Hello friends!  Here we are on the last day of January already.  Would you like an update on our first month offering quilting services?  There have been highs and lows, but overall I'm proud of what we've accomplished.

Behind the Scenes

First, our turn-around times have been quite fast since we're just building up our clientele.  Sometimes we go over a week with no orders, and I get pretty antsy thinking about the monthly payment on our longarm purchase.  On the other hand, once we received 3 orders in one day!  Hence, the highs and lows.  But that's to be expected when getting started.  Really, it's been a healthy start.

What is consistent is that I enjoy working with other quilters in this way.  It feels like a chance to support their creativity and bring that fantastic finishing feeling closer within reach.  I love folding and rolling a customer's quilt and placing it inside our pretty aqua boxes.  I know how excited they'll be when they receive the package!  

I'm also quite proud of Brandon.  Hands down, he's better at operating the longarm than I would be.  He's the kind of guy who assembles furniture without directions and figures out how to fix what's broken.  That thinking has come into play when he loads and plans his work.  Time and again he's two steps ahead of me.  Where I'd be undoing a mistake, he's doing it right the first time.  So, yeah, I'm proud.  Take a look at his first border....

He even thought to add a tiny bit of extra space around the edges for binding.

Which is not to say that he hasn't met the seam ripper!  You know there's nothing like picking out a row of quilting to bring home the concept, "Taking out quilting is a BIG PAIN."  There was one quilt that he had to backtrack with several times.  That was a hard won battle, but we're learning!  I think getting our thread right is a big step.  I'm still very happy with So Fine.

TONS of New Choices

I'm super excited to announce that we've doubled our quilting design options!  I discovered Karlee Porter's quilting designs, which have a clean, geometric feel.  In fact, there are SO many new quilting designs that I had to divide them into curvy styles and angular styles.  Here are some of the additions:

Curvy Geometric Quilting Patterns

Angular Geometric Quilting Patterns

I also streamlined the ordering process a bit, based on customer feedback.  Mmm... speaking of that.  Nothing makes a day like positive customer feedback!

So, yeah, things are going well.  I'm looking forward to see what February will bring for our little business.  Maybe, fingers crossed, I'll get a chance to quilt your quilt soon.  Happy sewing!