where each part of the design will sew out is an incredible time saver plus the precision is exact. Absolute check is not an approximation - it is exact."

Susan Fears, BERNINA Educator

"Being in the factory and working along side of the Swiss engineers was a true honor. The pride in workmanship and attention to quality and detail is clear in everything they do. Testing the BERNINA 830 was a once in a lifetime experience! My favorite feature of the 830 is: My freedom to choose and make the machine MY OWN! But I love the automatic needle threader."

Jeanne Delpit, Director of National Events  

Visit your BERNINA dealer to see the BERNINA 8 Series machine software demo and learn about the features of these machines.  This week we host 365 US dealers and staff in the factory to show them more about the 8 Series machines. More on that next week!