Confused? Curious?

Classes, How-To, Long Arm Quilting, Teachers Leave a comment

In June of this year we purchased a Gammill long arm quilting machine for free motion quilting. This long arm differs from our Gammill Statler Stitcher which is used for our long arm quilting service.  We offer this service to our customers who want a professional quilting their quilts.

But if you always wanted to quilt your own quilts but didn’t want to do the quilting on your domestic machine (your home sewing machine) this just might be the answer you’re looking for.  To become familiar with how to operate the machine you must take a mandatory six hour class.  These classes are offered each month during the weekday, evenings and/or weekends.  Some classes are 2 hour classes taken 3 times or they may be 3 hour classes taken 2 times.  Either way you receive 6 hours of training.  Once you have taken the class, you can begin to quilt on your own and rent the machine during our regular store hours for $15.00 per hour.  This rate will increase to $20.00 per hour on January 1, 2015.

Have you already taken our class but haven’t rented the machine?  Why?  Are you feeling nervous? Intimidated?  Just haven’t done it?  For those of you in this boat, we are offering a free refresher class on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 at 6:00pm or Thursday, October 30, 2014 at 10:00am.  Also Margaret will be available in the long arm studio on Thursday, November 6 and Thursday, November 13.  Having Margaret right in the studio with you, will give you the support you might feel you need.  You’ll find out you remembered more than you thought you did!  And you’ll begin having fun quilting your own quilts !

Having the free motion long arm has also given us the opportunity to offer more classes for anyone who wants to learn different free motion designs and techniques.  Mandy Applebee is teaching these classes.  You do not need to take our rental class to take Mandy’s classes.  Why? Because Mandy is right there with you supervising your use of the machine.  Do you own a mid-arm machine?  Do you want to expand  your repertoire and knowledge?  Take one of Mandy’s classes !  She is a very knowledgeable teacher and has won many awards for her free motion design work.
Grab the opportunity to learn from her !

Last but not least give us a call 607-535-6550 or email me sue@osusannahsquiltshop.com or stop in during shop hours Monday-Saturday 10:00-5:30, Thursday until 7:00 and Sunday 11:00-3:00.Long arm free motion class

Quick and Easy Table Runner

Crafty Ideas, How-To, Sewing 1 Comment

Placemats with Candies

 

Recently I was watching a YouTube tutorial on Missouri Star Quilt Company on how to make a real simple ‘Zig Zag Table Runner’ by Kansas Troubles.  The complete Table Runner pattern and is available in their new book Layers of Love, stop by the shop and get your copy of it!  There are some really great patterns that are quick and easy!

kstroublecover_20140807110917

 

The runner was really cute and looked beyond simple but one problem, I didn’t need a new table runner but I did need some new placemats!  I adapted what I saw them doing to make some new ones for my table!  What do you think?  Did I do good?  Stop into the shop and we’ll tell you how we made it and you won’t believe how fast and easy it is!

Placemat

 

 

To make mine I used 4 – 5” WOF strips of Jo Morton’s new line of fabric Melodies by Jo Morton we just got this in and I just HAD to do something with it!  These are some really great blender fabrics stop in and check them out, Kim has displayed them front and center in the shop!  For the 2 ½” squares I picked Laundry Basket Quilts Jelly Bean Candies by Moda.  We’ve got some great Candies that would be perfect for Christmas Placemats!

 

Fabric Requirements

 

4 Placemats 6 Placemats
Background 1 1/2 Yard 3/4 Yard
Background 2 1/2 Yard 3/4 Yard
Background 3 1/2 Yard 3/4 Yard
Background 4 1/2 Yard 1/2 Yard
Moda Candies 2 3
Backing Fabric 4 Fat Quarters 6 Fat Quarters
Batting 4 – 18″ x 22″ 6 – 18″ x 22″
Bindings Strips  (inc) 8-2 ½” WOF 12-2 ½” WOF

Have you completed your requirements to rent our new Long Arm?  If you have this would be a FANTASTIC project for free motion quilting!  If you haven’t done the intro class yet, make certain you get registered so you can get some made before the holidays!

 

Fabric I used:

 

Background Fabric I used Melodies by Jo Morton
#1 Green Pinwheel Waves
#2 Green Clematis Blooms
#3 Green Feathering Leaves
#4 Green Stripes
Candies
Laundry Basket Quilts Jelly Bean by Moda

 

 

I also used “The Strip Stick” when pressing my seams open.  This is a pretty handy tool to help when pressing seams open or to one side because the iron concentrates on pressing where the seam is.   The Strip Stick is available in 3 sizes: Mini, 18” & 45”, I like the 45” one it’s great when pressing borders too!  Next time you see Ennie in the shop ask her how she likes it!

Meet Liz Trimble

Crafty Ideas Leave a comment

Liz is going to be teaching a wallhanging class, Snowflurries using Studio 180’s Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star Ruler.  It is an awesome ruler and Liz is a phenomenal teacher.  I feel very fortunate to have Liz teaching at O’Susannah’s.  I asked her to write a little blurb about the Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star Ruler and here’s what she said:

Why I love this ruler:

I fell in love with the Lemoyne Star block early in my quilting career, but I didn’t love how they were constructed: cutting diamonds (bias edges to worry about!), drawing lines on the fabric (never straight!), and Y seams (yikes!!). And I was never thrilled with the end result – some of my seam intersections were a little off, one or two star points disappeared into the seam allowance. Then I learned about Deb Tucker and her Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star ruler, and it has enabled me to make perfect blocks every time.

One of the trademarks of Deb’s Rapid Fire tools is that she has you start with pieces that are slightly oversized, and then you use the ruler to trim the units down at several points during the process. The result is perfect intersections and perfect points – very satisfying!!

You too, can fall in love with this ruler.  Take Liz’s class on Saturday, October 11, 2014.