Hello friends! I'm showcasing a bundle for you today. Instead of narrowing a variety of clamshell designs down to one, I've bundled them together so that you can have many options!

There are FOUR edge-to-edge designs included in the Clamour bundle:
Cat
Line
Dash
Bump


All of this started because the Des Moines flag inspired me. I live in the Des Moines metro area, and the flag below represents bridges in the city. I created a few simple clamshell shapes designed to have some spacing between the clamshells, one with a line traveling under the clamshells (or on top if you'd like to flip it vertically like bunting) and one with a short line between. In the bundle, these are represented by Line and Dash.

From there, I stumbled upon a variation that looked like cute cat heads in a simple and easy stitch path, so I knew I needed to include it too. We have a cat-friendly (cat-laden?) household, if you haven't met me yet.

Let's talk...

Each month in the Longarm League, we hold a coaching call with one of our members to talk about their business. This month I sat down with Amber Foret of SunRae Designs. We talked about her interest in adding additional revenue streams to her business and the value of business coaching in growing your business.

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

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

Amber Foret, SunRae Designs

Located: Katy, TX
In business: 2.5 years
Machine and software: Bernina Q24 with QMatic, Art & Stitch
In the Longarm League: 1.5 years

Where to find Amber
Website: https://www.sunraedesigns.com/
Instagram: @sunraedesignsllc
Best way for someone to contact you for quilting? Through my website or Instagram.

Q&A

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

Earlier this month I sat down with Michelle Pratt of Seashell Quilting Studio to talk about her business. Michelle took the first Rookie Season class we offered back in January of 2021, right around the time she got her new Gammill with Statler Stitcher.

I had some time to chat with Michelle at QuiltCon in February, and it became clear that she had a lot of great updates and information she wanted to share with other Longarm League members.

So, Michelle gathered her numbers and talked with me in depth about her client base and how she's grown over these last few years. She shared what marketing strategies have worked best for her so far, and also gave details about the referral and loyalty programs she's implemented to thank her loyal clients and fans.

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

Without further ado,...

Migrate is a digital pantograph design that came about as I played with the elongated, mirrored "wing" shapes you see here. Only after looking at it for a while did it remind me of a minimalist butterfly shape and that's where the name came from.

But you don't have to like butterflies to use this design on a quilt top! It's abstract enough to work on a lot of different styles. It would even work for a mid-century modern look.

There is some backtracking involved in this design, so if you're curious about that, watch the video of the stitch-out at the top of this blog post.

 

The Quilt

I have to admit, I pieced this quilt top specifically to test a different pantograph design. I loaded it up and quilted three rows of the intended design until I was sure it was a no-go. Sometimes my ideas on the computer don't quite translate well to real-life applications. It's a bummer, but that's life. That means more tweaking is...

Each month in the Longarm League, we hold a coaching call with one of our members to talk about their business. This month I sat down with Katie Glancy of Blue Door Quilting. Katie last had a coaching call with me three years ago when she was in the early stages of her business. It was so fun to catch up! On this call we talked about the growth of her local clientele over the past few years, how to start taking mail-in clients, and adding additional revenue streams to her business.

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

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

Katie Glancy, Blue Door Quilting

Located: St. Paul, Minnesota
In business: 3 years
Machine and software: Handi Quilter Infinity with Prostitcher
In the Longarm League: I joined the Longarm League in May of 2020, so just over 3 years.

Where to find Katie
...

Trace is a digital quilting design that's built for speed! 

Do you ever get quilts that come through your studio for quilting with fabrics that are so busy that you know any quilting you do will barely show up?

Quilts with busy fabrics would be the perfect use-case for a quick pantograph like Trace.

You'll get a sense of loops and multidirectional curves, but it's meant for providing background texture and does not need to be the star of the show.



Through the design process, I thought these simple loopy shapes reminded me of practicing D'Nealion when I was in elementary school. Kids probably don't get this pleasure nowadays.

The Quilt

It's a common refrain by this point because it seems like I only finish projects while I'm at retreat! This quilt top is no different; I started and finished it while at the same retreat. It was super easy and lots of fun!

My friend Shelly of Ma Tante Quilting made a version of this same quilt pattern...

The Design

Are you familiar with "extended width" digital quilting designs? Usually, the standard files we upload contain one repeat that's multiplied side by side across and down the quilt by our software when in pantograph mode. With extended width designs, the design itself is typically around 100" wide—give or take—with any repeating sections "built in". If you are new to this kind of design, read more here (including specific info if using Intelliquilter). The main takeaway is that they need to be set up as a block pattern.

 Rich Girl is an extended width design that stitches out very quickly. The echoed lines are angled very subtly, but the diamond shapes that result amidst the lines give just the right amount of contrast in their open spaces.

This is a perfect design to use as an alternative to straight line quilting. It will unify a busy quilt top like straight lines do so well, but with a bit...

Each month in the Longarm League, we hold a coaching call with one of our members to talk about their business. This month I sat down with Elizabeth Brakenhoff of Brakenhoff Stitch Co. We talked about the challenges of running a business while also having young kids home with you, balancing a schedule of teaching classes at her local quilt shop with quilting for clients, and looking ahead to getting a second machine.

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

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

Elizabeth Brakenhoff, Brakenhoff Stitch Co.

Located: Merriam, Kansas
In business: 2 years in July
Machine and software: I use a Gammill Statler Stitcher
In the Longarm League: I joined Rookie Season for the April 2021 class, and loved the content so much that I joined Longarm League right after.

Where to...

Each month in the Longarm League, we hold a coaching call with one of our members to talk about their business. This month I sat down with Chris Batten of Looped Quilting Studio. You may remember meeting Chris last fall, when I talked with her and Erin Case of Birch Tree Creative about the benefits of working with a Virtual Assistant.

I always love getting the chance to have follow-up coaching calls with our members to chat about how their business has changed and evolved since the last time we talked, and look at where they want to go next in their business, and my call with Chris was no exception.

In our latest discussion we covered a range of topics including the history of her business, changing her service offerings, work / life boundaries, and the freedom of shedding false expectations of who she needs to be on Instagram.

While League members have full access to the recording of the call, we asked Chris to share with our blog...

Each month in the Longarm League, we hold a coaching call with one of our members to talk about their business. This month I sat down with Emily Denkers of Sew Em Quilting. We talked about her success in  building up her longarm quilting business over the past year while working another full time job, her plans to eventually move to longarming full time, quilt photography, and more.

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

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

Emily Denkers, Sew Em Quilting

Located: Fielding, UT 
In business: 1 year
Machine and software: Babylock Crown Jewel 3 with Pro-Stitcher 
In the Longarm League: Since January 2023

Where to find Emily
Website: https://www.sewemquilting.com/
Instagram: @sewemquilting
Facebook: Sew Em Quilting
Best way for someone to contact you for quilting?...