How Norma Stark Built Her Longarm Quilting Business—Twice

0:00 Yeah, we'll go ahead and start now.

0:25 We've got Norma Stark with us.

0:27 Don't let me forget at the end of this program to give you an opportunity to let people know

0:33 where they can get a hold of you and everything too. Okay. That'll be at the end. Anyway, yeah,

0:38 we have Norma Stark and I don't know as much as I should about Norma, so we're just going to start

0:46 out at the beginning. Norma, where do you hang your hat these days? Where are you located?

0:52 Oh my gosh, I'm in the beautiful city of Gig Harbor in the state of Washington,

0:59 and it is so pretty here. So yep, I'm in a beautiful place. So if you know anything about

1:05 the state of Washington, or if you've ever been to Gig Harbor, you don't want to leave.

1:10 Is that on the ocean?

1:13 It is actually. It's called Gig Harbor because we're kind of in the harbor,

1:18 and my daughter lives five miles from me, and she's actually on Henderson Bay.

1:24 So about two weeks ago, we sat out on her deck and watched the orcas. So that was really fun. Yep,

1:32 I actually took a video of that and put it to music, you know, and made drama out of it. But

1:38 anyway, yeah, it's really pretty here.

1:40 Well, that is awesome. That is awesome. Well, Norma, can you tell us how long have you been

1:49 doing long arm quilting? How long have you been doing quilting in general? You told me before

1:54 that you had started on quilting before, and you got into long arming later. Tell us a little bit

2:00 about your timeline and journey. Sure, I'm kind of a late bloomer, but I guess it's been 23 years.

2:08 I started in 2001 just loving quilts and decided that I had to take a class. So I took a class and

2:15 learned to quilt, and then I wanted to know how to finish it. So I ended up hand quilting my first

2:21 two quilts I ever made, and it took me a year to do each one, and I decided that's enough of that.

2:26 You mean like hand quilting? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I hand quilted them. I still have them.

2:31 Yeah, so they're not exactly hand quilted well, but anyway, they're done, and then I decided that

2:38 there's enough of that. So I did a lot on my domestic machine, and I would take those golden

2:44 treasure papers. Some people might know what I was talking about, and lay them on the quilt and trace

2:49 around them, and I did that on my domestic machine, and then I decided that was enough of that. So then

2:54 I went to buy a grace frame and got a domestic machine and put it on the frame so that it was

3:01 just a regular domestic machine that rolled up and down the frame, and I did some meandering,

3:07 simple things like that, and so I kind of started out as a free motion quilter.

3:14 Can I stop you? Let me ask you. So how were you exposed to

3:23 different quilting? I mean, who kind of turned you on to it in the first place? Were you

3:29 involved with a guild at the time? Not really. I saw, at the time, it was my sister-in-law,

3:37 and I saw some quilts on a frame, and I thought, oh my gosh, I want to learn how to do that,

3:43 and anyway, she said, well, you know, you have to get a sewing machine, and I didn't have a sewing

3:49 machine, so I bought a $79 Kenmore sewing machine, and that's how I kind of got into piecing,

3:55 and then as far as that goes, I asked my teacher, how do you finish these, and she was giving me

4:02 options. You could hand sew them. You could take them to a long-arm quilter. You can quilt them

4:07 yourself on your domestic machine, and then I thought, I want to do this all myself, so I want

4:13 to finish it, so then I started finishing my quilts by quilting them myself one way or another,

4:19 so that's kind of, does that kind of answer it? Yeah, yeah, I just, yeah, I wanted to fill in the

4:24 spaces, so yeah, so you're doing a little bit of free motion. Yep, doing a little bit of free

4:30 motion, and then, you know, that domestic machine, you've only got about 12 inches, right, so I was

4:36 like, that's not gonna work, so then I ended up, now I'm just doing my own quilts, right,

4:41 so I ended up getting a baby lot crown jewel, and it was computerized, so I thought I died and gone

4:47 to heaven, and I get this computerized machine, and I start working with it, and it wasn't terribly

4:53 expensive, but at the time, I also looked at the gamels and said, oh, those are a lot more money,

5:00 so I can't do that. Well, you get what you pay for because it didn't, it didn't sustain very long.

5:08 It was always having to be repaired. I had a part box because I had to keep replacing parts on it,

5:16 and it was plastic, so it wasn't the industrial machine that the gamel is, so I ended up, I

5:22 actually was on the gamel page forever as a testimonial because I said I should have bought

5:27 the gamel to begin with, right, so I ended up buying my gamel, actually, I was looking here at my notes,

5:33 I bought my first gamel in 2016, so I bought that first gamel statler, and at that time,

5:40 I was working at the dental office full-time, and I decided that was kind of the field I was in,

5:47 and I had decided that if I buy this machine, this has to be a business because they're expensive,

5:54 and I got to pay it off, and I got to make so much a month to make my payments because I financed it,

5:59 so I ended up deciding I was going to work part-time. I wasn't going to quit my job,

6:07 my job that my boss wrote the paycheck every month, I was going to go slow, so I did end up

6:14 doing that part-time for a long time and started taking in business, and I joined a guild, I was

6:22 the president of the guild, I kind of started reaching out in different avenues. One of the

6:28 things I did was I decided I'm really good, yep, I'll stop. At this time, were you in Washington

6:37 at this time? No, I was in Texas at this time. Okay, and okay, go ahead, go ahead, I'm just,

6:46 I'm following your story, all right, go ahead. So, I was in Texas at this time when I got my

6:51 first Gammill, and I didn't quilt for the public, so I started reaching out and joined the guild,

6:58 like I said, and one of the things is a lot of people don't know this about me, but they're

7:04 probably going to know about it before I'm done, is that I used to be a motivational speaker,

7:08 so I'm used to getting in front of groups and speaking, and so I started reaching out to guilds

7:14 to maybe speak on different subjects for quilting, and I was starting to get enough experience that

7:20 I knew some things actually, and then after that, I decided that, you know, I would start teaching,

7:27 so I started teaching piecing classes on how to make quilts, because I'm really good at reading

7:33 directions, and believe it or not, I have some friends that they're not very good at that,

7:39 so I'm really good at picking up a pattern and really going for it, so I decided that I was

7:44 going to start teaching, and I knew that I was good speaking to a group, so I started doing that,

7:50 and actually, that drew in a lot of people for me, because they trusted me then, because I'm their

7:56 teacher, and I'm showing them what to do, and then I quilted every class sample that I ever did,

8:04 so then the class sample would be there quilted, and they'd go, how did you do that,

8:08 and I would tell them about my gamel, and that I'm a long-arm quilter, and then they were like, oh,

8:13 well, will you quilt for me, so then they would ask me to quilt, and I built trust,

8:18 and so probably my Texas group, a large amount was from my students and getting the word out there

8:24 then. Okay, so your full-time job that you went to part-time, and how long did you stay with that,

8:39 are you still? No, so I went part-time, and I was part-time, this is when I was in Texas,

8:46 and so what happened was, is that it became so busy for me that it became overwhelming,

8:55 and I think COVID hit about that time, so at one time during COVID, I think I had 80 quilts in my

9:03 closet, because everybody was quilting during COVID, you know, that was the thing, they were

9:09 all quilting, the quilting industry, the stores, the material, you know, everybody was thriving

9:15 kind of in the quilting world, because that was a good pastime to do, so I ended up going in

9:23 December 2018, I went to my boss at the dental office, and I said, I'm going to go into quilting

9:30 full-time, and he tried to talk me out of it, and he said, no, you're really good at the, I was an

9:38 admin person, he said, no, you're really good at the front desk, and I said, no, but I want to

9:42 quilt full-time, I said, I have customers, and what was happening, because I was working part-time,

9:47 is I was staying up all night trying to finish jobs, and going to work at 6 a.m., so I was like

9:53 killing myself, so I was like, enough of that, so, and I was debating and debating about it, because

9:59 it's a big jump, and you know, and you have to think, now I'm responsible for making all the

10:05 income myself to come in, but I'd also at that time paid off my machine financially, so I felt

10:11 like I was in a good place, so when he tried to talk me out of it, this is what I said to him, I said,

10:17 you know, when I was little, I wanted to work at a flower shop, because everybody loves when you

10:23 deliver flowers, they're like, they're happy to see you, except for a funeral maybe, but they're happy to

10:28 see you at the door, there's joy, and so I always thought that would be the best job ever, and I said,

10:33 I have the second best job ever, because every quilter that comes through my door goes, oh my

10:40 gosh, you did an amazing job, I love my quilt, you're doing great, and I just get so much satisfaction

10:47 out of the joy I bring for others when I do these quilts, and I said, I'm sorry, but the dental office

10:53 can't do that for me, they can't give me that, so I said, this is my number one choice, and I'm gonna

10:59 have to move to this career, and I did, and without a regret, it was the right decision to do, business

11:07 was great. The reasons that you told him came to be, came to fruition, right? Yes, yes, it is,

11:15 it is a fun job to have, to be quilting, and to make so many people happy, and to see that.

11:22 Well, Norma, I can tell that you were a motivational speaker, because I'm so caught up in what you're

11:28 saying, that I missed a question from five minutes ago, when you were talking about your previous

11:35 machine that you had before you got the Gammill, she asked, were you trying to

11:41 repair that machine by yourself? Well, some, but then I would call the tech guy, and it'd be $500

11:50 a pop, and I was calling him every month, and I'd have to have a box of parts on hand, so I did some,

11:59 but, but not always, sometimes I had to call, but yeah, okay, you, okay, that's pretty, that's pretty

12:08 often, yeah, tech support, and yeah, right, well, I got my Gammill, and I was so thrilled, because

12:17 I think the only time I called was once to have it just serviced, I couldn't believe I had it two

12:24 years, and I needed to call no one, yeah, it was amazing to me, and when I talk to people now, and

12:32 they ask me what kind of machine I have, my standard answer is, I have a top-of-the-line long arm,

12:38 I have a Gammill Statler, because in my opinion, this is top-of-the-line, it's as industrial as you

12:45 can get, so like I said, I wished I would have started there, but it's okay, but I am on my

12:51 second Gammill now, so I don't know if we talked about that. No, what about that, what, do you have

12:57 two of them, or? No, I don't have two of them, a lot of my friends would tell me they have two,

13:03 or they have three, I have a friend that has three, and I'm like, that's great, but I like to concentrate

13:10 on one quilt at a time, I'm kind of one of those people that I really like to just work on that,

13:16 so I do do edge-to-edge and custom, and I alternate my weeks on what I'm going to do,

13:21 but the reason I have a second one is because I moved and relocated, and left Texas, and went to

13:27 the state of Washington, where I'm at now, and so at that time, I really had to start over, kind of,

13:35 as far as building a customer base, so the good news is, is that once you get a long-arm quilter

13:43 you love, I think this is very true, is that they're like your doctor, your dentist, your vet,

13:50 you don't want to lose them, so here I get still a lot of Texas people that send me their quilts,

13:58 I just got a bull the other day from Texas that arrived, a bull quilt, so anyway, I still get some

14:04 of those old faithfuls that, even though I gave them all the names of the local people in Texas

14:10 they could use, you know, I wanted to spread business to other people, but you know, if they

14:16 contacted me, and wanted me to do it, then I would do it, so I still get some of that,

14:21 but in the meantime, and relocating, I sold my gamel statler in Texas, I moved here, and bought

14:29 the newest sends were coming out, so I bought the newest send gamel statler, because I was not going

14:35 to live life without my gamel statler, that was, you know, just, I knew that it was a good business,

14:42 I knew that I could make a living, I knew that I didn't really want to go back to the dental office,

14:49 I wanted to work with the gamel statler and quilters. And how do you like the ascend?

14:55 I really like it, I usually run it at 15, and I usually will speed everything up till I feel

15:02 comfortable. There are certain things I'll slow it down for, but I really do like it, and I was just

15:11 really enthralled by the fact that it's much more accurate, and it does quilt, you know, things a

15:18 little bit faster, because even though I have one machine, I do like to, when I do edge to edge, I

15:25 try to do at least two a day, so. Okay, yeah, those ascends have beefier x and y motors that move

15:33 the machine, and the belts that move those motors, so they're able to maintain the accuracy and with

15:40 higher speed. So, all right, we got it, I could talk to you, this program could go in three hours,

15:47 but we don't have three hours. I know. So you started, your first gamel was a statler, right?

15:55 Yep. And now you say you do both hand-guided and computerized, or I mean, you know, custom?

16:08 I do edge to edge and computerized. Now, long story short, when I first got my gamel,

16:15 I went to a class with Linda Taylor, because in my head, I was going to be a free motion quilter,

16:23 that was in my head. So I went and took a class, and I think Corey Pearson was right next to me,

16:33 and we did this free motion quilting, and we did feathers, and I did really good.

16:38 I'm not going to say that I did terrible, but then I went over and saw the computer

16:42 feather and went, oh, we're going that way. So anyway, I do mostly computerized,

16:49 there are small areas where I'll flip in some free motion that I put in, but most of the time,

16:54 it's edge to edge. I would say 90% of my business is edge to edge, but I also will do custom.

17:01 I usually ask them to send me a picture, because I don't take all custom, but I want to look at it.

17:07 But recently, I have quilted a truck, a cat, and now, like I said, I just got this bull from Texas,

17:14 and so those will all be custom, yeah. Okay, so, all right, so when you first started...

17:24 But my custom is computerized. I don't usually do too much free motion with my custom.

17:30 I'll usually find a digital design, and I like to mix them up. I may use five different designer

17:38 designers' designs and throw them in the quilt, because I look at the quilt, what's good for the

17:44 quilt. Okay. I don't use sets a lot, but some. Do you know about how much volume you do,

17:53 like how many quilts monthly, yearly? You know, it's been really hard with relocating,

18:01 because... How long ago did you move to Washington? I moved to Washington in 2022, in May 2022.

18:09 For a while, I was without my Gammill, statler, because I wasn't really sure where I was going

18:15 to move, where I was going to put it. So, September 2022, I got my statler and started

18:21 back in business. So, in the meantime, to get my foot in the door, I came up with a plan. So,

18:27 my plan was, they don't know I'm here, and I'm really good. I mean, I feel like I'm really good.

18:34 I feel like I know what I'm doing. I feel like I have the experience. And I have 70 class quilt

18:42 samples here in my room, and they're all beautifully quilted, because they're all custom.

18:48 And so, I decided, how am I going to get my name out there? So, I started contacting guilds,

18:53 and I started doing trunk shows. So, I would go out with all my quilts, and I would do trunk shows,

18:59 and I probably have done about 12 trunk shows in the area. I'm actually doing another one

19:05 in September, and I did actually some even online. So, I did some stuff for guilds online.

19:13 I did some, but I kept going out there, but the online ones, like, was Virginia. So,

19:18 you know, that doesn't count, because it's not local, but I tried to keep doing local stuff.

19:22 Then I went to every quilt store, and I said, I'm a teacher. I can teach quilt patterns.

19:27 So, I teach now for three quilt stores, and every student that I have says, oh, well,

19:35 you quilt my quilt, because I saw your class sample, and I like it. So, then I got business

19:40 from that. So, there for a while, I was really kind of struggling, because it was like I would

19:46 have enough for one week, and that was it. And I had to just, you know, cross my hands and pray

19:52 that the next week would be okay, and now it's to the point where I'm about two or three weeks out.

19:57 So, it's building. So, there's

20:00 starting to go and then they had a huge expo here

20:02 in the Washington State Fairgrounds

20:05 and I signed up as a teacher, I signed up, got a booth,

20:09 that old saying, you have to spend money to make money.

20:13 I really put myself out there, business cards,

20:16 I did little free gifts, I did everything I could

20:20 and now they kinda know I'm here, I'm still working on that

20:23 but so now I would say I'm about two weeks out on quilting.

20:27 Okay, so yeah, so you had an established business

20:33 and then totally relocated.

20:36 Washington is a long way from Texas.

20:39 It is.

20:40 So it's kind of like starting a whole new business.

20:45 It is.

20:46 So when you did the cards and all the,

20:50 what, you got booths and things at the quilt shows,

20:54 do you feel like that was, did you get response from that?

20:59 Just for the people that are watching this,

21:00 you know, they wanna know what works.

21:03 Right, exactly.

21:04 Well, there was two things too for me

21:07 because I do twofold.

21:10 I'm a piecing teacher and I'm a long armor.

21:12 So my goal was I have a website, I have a YouTube,

21:16 I have Instagram, you know, I have all these media things.

21:21 So I sell classes for piecing, I do some long arm stuff.

21:27 So anyway, I had a dual goal in mind when I was out there.

21:32 So I would say that I probably spent more money than I made

21:36 but as my financial person and I have talked about,

21:40 that trickling effect takes a while.

21:43 So I think that people, you know, are coming,

21:47 I feel like slowly, that happened in February

21:50 and I feel like things are picking up

21:52 because people are starting to, you know,

21:55 still come from the after effects, from that ripple effect.

21:58 So I was able to already pay off my new Statler

22:05 that I bought in September, 2022.

22:08 So business was good enough to do that.

22:11 So I will say that, but anyway, back in 2019,

22:17 I looked and it looked like I did 220 quilts that year.

22:23 So this year and last year has just been kind of hard

22:26 to calculate because it's been, you know,

22:28 a little bit here and there.

22:29 Yeah, you're still getting,

22:31 coming out of that flux period.

22:34 Right, but the other services I offer,

22:37 which they called me up, the quilt store called me up

22:41 from Texas and said, you spoil your quilters

22:45 because I do binding for them.

22:47 So I offer a binding service

22:49 and I do a decorative stitch binding

22:52 and I actually do a class on it.

22:54 But anyway, they said they want us to bind for them

22:57 and the quilt store has a long arm and they don't bind.

23:00 So they told me they want labels, they want binding

23:03 and I offer those services.

23:05 So if you can offer something that somebody else doesn't,

23:09 you know, then they're gonna wanna go to you.

23:11 But because I left, they were mad at me

23:14 because I spoiled them.

23:15 But anyway, here, they're getting used to that.

23:17 So I have a lot of people that have me bind for them, yeah.

23:20 Okay, I have another question here.

23:25 Alice is asking, and I don't know

23:27 if you have the background for this or not.

23:30 Do you think that computerized quilting

23:32 and embroidery machine quilting are similar?

23:35 If someone used to do the embroidery

23:38 but wants to make the leap and turn it into a business,

23:41 would you expect the transition to be smooth?

23:46 Now, what do you think about that?

23:48 I would say, absolutely.

23:49 Here's the thing, with computerized quilting,

23:52 you have to have some computer in your brain

23:56 or you have to learn it because, you know,

23:58 it is computerized.

23:59 So I find the biggest roadblock sometimes

24:02 is that that doesn't go well.

24:04 But I started out, honest to God,

24:08 embroidering way before I quilted.

24:10 So I used to go, I take my embroidery machine

24:13 and I go from mall to mall and I work for Ralph Lauren

24:16 and I would embroider bags and I would go from every holiday

24:21 and I did that for a long time

24:22 and then I kind of got into the quilting.

24:24 So I started that way.

24:26 Ralph Lauren, huh?

24:27 Yeah, I do feel like that, yeah,

24:31 it was the worst job ever.

24:33 I tell you why, because they line up behind me

24:35 and say, hurry up and get my bag done, right?

24:38 So the pressure was insurmountable.

24:41 I love quilting because I can do it by myself

24:43 and then tell them it's ready.

24:44 But anyway, I will tell you that I did start

24:46 with the software, with embroidery,

24:48 and if you can do software and you can learn it.

24:52 And before I got my Statler, I went online

24:55 and you can get online

24:57 and study the Creative Studio software

25:00 because I knew the Crown Jewel software.

25:02 I didn't know the Creative Studio software.

25:05 I would sit for hours and just study it

25:09 before it even came, just so I could study

25:11 what were the buttons, what were the commands?

25:14 So the other thing I guess I need to,

25:16 I feel like that new quilters need to know

25:19 and learning Creative Studio, work at it, learn it.

25:24 The Olympic teams don't just do it,

25:27 they work at it, they practice at it.

25:30 I use my Gamel Statler every day.

25:33 When I've taught a few lessons to people,

25:36 if I teach you and you don't go home and use it,

25:39 it doesn't help.

25:40 You have to use it consistently

25:42 and get it in your brain, in your head,

25:44 repeat, repeat, repeat.

25:47 Yeah, and I know, and I'm sure that's ingrained

25:50 in you being a teacher yourself,

25:53 but I've heard that from almost every person we talk to.

25:57 They emphasize the importance of how important it was

26:00 for them to learn the software and the processes.

26:05 And I will use that as an opportunity to plug,

26:09 you can go to Gamel.com and there's,

26:12 we have entire courses that, video courses

26:15 that you can learn how to use the Creative Studio

26:19 and videos from our different Gamel instructors,

26:24 new owner training and everything.

26:25 So, yeah, I agree with you on that.

26:29 Go ahead.

26:30 Bobby, can I say something about that?

26:31 Because I bought a new Statler Ascend,

26:34 I got that learning program.

26:37 Now, do I know a lot of that?

26:39 Yes, I do.

26:40 But I went in and I went through the whole learning program

26:44 and I was thrilled that Gamel did that

26:48 because that did not happen the first time I bought my Gamel.

26:51 So when I bought this one, I went in and I looked at,

26:55 I mean, how to thread the machine,

26:58 edge to edge, repeat pattern.

27:00 I mean, everything was there.

27:02 And I was like, this is so great.

27:05 So my question was,

27:07 and I don't know if they've done it or not,

27:09 but the lady I sold my machine to,

27:11 I worked with her a lot,

27:13 but I thought people that buy used machines,

27:16 they need this, you know, they need to understand,

27:19 you know, it's not, yeah.

27:21 Yeah, people, if somebody buys a used machine,

27:26 you know, there's a lot of,

27:27 you can get a good solid used Statler out there.

27:32 Or Gamel.

27:34 But, you know, you won't have, you know, the warranty.

27:38 And a new Gamel machine does come

27:42 with the free new owner training also with it.

27:46 It does.

27:47 And I have to tell you, it's a great tool.

27:50 And I hope people open it and use it because I'm like,

27:56 I just enjoyed watching it

27:59 and seeing the different things

28:01 that they were doing and everything.

28:03 And just thought, this is great, yeah.

28:07 Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I've talked

28:10 to people and tech support, you know.

28:13 Well, so this is not working correctly.

28:15 And I said, well, you're not using it correctly.

28:18 Do you know, have you used your new owner training?

28:23 Yeah, Bobby, did you see the note that they popped up

28:27 that anyone can purchase the new training?

28:30 Yes, anyone can purchase the new owner training.

28:34 Yeah, you go to Gamel.com

28:36 and look under the educational opportunities there

28:40 and anyone can purchase that.

28:42 Thank you, Cindy or whoever.

28:44 Yeah, I mean, to the new ones out there,

28:48 all I can say is education, education, education, learn,

28:54 learn, just keep trying to learn something new

28:57 and then challenge yourself to do it, you know.

29:02 And don't be afraid,

29:03 because we kind of get afraid that,

29:05 oh, we're going to mess something up, right?

29:08 Yeah, because I'll tell you,

29:09 this quilt, either hand-guided or computerized,

29:15 it involves skill and knowledge.

29:19 And it's not going to be for everybody,

29:23 but if you're willing to put the time and the effort in

29:28 to educating yourself,

29:30 the resources are so much there for Gamel.

29:34 And you can, yeah, you can definitely learn very well

29:38 how to do this.

29:40 And also the business,

29:44 Holly, what is that business?

29:50 She'll remind me of it in a minute.

29:51 The program that we also have for people

29:54 who are either starting out a new business

29:57 or thinking of starting a new business.

30:00 Accelerate.

30:01 Accelerate, yeah.

30:02 The Accelerate program contains all the basics.

30:06 If somebody is just coming into this scared,

30:09 doesn't know how to start a business or anything,

30:11 the Accelerate program will definitely

30:16 get you started with that.

30:17 Yeah.

30:18 I didn't mean to turn it into a big Gamel commercial there,

30:22 Norma, I got off track there.

30:23 I told you before we talked that I'm bad

30:25 about starting chasing rabbit trails.

30:28 That's okay.

30:29 That's okay.

30:31 But yeah, it's definitely a good business.

30:38 Time-wise, now I live close to the grandkids,

30:41 so there's volleyball, basketball, all kinds of events.

30:44 So I kind of can take time to go do those things

30:48 and schedule my people around them.

30:50 And I also teach classes so I can schedule the days

30:53 for people coming and going.

30:55 So if you want a flexible schedule

30:57 and you want a job that really makes you feel good,

31:00 then quilting business is definitely for you.

31:05 Okay.

31:05 And I have another question here, Norma.

31:09 Where do you buy your thread and batting

31:11 for your client quilts?

31:13 Do you charge for thread and batting and batting for E2E?

31:19 And what about that?

31:20 Yeah, I do.

31:22 I charged batting just like the store would.

31:25 I do buy it wholesale

31:26 and I look at what the stores are charging for it.

31:29 So they can go buy it from them or me.

31:32 And I always tell them that.

31:34 I used to buy my batting when I lived in Texas.

31:37 I used to buy it directly from Hobbs

31:40 because they were in Waco, Texas.

31:43 Now I buy my batting from EE Schenck.

31:46 It's a wholesale company here.

31:48 It's in Portland, so it's a little bit of a drive.

31:51 But when I buy batting, I try to buy it for the year.

31:55 So I try to figure out, I mainly buy two battings.

31:58 My favorite battings are Hobbs 8020 and Heirloom Wool

32:03 because I use that a lot when I'm doing my custom.

32:08 And if any quilt that I want to display anywhere

32:12 because I display a lot of quilts,

32:14 I usually do two battings.

32:16 I put Hobbs 8020 on the bottom

32:17 and Heirloom Wool on the top.

32:19 And if I have a customer that says,

32:21 I'm gonna put this in a quilt show,

32:23 I always ask them to consider that.

32:25 So anyway, I do that.

32:27 I also buy my thread.

32:28 Typically, I have a count that I've had for a long time

32:32 from Linda's Electric.

32:33 And so I usually will watch for a sale

32:36 or something like that.

32:38 And again, I'll gather up,

32:40 I'll be writing notes throughout the year

32:42 on my thread that I'm running out of and what I need.

32:45 And then I'll try to make that purchase,

32:47 once a year or once every six months,

32:50 I try not to run out and then have to call every month.

32:55 So.

32:56 Okay.

32:57 Do you charge?

32:58 And I do charge for thread.

32:59 I charge by the bobbin for thread, yeah.

33:01 Okay, okay, by the bobbin.

33:03 Yeah.

33:04 Now, as far as the quilting chart,

33:07 do you charge by the hour, by the square inch or what?

33:10 I do both.

33:11 So because every quilt is different.

33:15 Edge to edge is usually always square inch

33:18 and custom is always by the hour.

33:22 So everybody's custom is different.

33:25 I have one that came in today

33:27 that there's some custom to it, but not a lot.

33:31 There's some areas I can do edge to edge

33:32 and areas I'm gonna custom.

33:34 So it will be custom and it will be by the hour,

33:37 but it may not be as expensive as a whole custom quilt.

33:42 My hourly rate for custom is $35 an hour.

33:46 So I wanna feel very worth it when I'm done

33:49 that if I worked eight hours,

33:51 that I got a paycheck for that time of eight hours.

33:55 I used to do it years ago

33:57 and would be lucky if I got $5 an hour.

34:00 So I kind of quit doing that.

34:02 I'm like.

34:03 You learned a lesson there, huh?

34:04 Yeah.

34:05 I kind of like, here's the hourly rate.

34:07 I have a timer.

34:08 I time when I start, I time when I finish.

34:12 If I take a break,

34:13 so I know exactly how many hours I put in on your quilt.

34:16 And I make it fair.

34:17 I've talked to a lot of people

34:20 who have experienced some of that same thing

34:23 that you're talking about.

34:24 When they started out,

34:25 they charged way too little for custom or whatever.

34:31 You have any advice for people starting out

34:33 with that issue?

34:36 With custom?

34:37 Yeah.

34:38 Well, first off,

34:41 you must feel confident that you're going to do it well

34:45 because some people are like,

34:47 well, I don't do that many.

34:50 So if I do one, I don't want to overcharge

34:54 if they feel like.

34:55 But I would still set an hourly rate

34:58 because edge to edge just doesn't count in custom.

35:02 You do a whole different level of work.

35:06 And I would say after you get two or three under your belt,

35:09 just keep gradually increasing that

35:12 because you want to feel good

35:14 that you put in an eight hour day and you made a good day.

35:17 Okay.

35:20 Can you share what your per square inch

35:23 was going for in Washington?

35:25 Well, I will tell you that when I was in Texas,

35:28 I was doing three cents per square inch.

35:32 And when I moved here,

35:34 my housing situation is about double.

35:39 So I do charge three and a half cents

35:41 and believe it or not,

35:43 the quilters in this area, that's the base fee.

35:46 So that's what we charge, yeah.

35:47 Okay.

35:48 Okay, excellent.

35:51 One of our questioners, Alice said,

35:53 side note, what is funny that I am a dental hygienist

35:56 who wants to cut back and do what I love,

35:58 which is to quilt.

36:00 So you're touching base with somebody out there.

36:04 There you go.

36:04 There you go.

36:05 You can do it.

36:06 You know, I had one of the gals I worked with,

36:10 her husband kept talking to me.

36:12 He's a computer tech guy.

36:14 And I kept saying, well, if I quit,

36:16 you know, I need to get a really good computer

36:18 and I really need to have a good software.

36:20 So I did buy the quilting business manager software.

36:24 And, you know, I said, I need all these things

36:26 and I'm scared and I'm nervous.

36:28 And they kept saying to me, you can do this.

36:31 You're really good.

36:32 And people know about you and, you know,

36:35 and they were kind of like rah, rah, rah behind me.

36:39 So anyway, he helped me get my Mac computer

36:42 and get it all set up.

36:43 And people, if they follow me, they know this.

36:46 I am crazy about photos.

36:49 So anyway, my Mac computer

36:52 has this really good photo editor program.

36:55 And not that I edit them that much,

36:57 but I always put my name on my photos.

36:59 And anytime I'm quilting for anybody,

37:03 I might do the second row and I'm snapping pictures

37:05 and sending to them and going,

37:07 look how beautiful your quilt is.

37:09 So that's my other thing I'm gonna say to new quilters,

37:12 be enthusiastic.

37:13 I know that you're a little nervous at first

37:16 and you're like, you know, oh, does it look okay?

37:20 No, no, no, it looks fabulous.

37:23 Look at your beautiful quilt.

37:25 I mean, anybody that walks in my door,

37:28 I spread their quilt out and I tell them,

37:31 and I really mean it, your quilt is beautiful.

37:33 So you really try to let them know

37:37 and pictures really help them visualize.

37:40 So I'm a big picture taker too.

37:42 So I don't know why I said that, but.

37:46 Yes, and I agree.

37:47 And I've heard that from a few different people

37:49 who have found photographing their quilts

37:53 is a key part of what they do.

37:56 I have another question.

37:58 Joan is asking, how do you select colors of your thread

38:02 to have a good supply and what are the most common?

38:07 Well, yeah, that's an interesting question

38:12 because when they come in,

38:14 a lot of times I'll lay their quilt out

38:16 and then I will start looking at the colors in their quilt

38:20 and there might be teal and orange and yellow.

38:24 And so I start going, okay,

38:26 we can do a lot of different colors here

38:29 and I'll start pulling them out.

38:30 Now, the best way to test a color on a quilt, of course,

38:33 is to spool it up, is to get a big glob of it

38:36 and spool it up and throw it on the quilt,

38:38 not just the spool, but to pull it off a little bit.

38:42 So I'll do that and spread it out on the quilt

38:44 and they will hem and haw a little bit,

38:48 but usually they'll go,

38:50 well, that looks really good.

38:51 And then I say, well, let's look at the backing,

38:53 make sure it looks good with the backing.

38:55 And if they ask me my opinion,

38:58 I don't step in unless they ask me,

39:00 but if they ask me, I'll tell them.

39:02 I will say, honestly, I like this one the best.

39:06 And I'll tell them why it looks good

39:09 and why I think it looks good.

39:10 And I have my intake sheet, I'll write it down.

39:13 I usually take the spool of thread

39:15 that they tell me they like

39:17 and I'll put it in a Ziploc bag

39:20 and attach it to their quilt.

39:22 Even though I wrote it down,

39:24 it just helps me also see that visual

39:27 when I pull their quilt out.

39:29 And I usually keep at least two colors of everything

39:35 in my selection so that I have everything.

39:38 And the more colors, the better.

39:40 Every year I try to add a couple more colors, so.

39:44 Isn't there almost an infinite number of colors

39:46 and in-between colors?

39:48 Right, probably my favorite color

39:49 that seems to pop out on most of the quilts

39:52 that you asked me would probably be wheat,

39:54 my signature wheat.

39:56 And unlike a lot of you, you're all gonna go,

39:59 ah!

40:00 a lot of quilters these days love glide and they love that polyester thread. I'm a cotton thread

40:08 girl so I like that depth and I like to see the quilting and I will use glide at times and I will

40:15 for different occasions but wheat signature thread is probably my favorite. It just kind of goes with

40:21 a lot of things. Okay and Paula is asking do you use the same thread for top and bobbin and

40:30 what are your favorite brands? You just alluded to some of them. Absolutely use the same thread

40:37 in the top and bottom and if somebody asks me to not do that I go I'm going to do the same thread

40:44 in the top and the bottom and I'm going to tell you why because no matter how you get that tension

40:51 it's still going to pop up a little bit and I want it to be successful for you and I can change

40:58 colors of thread during your quilt if you want me to and I will change both but always always the

41:04 same. Gotcha we're just going through questions people are just throwing in questions here so

41:12 I don't know if I'm going to be able to get back to my list or not but Alice is asking do you ever

41:18 feel that you need to sell quilts for too cheap to friends co-workers etc? I don't sell quilts

41:26 so all my quilts are class samples and I don't do that. Sometimes people in the past I haven't done

41:35 it lately but they've asked me to make a custom quilt for them for their bed and have me look at

41:41 their bedroom colors and I had three girls that worked for me in Texas and they would do the

41:47 piecing and I would do the quilting. I still have one that kind of does that for me but

41:52 anyway I will usually those quilts are a thousand dollars or more because they're all custom but

42:00 I don't do that so I don't know. I think eventually I might sell some of these quilt samples

42:08 but you know unless you just really really want to get rid of it you know you can sell it for

42:14 whatever you want but I do have some of my students that have Etsy stores and so they'll

42:19 sell their quilts on Etsy and so anyway I don't know. Did I answer that question?

42:26 Sounds good to me. Okay we're getting we got about 15 minutes left so let's

42:33 get this knocked out. Hardest part of growing your business both back in Texas and

42:41 and in Washington. What would you say about that? Well I think the hardest part is you feel a little

42:48 bit frustrated when you're not as busy as you want to be so being patient and and just finding

42:57 avenues of how to get myself out there you know and think about other things that I can do so

43:06 hanging with quilters is a good one whether you go to the guild or whether you go to the store

43:12 or you know it's kind of like you know you need to go where the quilting is so that that subject

43:21 is going to be present right so anyway and then if you do a good job for somebody ask them to refer

43:28 you you know if you really liked how I quilted for you I all the time will say oh do you have a

43:35 business card and they'll say sometimes they'll say no and I'll give them one and sometimes

43:42 they'll say yes and I'll say well but your friends need one so I'll hand them three more and say so

43:47 take these to your friends because be sure and let your friends know that I'm here so when I do go to

43:53 the guilds and speak I will tell you I'm very careful about I know that you have long arm

43:58 quilters here I know that you've had people that you love for years because you always once you

44:03 get a long arm quilter you love you love them and I'm not there to take their business away

44:08 I just say if they're busy or if you need a shorter turnaround time I can do it in two weeks

44:15 for you so let me know if I can help you so always present it as you're helping them so yeah yeah and

44:22 that's that's a big thing that's something that I have picked up on that some of the new people

44:28 they worry about they don't want to enter into a guild and be looked at as a competition or you

44:37 know a danger or anything and some of that spirit that you just shared right there I think speaks to

44:45 some of that well they like fast most quilters like fast I mean I've had some people come in

44:51 and say I'm so glad you're here my quilter is 10 weeks out you know so I needed it for this

44:58 occasion so I really appreciate that now once they learn about me once they see it she may come back

45:06 again you know I'm she because she knows that that she's confident that I can because and I

45:14 always always always thank them for coming to me because they have choices they can go wherever

45:20 they want thank you for trusting me with your quilt because I know you could have went somewhere

45:25 else so I always try to be appreciative too and since you've been doing this in two different

45:33 places would you say the place you were at before and the place that you are now

45:40 did it seem like the market is uh saturated or if there's uh openings um what what do you

45:49 say about that absolutely not I mean more and more people I feel like are getting like little

45:57 small long arms for themselves they want to quilt for themselves and so they're doing that

46:03 that's okay there's a lot of that out there but here's the thing not everybody likes to do that

46:08 everybody likes to do that I have many people that they like to piece but they don't want a

46:13 long arm so you know there's both people out there so I feel like there's enough quilting

46:21 in the world for all of us there's so much you know in Texas and there was a lot of quilters

46:27 and you know we just put ourselves we I actually was in a brochure and you might check to see if

46:34 your quilt store has a brochure our quilt store did a brochure and they listed all the long arm

46:39 quilters so I paid to have my name in that but I did do that now here they don't have that but I

46:47 think that if you wanted to I think a lot of the guilds if you join membership you can pay for an

46:54 ad in their newsletter have uh have both of the places that you've been uh have they been uh

47:02 urban or rural um you know in Texas I was in a smaller college town I would say than here

47:11 here I'm definitely in a bigger place I'm really close to Seattle so um I would say I'm more in

47:18 the city here as far as that is um you went from one world to the other didn't you I did because

47:27 it's warm it's hot you know I loved it in the winter but I have to tell you I love it here in

47:32 the summertime so um yeah I went from one extreme to the other kind of gotcha um well Norma who

47:42 would you say have been some of your biggest uh cheerleaders or support system in this journey

47:48 oh my gosh my family for sure um my daughter um she brainstorms with me sometimes she's

47:56 the director of a library and sometimes I'll say I don't I don't know technically what to do with

48:04 some of these things and we were doing the expo and she goes oh my gosh you need a free gift

48:10 so she's my market person that says you need to give a free gift that has your name on it you know

48:15 and actually she had me do these shirts so we did these shirts I have shirts with Norma's

48:20 quilt studio so we did that so we did a few things like that but anyway she's definitely

48:26 one and I would say the guy who helped me with my Mac computer and said Norma you can quit your

48:33 job and do this you're going to be okay um and you're really good and you need to believe in

48:39 yourself and so a lot of it is what you believe for for real do you have uh some of your family

48:46 live close to you where you are now yes that's the reason I moved here is my daughter lives five

48:52 miles from here so I'm really close to the grandkids which I've not been close to so it's

48:58 been so fun to be close to them and my daughter knows lots of people of course not a whole lot

49:04 of quilters but I did move to a 55 plus retirement area here and interestingly enough there's quite a

49:10 few quilters here and um they go by my window um I don't know if you can see my window in the back

49:17 but I have great big windows and they go by my window and they say we knew you were a long-arm

49:21 quilter because we saw your long arm in the window so I've gotten a few customers just from that

49:26 which has been funny yeah you have some window peepers in the 55 community there well it's so

49:33 close to the road and they walk they all walk here so yeah but anyway I've been I've been loving

49:39 it being close to the kids and my daughter and so yeah that's been way fun so as far as the quilting

49:45 um what kind of impact is this just being in control of having your own personal schedule

49:51 and everything how has that impacted your life oh my gosh if you want to have your own personal

49:57 schedule again you need to become a quilter because you can do it you know I'm always

50:02 scheduling people coming and going and what I'm doing but I'm still able to go to the volleyball

50:07 games or go pick up somebody after school or do what I need to do so or take or teach a class you

50:14 know on Friday or something so I can schedule around all of that um I typically work very late

50:20 at night when I'm quilting because my go time is usually 6 p.m to 2 a.m for the very reason that

50:28 nobody's calling me nobody's texting me nobody I'm not on my email so it kind of is my quiet time

50:35 so I do a lot of that but I do a lot of my running during the day so that's kind of when I quilt the

50:41 most okay do you have like a a business hours or anything like that or you just what about that

50:53 not really um I just tell them um first off I always tell them if you want a quote I'll give

51:00 you a quote as fast as you want anytime you want just text me the size of your quilt

51:05 and then we start talking about I always give them options I try not to give them too many options

51:10 because I don't want to say I'm here from nine to five tomorrow so I'll say okay you can come at

51:16 2 30 or 3 30 tomorrow afternoon so it kind of narrows it down for me when they're coming

51:22 so anyway yeah I just kind of do that so I don't really have business hours and um and if somebody

51:29 says you know I'm going to be out of town can I come and pick my quilt up at midnight I would

51:33 probably let them you know so I try to be very accommodating um here some of my students are

51:40 about 35 miles away and I'll say hey I'll make a trip over to Silverdale to that next town and

51:47 I'll bring your quilt how about that would that help you so I try to be accommodating too okay

51:53 well um you're I think you're you're good at rolling with the punches so we I want to jump

51:59 back for one other follow-up question Joan is asking about going back to the thread uh I

52:05 understand the spooling and selecting colors but how have you selected your stock of spools

52:14 well I guess when I started out I tried to get a wide range now I kind of know what I need and

52:21 I'll make a note for myself that I need to reorder that and I'll make a list of thread reorder um

52:29 so probably the most popular ones are white and parchment and pearl and wheat so the ones that

52:39 are the most popular um when I was in Texas I I was near a school called Texas A&M so cranberry

52:47 was very popular but um I would say gray thread is also very popular because everything matches

52:54 with gray so but if you can do those basic colors uh first and foremost those are usually

53:01 the good go-to colors for sure so you get into some of the crazier colors there's one called

53:08 wine there's one called green grass I mean you have to be careful because you have to have that

53:13 color quilt so if you want to do the basic I would say parchment and linen is probably another good

53:19 one okay um you might feel like the Gandhi of quilting here because we're having more questions

53:29 how do you handle something like a tension problem or any other frustrating moments that

53:34 happens on a customer quilt you know I have to honestly say since I've gotten my new Statler

53:41 Ascend I have had absolutely no tension issues but I also know how to test my tension

53:49 so learn that learn how to do that so I will take my bobbin thread and I will take a totally

53:56 different color and I'll take my top thread that's the only time I do two different colors

54:01 and I will take it off to the side and I will do some stitching I usually put it on

54:06 hand stitching so I can see it and do some loops and see how it's reacting so do I need to tighten

54:13 or loosen a little bit I always always always um when I change every color not every spool

54:21 but I always use the bobbin um I'm trying to think what it's called the bobbin uh that you test your

54:28 bobbin with the tower gauge I always use that so I always use that because number one your bob

54:36 your bottom bobbin is probably the one that's going to be effective first so I always use that

54:41 to make sure that it's correct when I change colors I don't usually do it every time but when

54:46 I change colors I always make sure and check check my needle to make sure that it's sharp

54:52 and I usually will switch my needle out after I do at least two full quilts I'll switch it back out

54:58 and then um I always kind of if I need to tighten the top thread if I'm doing that testing on the

55:04 side and I see that something's not working right with each other I've got too much on the top or

55:10 too much underneath so I check it I test it and I know what I'm looking for I'm ready to go so

55:18 and before I do a custom quilt every time I will take that little um case off that holds the bobbin

55:27 where the foot is I'll take that whole thing out and clean all the lint out in there and clean that

55:34 machine from top to bottom before I start any custom and every custom quilt gets a new needle

55:42 because I'm going to be beating it up pretty big with the custom so

55:45 so you take that throat plate off and oh yeah the whole thing out in there oh yeah I do and I will

55:51 tell you I get pieces of thread down there that I'm like how on earth did that happen I was very

55:57 careful um but I will find those things that will cause issues so I clean it a lot I maintain it

56:05 and know that it's only going to work well if I make sure that I do my part that it's clean

56:13 I talk to people all the time that uh they'll have a bunch of thread wrapped around something

56:18 here or there and they they have no idea how it got there you know yeah yeah surprise surprise

56:26 you're like wow right all right uh we we just we're getting down to a couple of minutes here

56:31 Norma uh do you can you think of anything that you wish that somebody would have told you like

56:38 when you first started out about this um you know I I went and got education and I made sure that I

56:50 went as much as I could and I made sure and studied it um so I don't really I can't really

56:58 think of anything I guess that you know it's going to be slow take your time and take your time

57:04 learning and give yourself you know a good six months to just know the machine and get to know

57:09 each other you know so um but education education education do more um I know there's a lot of

57:17 things out there the GAML website has things quilting with confidence I mean just do as much

57:24 as you can new owner training on GAML.com yeah um okay to wrap this up you you you in particular

57:35 have had two different opportunities to begin basically begin your business um what advice

57:43 would you give to somebody who wants to do what you're talking about and do you think it's still

57:48 possible to do it in this day and age? I do I do I feel like I even talked to my granddaughter about

57:55 it this is a good industry to get into a good career to get into um you have flexibility you

58:02 make good money um you make people happy I mean you know and for me I love it I love doing it

58:10 so I do feel like that it is something that is is very um something that people can do and yeah

58:18 you have to buy an expensive piece of equipment you have to spend money to make money but it

58:23 doesn't take long before it nets a return and you'll be fine so. Great well Norma thank you

58:31 very much um I do want to give you an opportunity uh can you tell how can people what's the best

58:37 place uh place is for people to find you or get or contact you? Oh my goodness Norma's Quilt Studio

58:47 so if you type in Norma's Quilt Studio it will come up usually on Facebook I have a website

58:54 my website is njbestquilts.com I have a section that says where is Norma at like where is Waldo

59:02 at so it tells you where I'm at and what I'm doing um so anyway there's that um I have a

59:09 YouTube channel I have some Statler training videos on there not a lot but sometimes I'll

59:15 be working and I go oh my gosh they need to know this so I'll do a quick video um I do so I do test

59:22 for a couple of designers and I do some videos for them sometimes but anyway Norma's Quilt Studio

59:28 is where you get and where you find me and on my website njbestquilts.com I have a contact form

59:34 that you can contact me if you have questions too so and the YouTube uh would that uh what

59:40 would that be your name it's Norma's Quilt Studio okay yeah it's under Norma's Quilt Studio I think

59:46 Norma Stark it says so yeah and I don't do a lot with that but if I think of something new I'll

59:53 throw it on there so you know it's just um I did for the piece I know there's not a lot of pieces

59:59 out there but

1:00:00 Sometimes quilters are piecers, just to let you know,

1:00:02 I do a whole bunch of free videos on my YouTube on piecing.

1:00:07 So how to find a quarter inch, how to cut accurately,

1:00:11 how to press accurately.

1:00:12 I did a whole series for Stitchin' Heaven.

1:00:18 And so we did a whole series and I did training for people.

1:00:21 So just know that there's free stuff out there too.

1:00:25 Okay, well, Norma, thank you so much.

1:00:29 It's been totally enjoyable talking to you.

1:00:31 I really do appreciate it.

1:00:34 And it was fun.

1:00:35 Yeah, I'm sure you'll be hearing from some people.

1:00:39 Well, that does it I guess for this episode

1:00:41 of Quilting Business Success.

1:00:43 Norma, thank you so much.

1:00:45 You're welcome, it was fun.

1:00:47 People that are watching, thank you so much.

1:00:50 Y'all have a good evening.

1:00:52 You too, and we'll see you guys next time.

1:00:54 Bye-bye.

1:00:55 Bye.

1:00:56 Bye.