chickenscratch Posted July 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 It's finished. It is still drying so this picture is with it on the cutting mat. I will take more pictures and put them in the webshots album this afternoon. I'll post the link then. I think I almost ruined it. I put it in the washer because it had so many blue marks on it. It came out all wrinkled and funny looking. I had to pin block it to the cutting mat to get it square again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuiltFaerie Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Teresa, that is just beautiful! I'm sure the Quilt Shop owner will be wowed. Great job! Gail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grammie Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 You did a fabulous JOB!!!! I am so proud of you. This is a really good sampler. It has motivated me to get mine done. lolol I have to have it done by Sept for my Class. I really love it. This more than proves what a wonderfu and talented Quilter you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrna Ficken Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 It looks awesome, you should be proud. Myrna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted July 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Thanks gals. I spent this afternoon dying fabrics for my fair entry (pieced wall hanging) and then I made up new brochures and business cards and my son printed them for me. Then we went to Walmart and printed pictures of all the quilts I have here and on the website. I still have to put those in a photo album. I'm kind of nervous. I don't know why. I guess because she scheduled an interview with me. I jsut fingured I would go in and drop off my stuff like at the local store. I wonder what the interview will entail. I'm also takign a few of the quilts I have here. I just sent my DIL her t shirt quilt, and I don't have a picture of it, but I will mention that I made it. Also, I just talked to my DIL and she said a lady she works with wants me to make a t shirt quilt for her. (they live in PA) Sorry I'm so chatty. I'm just kind of nervous to go down there tomorrow. I am going to offer to do a shop sample for free and offer 25% off the quilting of any other shop samples. The gal said she had about 40 that needed done, but her quilter (Judy, last name starts with an L) is too backed up to get them done right now. If I don't talk to y'all tonight I'll let you know tomorrow afternoon what has happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 My fingers are crossed for you....Best wishes good luck. I know how much this means to you....and I will say an extra one for you as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted July 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 My little bag is all packed up with some small quilts, the sampler to leave at the store, a photo album of quilts I've done, business cards, brochures, and small sample blocks for people to take home with them. My son was looking through the stuff and he said, "YOu know this doesn't look half bad" I'll take that as a compliment coming from a 14 year old boy. Talk to you all tomorrow afternoon sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritathequilter Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Theresa I'm wondering how you marked those designs onto your fabric and what did you use..stencils? What did you mark them with? Are there different sizes of stencils to fit into all those small spaces (triangles) or did you have to resize them? That might be a dumb question cause I don't know if stencils can be resized. Since they're made from plastic I guess they can't be. Or did you draw all these designs freehand? I've had my Mill for almost 7 months and haven't accomplished a thing cause I haven't been able to find out this kind of stuff. Guess I'm frustrated after spending so much on the machine. Thx Rita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bekah Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Theresa that is an awesome quilt!! You did such a fantastic job. We are all praying and pulling for you. You are on the way to a new career. Just believe in yourself and your ability. You do beautiful work. I echo Rita, how did you mark the quilt? I guess I will learn how to do something like it when I take Karen McTavish class in August at Linda's studio. At least I hope so. Beings I haven't been able to turn my machine on yet because it is 98 in my shop, I think I am just dreaming big. Bekah Shepherd's Garden Quilting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Teresa, How did you interview go? I know she had to be impressed. Your quilting is so beautiful. I'm thinking that the JudyL is 'our' JudyL. From reading her blog, I found that she has recently had a death in the family and was down in Louisiana for a while. She is probably backlogged. I've got me fingers and toes crossed for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted July 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Hi All, I'm back from my journey. I spent about an hour at the quilt shoppe, but only about 5 minutes of it was actually talking to the owner. She looked at my pictures, handled the quilst I took with me, read my brochure and said she'd pass out my cards. I don't know if that is good or bad. She was hard to read and didn't say much. She did think one baby quilt I brought was cute. She recognized the pattern from McCalls Quick Quilts. I acknowledged that I had gotten the idea from the magazine. She said my popcorn panto quilting was nice. The only thing she said about the sampler was that she had never seen the basketweave pattern before. She wanted to know how I did it. I explained and she said she'd have to show it to Judy (whoever this mysterious Judy is). Then she showed me all the quilts that Judy had done for her. They were gorgeous, so it probably is our Judy. There were feathers on every one of them. They looked like they had been done with a stitchregulated machine, and possibly with CQ or something similar as the designs were perfect. It is a very nice shop and I hope I get some business from either the shop of some of her customers, but I don't know what to expect. I guess I'll just wait for the phone to ring while I make flyers to send to the churches and nursing homes in a 100 mile radius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Congrats Teresa! Judy does have a Millennium, so she does have the stitch regulator, but she doens't have a CQ -- she's just THAT GOOD! You are also a good quilter, so I'll bet they will send some business your way. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Sounds like you did well, if she said she would pass out your cards then that's a good sign :cool:. Most quilt shop owners are very busy and can't always talk in length to any individual during business hours. So don't let that indicate whether you made an impression or not...only time will tell. You will be suprised, one day the phone will just start ringing and people will start asking to schedule an apointment to have their quilt done..some will be recommended from the quilt shop and then others will be from word of mouth that heard of you through a previous happy customer. Did she keep your sampler as well? Joann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyL Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Thanks for all the kind words but I don't think I'm the Judy she's talking about. I don't deal directly with any shop in Teresa's area. Good luck Teresa! I'm betting she'll be calling and so will her customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted July 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Judy, Glad to have you back. I'm so sorry to hear about your nephew. I really didn't think you were the Judy, but the lady said Judy with a long last name that starts with an L, so we all thought maybe it was you. Joann, She did keep the sampler. She said it would give the customers something to look at for ideas. I hope that is a good thing. Bekah and Rita, It was all marked with a blue marking pen. I used a bunch of designs from Darlene Epp's pocket guides. The feathers were some of the ones Karen McTavish has in her new book Secrets of Elemental Quilting. I just drew in the spine and the end loops, then filled in the rest. The basketweave was drawn based on a 1" grid. The crosshatching and chevron were 1/2 inch increments using the acrylic ruler. Norece, the shop is in Jackson, TN, which is a large town. I don't know if there are quilt guilds or not, I didn't think to ask, but I bet there are. I do know that this lady offers 25 different classes a month at her shop. Some fill up quickly. I know because I had called about being part of a Santa BOM she was doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darlene Epp Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Way to go Teresa! You've got those Pocket Guide designs down pat! I love seeing them used in creative ways. Someone on this forum posted a picture of a stylized horse quilt a couple of days ago. It was wonderful seeing some of the Pocket Guide designs used in new creative ways. Keep up the good work. You've only just begun. I think it's important to point out that most people are not going to call a new longarm quilter to do their quilt by just putting out brochures or business cards. They will want to see your work, and a sampler like this is an excellent way to strutt your stuff with minimal time or money investment. Good on 'ya, as my Aussie brother would say! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CherylUribe Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Theresa, GREAT JOB!! you should be very proud of yourself. What a change in you in such a short time. Now keep up this great attitude! I loved your son's comment, of course I'm partial to boys having two. Every single connection you make is a step towards a new customer. Networking is the name of the game. I have got new customers from non-quilters! A non-quilter friend of mine, her husband's bosses mother is wonderful customer of mine now, and my friend had no idea what a Longarm was but knew this woman needed me! Now I quilt for her, her neighbor and her daughter! Everyone knows a quilter! Hi Judy, sorry to hear about your nephew too. I was at Innovations a couple of years ago when I lost mine in a motorcycle accident. Within this last month, two very good friends of mine have just lost their 20 year old sons in car accidents just weeks apart. Hope your family has all the support they need during this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Teresa, Great job. Things are turning around for you, I knew they would. Get ready, you will probably have more work than your can handle!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted July 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Mary Beth, I would love to have more work than I can handle. My husband still has a disbelieving attitude. Hopefully I can do enough between now and the end of September to prove to him that it's worth keeping my machine. I am going to get my inlaws paid back by then. I have a plan for that. After that last $2500 my machine is all paid for. Then it's just a matter of making money with it. But, hey, I can still quilt just for me. I plan to quilt for 3 hours every night after work and all day Saturday and half a day Sunday. I told my son last night that it's just like a part time job. I have to go to work and not be disturbed. That's one problem I have now. Whenever I'm in there working my husband or my son will call me out to do (or see) something, and that distracts me and takes me from my machine. Maybe I need to put locks on the doors and just lock myself in. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Teresa, My DH has had his doubts too, big, huge, doubts. There have been a few times when I thougt to myself that I should throw in the towel and just sell the machine, pay off the debt, and take a trip to recoup. But then I decided to ignore him. He is right, and he is worried about our finances, but any time you start a new business, unless you are Donald Trumpp, you are going to have a struggle. I see self employed people that work several hours a day to keep their businesses going. Working fulltime and trying to be a mom and and wife and all the other things in life are very difficult. If your family is willing to fend for themselves most of the time, to let you work, then that is half the battle. We are planning a wedding right now, and after August 5th I become a quilter again:). My DH knows that I must devote my days to quilting, so he cooks a lot of the time. He picks up the house from time to time, but he just doesn't clean. So I am working on my schedule so that I can cook occasionally; clean part of the day on one weekend day; work part-time; and quilt the rest of the time. Thank goodness I have only one daughter - one wedding is enough. Even though we have 2 boys to go, those weddings can be the brides parents responsibilites. Anyway, hang in there, once you start getting calls - and you will - your DH will change his mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Teresa, I lost a childhood friend of over 30 years because she didn't understand that my quiting was a new career for me and it was a job not a hobby or a play space. I rented my shop (she never helped with that) and it wasn't long before it was filled with more of her toys than mine....her books, her cutting table (which I needed and did use) four of her 6 sewing machines and tons of her fabric....and her when she decided that she needed company and wanted to talk. Her machines were there and she thought it was an opportunity for us to do something together. She didn't realize that I was working and it was a total disruption to have her there in the way...I would have to ask her to move to the other side of the room so I could work and then she would come back and stand next to me....she didn't want to handle the machine she just wanted to see me work and she wanted to talk and talk and talk....finally I had to ask her to stop coming to the shop on her days off and stop spending her evening at my place.... Needless to say we don't talk much anymore and sometimes I do miss her, but she didn't have the faith that I would make it, she just thought it was a play space and she wanted to play also....If she had pitched in and help with the rent and helped with the work, then she wouldn't have been in the way. I'm not trying to say for you to put a lock on your door, but that I totally understand how just a little "come here and look" can really mess up your rythum and how long it takes to get back into what you just walked away from Good Luck....and you will see that he changes his mind by September... Best wishes all a round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted July 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Mary Beth, I know what you mean about weddings. Our two older sons are married off now, and the youngest one is only 14; so I think we are wedding free for a while. I empathize with your statement that your husband doesn't clean. Mine won't clean anything. He works 3-11 at a factory, and part time at Tractor Supply. When he is off work during the day he is watching TV or doing something outside. Of course he is quick to point out if he needs laundry done, or if he gets hungry. I have a feeling he's going to have to learn to become much more self-sufficient in the very near future. Bonnie, You're right about the rhythm getting messed up. I will get right into the groove of things, flying along with tension correct and thread not breaking; and then my husband or son will say they need me to come help them with something. Then when I go back in to quilt I've lost my feeling. It takes me, and my machine, a few minutes to get back in the swing of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeanros Posted July 28, 2006 Report Share Posted July 28, 2006 Good job, nice sample, that should give them a good idea on what you can do. I was thinking about doing the same thing someday. Jean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 Teresa - I'm sure you'll have lots more business coming in soon. Let us know who the mysterious Judy is if you ever find out! Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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