njquiltergirl Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Hi. Doodlebug started this, sort of... For the professional quilters, how many quilts do you usually have in your back log and what is your typical wait-time? If a customer brought a quilt today, how long till she could pick it up? Bonnie raised another interesting point... How many do you do per year?? Thanks! Lisa APQS Liberty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 In the days of my customers...January 1st to September 1st I had a one week from pickup to delivery.....So if you handed me one today you would have it back next friday.... I have to remind you I didn't do E2E's such as Pantos it was either a custom E2E or a full custom. And I during the Christmas rush from September 1 - December 24th an average chritstmas season was about 150 quilts, which meant most were E2E's and not a custom that could take up to 2-3 days. at least one quilt a day was done, and some two all depending on size and how fancy the E2E was. I would cut off the Christmas quilts that needed to be mailed out by October 31st and the rest all local would be finished in time for wrapping and under the tree by Christmas Eve.... more than once I was delivering quilts the morning of Christmas Eve...but these were quilts I was binding as well as washing for the customer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoriasews Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 I have about 35 on the shelves, several which are queen or king. I have had that kind of backlog since last December. My most recent take-in was told it would be done mid-November. I try to do one a day and that often includes Saturday. If something comes up, though, that I really want to do, I'll take off and do it. I take off the whole month of December for my family, though sometimes I miss the quilting and will head up to the studio and do a couple. I have never had a customer that was upset for taking that break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 I do 6-10 quilts a week and currently have a 2-3 week turn around time but when the snow birds are in town my turn around time can be as much as 2 months. I only do pantos no custom, and no freehand stuff. This works for me right now with raising my kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreadWaggle Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Hi Lisa, Not sure exactly how many quilts I have at the moment. I did a pickup yesterday and got a box with 5 tops in it today. I do know that all the quilts I currently have will be delivered by mid November. I have found that we all handle our business a little differently. I have 2 customers that make up the bulk of my business. I get their quilts in and out quickly, most of the time in just a couple days. I always know in advance that they have quilts coming in, so I can schedule the rest of my customers accordingly. They rest of my customers are first come, first served when I actually receive their tops. The 5 tops I just got in will be done next week. The top I picked up locally will be delivered in mid November. It is kind of confusing, but works for the situation I am in. My normal backlog is 4-6 weeks, right now it is about 7, but only because of Houston next month. Like Bonnie, I don't do Pantos. I do a few freehand E2E, but most are light custom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Lisa, Since quilting is my 2nd job I only book one quilt a week for e2e and 2 weeks for custom. That means that I can get a backlog. The most it has taken for turn-around is 2 months. I also don't take in the tops until I'm ready to quilt in the next 2 weeks. That way I don't have lots of tops hanging out at my house. This has worked out well for me and I can really gauge things. I also book time in for myself so that I don't end up hating my 2nd job! I really look at this as a fun job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Hi Lisa, I have only been doing this for 1 1/2 years now and # each quilt that has come in and am up to #112. I am not as quick as Bonnie with my turnaround and # done per week, but that being said, most of mine are custom which take a little more time and I probably take too much time making sure that they are perfect. Most of the time my turnaround time is approx 6-8 weeks. Since there are several other LA'rs in the area, I decided that I needed something to set myself apart from what the others do. So I decided that I wanted to be the one to go to for being creative and having quality work. (Meaning that I take the time to knot and bury threads). I do get some E2E but it seems that I am getting the quilts to do that I wanted - custom, which I find stretches me and are more interesting. Once, I got my backlog down to 2 weeks - it felt so good! I guess long story short, I am slower but still carry a backlog of about 2 mos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boni Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Currently I have five customer quilts. I schedule one per week and fill in with my own and family quilts. If you brought me one today, I would promise it in six weeks, or as soon as it was done. I have always delivered before the deadline, but I like that cushion just in case. If I happen to have too many interruptions, I call the customer and explain. If it's a "no hurry" quilt, I'm likely to take in a "need it now" quilt and work it in. I do everything. My favorite is "custom" computerized where I design just the right meander/motif/flair for the individual quilt---one of a kind. I can't stand on my feet to do freehand more than half a day at a time. And I have that adult attention deficit disorder that takes me away from what I'm doing so I can't work on the same quilt for more than a couple of hours at a time. Some of my customers have me do their binding and that takes a chunk too.--calculating, cutting, piecing, pressing, applying so they just have to turn and finish by machine or hand. I never intended for this to be a full time job. I still have family and other activities that require my time as well. My clientele is small but faithful. It's a nice situation for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bekah Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 I never had a back log until now and that is all in thanks to the pansy quilt but now I have 7 sitting there, 2 for CL swirls which will go quickly, 1 panto, 2 E2E and 2 Custom. I work days and never thought I would be panicky about a back log. I am so excited to have a back log but know I must get faster. I am trying to learn from all of you how to be productive. so thank you for answering this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 Well, I am not a full time professional quilter. I just do this part time and for fun. But if I ever do become a full time quilter for customers, I would "HOPE" that my backlog was not more than 2-3 weeks turnaround; 4 weeks max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted September 25, 2009 Report Share Posted September 25, 2009 I work 5 hours a day at my dear day job--the source of all things "beneficial"--wink wink. I limit my in-take to six quilts per month. Last year I stretched to 8 a month and was in misery! Back to six, and my Guild has a show in three weeks so I have been booked up until October since last Spring. That is an anomaly. My usual back-log is two months. With that said, I have two openings left in February because of all those who were pushed back by the quilt show rush. My customers seem to know they need a few months on the list so they contact me as they begin a quilt and I hold a spot for them. If I was full-time longarming, I would not want more than two custom or three light custom a week. No reason to take all the fun out of it by stressing myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltlover03 Posted September 26, 2009 Report Share Posted September 26, 2009 This is my job and once a month I make a "Quilt run" picking up and delivering Quilts at a Quilt Store that used to be on my trucking route. I usually pick up 12 - 24 Quilts of various sizes and requiring various work and return them the following months. So my turn around time for those customers is basically 4 weeks. In between I get Quilts from local customers and in the mail from wherever and I schedule those in between. I have to say that I spend 3 weeks of the month by myself, so my time is my own and I have been known to get up at 0300 and quilt. My Freedom is always on standby, ready to go. When I need a break, I make a quick patchwork Quilt for my Etsy Store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merryjo2003 Posted September 26, 2009 Report Share Posted September 26, 2009 I usually have a backlog of about 14 quilts. I try to keep a 2 week turn-around-time. I get a lot of custom, so they take longer. I also use the zipper system in case I have a really intense one on the machine and have to take it off and do a couple to meet my deadlines, then get back to it. I have one customer who gives me about 8-10 at a time! I don't know how she gets so many done so quickly! During the Christmas schedule, I get super busy and have a lot of late nights and weekend work to keep up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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