quiltmonkey

LinneaMarie, it's not the batting, it's the backing fabric. Can you change the backing fabric?

Hi. I can't answer your question, but here is a link to post a question and get support for the Compuquilter system. https://www.intelliquilter.com/compuquilter-support.php

ack! the dreaded pokies. we've all experienced them. some situations are worse than others. you have several options: you can stop now and remove the quilting stitches, find a different batting to use, or a combination of different batting and different backing. sometimes it's the backing fabric that's the culprit. perhaps you have the batting flipped the wrong direction. that could also be an issue. a last resort is to get a pigma pen and color in the pokies. that is something that longarm quilters do in situations that have no other options. good luck!

totally adorbs

what size needle are you using? It's possible that the eye of the needle is too small for the thread to pass through.

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.

Regardless of what you've heard about "saturated", I still think you should follow your dreams and create a business plan. Stick to the plan. Give yourself time now to practice, build up skills, market your business. You will SLOWLY build up clientele. By the time you retire, you should be up on step with a steady customer base. I will tell you that customers like to try out other/new longarmers. So, don't be surprised once word gets around that you are in business. As a business person, it's always good to find your niche in the market and get your name out there. That niche could be as simple as your friendly personality or your quick turnaround time. Advertising is expensive, but spending money on a Facebook page, paying for a blurb in the local longarm newsletters or even in the local advertising newspaper, creating cute business cards and trifold to hand out to potential customers. You have to get your name and face out there. It's who you know that gets the word of mouth moving around. Make quilts and put them in the local fair. Create quilts and DONATE them to charity fundraisers. Donating quilts to fundraisers gets your name out there as a business person. Attend guild meetings or other craft groups and hand out your cards and trifolds. Talk to local shops about displaying your information. Eventually when you can afford it, buy a domain name and create a web site. Customers like to look at your site on the internet. Be creative-- think out of the box on your advertising angles. You'll be surprised that even in a saturated market, you can find your place. Follow your dreams.

I agree! The folks at APQS are the best!

Oh, Connie... I agree with you and I miss the "old days" on the APQS forums, too. Back then, it truly was a very special place and time... where so much creativity was shared and forever friends were made.

Yes

Please be wary of trolls and unsavory people posting on this forum. I was recently victimized by someone who goes by the name Celena. This person blatantly copied and pasted my story under her name. Are people half nuts? What is going on here? I'm deeply troubled by this. To all of you kind folks here, be wary that there are some odd happenings on what should be a safe place for all of us. Here's the post I'm referring to.

This is an easy fix with a minor adjustment. Call the APQS headquarters in Iowa. They can resolve this for you over the phone. Before you call, remove the needle from the machine and the thread from the take up lever. This will avoid any thread getting tangled up in the bobbin area.

Agree with you. I do not float my tops - I've always felt better control with my top pinned to the leader.

Adding one more thing: I am (by nature) a very accommodating and nice person. Probably too nice sometimes. In dealing with my quilting customers, the word "no" is not a word I use, ever. Very rare situations when I need to tell a customer the word "no" ... and this situation is generally the only time I stand up for myself and say "No! Sorry, my requirement is to have 8" wider and 8" longer than quilt top." Period. End of story. I've almost hurt myself numerous times trying to quilt a quilt with barely enough backing fabric. It's dangerous. I draw the line when it comes to injuring myself because of a customer did not give me enough backing fabric.

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.