Hi all. You might remember that I told you about my friend Carla that does long arm quilting. Carla lives just a few miles south of my house and I’ve known her for a really long time. Our kids are nestled in ages…none of them were in the same grade but just a grade older or younger. Carla’s been working on her blog and has many new posts (find that here) but more importantly she’s been busy doing the long arm quilting of quilts made by several of my blog readers. How cool is that??
Carla sent me a few pictures that I thought I would feature here.
There are more quilts but some are for gifts and can’t be shown off yet.
Carla has a quick turn around time. Some quilts are in and out in a week!! Wow. I wish I knew she was doing long arm quilting professionally on her own when I bought my quilting machine as honestly, I think I would have let her quilt them. There’s a new trend of people buying quilting machines but if you have a good quilter with a decent turn around time…I think I’d pay to have them quilted. As I get older and have worked more and more with the quilting machine I’m finding I prefer piecing time at the domestic machine vs time spent at the quilting machine. I’ll still do my long arming, but time at the quilting machine, isn’t my favorite thing when it comes to quilting.
This is so true for me that I just sent a quilt of mine and Kelli’s on to Carla to be quilted. It will be featured in an upcoming quilting magazine. There is a lot of white space on it and it made me nervous so on to Carla it went. I told her she could do whatever she wanted so I am anxious to see what she does with it! Here’s a sneak peak of the quilt with the white space that Carla will have to work with.
While I was talking with Carla about the quilt she said that she has some openings in her schedule and will happily do your long arming for you. Carla is attending our quilt retreat in August so if there are any people who are attending that want to mail quilts in advance she’ll have them ready for you to pick up at the retreat. She also said if any of you are attending and want to bring your quilt tops with, she will work on them following the retreat and mail them to you. That will save postage one direction!
Here’s a link to Carla’s blog and you can find her contact information there. You’ll also find a recipe for a yummy looking strawberry pie. I was going to make one last night after childcare but the kiddos ate all my strawberries. UGH….Soon I’ll try it! The pie looks to yummy not to give it a try!
I don’t see the link to her blog, did I miss it? I love just turning my quilts over to the long arm artists, they have a keen eye to work there magic on my pieced tops. Strawberries are being picked here in TN, I just may have to make her pie :)
Here’s the link. http://longarm-quilting-inspirations.com/
At one time I thought that I wanted to get a long arm. But the more I thought about it, I decided against it. I didn’t think my back would take standing at the machine for a long time. I have quilted a couple of tops on my domestic machine and the rest go to the generous quilters that will quilt them and send them on to different charities.
For as many quilts as you finish, I think your check book would complain if they all went to an outside long armer…. It is great to have someone to send send a special quilt. My quilter is very reasonable on “all over” quilting. I hate to think what the custom quilting costs…. My level of quiltmaker is still simple. These are things that also need to be considered when sending a quilt “out”.
i’m curious. What does the typical longarm quilter in your area of Iowa charge? I do longarm quilting up north here, and always wonder how prices are across the country.
If you check Carla’s blog http://longarm-quilting-inspirations.com/ She lists pricing.
Carla quilted my quilt (the pineapple quilt shown). She had an amazing turn around time and very a tentative. I will use her again! Thanks for your recommendation Jo!
Thank you Jo! I really enjoy longarm quilting and look forward to the retreat in August!