What happens to your quilt, part 1

**This is the first of three posts about what exactly happens to your quilt once I take it home for quilting. Part One will cover taking in your quilt, as well as how I keep track of everything to keep it from getting messed up or worse yet lost! Some of you might think all my steps are overkill, and they might be, but there is a reason why I do what I do but we will get to that a bit later.**

If you have ever had me quilt for you before you already probably know I meet 90% of my customers at the local quilt shop The Wooden Spool, in Effingham IL on Saturday mornings from 10:00 - 11:00ish. on these days I can take as few as zero to as many as 30+ quilts home with me for quilting. No honestly, one time I brought over thirty quilts home for quilting in just one day. Granted it was Christmas cutoff weekend and at that time I only did pantograph quilting, but still it was a bit tricky to keep track of everything!

First up if I haven't seen it already, I take a look at your quilt and we talk about what you would like, what you wouldn't like, discus batting choices if needed, binding options, as well as thread color options and when I hope to be able to get the finished quilt back to you. I also make sure to get your contact info. I then load everything up and head back to my home studio. By the way, you are welcome at my home studio, just be sure to call and make a appointment first. other wise I might not be home, or worse yet you will get to see me dressed in my old PJ's or coated in dirt from working in the garden or mowing the lawn, and trust me when i say NO ONE wants to see that!

When I get the quilts home I take them directly into my quilting studio area. This area of the home is pet free, its blocked off by a door and I wear a apron over my clothes when quilting. However there is still the chance that some pet hair and dander can be transferred to your quit so if you have allergies to pets of any kind it might be wise for you to take your quilt else were for quilting.

Once in the quilting studio the quilts are, one at a time, removed from any bags that they were delivered in. I find the contact info and record it in a notebook along with details about your quilt such as pattern name, backing fabric colors, as well as batting brand, type and size if it was included.

Then I take a photo of the quilt. Each quilt top & backing are measured to make sure the backings are large enough (backing need to be at least 8" larger than the quilt top!) The quilt top and batting are then folded and placed on a heavy hanger, then placed into one of two closet areas in the studio room. Each hanger has a number that corresponds to the same number that is in my notebook. Each quilt gets a different number. If you sent batting along, then your batting will also be tagged with that same number. When I save the photos to my computer I add the same number as well as your contact info to the saved photo's information.

Closet #1

Closet #2

I follow this same list for each and every quilt that came in that day. Once I have them all recorded in my notebook I take the notebook to the computer and record the info there as well. Lets also not forget that original paper with your info on it, I keep them all in a box and add the number of the quilt to the back of it as well.

I use Google Drive so everything automatically syncs with the app on my iPad and my iPhone!  

Then, if you requested it or I suggest it, I take the photo I took of your quilt and sketch up a few different types of quilting designs for you to take a look at. I use a app on my iPad called Concepts to sketch directly on the photo. I will then email the sketches to you to pick quilting designs from.

Is it overkill? Yes it probably is but there is a reason why I keep multiple copies of your contact info as well as details on your quilt in more than one place.

Back when I first started quilting for others and my business was really taking off I lost my notebook and with that notebook I lost all the contact information for the customers as well as whose quilt was whose. Luckily at that time I only had a few quilts on hand so I was bale to work it out without to much of a problem except for one quilt. I could not remember whom it belonged to so I had to hold it until the owner contacted me. I really began to worry after a couple of months but finally the owner called and I was able to explain what happened. Luckily the quilt maker laughed and told me not to worry after all she had also forgot who she had given her quilt to!

Well that's it for today, be sure to check back in a couple of days for part two, "What I do to get your quilt ready for longarm machine quilting!"