mrsbishwit Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 This is a question that is on many minds and I too am curious. How many quilts do those of you that have a quilting business average in a week? Are they mostly pantograghs (edge to edge type design done by following a roll pattern/ done free motion)? Or are they more in the custom variety? What is your average turn around time? Is LA quilting all you do are do you have another job as well? How long have you been taking in customer quilts? Here's my answers... I average between 3-5 quilts per week. (I have to work around my kids schedules) Mostly pantos with an occaisional stitch in ditch/seperate border design. My turn around time can be as little as 6 weeks to as long as 3 months depending on the time of year. I am a stay at home mom, no other outside job. I have been taking in customer quilts now for 1 1/2 years now. What about the rest of you? Want to share? Thanks Joann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyL Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 How many quilts do those of you that have a quilting business average in a week? I used to do a whole lot more than I do now. In my peak, I was doing an average of 7 quilts per week. Now I do 1 - 2 per week. Are they mostly pantograghs (edge to edge type design done by following a roll pattern/ done free motion)? About 99% are custom now. Or are they more in the custom variety? Yes What is your average turn around time? I try to get them out within the same week I receive them. I'm scheduling quilts now for about 8 months from now. Is LA quilting all you do are do you have another job as well? I don't have an outside job but I'm doing a lot more quilt related activities than just longarming. How long have you been taking in customer quilts? Almost 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BethDurand Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 I'm a newbie, having had my machine for less than a year. I probably do 1-2 quilts a week, depends on what other activities are going on in my life. I work 32 hours a week at a local hosp. (no, I'm not a nurse) plus at least 7 hours a week at the LQS, more if I'm teaching classes. Lately, mine have been mostly custom quilts, but I have a small selection of pantographs. I tell customers that my average turn around time is about 2 weeks, that way I'm covered if it's less, or a little more. I started taking in customer quilts about May or June of 2006. Beth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieW Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Judy L: You take my breath away! And I'm not surprised, I know you are a busy and organized quilter! *********** I'm a part-timer and I work at the pace I can manage. I'll never keep up with Judy. Connie W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patch Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Love your handle, mrsbishwit! Good questions, and thanks for asking them, as I'd like to know all this stuff too for when I start my business. Helps just to get an idea. Beth, which hospital, or is that asking too much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 How many quilts do those of you that have a quilting business average in a week? I do about one a week. Are they mostly pantograghs (edge to edge type design done by following a roll pattern/ done free motion)? No. Or are they more in the custom variety? Yes What is your average turn around time? Usually about a month -- right now I have no customer quilts, am working on my own. Is LA quilting all you do are do you have another job as well? I work 40+ hours per week as an administrator at the local Univerrsity How long have you been taking in customer quilts? 3 years Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 I do one or two quilts a week. I have never done a panto for a customer, but I have 3 or 4 overall designs that I love and do quickly. I charge the same for an overall and a panto. I have 5 tops in house now and a waiting list for tops to be finished after the end of March and quilted by the end of April. Turn-around is about a month. I work 30 hours a week at a grocery store with very erratic hours--I never have the same days off from one week to the next. I am lucky to have a supportive guild and LQS for pick up and delivery. I have been taking in customer quilts since Jan. 2005 after having my Milli for 7 months. Linda Rech Finely Finished Quilts Olympia Wa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grammie Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 I was actually averaging 4 to 5 a week when working fulltime but Have only been doing about 3 a week lately. Seems I'm spending more time on the quilts lately. I wish I could get organized like Judy and Linda are. I am evaluating that at this time. I never expected so much custom and detailed work to come my way. I'm probly not charging enough for the custom and that may be why. I have 20+ quilts which is way more than I said I would ever have at one time in my studio. I'm getting alot of embroidered quilts lately which eliminates ETE as they do not want the embroidery quilted over. I charge for it and so far no problems. Yesterday two came in the mail. I have managed to keep my time down to 4 weeks or less so far but I can see that it could easily get longer. Of the 20 , 10 are for the local quilt shop and two of those as custom as I get with them. All the others are custom and it seems more and more custom work is coming to me. I am not sure I want to keep doing the custom work but I cannot help myself. I love taking along time and doing custom. I'm not sure that is were the money is to be honest. The Quilt shop owner insists that she pay me like everyone else as she knows it puts good paying customers to the back of the line. I do one free once in a while and she stills trys to pay me. I'm lucky really. Still being to new to fulltiming at quilting I can see I need to get a handle on my work schedule or work harder than I was when I had the full-time stressful job. My husband keeps saying to me " Just make sure you are leading yourself in the direction YOU want to go and not the direction others want you to go" Like I know what that it!!! lolol I do lots of ETE and semi-custom to custom. Once I have them I do a few days of CRASH Quilting. Sleeping, Quilting, Sleeping Quilting. Did I say Quilting? I began quilting 1 year ago November and using Compuquilter will be a year in March. I love having the compuquilter for my ETE quilting and so do my customers. I am still thinking of getting a second machine sometime this year for my ETE quilts. I get behind everytime I get something that needs alot of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patch Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Grammie ......... did you say you ETE your quilts? Oh, that must be when you're doing your CRASH quilting - no time for food, just ETE the quilts! LOL, what does ETE mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melody Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 End to End quilts.... Basically another word for all over....Its what they refer to as a pantograph when you have a Compuquilter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Edge to edge? It took my a while to figure that one out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patch Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Oh, of course! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted February 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 It also could mean edge to edge...pantograghs can also be done on a machine that does not have CQ. Pantogragh designs originally are the roll patterns that are typically 120" long that are place on the table at the back of the machine and traced/followed with by using your laser light that comes with your long arm machine. CQ also can do these along with individual block designs and I believe borders as well...with CQ you just program what you want into the computer based on the quilt dimensions and what you have available with the program or what you have downloaded from the internet or what you have designed yourself/ digitized and the machine will do all of the stitching without you guideing the machine. Joann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltaholi_518 Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 How many quilts do those of you that have a quilting business average in a week? I schedule 3 per week, but I always end up sqeezing something else in. Are they mostly pantograghs (edge to edge type design done by following a roll pattern/ done free motion)? I would say about 60% are A/O or Panto (mostly A/O) Or are they more in the custom variety? About 40% What is your average turn around time? Usually a month, I have about 15 in house Is LA quilting all you do are do you have another job as well? I tell people that I am a "stay-at-home" quilter, lol How long have you been taking in customer quilts? Almost 2 years, I started mostly to quilt my own samples for my pattern line. Now I am doing less pattern designing and more L/Aing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patch Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Ok, here's another one. What's A/O? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennan100 Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 All Over!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judi Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 On average I would say I do 1- 3 quilts done in a week. I try to space them so that everynow and then I can toss is a "quicky" after a big one, or a custom job. I do tend to get tired of working on custom quilts that just seem to NEVER end!!..... What row was that?!? ..... you know the feeling.... Mine are more the custom quilting type. It is hard for me to "just overall" a beautifully pieced quilt!! I really don't charge that much more for some- thing that looks much better for that quilt. I do not like to do pantos, have only done so while in my house for a shop sampler of my work. I do have a few though that I like. Turn around time is usually a month.... but I just finished cleaning up a bit of a back log from the Christmas rush. Quilting is my job and my passion - my husband now calls it "work" for me when I want to go and piece on something for me - I don't think of it that way though.... I love what I do and I am having fun with what I do! My machine has been in our house for almost 2 years now. I did work at a LQS doing customer quilts - on this machine - for over 2 years before she closed her doors - it was the owners machine then. So glad its mine now!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainmanda Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 depending on the quilt size I can average two or three a week death to all pantographs! honestly I just don't function well with the pantograph thing, edge to edge is great but not a great deal of my customers want just that YES YES custom is my thing-kinda normally i tell the customer two - four weeks i own my own quilt shop and do custom baby quilts and sometimes twin size start to finish as well October 2006 is when i began taking in quilts other than my own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyonden Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Both my husband and I quilt full time. By quilting I mean sewing on the long-arm. We do this full time as a business. Most of the quilts are pantos but I seem to be getting more and more custom. You don't make as much money on the custom so I sure don't push this area. We average 2.5 quilts a day. Of course this could be more or less due to the size and what is put on the quilt. Turn around time is from 2-3 weeks right now. Again, this depends on the amount of custom quilting that has to be done. We don't make appointments for our quilting. When we receive a quilt, we add that person to our list and do each in turn. Since this is a full time thing, I don't have any time to quilt or sew for myself. My husband has been quilting for about 5 years or so and I have done this for about 14 or 15 years. Sure has changed since I started. I absolutely love this "JOB" When it snows I don't have to leave the house at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlittle1 Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I average about one or two a week, depending on size and design. I do about 60% custom and 40% ETE. I like the custom work. But I make more on ETE. I either have five or six quilts come in at once or I have nothing so I work on my own quilts and try to visit quilt shops for marketing. If I have five or six in house, I say a month. But if there is nothing in house, then I say one week. Sure wish it would become more steady! I take care of my grandson three to five days a week, depending on my daughter and SIL's work schedules. When he's there I keep my sewing room closed up. He's at the stage where he wants to get into everything. I began taking customer quilts in June, 2005. I love what I do. I wish I had more quilting time, but I wouldn't miss taking care of my grandson (and his little sister, come May) for anything. I just need 36 hour days or to be able to function on four or five hours of sleep at night. Phyllis Hughes Liberty www.myheartlandquilts.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarieBrewer Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I average 1-2 a week. I do both ETE and custom. The LQS was surprised to see that I did custom (bunch of snobs), they thought I could only do ETE. Oh the beauty of practicing and doing charity quilts. I do lots of charity work. I've always worked for non-profit businesses so I guess it fits into my life style. I work 3 days a wk and belong to two quilting groups. I probably do an equal mix of custom and ETE. My turn around is ASAP, as little as a couple of days. (Charity gets put on hold though-I've had some of them for more than a month). I've been doing customer quilts for 10 months,had the Millie since Dec 05. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 How many quilts do those of you that have a quilting business average in a week? I have had 4 or 5 in one week; it was crazy. The norm is about 2 a week. I have 4 in the house now. Are they mostly pantograghs (edge to edge type design done by following a roll pattern/ done free motion)? I do very few all-overs. If I use a panto on a quilt with a border, I feel like the border needs a separate treatment. And yes, I charge extra for that border. Or are they more in the custom variety? I find that I am getting more and more custom requests. They are time-consuming but I love them. Designing the quilt patterns, motifs, etc is so much fun. I just did a southwest one - the piecer wanted Lizards, Kokopellis and suns, etc. What is your average turn around time? I like to get them out the door in less than 2 weeks. There are several quilters (some LA) in our area. I think a faster turn-over appeals to potential customers. Maybe as my business grows, I won't be able to turn them around as quickly. Is LA quilting all you do are do you have another job as well? Though I am retired Navy (21 years), I still work full-time as a computer system administrator contracted by the government. How long have you been taking in customer quilts? I have been LA quilting for myself as well as quilting LQS shop samples for about 18 months. But I got my business license 5 months ago which is when I started taking customer quilts. The extra $$ is nice but I sure could not live on it....not here in California, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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