National Quilting Month

March is National Quilting Month! Won't you join us? We have lots of great quilting projects planned. Need a new machine? Notions to take your creativity to new hights? Come see us!

Events--Won't You Join Us?

Quilt a picnic! Have you seen this picnic quilt? A Lunchbox Quilt design, this quilt is as fun to make as it is to take to a picnic. What a fun and colorful quilt to use as a table cloth or take to the fireworks display to sit on. Or, if you don't have time for a whole quilt how about a table runner for the summer patio? Classes are in Highland on the last Wednesday of the month. $10 for the class. Design purchase required. Registration is required so that we can be ready for you. 


Let's have tea! Embroider one block a month, put it all together and you'll have this wimsical teapot quilt by Jan Brown. This class meets the third Wednesday of the month. Class fee is $15 and requires design purchase. Come register for the next class now!

Things are coming up roses in Merrillville on the last Wednesday of the month as we begin stitching the Antique Rose Quilt. Each block is quilted as you go---no need to quilt a large quilt with this technique.  This is a very popular class so please sign up as soon as possible it will fill up quickly!  
Don't have an embroidery machine but want to quilt? No problem! We have beginning quilting on the third Saturday and third Tuesday of the month in Merrillville. Come learn the tips and techniques and by the time you're done quilting you'll have the tools you need to tackle any project. Class is $10.

Quilting offers opportunities to pick up sewing skills and practice them until you're a pro. The stitcher's garden applique quilts are an excellent example of learning new skills a bit at a time and stitching up a sweet quilt all your own at the same time. This quilt offers lessons on different feet that are available and/or that came with your machine. Make perfect stitches, sew perfect ruffles, sew buttons, buttonholes, use your decorative stitches---learn how with our Applique Quilt classes. Stitcher's Garden 1 in Highland and Stitcher's Garden 2 in Merrillville. Please see our class schedules for the times for this quilt.

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Get a Shopping Spree March 1 through March 31!**

Buy a Designer Diamond Deluxe and get a $500 shopping spree for notions, threads, additional hoops, and tools to take your creativity to the limit!   

Or buy a Designer Ruby Deluxe in March and receive a $300 in store shopping spree to help you with your first projects!Hurry in this offer won't last! And remember our sewing machines come with free classes to help you take advantage of all your machine's new features! &nbsp 


**Please see store for complete details for all as additional restrictions may apply.

Notion of Note

We are so exited to have the Husqvarna Viking Circular attachment to add to the tool bag available for your Husqvarna Viking Sewing Machine. This attachment allows you to make perfect circles and bloom those circles into flowers and other wonderful embellishments on your favorite projects. This versatile notion also helps with those applique projects.

With the simple templates this is the perfect new tool to add to your sewing studio. Take a look at the instructional video below and see just how easy you can add pizazz to your next project, then come see us for your attachment.

Sewing Center News

As promised, sewing classes in Highland, Indiana resumed last week! Students were busy making baby bags for up and coming baby showers. Won't they be cute!

And we are finally getting started on the eagerly anticipated picnic quilt. This quilt is so much fun and can be done in time for summer picnic season. Come and learn some new applique techniques and have some fun. 

Meantime, the new store with the bright and beautiful class room should be done soon.

In Merrillville, don't miss the Tea Pot Applique Quilt, designed and digitized by Jan Brown. Then there's the Stitcher's Garden! The blocks are beautiful and we're learning so much as we learn new feet and new ways of using our sewing machines to their full potential.

And soon to come to Merrillville is a class on making pin cushions out of Mason jars. I don't know...I can think of so many other uses for these jars too---I'm thinking Easter treats---what about you?

Hope to see you at a class at the sewing centers soon! Sew much fun!

  

Why upgrade to 5D Professional Plus?

Husqvarna Viking has a trade in deal going on 5D Embroidery Software and TruEmbroidery for the Mac Operating Systems. This makes now a great time to upgrade whatever software that you are currently using to the state of the art software package that can help you do whatever you've been dreaming of in creating fashion and home decor distinctly yours.

But why should you upgrade? What do you get when you upgrade your products?

If you currently use digitizing software other than 4D or a 5D component what you receive in a 5D upgrade is a professional product that allows you to create and manipulate designs easily and with more precision than ever before. Users of 5D tell us that the 5D products are amazing in comparison to other products. Here's a summary of the 5D products available and a sample of what they do:

5D Embroidery Package

• Resize, Rotate, and manipulate designs. Don't worry about overlap when joining designs, overlap and stitches are adjusted for you. Change colors in the software and see what the results will be right on your screen using thousands of built in colors from all the prominent manufacturers.
• Monogram and use lettering on your projects with fonts that are readily available on your computer. 
• There are over 700 embroidery designs included that you can include in your projects.
• Organize your embroideries in 5D organizer.

5D Embroidery Extra

• Do everything that 5D Embroidery Package does plus
• Create designs from your favorite pictures.
• Use Colorsort for the best, most efficient stitch out.
• View projects before stitch out on various backgrounds; try out embellishments; and view appliques on your project before you add them. Adjust on your screen before you stitch and you'll always have the perfect result that you had envisioned.

5D Professional Plus

• Ever been in the middle of the design process and wish your tool could just do something else? 5D Professional Plus comes with 11 different modules built in to make sure that you will always have what you need.
• Shade and form your embroidery with multi gradient fill, lace, and more.
• Load or draw images and then automatically convert what you've drawn to embroidery! So simple!
• Use your machine motifs or create your own.   
• Create portraits of family members, pets, and stitch a whole family portrait. Frame them, make a memory quilt, commemorate a special occasion or wedding.
• Includes 5D sketch, Cross Stitcher, Family Tree among the modules

Come in and consult with our staff to find out what package is the best for you and what you plan to do. We support the products whether it's just one question or a class.

Now is a great time to upgrade with the generous rebates for trade in, but they will only be available for a limited time, so see us today.

      

Passing Sewing on to a New Generation

This weekend the manager of our Highland, Indiana store, Joan, had the opportunity to spend some quality time with her two Granddaughters, Stella and Josephine. Joan asked the girls how they'd like to spend Sunday afternoon and, knowing about the fun that waited in Joan's sewing room, the girls decided they wanted to spend an afternoon sewing. 

Selecting some colorful charm packs, the girls went to work on some brilliant quilt tops. And with Joan's help, the tops were soon complete!           

 

But the day was still young and the quilts weren't complete so Joan and the girls got busy finishing the quilts and a couple of hours later:

 

 

How lovely! And what a good job those girls, who are seven and nine years old, did!  What a fun way to spend an afternoon, that will be remembered for many years to come.

 

 





Get ready for National Quilting Month with 0% Interest Financing

Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 875Q

This month we're helping you get ready for National Quilting Month by offering 0% Interest Financing from now until February 28, 2013 on selected models with special features built in just for the home quilter.

Even though you can quilt with any machine, there are a few design features that really help you out and make your sewing more fun and more accurate and professional.

The first thing on a quilter's wish list would be a large sewing surface and our sewing deals this month offer 8 inches for the Husqvarna Viking Opal and a really super 10 inches for the Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 875Q. This is the area between the needle and the sewing arm---the place where you slide the rolled up quilt through when quilting---the more room here the easier it is on you and the more even your stitches become.

The next thing that's nice to have is the Husqvarna Sewing Advisor. This is like having a sewing assistant right in your sewing studio. Key in information on fabric, choose a stitch, and your machine makes adjustments to tension, stitch length, and lets you know which foot and needle to use---all handled for you to make sewing so easy.

Sewing with the Husqvarna Viking Opal

Another handy feature for when you're piecing quilt tops together is the ability to move your needle over for the quarter inch seems (instead of moving your fabric from under a foot and suffering fabric slip). The Opal and the Sapphire 875Q have 29 needle positions to help with all your sewing.

You'll find that features like a needle threader, a fix stitch, and a thread cutter in addition to needle up and down and free motion quilting with your built in stitches are items that you can't believe you lived without.

The Sapphire also has the Exclusive Sensor System  that helps your quilt feed through the machine so that every stitch is perfect from the first stitch to the last.

For a limited time you can take home one of these machines and make payments with 0% interest for 24 months. Come see us in the store for complete details as restrictions apply---hurry in stock supplies of these machines are limited.

        

Notable Notions

Aqua Magic is not your ordinary dissolveable stabilizer. This stabilizer is strong and off the role appears like any regular, undesolvable stabilizer---just like a light fabric. There the resemblance ends.

Aqua Magic is great for items that have edges---gift card holders, freestanding lace projects. It is heavy enough to handle applique stitches and you can use 2-3 layers for dense stitch applications.

Aqua Magic also comes in a tacky version for applications when you're not going to hoop your project and need to tack down your item. The tacky glue washes away just as easily as the Aqua Magic Stabilizer---simple hot water does the trick---truly magic. Now at our low price of $38.95 for a 12x25 inch roll of Aqua Magic or $51.95 for a 12x10 inch roll of Aqua Magic Plus with the tacky surface. Stock up today!  

   

We're Expanding in Highland!

We are expanding our Highland, Indiana store and Yes we're remaining open during the process! Our brand new class room is nearly complete and we've moved all the furniture and stock over while the store is being spruced up and painted.

When complete we will have a classroom with all the comforts of home---a kitchen area and improved air conditioning for those hot summer days coming up.

The store will expand into the old classroom section and Joan is busy ordering new designs, notions, and supplies to fill up the expanded space.

We are remaining opened during the construction although classes won't start back up until Wednesday,  February 13th.  Stay tuned for news about our upcoming Open House to introduce our wonderful expanded store.

In Merrillville we will be busy covering our Kitchen Aid Mixers with some really cute covers. Class spots are going fast---call today to reserve your spot or come into the store and get the project list.   Class is February 6.

And work is continuing on the Stitcher's Garden Quilt, Cross Stitch Lady Quilt, and Jan's exclusive Teapot Applique Quilt---so fun to do. Call to say you'll join us to make a quilt or stitch a block for a pillow or other project!