It's done! I finally finished my Big Dot Pillow - my mom liked it so much she's going to stitch one, too, but not in such bright colors ;) I made an addition to the instructions in Amy Butler's In Stitches - I added a zipper (using Zipper Foot with Guide #14) to one of the side seams, to easily remove the pillow form for laundering (and for travel - see below). Everyone in Bernina-land has been extra busy this month, prepping for Bernina University, our annual dealer meeting in July. Erika & I are teaching a class together - my Big Dot Pillow is part of a display, and I'm shipping it _minus_ the insert. After Erika & I get back home and catch up on our sleep we'll have lots of photos to share - things we saw, people we met, and, of course, the new Bernina 8 Series!

Here's another first sewing project story, this one from Debbi Lashbrook, an Educator with BERNINA of America, Inc.

"This wasn't my first sewing project, but it was one that I was proud of. My first sewing projects were clothes for my Barbie dolls - that's when I decided I wanted to be a fashion designer. I would hand sew all sorts of trim and color the trim with a marker if it wasn't the right color. I had an old straight stitch, forward only, Singer machine. I would sew the doll clothes together on the machine and then decorate them by hand. I didn't like to put the snaps on and many of my Barbie clothes went without snaps. To this day I don't like finishing by hand that is sometimes necessary for garments.

The picture is my second year 4-H project and I was so very proud of it for two reasons. First of all, it wasn't the elastic-banded, gathered skirt that we made for our first project. This was a for-real sewn on waistband and the skirt had a zipper. I felt so accomplished when I successfully sewed the zipper into the skirt! I then completed a shell and a matching sash and entered the garments in the county fair. The second reason this project brings back fond memories is that at the fair I was chosen to go to the Illinois State Fair to model my garment!"