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I've just recieved financing for my machine and I'm scheduled for a mid Jan. delivery. I've already got clients however I'm experiencing some back lash with the competion within our guild. Our local guild is small only 200 but I still feel there is more than enough work for everyone. I do have a detailed business plan so anyone wanting help please feel free to drop me a line. I just have to make sure that I stay busy enough in my first year to make my monthly payment. I'm projecting 3 quilts a week, I hope this is reasonable for part time work. I also work part time for fabriclan, a canadian chain fabric store. Well here's to a wonderfull start and.....

ps anyone planning on attending inovations 2005?

If so I'm looking for a room mate.

Good luck to all of us and happy holidays.

Tina Caderma The Quilt lady

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Guest Linda S

Oooo Dear! I just joined the guild last night after visiting for the past couple of months. They know I'm just doing this part time and they haven't even seen anything I've done and you'd think I just stole every client they've ever had. Maybe it's the APQS reputation for excellence that's got them scared! :P I agree, I think there's plenty of business for everyone. Quilting is growing by leaps and bounds every day. We've actually begun a satellite group for longarm quilters within the quild. It's a bit weird right now but, I'm hoping that eventually, we'll become friends.

Linda

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I'm just not so sure about guilds and I certainly wouldn't worry about the cold reception. I had been in our local guild for 2 years (joined as soon as we moved here) before ever getting my first machine. Then, I had the machine for almost a year before anyone in the guild ever found out about it. There were a couple of other longarmers in the guild and I didn't want to step on any toes or make anyone uncomfortable so I never said anything about having a machine. It was after a show & tell event when several asked me who had quilted my quilts.

It seems to me that those who were the most "negative" towards me were the ones who wanted longarms of their own instead of the ones who actually had them.

I stayed in the guild a couple more years but finally decided it was torture for me to go sit there once a month and pretend I was welcome there so I dropped out of the guild.

It has not hurt my business at all. Those who were willing to pay what I charge and wanted custom quilting or even a panto done in a color besides white have continued to do business with me. The others pretend I do not exist but it does my heart good to have my quilts published in magazines and books and web pages like Alex Anderson's webpage and now that Brewers has taken my patterns for distribution, I know that those who felt threatened or whatever and didn't want me to be a part of the group . . it's their loss!

Not only has not being a member of the guild not affected my business but it also has not stifled my creativity.

So, if you're going to the guild meetings hoping for business and feeling not very welcome, your time can be better spent doing something besides attending the meetings.

It may well be that they will get over it and be glad you're there but I surely wouldn't fret long over it.

I think most every quilt desires to have their own longarm and instead of some being thrilled for those of us who do get them, they are resentful.

Can't change them and won't let them change me!:D

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I have to agree with your comments; the best piece of advice you gave is your closing sentence, i.e., you can't change them and you won't let them change you! I haven't encountered this [yet] as I haven't joined a guild, but I will now do so with much more confidence!

BTW, congratulations on your pattern line and your feature in AQM: what deserved recognition!

Carolyn

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GUILDS!!! What is up with them, :(anyway? I guess many of us ladies in our 50?s have struggled with some sort of guild that promoted a skilled craft. Certainly conflicts swirl around balancing social expectations with the guilds self-interest. Using modern tools can and nearly always will, conflict with traditional guild ideals, be it knitting, weaving or quilting. It is hard to fathom the motivation for isolating individual artists because of the tools they use. I have come to the conclusion, for the time being, that creativity is a solitary venture anyway. My time is usually better spent in my studio.:P

Yet to be fair, I think some of this is the result of others discomfort in talking with those of us who seem to have a grander vision of our art. From their perspective, we must have far more financial resources than they can envision and/or, our artistic dreams go way beyond theirs. Either way; they just don?t know what to say to us? There is also a critical element in our self-realization that sets us apart: Many of us, using an APQS are as compelled by great tools as by great fabrics and gave our selves permission to use the very best tools available; even before we figured out how to pay for them! That is a unique quality for women in any generation!;)

As much as I admire the quilts and skills they passed down to me, I am not sure that my Grandmother Ruby Leota Robertson-Marmon or her mother Minnie May Hutton-Robertson would have approved of my placing so much time and value into what they considered a functional pastime of frugal necessity.

If you have a great quilt guild that empowers you, praise them and thank them for it, then let the rest of us know what makes your guild different. Maybe we can create new guilds that meet the needs of long arm quilters.

Blessings and a gracious ThanksGiving to all!

Saundra Lee, New Millie arriving this week:D

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I agree with your comments and I'm reminded of the saying that 'necessity is the mother of invention'. For this very reason, I believe our fore'mothers' would envy the choices our generation has. The labour they performed, let's say, quiltmaking, was borne out of necessity; we don't have to use the same methods, but we certainly can if we want to. That's the only difference, IMHO.

Carolyn;)

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Judy said it all SO well, it hardly needs more comment, but I'll just add this. I have belonged to two quilt guilds (because I moved) that had such awful internal battles -- nothing related to longarms at all -- that one disappeared completely and the other broke into two very separate groups. So if there was no longarm competition issue, there might be something else driving a wedge between people in groups like this . . . what I really mean is, try not to take it personally. .

I'm fascinated to hear it's those who were considering or wanting to get longarms who seemed most upset. I wouldn't have thought of it, but I guess it makes sense. More and more people get longarm machines all the time, and if you want one but haven't jumped yet, I suppose you might be afraid it'll be too late for you when you finally feel you can get one -- fear that the market will be saturated. Especially when you factor in that you can't get one and be in business the next day -- it does require some practice time (though people vary a whole lot on how much of that they take).

I don't think the market is saturated yet, but some do -- it probably depends on where you live and how much work there is there.

But it also appears that there are more quilt shops and more quilters all the time, too. That magazine, Quilt Sampler, with 10 quilt shops featured in every issue has gone from one to two issues a year and the last time I noticed how short a time many of the 10 had been open -- lots of them were very new. I think this is still a growing thing at all stages of the quilt-making proces -- more books, more shops, more fabrics, more threads, more types of batting, more quilt-top makers, more quilters. :D

Mary Smart

Vermillion SD

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I just feel that I must chime in on the subject of guilds. My husband and I have moved to 5 different cities in the last 13 years and the contacts and friends I have made through guilds and Bees have been a lifeline for me. While the inital coolness is hard to take, I have found that volunteering to take on a guild job helps me get to know people and gets them comfortable with me. When we moved here 3 years ago, I joined the local guild and after a while took on the job of guild librarian and am also working on the 2005 Show Committee. My Millennium just arrived in Sept 04 and I have not really made it very public yet that I will be taking customers after I feel more confident in my skills, but to my amazement I have already been approached for quilting services and those members that know about my plans have been extremely supportive.

For me, this low key approach has always seemed to work the best.

Barb O'Melia

APQS Millennium

Oak Ridge TN

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I am so sorry and saddened to hear about your quild nightmares.

I guess I must be the oddball here, I have had really good luck with my guild and other local machine owners.

We all get along great and help each other out. It is kinda like how we all get along and conversate on this board.

When I first told some of my friends at guild that I was getting a machine, they were happy for me and excited to see a new machine owner come on board. One of the girls, who did a lot of business, was moving to California, they were concerned because they thought they were going to swamped with her customers. Having me online shortly after she left would have given them the same turnaround time that they all averaged.

I put this in a previous post on another subject, but just last friday I went over to one of the other machine owners house and watched her do a panto, I just asked questions while she was working and watched how she followed the pantos, it really helped a lot. She even showed me a much quicker and easier way to load my quilts onto the machine.

Most of them have answered any questions I have had and offered to let me borrow pantos if I wanted to and offered me resources that they have used. I am the only APQS owner in my area, that I know of, so they ask me comparative questions all of the time.

We all charge basically the same amount for our work just to keep it fair and competitve for everyone. We charge less than the two shopswho have machines to help our business out.

It is a shame that some of the other guilds that you have been invoved with are that grumpy and so cut throat.

Just keep in mind that what you do is from the heart and to be able to make a little bit of money off of it is even nicer. Those who do it for the money and not from the heart will burn out eventually if they dont change their mindset. That is what keeps me going when I feel regretful for going into business at something I love to do.

Blessings and hugs

Tracey

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