047. Longarm Quilting with Mom and Pop Quilt Shop

Hello My Quilting Friends! Today I'm chatting with Laura-Lynn Fulford, the mom from the Mom and Pop Quilt Shop!

Laura-Lynn is a longarm quilter from Canada. She and her husband share videos on longarm quilting on their Youtube channel Mom and Pop Quilt Shop. She also has a website where you can check out all of her services. Find it at WeSewIt.Ca.

Laura-Lynn quilts on a Gammill Stattler Stitcher, which is a BIG machine! It's 16 feet all around and she can quilt 24 inches before needing to advance the quilt. She also has automation set up so the computer can drive the machine and stitch out digitized designs.

What struck me immediately about Laura-Lynn is her connection to her community. She's a crossing gaurd, teaches quilting to kids, and quilts for a living. She also does alterations and makes charity quilts for her local fire department.

Laura-Lynn always sewed and her business started naturally a few years ago when someone needed alterations. Then she and her husband decided to make it their retirement income and got a small business loan in order to purchase the longarm and a Janome Horizon 15000.

The biggest part of her business recently has been finishing quilts for people that didn't finish them before they died. These projects sound like a real challenge because they might be in a seriously unfinished state and Laura-Lynn has to figure out how to work with the fabrics, stabilize, and complete the project for the family to enjoy.

That sounds like a lot of work and could be very expensive, but Laura-Lynn tries to work with everyone. She'll barter with customers and accept straw for her chickens in exchange for alterations or other services.

We and I talked a lot about quilt basting on a longarm and basting the batting before layering the quilt top on the frame.

Laura-Lynn's longarm quilting tips:

- Check your tension with every bobbin. Weird things can happen when you change bobbins so always test off the quilt before getting into the project.

- Baste your batting so the quilt rolls up nice and square.

- Practice! The more you quilt, the better you will get.

I've shared a few videos quilting on my Grace Qnique, but Laura-Lynn was super helpful sharing her tips for setting up my cameras. She uses a Go Pro and sets it up on the handles of her longarm using a bicycle mount. She's also set up a web cam to the top of the machine that films livestreams.

With a name like Mom and Pop Quilt Shop, you know there's two people involved, but Pop is the behind the scenes guy. He helps with editing the videos, designs quilts, and digitizes designs. He's also focused on keeping an archive of their work to leave a legacy behind.

I loved talking with Laura-Lynn and learning about longarming as well as her wholesome approach to business and life. The last thing she said has really stuck with me:

There is always something to be happy about and be celebrated in the future.