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This is a small version of the butterfly quilt pattern drafted by Sherrie I love orange and I am making most of my quilts this year with orange in them. anybody have a killer name for this quilt....it is always funto play with one of your own quilts.... I hope you enjoy , many of the designs I have not done before but have found a couple I will do again for sure back of the quilt close ups of the background this one I have named bubble wrap rulers and freemotion oops I see a thread.... more thread that will get cleaned up

Sew Tweet, a pattern by Chitter Chatter Designs. I hand appliqued and embroidered the blocks in 2014; along with completing the top. Finally this year, I free motion quilted it on my Mille. This was a very fun project began by me and Lisa E. in 2014. It was my first attempt at embroidery; I was so blessed my Mother used to do all my embroidery, but she has since passed away. The blue birds remind of Cinderella birdies!!

Once in a while a quilt comes along that is just special. "I Woolly Love Ewe" was one of those, I love the design and the title, and I was thrilled when Wendy asked me to custom quilt it for her. Isn't the black sheep super cute? I am really happy with the way it turned out, and it looks even better now that it is bound and washed. I love the picture Wendy sent me of the finished quilt, the little girl seems to agree with me on the black sheep (I have permission to share this picture online.)

My personal Dinner Plate Dahlia is off the long arm. I don’t have a computer on my long arm so this was all hand guided. I am thrilled with the finished quilt

front view of the quilt Lighting was not great but the close-ups are better. Pattern is by Sew Colorful and the pattern is Sizzling Summer. I use 80/20 cotton/wool for the batting and backing is a plush Costco Blanket in bright hot Pink. an allover freehand quilting motifs to add texture and interest I just love my new quilt. Thanks for looking and have a great Monday Part of the back it is a Costco Fleece Blanket with 80/20 cotton Wool batting supper warm quilt Picture on my millie framehere are pictures before quilting

This is the second of three Dinner Plate Dahlia’s that I have quilted. This one I tried to keep the quilting contemporary. There is no feathering on this quilt. Unlike the Summer in Cabo quilt with many thread changes. This quilt I only used the one color of thread. It was a blue/grey and perfect for this quilt. Again, there is about 56 hours into the quilting.

I recently finished this quilt for a customer who usually does her own quilting on her domestic machine but thought that this one was too big for her to handle. Aren't the colours just beautiful? She had already drafted most of the feather design for the background, I just added the centre part as it was too much space to be left unquilted and chose the design for the circles. We are both very happy with the way it turned out.

The number of quilters with longarms and mid-arms has risen like crazy in the past four years in my area. If you can spend the five to seven years left to sharpening your skills while taking a few customers here and there, go for it. It hasn't impacted my business, but I do primarily custom and have little competition. My quilts come from those who save the big ones and the special ones for me---I do 4 per month and sometimes struggle to get them done. Mine is a different situation so if you are able to analyse the competition, see if you can figure out a niche market. Are there lots of overall/e2e quilters so you'll be competing with them? Are there Modern quilters looking for a kindred-spirit longarmer? Is the custom market fully covered? Also, would you be happy to purchase a used machine to start out and upgrade to a new w/computer later? Please remember as well, the longarmer who advised you only has her best interests at heart---not yours. Though her advice may be spot-on, don't be deterred until you do some more research.

Even if you sew scraps of fabric to all four sides, if the quilt top is the same size as the back, it's absolutely impossible to avoid quilting the extra strip's seam line into the quilt while quilting it. Trust me in my 15 years of longarm quilting, it is nearly impossible to accomplish this very difficult and extremely stressful situation. I would contact customer and ask her to provide you with larger backing fabric that is at a minimum 8" wider and 8" longer than the quilt top. My job is to quilt the customer's quilt without pulling my hair out... it's not my job to perform miracles due to the failure of the customer to provide ample backing fabric. IMHO.

Yes, Ron and Sharon are transferring ownership to Patricia Ritter. Ron is still making the boards but has stepped away from order fulfillment personally. The owners of Miracle Chalk have also sold their business to her. She is a force of nature and deserves all the success she has achieved. Surprisingly, both R&S and Miracle Chalk owners are here in Olympia---and members of my quilt guild. I'm rubbing shoulders with quilt legends!

I was fortunate to be able to quilt Three of these baby Quilts for the same customer. She Used the Pattern Mommy and Me. She used a white on White Fabric That had a 1" diamond grid printed on it for the Background in the center area as soon as I saw that that I wanted to practice some grid work . I just went for it what do you think do you practice on customers quilts? Hope you have a great Day.

With all batting, the scrim goes next to the backer---so it faces down. With that said, most scrimmed cotton batting has the scrim buried within the layers. The fibers are needle-punched into the scrim (a sheet of very strong and very thin polyester) and the key to placement is the direction of that needle punching. Your machine needle should go through in the same direction as the needle punching. So look at the batting---one side is smoother and has tiny visible holes (dimples). The other side will be rougher-looking and a bit raggedy (pimples). So the rule is "show your dimples---up---and hide your pimples---down". Another way to tell is most batting is folded with the "good" side out, just like fabric. That good side goes up and the uglier side down---look for the center crease/fold line. Make it a mountain instead of a valley when it's loaded. Poly batting may have a chemical scrim---an application of a chemical that bonds the poly fibers on only one side. That side feels much rougher and it will be placed next to the backer. Hope this is helpful.

I really like how this baby quilt came out.

I did a little experiment at a retreat doing some improv curved piecing. I was using scraps from a fellow retreater they were cast off from a judy niemeyer quilt so odd shaped triangles mostly. I made four main clusters of curved pieces then added the putty fabcic to pull the pieces together Once they were sewn together the face emerged. A pleasant surprise. I then quilted it with a contrasting 40 weight thread. This piece was juried into the Canadian NJS that is in Ottawa this week. I did not win a ribbon but I have my quilt hanging with some very impressive quilts. I do not do this kind of quilts and stretched myself artistically to make it. I am pleased with the overall project. This piece is 20" x 20"

I made this collage Butterfly and did not know where I was going to use as a back ground then remembered I had a dream big panel...and the rest is history . I would like to see your Dream Big panels you quilted. Please

I haven't been sharing for a while. Here is a quilt Sharon W pieced and I quilted for our local hospice. I shared with Sharon a photo off of Facebook of a quilt made like this one and she made her own pattern. The two of us are a team and make 3 or more quilts each week 20190404_115445 by Dell Dunman, on Flickr 20190404_115451 by Dell Dunman, on Flickr

Update,..... I did point out mistake to customer and we both decided it needed to be fixed. so,... spent an afternoon picking out stitches, and 10 minutes to restitch the Feather,... I was happy to do it as it was my mistake,.... I always point out mistakes if any,.. big or small and let the customer decide,.... this one I knew she would want fixed,.... She is very pleased with the end result!!! and so am I!!! Thanks for looking ,.... Happy Quilting,... Laura Love the combination of the two,... Simple,.. with a pop!!! I used a double Cotton Batting on this one,.. wanted the feathers to stand up and take center stage,... Matching Glide Threads in the Grey, Burgundy and White Areas,... Thanks for looking,... ** can you see the mistake? Found it after I pulled it off the frame,.... :0)

This is one I just finished for a friend. She pieced the quilt and I quilted it. I thought it turned out really well. I used Quilter's Dream Batting, and light gray thread on top with white on bottom.

Have you tried searching this forum? There have been many storage ideas throughout the years. Here's my favorite, easy to move and fairly cheap to make:

I still find it amusing that folks think stitch in the ditch is an easy and cheap way to get their quilt quilted.

Custom work using rulers - this is a highly specialized skill that take months, if not years to perfect. If it were me, I would charge by the hour, not by square inch. Don't underestimate your time and skills. I rarely do ruler quilting for customers because it's so expensive. I find other ways to quilt, or I choose to use minimal amount of rulers and then freehand the rest (combination) Find the going rate for custom heirloom quilting in your area, or ask other quilters in your area what they charge for ruler work. If I were doing ruler work, I would charge at least $35 per hour. For estimates, you could guess that it takes 40 hours and give them a quote. I'm not giving my time away for minimum wage. No way! I've had many customers ask me to SID their quilt. I kindly explain the costs and time involved and I offer other solutions for them.

Look what I got to quilt! It's a pink themed Halloween quilt, to display at our local hospital during the month of October. Pink because it's breast cancer awareness month. The Jackson Hole Quilt Guild rotates a quilt display every month at our local hospital. The nurses and patients really appreciate it. We've had a hard time in years past trying to find a pink quilt for the October display. So we had the bright idea to make a quilt just for that. Different people made the applique blocks, others sewed them together with sashing and border. I quilted it, and just handed it off to another member to attach the binding. A terrific collaboration. Last May I took a few classes from Judi Madsen in Salt Lake City. I just LOVE her work. So, you will see that she inspired this quilting. The bat bra block is the one that really got me started with the quilt designs. The lady who made it drew a spider in a web on the cleavage, so clever and so easy to quilt that design! Judi had just posted an applique quilt that she'd finished that had bugs in it. She gave the bugs motion by quilting a swirly design under them. I thought the ghosts need that swirly design too. Remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?! I used a wool batting, glide thread with magna glide bobbins. Love those magna glide bobbins! Angela Huffman is a great source for them and her delivery is super fast. Thanks for looking!

IMHO, when they changed the forums, several years back, it got MUCH harder to post photos and follow threads - we lost a lot of followers at that point. I know there are those who will NEVER be on Facebook, but FB doesn't have the restrictions that this forum has - and those of us trying to help customers on the various APQS pages get instant notifications when someone needs help, instead of needing to check in here several times a day (although I try to do that anyway!). I love Facebook for the ability to follow my family, both close and extended, and the ability to help my customers quickly, easily, with links to files and photos. If you don't do Facebook, then it's up to you - and the rest of you that don't do FB - to make this the forum that you want!

My DH outdid himself today. I was using curtain rods to support my clamps and I asked if he could make something for me ... he sure did!!

I know that I am one person who is thankful to be an APQS owner, and thankful to know that there are people with expertise and knowledge building these machines, and available to help me out. That gives me some confidence in jumping in to work on my craft. I hope that all of you who will be enjoying this appreciation day, know how much you are appreciated by all of us out here in sewing land!! Thanks for all you do!

Can I share my news? Had a call this evening to tell me that I won 1st for Longarming at Quilts UK, Malvern on my Customer Mary's quilt...WooHoo! It was a stunning top even before quilting! Marys Feathered Star Applique 2 by Borderline Quilter, on Flickr Marys Feathered Star applique 1 by Borderline Quilter, on Flickr

Hi Pat, Connie's suggestion about your leaders is good. However, I don't know if you want to...or need to buy new leaders, or if you want to give your current leaders a "hair cut" ... There's plenty of extra canvas on you rollers, if you want to try the hair cut route. These are the steps: Pin the take up leader to the bottom leader, overlapping the edges a few inches. After pinning, pull these two pinned leaders taught as much as you can. As you roll out the take up leader and roll the bottom leader canvas that's pinned to it, do this until you have about 12 inches or so of fresh new section of canvas from the top leader. Next, if you have channel locks, turn on the horizontal channel lock and using a cream colored thread in top and bobbin, slowly sew a line across on the fresh new section of the take up leader. While everything is still pinned together, roll forward until you have about 12 inches or so of fresh new section of canvas on the bottom leader. Repeat with channel locks on stitching a line of thread across the bottom leader. Leave the pins in. It's easier to trim the brand new straight line while everything is taught. The thread line you sewed on each leader is a line as a guide to carefully cut your brand new fresh clean straight edges for both take up leader and bottom leader. You will want to clean up the edges on your top leader, too. Repeat steps for pinning the take up leader to a fresh new section of the top leader (about 12 inches down), stitch a line across the top leader leader. Leave the pins in. It's easier to trim the straight line while everything is taught. Viola!

Something like that, I imagine - we've seen a lot of facebook friends suffer through the same thing! But Mark Caraher is looking into it and will get the bad posts gone!!

Good points, but a couple of hints. You can remove the front take-up roller if you exclusively float your quilts. It won't enlarge your stitching field, which is set by the frame configuration. You won't be able to stitch any closer to you than you do now. But it may mean easier access since you don't have to lean over the roller. Micro-drive handles are available for APQS machines. They are helpful for microstitching and control. They attach below the regular handles, which are loosened and pushed up out of the way. The micro-handles can then be used for ruler work and they independently pivot up out of the way, so you can stitch using one handle. They keep your hands very close to the top. The down-side is not ready/easy access to your controls, but in SR mode, it's not an issue. I suppose it's all about what you get used to and how easy a work-around is for perceived issues. I baste in manual with speed slow and head moving so I make 1/4" stitches. Or if I'm basting the sides, SR on and longest stitches. APQS innovates all the time, so maybe your wish-list will eventually be a reality.

I did a bit of thread work to enhance the printed panel of these dahlia flowers. The customer had added flange border around all the blocks so first off I sewed that down so it did not catch. then did loops and leaves in the narrow areas and feathers in the center thicker areas. this was fun to do.

Beautiful. I love looking at the backside of quilts, this one really shows your talents. I'm thinking about doing one of the "Dream Big" panels. I need to retire so I can quilt more!

Finished the first of Three Dinner Plate Dahlia’s. This color way is called “Summer in Cabo”. Although it takes almost 56 hours to quilt they are amazing. I don’t have a computer on my Millie so they are hand guided Enjoy the photos. I will post the second of the three in another post.

YOU GUYS!!! I finally did it! After staring at them for 3 months and viewing video after video and reading and re-reading instructions, and just generally procrastinating, I FINALLY bit the bullet and attached my zippers to my leaders!!! It was pretty easy. I cannot believe I put it off so long. I know you all will understand, so I just had to share. Also, since I was fiddling around with my leaders anyway, and mine have always sagged in the center, even after I bought and installed new leaders, and rolling back and forth with the leaders zipped together didn't really improve the sag much, I decided to work on that as well. With the leaders zipped together, pulled taut with the zipper centered, I spritzed lightly with water, then skimmed the surface with a hot iron to dry it. Still sagging, so I spritzed again, turned on the ceiling fan and walked away. I did that about 4 times and they are almost completely sag free! I think I may roll the zipper to each bar and do the same technique further in on the leader on each side to see if I can get it completely taut all the way across. Still need to mark inches along the edges. Tomorrow I will get the other parts of the zippers attached to canvas tabs about 5-6 inches wide so I don't have to worry about running into zippers while quilting. I also need to get grosgrain ribbon (I guess cheap bias tape or hem tape, anything like that should work, too) in different colors. I recall seeing a hint somewhere that some smart person sewed a different color ribbon on the top of each leader and then the same color ribbon on the top side of the matching half of the zipper to make it easier to get it right when pinning/stapling/stitching the quilt parts to the zippers. I think I'll appreciate all the help I can get, because I really don't want to waste my valuable quilting time removing and re-attaching a quilt back I attached wrong. You can barely see the last little bit of sag near the center mark. (Picture was taken before I stitched the last couple inches of leader to zipper by hand...) Would love to know if you see anything that should be or could be changed or any handy hints or tips.

Here is a photo of a quilt I designed on graph paper with a Frank Lloyd Wright theme for a relative. I love his houses and designs.

Yep as Sharon says. You need to release it to advance or roll the quilt. I did some adjusting of mine at first without loosening the brake....yikes....what a mess.....the Velcro did move out of place leaving a goopy mess.....I cleaned it with rubbing alcohol I believe...it took a while....then ended up applying a new valcro strip.....good news though....I haven't had to replace it for several years.....I have had to take my Allen wrench and tighten the handle a few times though.....I bought one of those multi sized allen wrenchs that had the same size in it.....I like it better because you have a bigger handle to use when tightening.....

Barb--serendipity! I have this issue in hand and will happily send it to you without charge. I cleaned my sewing room a month ago and found all my back issues to put aside and loan to members of my longarm group. Look for an email from me.

I haven't been on this forum for quite a bit but I wanted to give a huge shout out for APQS Service. My Millie is a 2005. I mainly quilt for myself. After finishing a charity quilt and loading my own, my stitch regulator decided to choke. I had movement from top to bottom but not left to right or right to left. I called service and also posted a message. Angie did a wonderful job of helping me to isolate the problem. In my case, my carriage encoder went bad. It took a number of emails back and forth with me including pictures and whether the test worked or not. Angie was patience and even put up with my twisted sense of humor through out. Angie mailed me a new encoder for my carriage and with the excellent instructions, I took off the old one and attached the new encoder. Instant resolution! It took a bit to get to the bottom of the problem but it was finally isolated and fixed. My Millie and I are happy to report that I am once again stitching. If you ever need service, just know that you will be in good hands. Gail S. aka Quiltfaerie

My DH outdid himself today. I was using curtain rods to support my clamps and I asked if he could make something for me ... he sure did!!

Shana, I agree you have to be careful due to trolls etc. I couldn't read the post your were referring to but I know they are here. I usually look really close at the number of posts the person has submitted and the topic title before answering something. The forum isn't what it used to be, most members and new owners have migrated to the Facebook Group but I still love the forum. I find the "search" element to be easy to use. I miss the closeness this group had too. I get lost on Facebook, here this minute gone the next, LOL.

I agree with Sharon. I found the APQS video by Dawn Cavenaugh on YouTube to be the most helpful. I must have watched tit ten times before I attempted my first pantograph. Then when I did start one I had a brain cramp at the end of the first row and had to go back and rewatch that part of the video (with lots of pauses) before I moved on. I’ve done three pantograph now and I’m hooked! I love them. Stick with it Dee Dee and don’t give up. I made a busy scrap quilt so hide boo boos the first time. It turned out good. This is a quilt I just made for a wedding gift. I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Hi Pat, It's hard to see if the canvas has stretched or after years of rolling become off square. It's probably time for new canvas leaders. I have a 2009 Millie and mine is the same, I'm getting ready to change them out. If you go to the online store, parts and notions and search canvas, it will come up. The price isn't bad and well worth your sanity.

I've seen those posts, as well, but I am positive that the folks at APQS are not behind them. I don't know who in the company is responsible for the FB page, but I'm sure they will have the garbage cleared out soon. And you don't need to unfollow APQS, just "hide" the ads you dislike.

Hi fellow quilters. I am needing help with this Irish Star. I made this one, so there is not a problem with how I do this. I made three of these and two of them I used a panto on. I am wanting to custom this one. I have attached a picture of one with the Panto on it, and also pictures of the one I am wanting to custom. I have drawn a complete blank on what to do. As you can see, there are three different blocks in this quilt, so it should not be so confusing, but is. Thanks for any help you can give.

All I can say is, some people are absolutely clueless (I mean absolutely completely clueless) to the heart and soul and thought and love that the quilter goes through in making a one-of-a-kind ---"BLANKET" ... these people are absolutely clueless. Even though you never received a thank you it doesn't mean they did not appreciate it. Trust me, every one of us has had this happen to us. What I do is I make and give quilts because it makes me feel good and I love doing it. It's a gift that I chose to give. What happens to my gifted quilt after I have given it is no longer in my control. I'm sure that some of my gifted quilts are being used in a not so flattering ways. I'm willing to accept that fact. I know that most people are grateful and are thankful and treasure them. Sending you a hug. Don't ever stop creating and giving the things you love. It's something that makes you special and kind.

I dislike Moda fabrics for exactly that reason. Rather than being dyed, it appears that the fabric is "painted" and the back side is very light colored. When you sew on it, some of the threads roll over showing the light color of the "wrong" side. The "pokies" aren't really the batting showing through but a problem with the under lying fabric. Jim

WOW! Gorgeous quilting! Great job and choice of colors! I think I would name it "Fire Fly"!

Join a local guild but don't be surprised if you get the cold shoulder from the resident quilter in the group. Volunteer to help with their projects. Once they see your work, people will migrate to you. Don't go after the other quilters' clientele but wait for the new members who will find you are available when the others are backed up. Word of mouth gets you lots of repeat customers.

Just want to wish you all a wonderful Mothers Day to all of you on this forum and to the staff at APQS.

Hi Marcia I am sure you have finished this project I have not been on the forum for quilt a while Yes I did mark the lines before I put it on the frame then quilted the entire back ground Then added the chenille to the lines I drew on the quilt I think the lines were about 4" in length. I would love to see your project

What I did when I first started out was I made up coupons for a Free quilting, edge to edge I choose the design, lap size or smaller, to be used within 3 months and handed them out to our sew group ladies. I also made sure my prices were very competitive ...in fact I was less than the norm when first starting out and then after my clientele was established I gradually increased my price. I do have another perk for loyal clients... 8 paid bed size quilts, gets a Free quilting for a lap size or smaller. Doing this I was able to pay off my longarm within 10 months!