Sharon Deming

This happened to me once. I finally figured out that the start/stop switch on one of the rear handles was stuck on start. Customer service sent me a new switch.

If you are using batik backing, I suggest a new 3.5 needle. Select your top thread accordingly.

I was doing a pantograph, and the button on the right side actually stuck in the go position. I didn't discover it quickly enough to avoid damaging a customer quilt!! So glad you hit the problem before you loaded anything!

I had this happen on a nearly new 2017 Millie. It turned out to be a faulty stop/go switch on one of the rear handles. The button failed in the GO position! Customer service sent me a new switch, and it was an easy swap out. My hunch is that one of your stop/go switches has failed. Call customer service. Maybe they can help you isolate which one. (I wonder if Millie would run right if 3 of the switches were removed - and then add back one at a time to see which one failed .... ). Blessings!

Tonilyn, if you are talking about quilting cotton and backing fabric, the best place to find ready buyers is your local quilt guild(s). Put a "get this out of my house" price on it, have a quilters' fabric sale. Give away what doesn't sell to local guilds and senior centers for their many charity projects. One of our inactive guild members recently moved, and had multiple "open houses" for quilters to come and snatch up her multiple rooms of fabric.

When I had a Lenni, I used big strong binder clips to block the left-right movement of the machine. Worked very well. Just use a light hand with no sidewise pressure as you move Ms. Lucey. Blessings!

Joyce. Call APQS anyway. Tell them the situation, that you don't know the name of the part, and can you text them a picture of it. I have had the need to send videos, audios, pictures, and they stayed right on the phone with me. They will help you! Blessings!

Hi Denise. What are you trying to figure out? yardage? number of strips? Customer cost?

Carolyn, welcome to the forum!! My life has taken a shift and I have suspended quilting for others until next year --- but .. I had a chance to speak to the woman who quilts the Soft and Stable sandwiches for Annie (of by Annie). Now, I have not tried this yet - too many other things ahead of it. But, she uses the 52" wide S&S and trims it to about 48" wide. Then loads the "backing" along the cut width of fabric with the selvedges (left on) on the sides. Centers the S&S over the backing and the top fabric and the top fabric centered on top. anchors the edges and quilts with a low density design. She said she uses the clamps on the S&S. I have trouble actually picturing all that, so after I quilt the charity top that stares at me every time I go into the studio, I will see how working with S&S works out and let you know on this thread. Have you tried quilting with S&S yet?

Hi Sharon. We play L, R, C version as well. I don't know about other options. I did find a sort of card game involving 2.5" strip when I googled quilters strip poker - but the point was to make blocks from the patterns printed on the cards. But I couldn't find where to buy the cards. We play other sorts of games too. Just google games for quilting retreats. I'll bet you will find all sorts of fun games for quilters.

Thank you so much. Some day, I will return to the blog - most likely with a different focus from quilting. Blessings!

Hi Kylie - thanks for your sweet comment. The art / craft / hobby / calling of making quilts is at least 3,000 years old. Yes, we meet together to hone skills, get inspired to try something new, gather people to bus to a quilt show, etc. BUT quilting really isn't about all of that when you look between the layers. It's about loving family (and making sure every member has several quilts) and loving each other. It's about the fabric and pieces and journeys of life. Quilters love to sew - but, I believe, for most of us, we love doing it with each other, as family. My favorite day of the month is when my friend Sally comes to spend the day with me in the studio - sewing and laughing and sharing and supporting each other through life. My routine is changing. The Lord has drawn me aside from designing quilts, developing patterns, and from most quilting jobs, to focus on making quilts for teens who have been uprooted from their homes due to their parents' arrests or other reasons, and are waiting to be placed in foster care. Check out Isaiah 1:17 House. My goal is 12 quilts this year for them. Sally is working with me, also, so I expect we will produce many more than that. This is all happening along with being enrolled in Bible College - at the age of 76! Yikes. I can hardly wait to find out how the Lord will weave this all together! Blessings and a beautiful day!

Thanks Selena. I have missed Dorothy. It took me over a year to part with her stash. I would occasionally sew with a bag of her fabric nearby. Many of my quilting friends bought her fabric and supplies and all of the money I collected from the sale was sent to her favorite charity: Healthy Women, Healthy Liberia. She served as their treasurer for several years.It is a real blessings when I see her fabric in quilts made by my guild sisters. I haven't posted in the blog since then - life has seasons. Nick, just to clarify Quilters' Strip Poker is NOT a card game!! It is a hilarious and often riotous game involving 2.5" strips of fabric often played by quilters at a quilting retreat. Whoever wins the game winds up with ALL of the 2.5" strips and my guild expects the winner to make a quilt from them to show the guild at the next meeting. Blessings ALL!

Hi everyone. Got a question for you. I recently saw a video by Annie of ByAnnie.com, talking about how they send out 2-yard cuts of fabric to their longarmer to be quilted with soft and stable. I am about to start on a series of ByAnnie projects and would like to quilt the tops and linings on the longarm in one big sandwich and cut my project pieces from that. Please share what you recommend for how to best load 1 or 2 yard fabric pieces with soft and stable, what to watch out for, needle size, stitch length, add leaders(?), etc. Thanks so much!

The purpose of the brake is to keep the roller from moving, so be sure to release the brake before you advance or "rewind" your quilt. You should have received an angled "Allen" wrench with your APQS machine. You may find that over time, the brake handle doesn't hold the rollers as firmly as it once did. The angled wrench is used to set the handle in a position that will enable it to hold firmly. If you purchased a used machine, you may or may not have the instructions for this, but you can find info with a quick forum or google search. And you are correct, there are NO stupid questions. We ALL had to learn about the brake! Be blessed as you fall in love with longarm quilting!

Hi Kathy, I think your concerns about "pin creases" can be eliminated by using smaller pins. If I know I will be unzipping and re-zipping my quilt, I will use the 1" bent safety pins - and pin the backing to the zipper tape. For normal quilting projects, I use straight flower-head pins. Whether the backing fabric raw edge lines up with the edge of the zipper tape or the teeth is a matter of preference and ease of pinning, just get the pins close enough together to reduce / distribute the stress on the fabric. Blessings!

He DeeDee - those of us who do pantographs have been in your shoes. There are some good videos online. Just google something like: How to quilt using a pantograph on my ____________ machine. Just insert the brand of your machine. You will hopefully find a few demos that will be helpful. Blessings!

I understand what you are feeling. We put our talent and Hearts into our work, and we want that love and care to be appreciated. Unfortunately, not everyone is taught to be grateful and appreciative for gifts of any kind. Chalk it up to her forgetfulness or lack of character. But please, continue to share your love and quilting with others. I encourage you to be sure to put a label on all of your quilts, including baby gifts, that identify YOU as well as your blessing for the gift receiver. Eighty years from now, your work may eventually be appreciated by someone who picks up your quilt at an estate sale or flea-market. Maybe include a picture of you quilting the quilt at the longarm, or of your piecing the quilt and a personal note of congratulations along with your quilt. At least you will know they DO know that it is handmade by you personally. Blessings!

Are you using the recommended brand and needle size for the thread type? Superior recommends size 18 (a.k.a 4.0) for SoFine #50. Are you using the correct type of needle for your longarm brand. See Superior's chart at: Longarm Needle Reference Guide Select the "Longarm Needle Guide" document. What type of fabric / batting are you working with? If the quilt is thick or heavily pieced, you may want to consider a larger needle, slowing down the machine head, and/or going to a smaller stitch to reduce drag on the needle and thread. Don't hesitate to contact Superior customer service or your longarm brand's customer service, as well.

Try https://www.urbanelementz.com/design-boards/design-boards-blocks/boards-blocks-by-designer/r-s-designs.html I googled r&s design boards.

I am so sorry to hear that your mother has passed away. Mother's are our lifeline to reality, sometimes. You will be okay. I am praying for you and your family. About her longarm: My suggestion is to locate the serial number on the machine head and call customer service at the A-1 company. They can tell you how old the machine is and possibly a resale value. From the dust on the machine, it may have not been used for several years (?), so be sure to tell buyers that. Don't try to run it without servicing it. Check with longarm dealers or sewing machine dealers for people in the area who could come to service it. If you are in NE Tenn, I know just the right guy. Here is a link to the A-1 contact info: http://www.a1quiltingmachines.com/contact.php. When you are ready to let people know about it and the other quilting supplies, contact the local quilting guilds. The members are always looking for a good deal on supplies! Just google "quilting guilds near me"

You are not doing anything wrong. My very biased opinion is that the wide backs are "economical" for a reason - manufacturers still need to make a profit so quality suffers. If I get a chance to encourage a customer to make her/his backing from regular yardage, I will. The issue is with the wide back, not the batting! The holes will "heal" over time. Washing will help - but not all quilts will be washed. When you take the quilt off the frame, let it rest (unfolded) for a couple of days if you can before returning it. The holes will probably diminish some. Reassure your customer that the holes will close over time. When quilting a wide back, I often use a one-size smaller needle - if the thread choice and type of quilt will allow - to make smaller holes. You are doing fine. I keep Warm and Natural and Warm and Plush on the roll. No problem with consistency - always the same.

When I was looking for a longarm a few years ago, I wound up narrowing my list to APQS and Innova. So I talked to my super-guru of a sewing machine service guy. He services every sort of longarm, sewing machine, serger, embroidery machine -both domestic and commercial in a region that includes 4 state. He knows everything. I asked him "If you were going to buy a longarm machine for yourself or a family member, what brand would you choose?" Without hesitating he said there were only 2 brand on his list. #1 is APQS and #2 in Innova. I asked him why he put APQS ahead of Innova. He said that APQS is very easy to service - everything you need to access is right up front. "And besides", he said, "APQS never breaks down." Customer service is the best in the business. They will stay with you as long as you need to get an answer to even the dumbest question. Every dealer I have met has been happy, professional, knowledgeable, and accessible. When I checked in your area, there are 3 dealers near Atlanta. My own treasured dealer is Sheridan Carter in Hendersonville, NC.(828) 286-2390. She is hosting a Roadshow on July 21, starting at 1:00 pm. Check the APQS roadshow schedule to see when there is one in your area. A roadshow is a great way to play with all of the machines and get all of your questions answered. Here's the link: https://www.apqs.com/events/?tribe_eventcategory=296.

I pay about $10 per year for a domain name, and pass-through service to my free blog on blogspot. It has static pages as well as the blog page. Nothing fancy, but it works for me.

I have been buying Quilter's Cut through Amazon. When I first found them, the supplier only had the 45mm size, and I must have been one of her first few buyers. She now has all the usual sizes and some other cutting products. They are excellent blades. Quilter's Cut blades.