Longarm Quilting « The Backroads to Road to California

Posts Tagged ‘Longarm Quilting’

A Giveaway: Statler Educational Program At Road 2016

Thursday, November 19th, 2015

Road 2016 will be offering the Statler Educational Program — a series of 4 classes taught by certified Statler instructor Georgia Stull — designed for longarm quilters of all levels.

Gammill Quilting Systems premier machine, Statler by Gammill, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. The machine was invented by Paul Statler for his wife, Mildred, in 1990.

[caption id="attachment_3511" align="aligncenter" width="565"]

The original Statler design by Paul Statler[/caption] Mr. Statler sold his first Statler Stitcher technology to Gammill in 1994. He and Mildred continue today to build and advance the Statler by Gammill.

The Statler by Gammill utilizes cutting-edge computer software and robust hardware to beautifully stitch any design. The Statler can handle an intricately patterned king-size quilt in a matter of hours instead of days. Available with a 22, 26, 30 or 36-inch Gammill-quality machine head, a Statler gives quilters the flexibility of hands-free quilting. With exceptional features, the latest in quilting innovations, lifetime mechanical warranty, free software upgrades, and unparalleled customer service, it is easy to see why Statler by Gammill® is the choice of experienced quilters everywhere.

Vision with Wunderlust by Karen Marchetti

How does the computerized software work? [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlRCcf1e1uI&list=PL8TyNRnvApwZaNpYGSRoSsBjSB-KdS95n[/youtube] With a Statler by Gammill system, the possibilities are endless. Attending Road 2016’s Statler Educational Program will allow quilters to get to know firsthand some of the machine’s many features. Road to California is giving away to one lucky winner the chance to for FREE all four classes in the Statler Educational Program. There are several ways to enter:

Write a comment on this blog post

Write a comment on the blog post featuring Georgia Stull

Write a comment on Road’s Facebook Page posts featuring the Statler Educational Program Giveaway.

Entries will be accepted until November 22, 2016. One winner will be chosen using Random Number Generator and will be announced on November 23, 2016. Good luck to all who enter.

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Tags: Gammill, Georgia Stull, Giveaway, Longarm Quilting, Statler by Gammill
Posted in Giveaways, Road 2016 | 21 Comments »

Road 2016 Faculty: Meet Georgia Stull Plus A Class Series Giveaway

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Gammill instructor, will be teaching Road 2016’s Statler Educational Program which is a series of four longarm lecture/demo classes featuring the Gammill Statler Stitcher: 4017R Put the Hammer Down for Beautiful Borders! on Thursday; 5015R It’s a Photo Finish! on Friday; 6015R Victory Lap! on Saturday; and on Sunday, 7015R Statler Pit Stop. When Georgia Stull’s oldest son announced he was getting married, she thought she would make him and his new bride a quilt as a wedding gift. Georgia had been a seamstress (wedding gowns to window treatments) since she was a teenager so sewing the quilt was not an issue. When it came time to have it quilted, Georgia and her husband, Ivan, took the quilt to an area quilter who proceeded to tell them all about his quilting machine. As they were leaving, Ivan said to Georgia, “You could do that!” Her reply was “Sure, if you buy me a machine!” Two weeks later, Ivan took off work early and bought Georgia a machine!! She couldn’t have been more surprised. Ivan was all ready to buy a Statler by Gammill for Georgia but she just wasn’t sure she could do it. They did lots of research and eventually bought a Statler four months later. And guess what? Georgia can do it!! It didn’t take too long after Georgia started quilting that her husband, Ivan, decided he should learn all about quilting. He pieced and quilted his first quilt with a little help from Georgia. Now, he has pieced and quilted 5 quilts. Georgia is hoping that their oldest granddaughter, Ellie, will be a future quilter. She is off to a promising start. Together, Ellie and Georgia made a quilt for Ellie’s doll babies this past summer. Since most of Georgia’s quilting is for customers, her inspiration comes from the quilt tops they bring to her. Georgia is a “computerized quilter” and she is honest to say that she “designs by credit card!” While there are many wonderfully talented digital pattern designers, the trick is to find the perfect pattern to bring a quilt to life. Georgia loves the challenge of putting together the perfect combination of designs for a quilt. She is also inspired by the fabulous quilting of others. As a teacher, she is exposed to the very ‘best of the best’ quilts. Georgia remarks, it is “such golden inspiration!” Georgia has used a Statler by Gammill from the very beginning. Because the Stulls live in Harrisonville, Missouri (just outside Kansas City), it was easy for them to take classes at the Statler facility in Columbia, Missouri. Georgia actually learned from the master, Paul Statler. She counts Paul and Mildred Statler as good friends whom she respects and admires very much. Both Ivan and Georgia have showed up so many times at the facility that they are sure the Gammill people thought, “It’s those Stulls again!” In 2008, Georgia was asked to be a beta tester for the software and she also became a Certified Statler Instructor. She has come to know many of the members of the Gammill team as she’s traveled and taught. Georgia says that “the Gammill team always takes good care of me as a teacher.” Georgia loves meeting quilters from all over the world. She has been fortunate to travel as far away as England and Wales to teach. She always tries to remember how when she bought her Statler, she was more than a bit overwhelmed and thought, “What did I do?” She loves helping her students go from “What did I do?” to “I love my Statler!” At Road 2016, Georgia’s desire is for students to become efficient and effective quilters without compromising quality. And more importantly, she hopes that they enjoy the process because, as Georgia says, “quilting is FUN!” What is Georgia’s best quilting tip? “Don’t be so critical of yourself and your quilting. Computerized quilters, especially, tend to expect absolute perfection. I am all about doing the best that I can on every quilt but it is never going to be perfect. It’s so hard to enjoy the process if you expect perfection.” How would you like to meet Georgia and take her Statler Educational Program classes for FREE? Road to California is going to award one lucky winner admission to all four classes in the series!! To enter, simply comment below, by midnight November 22, 2016, why you want to participate in the Statler Educational Program with Georgia Stull. You can also enter by commenting on Road’s Facebook Page post about the contest. One lucky winner will be chosen by Real Number Generator and announced on November 23^rd. Good luck to all who enter.]]>

Tags: Gammill, Georgia Stull, Giveaway, Longarm Quilting, Longarm Quilting Class, Statler by Gammill
Posted in Faculty, Giveaways, Road 2016 | 169 Comments »

So You Want To Make A Winning Quilt: Road 2015 Excellence in Longarm Quilting

Monday, October 26th, 2015

Jocelyn Atkinson , from Waiuku, New Zealand, received $1,500 from sponsor American Professional Quilting Systems for her entry, Matilda.

Years ago, when Jocelyn’s family moved to a new town, she decided to join a night class for quilting so that she could meet new people. Jocelyn had wanted to make quilts for a very long time and finally the timing was right. After she made her quilt top, and it was time to do the quilting, Jocelyn struggled. She started out doing the quilting with her domestic machine but her back ached too much. She figured there had to be a better way. Jocelyn did a lot of research on the internet and decided to import a Hinterberg longarm machine. She didn’t want to spend too much money on a machine as she didn’t know if she could or would even like doing longarm quilting. That machine ended up being a really good work horse yet the learning curve was huge. Jocelyn self-taught herself “the hard way,” reading from books and watching videos on YouTube. After a few years, she outgrew the Hinterburg. She knew she wanted to continue and take her quilting to a higher level but she also knew that she would need a new machine to take her there. Jocelyn ended up purchasing a Sharon Schamber 1709 Prodigy in 2009 and she’s never looked back. Matilda was inspired by Jocelyn’s admiration for Battenburg lace. After seeing what Cindy Needham was doing with old linen, Jocelyn decided that that was what she wanted to do with a Battenburg lace bedspread she had purchased. Jocelyn also wanted the project to be challenging and take her out of her comfort zone. Made in 2013, Jocelyn estimates that Matilda took 600 hours to complete. She used a shadow trapunto type technique to put fabric behind the lace, trimming the excess off, then marked the feathers and quilted. The quilt barely fit onto her 10 foot longarm frame. With only a 17 inch throat, there was a lot of rolling. Jocelyn says she learned “patience and discipline and how to fudge the quilting to fit the space.” At the time she was doing the quilting, Jocelyn had a full time job. She would come home from work each night and quilt for 2 to 3 hours. On weekends, she went “hard out.” Over the several months it took to complete the project, Jocelyn’s husband, Steve, showed his support by always cooking the evening meal. He did all the housework too!! When she heard that she had won, Jocelyn was “absolutely thrilled to be recognized by my peers for my workmanship.” With her prize money, Jocelyn “indulged in purchasing threads — quilter’s candy!!” Jocelyn intends to make more competition quilts. She admits that she has many suitable tops to choose from, but it may be a few years before she enters. In the meantime, Jocelyn will continue doing quilting for her customers and of course, continue to learn.]]>

Tags: APQS, Award Winning Quilts, Cindy Needham, Hinterberg, Longarm Quilting, Sharon Schamber 1709 Prodigy
Posted in Longarm, quilt entries | No Comments »

So You Want To Make A Winning Quilt? Road 2015 Director’s Choice

Friday, August 7th, 2015

Juanita’s Pearl was made and quilted by Sue Hawkes of Pocatello, Idaho. The Director’s Choice award was sponsored by Moore’s Sewing Center who presented Sue a check for $5,000.

Sue grew up watching her grandmother cut up any fabric (most of which was recycled from something that was no longer usable as its intended use) she could find into little bitty pieces and then stitch them back together by hand. Sue was always fascinated with the colors and patterns her grandmother created and knew that for sure, someday, she was going to be just like her.

The inspiration for Juanita’s Pearl was Sue’s mother, for which the quilt is named. The two center roses represent Sue’s mother and dad. The nine circling roses are for their children. The long stemmed roses are for their grandchildren. In the border are sixty-four roses, one for each year her parents were married. And the strings of pearls represent the never ending love Sue’s mother had for her family.

It took two and a half years to complete this project. Sue reflected on her work: “I have never taken on such a challenging project both mentally and emotionally. I’m not an artist so the idea of drawing intimidated me a bit. But with all the great tools at hand, I pushed on. My mother loved roses and her favorite color was pink. Her middle name was Pearl so the designing process was easier than I thought it would be with these elements to work with.”

Sue had never done cut away trapunto before, let alone the color trapunto. “The cutting was intense and very time consuming. I had the quilt on my longarm four different times for stitching in the color and then cutting away. During this process, I learned a lot about patience and pacing myself especially around all those pearls, just not once but twice. One wrong snip would end it all. The fifth time on the longarm was for the final quilting.”

Getting to the end of the quilting stage, Sue said she was able to “see the light at the end of the tunnel.” She found that “it was very time consuming and challenging but I used this time to reflect upon all my memories of my mother. Lots of times I had to shut off the machine because I couldn’t see through the tears.”

Her “wow I did it!” moment was when she took the quilt off the longarm and was ready to soak out all the markings and water soluble thread. She prayed it would all come out and that there would be no seepage of color around the trapunto – and there wasn’t!! All her work and worry paid off.

Sue learned many things along the way. What kept pushing her on was what Karen McTavish tells her students and admirers, “Do the hardest thing and push yourself; it will pay off in the end.”

When Sue received her email that she had won Director’s Choice, it was the night before she was to fly out to the show. She remembers, “As I read it I couldn’t believe the words. I just handed off my iPad to my husband to see if he read the same words that I had read.” She spent her winnings on what “every other quilter would do — I bought more fabric!”

Where does Road’s 2015 Director’s Choice winner go from here? “The quilting world is growing in every direction and I plan on growing with it. My biggest obstacle is not enough hours in the day for all I want to do and learn.”

Congratulations Sue Hawkes on winning the 2015 Director’s Choice Award sponsored by Moore’s Sewing Center.

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Tags: Award Winning Quilts, Color Trapunto, Director's Award Winner, Karen McTavish, Longarm Quilting, Moore's Sewing Center, Sue Hawkes, Trapunto
Posted in Road 2015- 20th Anniversary Show | No Comments »

Road 2015 Faculty Spotlight: Meet Heidi Stagno

Monday, December 8th, 2014

Heidi is teaching two day classes: 1008R Grid It and Stitch It on Monday; and 2011R Texturize on Tuesday. She will also be teaching three evening classes: 4075R Super Size Your Sashing on Thursday, 5078R Super Simple Stipple on Friday and 6077C Make It and Take It on Saturday.

Heidi Stagno learned to love and appreciate quilting from her Grandma Leota while growing up in Pocatello, Idaho. Remembers Heidi, “Grandma Leota came from a humble household. She put grandpa through medical school and he later became the Chief of Staff of the Idaho State Mental Hospital. So needless to say grandma was no longer poor. My sister and I did not learn to piece quilts because that was for ‘poor people.’ Grandma Leota would purchase yardage and match the print and sew-up two widths of fabric for the top and it was nothing but flannel for the back. We stretched the fabric and attached it to the frame and hand tied each quilt. Grandma Leota found many other ways to keep my sister and I busy on those cold, long Idaho nights. That’s how my quilting journey began.”

Today, Heidi lives with her husband John and twin, 6 year old daughters. Her mother Judy is also an accomplished quilter.

Heidi loves to quilt on her Longarm machine. “I bought my first longarm machine 14 years ago. For the first year my machine and I just dated and we got to know each other. The second year we got engaged and I really started bringing in the customers. I was booked with more quilts than I could keep up with. So sometime between year three and four we got married and I quit my full time career job. At that time, I also let go of a husband. He just didn’t get the quilting thing, so out he went. I spent two years single, supporting myself completely on my longarm quilting. Then I found a new husband. The quilting machine gave her stitch of approval and we got married, to Mr. Right this time. In the span of one year I got married, bought a house, bought a quilt shop and I was pregnant with twins by the end of the first year.” Heidi recently sold the quilt shop and is back to quilting full time. In addition to her machine, she also has two machines that she rents out and she teaches longarm quilting on. And, she is a Handi-Quilter Dealer.

What is Heidi’s method for longarm quilting? “I love developing the depth, dimension, and texture on quilt tops. My students ask me, ‘How do you know what to quilt on so many different quilts?’ My answer is: look into the quilt and it will tell you. While I have not experienced a quilt that will actually talk to me, I do investigate the piecing, the fabric, and the scale of design, the style or theme. The answer is very simple “opposites attract.” If the quilt has busy fabric or lots of piecing, I go simple. If the quilt is plain and simple I dress it up with fancy stuff. Then I go to work auditioning designs with preview film.

During her two years of supporting herself with her quilting, Heidi says she learned a thing or two that can help other longarm quilters:

#1 If your machine is broke you will be too. So keep it clean!! Keep it happy!! Keep quilting!!

#2 Learn how to fix your machine so you don’t have to live with-out it while it’s at the dealer. No machine=no quilting=no money=homeless. ( lol)

#3 Some quilters say “get known for one style” No way. I love all types and style and techniques. Learn them all.

Heidi hopes the students in her classes first learn to relax a bit. She says that her quilting went to the next level when she finally said to myself, “Well… either they will bring me their quilt or they won’t. Get over it. Let go of the unrealistic self-inflicted pressures. Just enjoy and have fun and it will come.” She also tells her students that they will not leave the class being proficient at that particular technique. What she teaches is HOW to practice the technique. She also likes to share her “pea brain analogies.” Heidi has a specific thought process while quilting each and every design. She likes to teach her students the theory behind free-motion quilting not just tricks. For Heidi, it’s all about the ELEMENT, REPEAT, ROTATE and TRAVEL!!!

You can learn more about Heidi on her blog: http://quiltingwithheidi.blogspot.com/

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Tags: Handi Quilter, Longarm Quilting
Posted in classes, Faculty, Road 2015- 20th Anniversary Show | No Comments »