Sunday, March 18, 2018

Longarm meeting

In my last post I mentioned I was hosting my local longarm group at my house yesterday, which also happened to be National Quilting Day.  Several of you were curious what we did at the meeting, so I thought I would just do a short post on it.

So mad at myself as I had planned on taking a couple pictures but we were so busy that I forgot!  The hostess provides a main dish, beverages, plates, cups, napkins etc.  The members bring side dishes and lots of desserts, LOL.  There is never a lack of food.  I made a Rigatoni hot dish this time and it turned out yummy:)

The meeting starts at 10am.  People start arriving 20 minutes early sometimes as we have members that drive for an hour or more to get here and it is very hard to plan for traffic, weather etc. so that is expected.  I was ready when the first lady arrived.  We have about 36 members and usually half of them come.  Yesterday there were 16 of us including myself.  There have been several new members join in the last year or so.  We go about the room introducing ourselves and tell what type of longarm we drive and then there is a roll call question that the president comes up with.  Yesterday it was how do you show your customer what options you can quilt for her.  There is always a variety of answers and gives us food for thought.  Some answers were just drawing designs on paper while the customer is present, some take pictures of the quilt and then email the customer a drawing of what they think should be done, some customers just say do whatever and lets the longarmer decide.

Of course we have a few business things to discuss, right now we are in the process of deciding what instructor we would like to hire for 2019 to come in and teach us for a couple days.  Jodi Robinson is being contacted. So excited as she is very inspiring in her modern work.  We are also having a bus trip to Quilt Expo in Madison this fall.  Then the fun begins with show and tell!!  For me it is a no brainer, I talk about being an Island Batik Ambassador, here are my IB projects I showed this time.

Everyone loves show and tell but not everyone brings something for various reasons.  Sometimes they don't want to haul that gigantic customer quilt they just finished, or the customer already picked up their quilt.  Most of the ladies quilt for hire, but a couple just do it for their own selves, and then the odd ball me, quilting for the craft shows!!   There are always thoughts and ideas we share too.

Then the meeting is done and true socializing and eating lunch begins.  Everyone was out the door by 1 p.m. already.  We covered lots of stuff in our 3 hours.  We meet every other month in someones home. Although we take July off, as so many are very busy during the summer.

And there you have it in a nutshell of our longarm meeting!  Since it was National Quilting Day I went in and sewed a bit after they left.  Here is what I am working on-a new quilt.  I am loving it!!!  I'll tell more about it in a later post.  Although I am using a fat quarter bundle for this you could certainly do this with scraps and I may just do that in the future.

Linking with Oh Scrap, MMC

14 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing what you do. Sounds like fun!

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  2. A couple years back, I was part of a longarm group. It was wonderful to learn how different each quilter runs their business.

    I really like those plus blocks. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

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  3. Sounds like a great group to learn from and get support from, too! I like the look of your new quilt - looking forward to hearing more about it!

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  4. Sounds much like my Quilt Bee meeting that I attended yesterday! Minus the focus on longarming. I do have a quarterly Owner's Group meeting through our local APQS distributor. It's enjoyable and informative. We also have LOTS of yummy food!!

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  5. Do you all use the same brand of long arm, or does it vary? Wow, that's a large group in your home! What fun, though. I'm sure they enjoy seeing all the amazing IB projects you make!

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  6. What a fun time! I would think its nice to share notes and trade secrets of your long arm machines...food is never a bad thing either!

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  7. Interesting take on a plus quilt. Nice to hear about your long arm group. At one time I belonged to one but haven't heard of any nearby.

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  8. Hi Vicki,
    That sounds like a fun meeting, and useful too. I'll bet you pick up some good ideas by sharing ideas and projects with each other. So the Madison trip is on for the Fall, huh?! I think I said last year I was going to be sure to go this year . . . but it's still the start of the school year. That's difficult! ~smile~ Roseanne

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    1. Oooh, I forgot to say I like your new project! Love the fabrics and the pattern itself. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  9. You're inspiring me to get going on something I have wanted to do for a loooong time! I want to start a local quilting group that takes turns meeting at each other's homes. I'm thinking about sending out invites right now and just picking a day! What is holding me back? I love your new project!

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  10. All these projects are beautiful. I really love the plus quilt.

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  11. Sounds like sew much fun! I hope our longarm group, UMMQ, is linking up with yours to bring Jodi Robinson. I've had a class with her and she is amazing. I learned some modern quilt moves from her. Your IB projects are so amazing all together!

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  12. That sounds like good fun...I like those types of meeting where you can just exchange ideas and look at someone else' work...always get a lot out of that.

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