How Much to Charge for Longarm Quilting: Lessons from Traci Smith’s First Year

0:00 Okay, well, everybody, we'd like to welcome you to Quilting Business

0:29 Success Podcast. Today is April 16th, and my name is Bobby Ware in tech support at

0:39 yaml.com, and I'm still filling in this role solo as Andrew has still been out on the road

0:46 helping people on the road, so you're stuck with me again this week. Today,

0:53 we have a special treat of Tracy Smith that is joining us, and I'm going to give a few people

1:01 a chance to get on before we actually start talking. I just want to talk a little bit about

1:08 the podcast. As most of you know, our target audience is people who are either thinking

1:15 about starting a longarm quilting business, or maybe are in the early stages of it, or

1:22 just want to eavesdrop and see what's going on. So, yeah, we're going to start out.

1:31 We have Tracy Smith. Tracy, let's just start out by asking you, where are you located?

1:41 Where's home for you? I'm actually in Moline, Kansas, which is a very small town. I'm from

1:47 Severy, Kansas, and it's even a smaller town. What kind of population do you have there?

1:58 Moline's around 300, I think, 321. I think that's what it said the last time I looked at it. 300,

2:03 wow, that is a small town. Did you live somewhere more populous prior to this?

2:16 Yeah, we lived in Wichita, which is an hour and a half from here. We lived there for four years.

2:23 Okay, so to get a gauge of the town that you live in, it's probably not big enough for a Walmart,

2:34 right? Correct. We do not have a dollar store. We don't have a grocery store. That was going to be

2:40 my next question. Does it have a Dollar General? So, if you have no Dollar General, you're out in

2:46 that's a podunk town there. That's what we call them. We love it.

2:56 Okay, so real quickly, touching on the long arming, how long have you been doing

3:07 long arming on a machine? Counting the years that I was in Wichita using someone else's machine,

3:15 five years. Okay, okay. So, you're still kind of, you're not like a super seasoned on the long

3:23 arming machine, super seasoned veteran in that, but from talking to you, I've discovered that you

3:35 do have a lot of experience in business also. Tell us what you've been doing prior to the

3:43 long arming. I did alterations. I am one that loves to sew and I'll, I pretty much would do

3:51 any kind of sewing. So, I started doing alterations when I was 19 years old and did it professionally

4:00 for a business and then I actually was, we moved back to my hometown. My husband was in the

4:06 military, so we were away from here for a while and then I opened my own store and did more

4:12 alterations. So, all right, tell somebody like me, I don't even, I don't know any, I don't even

4:18 know what an alteration is. What, what is that like changing clothing? It could be from sewing

4:26 on a button to repairing a zipper, replacing a zipper or totally remaking a wedding gown.

4:32 I did everything in between. Prom was one of my favorite times of the year. I absolutely love to

4:39 help girls with their prom dresses and I wanted to fit and cover. That was my thing. So, okay,

4:48 really enjoyed that. So, all right, so and we're going to tie it in with this long arming thing.

4:54 So, how long did you say you've been doing alterations? Well, I had done it professionally

5:02 for 30 years before I quit. Part of the reason I quit is we moved to Wichita and it was hard

5:09 my customers weren't all there and then the pandemic hit and it just made life really

5:15 interesting. So, but before the pandemic hit, I had joined a place in Wichita that's called GoCreate

5:23 and they had different machines. They're actually on WSU campus and I think it's

5:31 was started by the Koch brothers or Koch brothers. That's our college, Wichita Stockers.

5:40 So, yeah, so it's got like 3D printing, they've got welders, they've got all the wood

5:48 woods equipment you need, sewing machines, screen printers, embroidery machines, but they had two

5:53 Gammill quilt machines and both of them were computerized and so I could sign up and go in

6:00 there and use their machines and they would do a little bit of training on how to use them,

6:06 which was very nice to have a mentor walk you through it and so that's where I actually used

6:11 my first Gammill and fell in love with quilting and it's just a really awesome place to get started.

6:20 So, this GoCreate group on the college campus, they introduce people to different types of,

6:28 I guess, things that you can do and one of them was, what was it, like textiles or something

6:36 and they had quilting as part of that? Yeah, it's basically set up for people that

6:43 want to be entrepreneurs. They can help you make anything you want to make, so as long as

6:48 you have the idea, they would show you how to use the machines to get it done. Okay, okay.

6:56 Oh, and before I forget, I want to tell the people watching, if anybody would like to ask

7:01 a question of Tracy during the podcast, you can click on your, I think it's a little Q&A button

7:08 at the bottom of your screen and you can type in a question there and I will try to have the

7:14 presence of mind to keep an eye and see if that little dot turns red down there, so if I see one,

7:18 I will ask her for you. So, all right, so the alterations for 30 years and with the move and

7:31 pandemic and everything, you kind of got out of that. Yes. And now, let me ask you, since a lot

7:41 of the people that we're talking to are very interested in business and how to run a business

7:46 and stuff like that, did you gain any significant business experience while you're doing the

7:53 alteration business? Well, I would say yes, because I did it out of my home for many years

8:01 while raising my kids, but then when I opened up a storefront, I actually went to our local town,

8:07 had an economic development person, and that person helped me some on the things that I didn't

8:13 have a clue because I'm sort of the type of person that just when I want to do something,

8:17 I want to do it, I sort of wing it and make it done, but there's all the legal stuff and taxes

8:22 that you've got to worry about and they helped me walk through that and find a great CPA and

8:28 so that I didn't have to worry about how to do all that, they helped me through that.

8:33 So, it's great having a home-based business though. It's better to have a home-based business

8:40 than a storefront because different tax reasons, it's a benefit.

8:45 Okay, and talking to the people on this program, there's different schools of thought with that.

8:55 Some people love the working out of their home with just the freedom and independence

9:02 that that gives. Some people like having a separate place where they go to the storefront,

9:07 but so, all right, I just want to get a clear picture of when you got into the long arming,

9:18 were you first exposed at the GoCreate place at the college to the GAML or have you seen them

9:25 before that? I had not seen them. I have made many a quilts, but I've taken them to a quilter

9:33 and had them quilt it, but I had never experienced a quilt until then. I've always

9:39 had a desire to want one and learn that because I love anything sewing and anything fabric,

9:45 but that place gave me the opportunity to actually try one out and fall in love with it.

9:53 And the GoCreate, the machines they had was exclusively GAML machines, is that right?

10:01 Yes, they were. That's good to know. A shout out to them. Okay, so let me just get the timeline.

10:10 You went from the alterations and how long have you actually been doing this

10:19 quilting as a business? Just one year because I lived in Wichita and used them at GoCreate. I

10:27 just quilted my own quilts. The pandemic happened and I was home a lot, so I think I made like 14

10:35 quilt tops. So when they opened GoCreate back up, I had lots of quilt tops and I had also designed

10:42 my own makeup bag because I teach skincare classes also and I wanted a makeup bag that

10:49 was machine washable and that would stand up on its own and would be fun fabric. So I designed a

10:55 makeup bag and quilted it. This is what it looks like. You can say if you have one of those, show it to us.

11:01 This is a small one and this is the bigger one. And so I quilted the fabric before I make it.

11:10 And so I did all that at GoCreate and then we moved away and I wouldn't want to go back to

11:16 GoCreate because we're an hour and a half from there. So that's when I started looking into, oh I need

11:22 my own machine. And I thought, oh, you know, I'm going to wait. It's one of those things that I'll do

11:26 later in life. I'll do it later. And my husband kept saying, just get one, just get one. You know, he was

11:33 just really encouraging it. And my son said to me, why wait until you're too old? And I thought,

11:41 you know, sometimes you just do that in life. You wait until, you wait, wait until everything's, the

11:47 timing's right. And, you know, we may not ever get that chance. So I was like, okay, let's do it.

11:55 Okay. And what did you, where'd you get your long arm? Did you get it from Gammill or from an

12:01 individual or? I found an individual that was wanting to sell hers and I bought it from her.

12:09 Okay. And, you know, when you, when you got your, your Gammill, first of all, what, what,

12:15 what kind of Gammill do you have? It's a classic, but it's been upgraded to have a regulated stitch.

12:24 Okay. I see it behind you that you have a Vision One. That's right. Okay.

12:29 Okay. And when you got, when you got your Gammill, your classic Vision One Gammill,

12:39 did you get it specifically for the purpose of running a business or,

12:44 or what, what, what was the story with that? Well, I was already making and selling these.

12:49 So yeah, I needed something to quilt more fabric. And I mean, I have a desire to quilt quilts

12:58 and I'm doing that now as a business too. So you have creativity in your blood, don't you?

13:04 I, God has made me this way. I just, I don't sit still very well. I like to constantly be doing

13:11 something. So I'm picking up on that creative, but creative people, and we have a lot of them

13:19 that work at Gammill, creative people tend to have their own. Oh, how do I say it? That just

13:25 their own weirdness about them, which is a good thing in a good way. So yeah. Okay. I also do

13:33 applique. So I do a lot of applique on sweatshirts and that's been part of my business too. So.

13:43 Okay. Okay. I never use a pattern. I, everything is my own pattern. So.

13:48 Everything's your own pattern? On my applique, yes. Oh, okay. Okay. So do you do,

13:57 do you do pantographs or anything when, with your quilting? Yes, I do. Right now I've got

14:05 quite a few of those and I really enjoy doing those, but my goal is to do custom quilting

14:12 quilting. And I'm already signed up with your guys' Confident, Confident.

14:19 Yeah. Quilting with Confidence. Yes, that class. I've signed up for that class. So I'm excited

14:25 to do that. Are you going to the one in Oklahoma? Yes. Where is that? Wichita?

14:31 They're having that one? No, Shawnee, Oklahoma. Okay. Yeah. There's so many of them I forget.

14:38 Yeah. That is, that is really taken off this year. That is huge. So I'm glad to hear you're going to

14:43 that. And let me, do you think, do you think there's any computerized quilting in the future

14:52 for you or, or you think you're going to stick with hand guiding? You know, I don't know. I do

14:57 like the fact that the computerized, that you can program in it and just sort of, you know,

15:04 so if I ever get a second machine, it would be nice to have one computerized, just go in while

15:09 you're over, while I'm custom quilting another one. I don't know if I'll ever have to, but you know.

15:16 Got you. Yeah. You might surprise yourself. I talked, I talked to, there's several customers

15:21 that I talk to on a regular basis that have four and five in their, in their, in their home. So

15:29 yeah, I guess they have big homes, but. Yeah. I'm going to say, I don't think I have room for,

15:33 I'm not even sure if I have room for two and my husband built me this room just for this. So

15:39 I'm pretty lucky. And, and a lot of times when I talk to people, hand guided versus computerized,

15:46 sometime in, in one sense, there's two separate schools of thought, you know. I'm never going to

15:52 do computerized because, you know, art and, but on the other hand, you can, with the computerized,

16:00 you can produce so much, you can put out a lot more volume if your customer base starts

16:10 increasing. And I would say the largest percentage of people that I talk to end up doing both.

16:17 They'll do half or part, you know, hand guided and part computerized. So anyway, I would just

16:24 encourage you to keep an open mind with that. Yeah. See what God brings across your path there.

16:30 That's right. So at this point in your life, do you have another job too, or are you focusing on,

16:38 is this all what you're doing right now? I do have a couple of other jobs. I work part-time

16:44 in the insurance office and I do love that. And then I also, I teach skincare classes.

16:51 I'm a consultant with Mary Kay and I love doing that. So. Okay. You are just all over the place,

16:57 aren't you? But I have two grandbabies now, so they are sort of priority. And I think a quilt

17:07 machine will keep me at home more and more time with them. I've been known to quilt a quilt with

17:14 the baby on the hip. So my grandbabies don't mind it. And I've heard that from so many people on

17:21 this program. They got grandbabies and they just, you know, they love having the machine there

17:27 at home so they can work when they get to a place where they want to stop and spend time with the

17:32 grandbabies. They do that too. Yes. As far as your time, your schedule with quilting, how many

17:41 hours a week would you say that you spend on doing that? Oh goodness. Every spare moment that I get.

17:49 Well, I mean, I'm doing other things. So I don't know if I've ever actually looked at the clock

17:53 and said, okay, this is how much time I'm going to dedicate to that. I do work today. What do you think?

17:59 Oh, well, if I'm having a really fun day, I'm out here all day.

18:08 It didn't take me that long to do a quilt. So I'm not for sure. I'm going to have to start

18:15 paying attention to the clock and see how long it takes me. I do work in an entrance

18:20 office two days a week. So, and then if I have grandbabies here, you know, we're going to play

18:26 at the same time. So. Okay. Customer wise, do you have a lot of quilting customers

18:35 right now? Or tell us a little bit about that. Oh, I would say it's growing. I'm really thinking

18:41 about maybe even teaching some sewing classes to get more people into sewing locally.

18:48 I have a huge customer base from Alterations and from Mary Cape, both. So I've gotten some

18:56 customers from that. I started doing quilts just for my family because I've got several family

19:01 members that quilt. And so I gave them a discount saying, hey, this is your guys, you're going to be

19:07 my sample quilts or guinea pigs, you know, let me. So it's been fun. You've had some bleed over from

19:15 your other businesses and other things you've done. Yeah. Okay. Are you involved in any

19:24 like local quilt guilds or anything like that? I am not. Well, there is a fabric store in Severy

19:32 and I go to their needle club. But it's actually like a quilt club. I think there they have once

19:40 a month and, but there's other quilters there. So I'm not sure if I'll get, I would get businesses

19:46 from that. So do you, when you come in contact with other quilters, do you,

19:55 it's good to get your viewpoint from a kind of a, some way it's early.

20:00 a quilting business. Do you look at them as competitors or resources? What's your feel about

20:10 that? I'm not competing with anybody. I mean, I think, I mean, the ones that I want to ask

20:17 questions, like one lady that has done a lot of my quilts, I was a little nervous to even tell her,

20:23 hey, I'm going to get, I'm going to get a gamble. But I did tell her and she was very encouraging.

20:29 And then the first time I seen her after I got my machine, she brought me a sack of thread

20:32 and said, here's some threads. So it's, it's been a blessing. Okay. Okay. Awesome.

20:42 So you, you say you, you feel like your customer base is probably in the growing phase.

20:50 Have you reached out or do you, have you done any advertising? What's, what's that part looking like?

21:00 I'm, I do have a social media. I'm on Facebook and on Instagram. So I've just started where I've

21:07 started posting pictures of what I'm doing to get the word out. I have set up at a couple

21:13 craft shows and just had some, you know, baby blankets to show people what I've done. So

21:22 I did take my business cards to one fabric store and it's only because a customer brought me a

21:28 quill and said they didn't have any, any of your cards, but they gave us your name.

21:32 So I was like, Oh, so I got some cards there. Okay. Okay. And, and you're, and once again,

21:39 you're in a rather rural area, is that correct? That is correct. So I think word of mouth is the

21:46 best, best advertisement is word of mouth. Well, and you know, I think probably every person I've

21:52 talked to on this podcast says that, that exact same thing, word of mouth. And don't let me forget

21:59 at the end, but before we go off, I'll, I'll have you share your, how people can find you on

22:06 Facebook and what would you say? Instagram? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, don't let me forget about that.

22:13 Okay. Do you, do you charge by the hour? Do you charge by the square inch with the quilts?

22:23 That has been an interesting thing to figure out. So what I did is I called in my area,

22:29 all the ones that I knew that did quilting for people and different stores that recommend and

22:34 then just ask prices. So most of them all charged by the inch. And so that's what I do is charge by

22:42 the inch. Okay. Can you, can you share with us what you charge by the inch? A penny and a half.

22:50 Okay. So that seemed to be the going right in our area. I know other places are closer to two cents.

22:59 I know. Based on your own informal research, you, you think it's, it's, that's close to what it is

23:05 in your area. Yes. And some of them charge for thread. And right now I just tell people I'm not

23:11 charging for thread. I want to get some, plenty of quilts under my belt and make sure I'm doing

23:16 an awesome job. And then someday I may start charging for thread. Cause I know a lot of them

23:22 charge so much per bobbin they fill, like $2. So I think that seems to be the going right here.

23:30 Okay. And if you haven't had a chance, I would encourage you to watch as many of these

23:36 podcasts as you can, because that very stuff you're talking about, there's a lot of good,

23:45 some people say they want to, they want to talk to more people who,

23:48 they want us to interview more people who maybe don't have, or maybe a little earlier in the

23:53 process, kind of like you are. But also there's a lot to be said for somebody that has a lot of

24:00 experience in this particular field, as far as the pricing and their experience on, you know,

24:07 how you should start out with your pricing and everything. So, so I would encourage you and the

24:12 people watching to, you know, just watch the other podcast too. And, you know, you might get

24:18 your own takeaway from that. I will do that. And do you, do you sell any supplies like batting or

24:27 fabrics or anything like that with your? I don't have, I have some backing that if anybody likes

24:35 what I've picked out for myself, I would sell it to them. I do carry batting because in our area,

24:40 there's no place to buy batting and people, when they bring you a cool top and they want it

24:46 done pretty quickly, you better just have batting on hand. So I do have that.

24:53 Gotcha. How many, how many quilts have you made since you started, like actually made yourself?

25:03 Well, you know, I have, I, I have not counted. I probably track I've made lots. And, um,

25:11 I gave all my kids one this year for Christmas. Okay.

25:19 How am I? All right. Let me ask you this. How many quilts do you think that you,

25:24 like, if you really had to crank out a bunch of quilts, how many quilts could you crank out in a

25:28 month? Hmm. Just off the top of your head. Well, right now I'm working on nine for no eight for a

25:36 lady that, um, their memory quilts out of her husband's clothes. And, um, I don't know. I made

25:45 14 cool tops. I know in those few months that we were shut down. So, yeah. And that's a different

25:53 part of the process is making those quilt tops, isn't it? Yes, but I do love it. So I make a lot

25:59 of t-shirt quilts, um, memory quilts, regular quilts. Okay. So you do a lot of, you do a lot

26:09 of the t-shirt quilts, huh? I do. You, uh, you do know that there's a lot of people watching this

26:15 that absolutely with a passion hate doing t-shirt quilts. Um, I know that there's a lady in a town

26:22 close to me that, um, I was told that she will not do, she will not quilt a t-shirt quilt. And,

26:28 um, so I have taken them on for other people, not just the ones I've made because I want to

26:34 be able to do everything. Not, I don't want, I can't do that. I want to do it all. So, um,

26:41 the t-shirt quilts are a little tricky because not everybody gets that interfacing

26:47 attached to the t-shirt and the t-shirts do want to move a little bit. But I just,

26:54 my suggestion is just don't do a heavy quilting or a detailed quilting. Um,

27:03 I, I sort of have one pattern that I really like that sort of meanders everywhere.

27:08 Works good with a t-shirt? It works very well with t-shirts, so. Okay, so, so you're saying,

27:16 I picked up a little piece of advice there with, uh, t-shirt quilting you'd recommend not using a

27:21 real dense pattern. Is that right? Yes, because I think that's where people end up having their

27:29 t-shirts pucker or want to move. Um, I mean, of course the designs that have all the feathers

27:37 or the flowers, they may, or the basketball or the football may look great with the quilt,

27:43 but I don't, I think the results would be harder to get with, unless someone's just really good

27:49 at getting that interfacing to stick. But, um, in making t-shirt quilts, I think my best advice for

27:56 people is when they bring you the t-shirts, wash them all because, and don't use softener,

28:02 because softener keeps the interfacing from sticking good, and I think that's part of the

28:09 issue. Everybody uses softener anymore, and you do not want to use that with a t-shirt quilt.

28:15 Okay, good piece of advice. Good advice. I have not heard that one before.

28:19 Um, of course, I don't quilt myself. I just help people if something is not going right. I help

28:24 them to fix things. So, yeah, thank you for that. Let, all right, so, uh, Tracy, let me ask you, um,

28:32 and, and you can give us, uh, your experience and information, uh, based on your current

28:39 quilting business that you're working on, and also the business experience you've had in the past.

28:44 Can you think of, uh, what, uh, are some of the hard aspects of, uh, of growing a business,

28:54 or things that you may be experiencing now, or that you have experienced in the past

28:58 that you can share with the people watching? Oh, well, let's see. Any difficulties that you've

29:08 encountered? I, you know, just having exactly what, you know, I had one person bring me a customer,

29:14 or a customer bring me a quilt, and she wanted a design I didn't have, and a color of thread.

29:20 You know, of course, I, there's nowhere locally I can get that, so, um, I just said, okay,

29:25 because I like to get people's quilts done pretty quickly, and back to them pretty quickly,

29:30 so I just said, if you don't mind waiting, and she didn't, she, so I had to purchase,

29:34 you know, those, which was no big deal, because I didn't mind growing that part of my

29:38 business, um, I had never quilted the design that she, she called it a feathery design,

29:46 and now it's one of my favorite designs, um, I would highly recommend it, so I was, I was glad

29:52 that she challenged me in that area, so. Okay, um, how big of a, of an aspect is, uh, people in

30:05 your life? You have anybody in particular that's been a real cheerleader for you, or what about

30:12 that, the people in your life? Oh, my, my family has always been supportive on whatever I've done,

30:19 um, but my husband's probably my biggest cheerleader. He really encourages me to

30:24 do this, and when we go on, is he, like, totally behind you with this quilting thing?

30:29 He's behind, he's my biggest supporter, no matter what I do, so, now, he did want me to move the

30:36 business out of my house when we, when I did alterations. He was just like, okay, I'm sort of

30:41 done with it being in my house, and that's when we opened a storefront, so. Is it because you had,

30:46 like, clothes everywhere, all over the place? Um, sort of, yeah, and the bedrooms all became

30:53 dressing rooms during prom season. I can see that, I can see that, gotcha, you know, yeah,

31:02 but now you're, uh, so with your Gammill, you're, you're based, uh, in your house now, is that

31:07 correct? No, um, my husband actually built himself a shop, and, um, then we decided, um, we were

31:15 talking about the Gammill, but the Gammill really wouldn't fit in the house that we have now, because

31:19 we really downsized, so he built me a room inside of his shop, and my room's got central heat and air,

31:28 so it's really nice. Is that on the same property as your house, or? Yes, yeah. Okay, okay, so it's still,

31:35 yeah, it's kind of like being at home. It's, oh yeah, definitely at home. Okay. I can do laundry and

31:44 fix supper and everything. I run back and forth, no problem. Excellent, so, um, realistically, do you, um,

31:53 do you see your business, uh, growing as time goes on? Do you see that in the future, or what,

32:03 you know, where are you at with that? I mean, do you want it to just stay like it is right now, or

32:08 Oh, no, I definitely think it's going to be growing, and more of the word gets out, and the more people

32:14 that see, you know, the love for quilting, I think, um, it'll definitely grow. I would love to be able

32:22 to stay home more and just do quilting, so, um, I'm also, I've done, um, I've been a crafter at

32:30 Silver Dollar City and sold, like, my makeup bags and the sweatshirts, so, um, I haven't done it the

32:37 last two years. I absolutely love doing that, so we'll see where this takes me, um, but it's nice to

32:44 just be able to stay home and not do as many shows selling stuff, so. Okay, that's Silver Dollar City

32:52 in Branson you're referring to? Yes. Okay, that's close to my neck of the woods here. Okay, have you ever

33:00 been out there for the Harvest Festival when they have all the crafters that actually sit there and

33:04 demonstrate? Yes, yes, yes, I have. I've seen that. We have, uh, we have season passes there. Me and my

33:12 wife and my son, we go there a few times a year. Okay, do you have connections to get me a gamble machine

33:18 there to use while I'm there and demonstrate on it? To get you a gamble machine to use while you're

33:24 at Silver Dollar City? Yeah. Let me write that down. Let me see. I don't know. I can't promise anything,

33:31 but I will talk to the people who are above me and see what can be done there.

33:37 When do you go there? When is that going to be? It's in October. I'm not going this

33:42 year. I didn't go last year because my daughter was having a baby, and I didn't go. I'm not going

33:47 this year because of grandbabies, but. Oh, you're not going to be there for a long time then.

33:54 Oh, well, it's every fall, so I could definitely show up, you know, if you guys could make it happen

34:00 next fall, and I'd be like, okay. Like this coming October you're talking about? I don't have enough

34:06 stuff. Okay, okay, I get it. So, I haven't been working on that because the machines, you know,

34:13 I've only had it for a year, and I have grandbabies, so. Okay, we're just getting into our own personal

34:21 conversation. Hold on. Okay, sorry. Okay, yeah, Angie is saying she loves that idea of running the

34:30 Gammill machine at Silver Dollar City. Okay, all right, let's get wrapped up here.

34:39 You're fun to talk to, so I appreciate you joining us. Let's see, do you have anything, Tracy,

34:49 at this point in your process of your quilting business, or from the past that

34:57 you think might be valuable that you wish somebody would have told you at the beginning

35:04 of your business when you first started? Can you think of anything that, you know,

35:11 maybe you wish you would have known? I probably wouldn't have waited so long to buy one,

35:16 if I would have, you know, known in my earlier years, you know, of alterations. This, I mean,

35:23 I really enjoyed doing alterations, and making prom dresses fit, and all that. I enjoyed that,

35:28 but there's part of this that you can just be so creative with, and yeah, it'd been interesting

35:35 if I would have did this, too, or done this sooner, or something, but go buy one. Get busy.

35:44 Get on it, huh? Yes. So, based on your experience,

35:55 somebody that's watching right now, do you see, and I know you've only had the

36:02 gamble, you've only been doing it as a business for a limited amount of time,

36:07 but based on your true, honest feelings, and what you see now, do you think that someone who wants to

36:17 genuinely build a business with a gamble lawnmower machine, do you think that it's

36:26 possible to do right now, or, you know, what are your feelings about that? Is it something that can

36:32 be done, you think? Yes, I do. I, you know, I was just talking to my husband the other night. If I

36:40 could, like, do so many quilts a week, how much, you know, extra that would help out on different

36:45 things that we're wanting to do where we've moved. So, it's just the process of getting that

36:50 clientele built up, and then, I mean, I've had my machine for a year, but we actually probably,

37:00 it's, I've probably not been running it for a year, because we built the building, and had to

37:04 get it up, you know, in the building, and set up, and, you know, figure out a few things. So, I would

37:10 say, I don't even have a year under my belt of doing it business-wise. So, I look forward to

37:16 being able to say, yes, I'm going to do so many quilts a week. Right now, people are not having

37:21 to wait. It's like, when they bring me a quilt, they can get it back in a few days. So, how long

37:27 does it take you, on average, you think, to do a quilt? Oh, goodness. You know, a lot of times,

37:34 I will load it one night, and then, I'll finish it the next day. So, you know, I am a busy person.

37:43 I'm probably making a makeup bag, and making supper, and doing laundry, and watching the grand

37:49 kid, and quilting. So, I don't know if you should take my hours, and say it's, how long it takes,

37:56 because it can go pretty fast. So, gotcha, and I've heard that somebody, if somebody were to

38:06 purchase a brand new Statler, I think they could make the payments on it. I think the figure I've

38:13 heard is six quilts a month. You know, you'd be able to pay your payments on that. Just FYI,

38:20 for those of you who are watching. Wow, see, I think I probably wouldn't have waited so long.

38:25 Yeah, you know, there was a chance I was not even going to do it. It was, you know, my husband,

38:30 and my kid, and their comments. I was just like, okay, fine, let's do this. Well, Tracy, yeah,

38:36 when you go to the Quilting with Confidence, I encourage you to talk to some of the computerized

38:43 quilters, and you know, I got a feeling that you might get that bug, too, because you really enjoy

38:51 the hand-guided, because it seems like more pure art, but I think that you would also love the

38:59 computerized also. So, just keep that in your mind. Is there a limit on the social hour that

39:06 they said that we get to play? Yeah, have you not ever been to a Quilting with Confidence before?

39:16 I have not, and I actually seen the ad on Facebook, and at first, I wasn't sure if it was

39:20 real, and then I was like, okay, back into this, and then it's actually on your website. So, I was

39:25 like, oh my gosh, it's when I found out it was the company itself putting it on, I was like,

39:31 oh, I've got it. Yeah, you will freaking love it. You really will. So, yeah, I enjoy that,

39:37 and those of you who are watching this podcast, I encourage you to look up Quilting with Confidence

39:43 on the Gammill.com website, because, I mean, it's all over the United States in different locations,

39:50 so you can find one that's near you, all over the world, actually. We got them in Australia,

39:56 England. Anyway, okay.

40:00 Okay, Tracy, did I miss anything?

40:04 Anything you wanted to share that I didn't ask you?

40:06 Oh, goodness.

40:08 I mean, I don't want to put you on the spot.

40:10 I just want to make sure I didn't,

40:12 you didn't have something burning in your heart

40:13 about the gamble that you needed to share

40:16 before I got to the end of it.

40:20 No?

40:21 It's pretty simple to use.

40:22 I have really enjoyed using it,

40:24 even though they showed me at GoCreate.

40:28 Me and my husband took this machine apart

40:30 and set it back up ourselves.

40:32 And we've, I've been sewing ever since, so.

40:36 Awesome, awesome.

40:38 Yeah.

40:38 Well, yeah, people in your area,

40:40 go check out GoCreate.

40:41 What's the name of that college again?

40:43 The university?

40:44 WSU, Wichita Shockers.

40:46 It's WSU.

40:47 WSU, okay, yeah.

40:49 Go check out GoCreate.

40:50 If you want to see one of these gamble machines,

40:54 you can check them out over there.

40:56 Okay, Tracy.

40:57 Thank you.

40:58 It actually has been inspiring talking to you.

41:00 It's been very entertaining and inspiring.

41:05 Yeah, I want to give you a chance, Tracy,

41:07 to tell people where they can find you

41:10 and find out more about you.

41:12 Put out your information right here.

41:14 Okay.

41:15 When I had a storefront, it's called Tracy's Trends.

41:18 So I had already applied for that tax number.

41:22 So I kept it for my alterations,

41:24 even after I closed my store.

41:26 So it's called Tracy's Trends.

41:28 And that's what I am on social media.

41:31 And it's T-R-A-C-I apostrophe S.

41:36 Then trends is T-R-E-N-D-S.

41:41 So I am on Facebook and on Instagram.

41:45 So yeah, I'd love you follow me and share me.

41:48 And I, even for people that are quilters,

41:52 I have other things besides quilting.

41:54 I love my makeup bags, so.

41:57 And can people go on to the Facebook or the Instagram

42:01 and like if they wanted to ask you a question

42:04 or anything about what they saw on here tonight?

42:07 Yes, they sure can.

42:09 Okay.

42:09 Okay, great.

42:10 So Tracy's Trends, they can find you

42:13 on Facebook and Instagram.

42:15 Tracy, thank you so much for joining us.

42:17 Hey, thanks for having me.

42:18 It's been fun.

42:20 And I look forward to hearing from you

42:22 about Silver Dollar City.

42:24 Yes, yes.

42:26 Hey, you can call us here anytime at GAML

42:28 and just check on me or all of us.

42:32 Okay.

42:33 Yeah, so I'll pass that on to my higher ups

42:37 about that Silver Dollar City thing.

42:38 And we'll see what becomes of that, okay?

42:41 Okay, that would be great.

42:42 I would love it.

42:44 All right, Tracy.

42:44 Well, listen, it's been a pleasure talking to you.

42:46 Great to meet you.

42:47 Thank you so much.

42:49 Thank you.

42:51 Well, I guess we got another episode in the bag

42:55 and we'll see you one week from today at this same time.

43:01 Good night, everybody.

43:02 No.