Lemon Tree Tami Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 Tonight one of the guilds that I belong to had me do a short presentation on longarm quilting. I was a little nervous but had so much fun talking about our favorite mode of quilting. To make things easier I brought quilt samples as well as a little handout that talked about the history of longarms, types of quilting (panto, custom, heirloom etc) along with pictures of my Freddie and tips on how to prepare a quilt for your longarm quilter. At the break I had two people come up to me and place their orders to get their quilt done. Yay! And the handout has my contact info for anyone who later decides to get something quilted. I'm feeling quite optimistic now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkinpatchquilter Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 That is AWESOME! I wish our guild would do something like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enchanted Quilting Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 Great message...tips to help your job easier and a business booster besides! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 I am on the schedule to do the same thing for our guild in July - I am very nervous about speaking in front of 100 people...I am hoping that once I start talking about my passion I will forget about being nervous....but I am glad to help educate those who are thinking about using a longarmer and hoping to encourage those who haven't tried one yet.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sallyquilt Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 Valerie, maybe you could put a bug in the program chairman's ear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Tree Tami Posted April 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 Vicki, this was a very small Modern quilt guild and had maybe 30 people present. They started asking questions in the middle of the presentation so I just went with the flow. It made it very interactive. The hard part is that a lot of modern guild people believe that you should never ever have anyone else quilt your top for you. Or that longarmers mostly do traditional designs. So I showed them a few more modern pantos and then talked about how there's a time and place for the three types of quilting: by hand, by DSM and by longarm. That seemed to go over well with 99% of them. LOL Valerie, let your guild know that you'd love to do a presentation. I'm sure they'd really appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkinpatchquilter Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 Tami - you know I'd love to hear more about your modern guild. My guild unfortunately can be very resistant to new ideas. While there are a bunch of ladies there I just love...they can be a bit set in their ways. I have tried, me oh my! LOL I sure wish they'd open up as they are missing out on so much! I have thought a lot about starting a modern guild in my area! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delld Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 Three of us Long armers presented a program several years ago. It was a lot of fun and the guild seemed to enjoy it. Sometimes I think we need to do it again. SOme seem to have short memories on how to prepare there backs!!!!! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luz2Quilt Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 Most quilting guild program committees are looking for local talent to provide a demo, trunk show or anything quilt related during their off season. From what Tami described, she provided valuable insight to quilters that are uncertain which route they want to proceed for quilting their tops (hand piecers may want hand quilting or Sashiko machine quilting). There's nothing wrong with wanting to be a "topper" and having a "longarmer" quilt the top...it means the topper gets to make more tops! My problem is that I LOVE everything quilting! I love both hand/machine piecing, hand/machine quilting, FMQ with DSM & LA, art quilts, fabric post cards, embellishments, even hand binding- but I do want to do it myself! (that's why my Millie is for my personal hobby). Presenting pros/cons of all types of quilting will educate your fellow quilters/toppers which route to proceed. Congratulations Tami! Thanks for sharing your experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 Tami, That sounds like it went great! I was planning to bring some slides of hammocks, etc to show what happens when you don't measure your borders, and when things don't lay flat...going to compare trying to quilt that extra fullness out to wearing spans - you can't make it disappear - you just move it around....LOL! I did plan to bring a quilt that I quilted modern as well - trying to show that we aren't just traditional.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted April 8, 2015 Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 spanx - it won't let me correct that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dramaqueenB Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 That's so awesome! Good job on your talk! And Vicki, good luck on yours. It'll be great. I'm so jealous of all of you being able to enjoy the companionship of guilds. You all are becoming my 'guild' as I live in an area two hours away from the nearest Modern Guild, and 30 miles from the nearest very small traditional guild, and work hours that make attending impossible. So I'm sort of on a Quilting Island. The Internet makes education and access nice, but there's nothing like touching or seeing in person a show and tell, or trunk show. So occasional quilt shows will have to do. Love once again how kind you are to each other on this forum and generous you are with information, encouragement and suggestions. Beth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 BethmM, it;s fun for us to help others! feels good to be able to help. Lemon Tree, ask your two new customers to show and tell their quilts at a meeting. that helps a lot, for them to see your work on an actual quilt someone they know had you quilt for them.. We have too many folks in our guild. even though they praise my work, take theirs to a pricy quilt shop to be quilted and pay more. a lot more! And it is computer generated, just like mine. The owner came to our guild joined, came steady, tapered off, opened the shop and dropped out of the guild. Not a very nice way to do things, IMHO !! grrrr my bad attitude again! sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Another longarmer in my guild gave a talk about prepping your top before taking it to be quilted. Her stern lecture about D-cups, full borders, and bulky seams caused the woman behind me to say "I'm never using her. My quilts are never perfect and I'd be ashamed for her to see them. I don't need to be scolded about my piecing." Whenever asked about doing a talk about longarming, I decline... That was a real eye-opener. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkinpatchquilter Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Linda - your experience I think is a common one. I have noticed in some groups (especially online) there is a lot of public shaming that goes on regarding client quilts. That doesn't happen here (and I'm really grateful for that - you all have a great attitude here)...while we all get those frustrating trouble tops I don't think it does us any good to moan and complain about them...especially to potential clients! LOL I think to share what things you can do to make life easier for your long armer in a kind gentle ways that help people understand what you do more is tricky business - but can really really be a great eye opener for non-long armers. I have loved reading all of these responses and about Tami's guild - I wish we all could get together once a year and have an "APQS" forum guild!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delld Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 You all could come to FLA!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Tree Tami Posted April 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Sorry, was away for a few days and didn't have my laptop. Linda, yes I can see how that would be off-putting for would-be customers to hear about the horrors. I tried to be somewhat positive and just said that the better your top is prepared to better it'll quilt up. Only one person wasn't thrilled by the talk but I think that's because she has a sit-down longarm and thought that it's not good to have someone else quilt your top. I just chalked that one up to the saying, "to each their own" and left it at that. Vicki, I almost think showing people before and afters of nice quilts and how much better they look quilted would go over well. No? I wonder if Linda's experience at her guild meeting with the person who had decided that her quilts weren't perfect enough is common? I do know that at a guild meeting that I went to years ago, the presentation by the local longarmers was a bit harsh on what to do and not do. They also absolutely said that pieced backs were verboten. So when I asked why that was since I as a newbie user of a rental longarm had used nothing but pieced backs and had flat quilts. She then said that the trick is to make sure the back is also flat. I'm not sure if it was because she personally didn't want to get pieced backs from her customers. Good luck on your presentation. I'm sure it'll be awesome! Rita, yes I do hope that they'll show them to the guild once the quilts are finished. :-) Valerie, I'll send you an email about the modern quilt guilds that I belong to here in CA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferBernard Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 I did a lecture for my local guild where we drew some free hand quilting designs. I also let them know that they could do the designs on domestic or sit down machines also. (Fortunately I am not trying to drum up more quilting business, so I can share without affecting my business.). We did a basic stipple, then leaves, and morphed into flowers. We also did several types of feathers. I had printed out several blocks like a 9 patch and an Ohio star and introduced them to CC's - Continuous Curves. They were really impressed. Continuous piano keys were also a hit. Than another long arm quilter and I looked at a few quilts and brained stormed how we would quilt them. I also explained the differences. Between all over designs, pantos, and custom quilting. We all enjoyed the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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