This month in the Longarm League, we published a coaching call featuring Susan Smith of Stitched By Susan. I last chatted with Susan in the fall of 2022, when she joined our roundtable discussion on Being Visible in Your Business.

This time around we talked about how to determine and prioritize what's most important vs what to set aside when you're running a business with multiple income streams. We also talked about her newly updated Freehand Quilting Masterclass (registration opens in the next several days), and the longarm quilting cruise(!!) she's hosting next January.

While League members have full access to the recording of the call, we asked Susan to share a little more about herself and her business with our blog readers.

Without further ado, let's meet Susan...

Susan Smith, Stitched By Susan

Located: Spokane, WA
In business: 9 years
Machine and software: BERNINA Q24, occasionally use Q-matic
In the Longarm League: 3 years

Where to find...

Merge was released to the membership in September 2020. Back then, I didn't have the time to write blog posts for all the new designs, so I still have some catching up to do with my early designs.

I created the Merge pantograph because I had no idea how to quilt the quilt shown below. Kamie Grangroth made that spectacular top! It is an original design of hers, which she called Merge.

Kamie is such an exciting artist and quilter! I love her use of color and design. Because of the vertical nature of the piecing, I was stumped as to which edge-to-edge design to use.

So, I took inspiration from the patchwork itself to echo some of the parallel and angled lines. 

Most longarm quilters can quilt a depth between 10-20" of space per pass, depending on the throat size of the machine, so it makes sense that most digital pantographs tend to be row-like rather than column-like.  

But not Merge!

Merge is a great...

It's been nearly a year since one of our members (shout out to Blossom!) created a Google Business Profile community topic about the lack of an appropriate category for longarm quilters.

Within a few days, we racked up hundreds of upvotes on this topic from other longarm quilters who had the same question.

Since we haven't received any follow-ups from Google (we thought it could take several months to hear a resolution), I recently contacted Google support for help in how to proceed.

Because I contacted support while logged into my own account but was asking on behalf of our industry as a whole, this is the advice I received:

I wanted to make sure I understood what raising a ticket was and the rep explained that it was the same process I took to open a chat with support.

I'll go through these steps with you so that you can open your own ticket. There are no guarantees, but I'm hopeful that if enough quilters request this new category, Google will create it for us. If that...

Boa consists of a simple, repeating serpentine shape. I designed it as an extended-width file to maintain the consistent spacing of the lines throughout each row of stitching.



If you are new to extended-width pantograph designs, I'd encourage you to visit this blog post that provides more information and help with set-up. They are different than traditional edge-to-edge designs and may require different configurations or settings with your software.

This quilting design is sure to bring whimsy to any quilt top! For that reason, I think a quilt top with bright colors, children's quilts, modern quilts, or even water or snake-themed quilts would be perfect candidates for the Boa design.

The Quilt

I used the Raspberry Kiss block tutorial from Wooden Spoon Quilts to make this quilt top.

The x-shaped patchwork requires only small amounts of fabric, which gives you a lot of bang for your buck when you pair it with a high-contrast...

This month in the Longarm League, we published a business spotlight call featuring Julia Ward of Quilting Jules. I sat down with her to talk about her amazing business growth over the last couple years and an upcoming cross-country move.

While League members have full access to the recording of the call, we asked Julia to share a little more about herself and her business with our blog readers.

Without further ado, let's meet Julia...

Julia Ward, Quilting Jules

Located: Rio Rancho, NM
In business: 2.5 years
Machine and software: Gammill longarm with Intelliquilter computer
In the Longarm League: I did the first Rookie Season in January 2021.

Where to find Julia
Website: https://www.quiltingjules.com/
Instagram: @juliamcteer
Best way for someone to request quilting? Filling out the Book a Quilt form on my website or email me with any questions.

Q&A

Tell us a little about your business and the services you provide at Quilting...

With the Box Tie design, I'm bundling file formats as I've never done before. So, if you received this as part of your membership or as part of the Digital Panto Club or purchased from our shop, please read carefully to find out what is included.
 

Box Tie is a design consisting of alternately situated hourglass shapes. Horizontal and then vertical, back to horizontal and then vertical.

I don't know what I was thinking when I named it. Instead of Bow Tie, I picked Box Tie as I was in the design process and then... never changed it. I'm not proud of this - I usually change the name to something more memorable.



But here's what I want YOU to remember about this design.

It acts as a "cheater" cross-hatching design.

Cross-hatching is notoriously difficult to execute as a longarm quilter, mostly because every row has to touch the row above and below it to make it look continuous. We try to make it look as though we marked every line on the...

This month in the Longarm League, we published a coaching call featuring Kim Boisson of Prairie Patchwork Co. I sat down with her to talk about reaching a milestone goal at the end of 2023, taking a new approach with social media, and how embracing discomfort and being a lifelong learner has helped her in her business.

While League members have full access to the recording of the call, we asked Kim to share a little more about herself and her business with our blog readers.

Without further ado, let's meet Kim...

Kim Boisson, Prairie Patchwork Co.

Located: Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
In business: About 4 years
Machine and software: Handiquilter Infinity with Prostitcher
In the Longarm League: 3 years

Where to find Kim
Website: https://www.kimquilts.ca/
Instagram: @prairiepatchwork
Best way for someone to contact you for quilting? Filling out the Quilt Intake Form on my website to get the ball rolling or email me with any questions.

Q&A

This is Oil Spill, a digital edge-to-edge design created for multi-directional movement!



I've always wanted to design a version of a serpentine meander. It was one of the first styles of free-motion quilting I fell in love with twenty years ago. With this design, I E-X-H-A-G-G-E-R-A-T-E-D all of the lines and curves to make it look distinct from "traditional meandering", but with the same idea at heart: varied shapes, random-looking, and not directional. 

I started playing around with this pantograph design in mid-2022 after my grandma asked me to quilt a vintage top containing "found" blocks. 

My grandma will be 91 next month. In the 1950s, when she and my grandpa were stationed at a military base in Arkansas, she was randomly given the Sunbonnet Sue blocks you see in the quilt below. Her mother (my great-grandma Estelle) added the interesting sashing made of recycled clothing.

So, yes....

In an effort to build resources for computerized quilters, I've been looking for tutorials that explain how to set up extended-width designs with the various software options available today. Enjoli Strait of Doodle Quilting Studio created this video for setting up designs with Q-matic. She has even more resources under the Learn tab of her website linked above. Thanks so much, Enjoli! We hope it's helpful to you if you'd like to explore extended-width designs. 

The designs she uses in the demonstration video above are Royal, Fizz and Driftwood. 

All of the Longarm League extended-width designs come with a PDF that provides the default dimensions. If I use a size different from the default in my examples, they will be noted in the design's blog posts, shop product listings, and PDFs. If you are prone to getting thread breaks when quilting in the right-to-left direction, my files also come with L to R versions that I'd recommend using...

In an effort to build resources for computerized quilters, I've been looking for tutorials that explain how to set up extended-width designs with the various software options available today. Betsy Green of The Salty Stitcher Quilt Company created this video for setting up designs with Pro-Stitcher Premium. Thanks so much, Betsy! We hope it's helpful to you if you'd like to explore extended-width designs. 

The design she uses in the demonstration video above is Driftwood. 

All of the Longarm League extended-width designs come with a PDF that provides the default dimensions. If I use a size different from the default in my examples, they will be noted in the design's blog posts, shop product listings, and PDFs. If you are prone to getting thread breaks when quilting in the right-to-left direction, my files also come with L to R versions that I'd recommend using instead.

For general information about extended-width designs, read this article....