How Denise Fried Built a Thriving Longarm Quilting Business While Working Full-Time

0:00 All right, I just clicked the button.

0:27 Welcome everybody to another Quilting Business Success and today we have Denise Freed with us

0:38 as well as co-host Bobby Ware and I'm Andrew Weaver. Hello.

0:47 And we are the cold crew today because we were just talking about the snowstorm

0:56 that is happening here in Missouri. It's supposed to be, I've heard rumors of up to 15 inches of

1:02 snow which is hard to believe but it might materialize. It's coming down hard and the

1:08 snowplow just went by. And Denise, where are you at? I'm in Mandan, North Dakota and our temperature

1:17 this morning was minus 31 degrees without the windchill. Okay, now the town name broke up so

1:26 where is it again? Mandan. Mandan, okay. We're like the sister next to Bismarck which is the capital

1:34 just across the river. Okay, so Denise is looking at us panicking over the 15 inches of snow and

1:42 just kind of smirking. A little bit. I do like a good snow day though. Well, Denise, we're really

1:53 glad to have you here with us. Let's start out. Can you tell us how long have you been long-arm

2:02 quilting? I bought my first machine in 2019 and I started quilting

2:14 so three and a half years. I've been long-arming. Okay, I noticed the audio cut out there real

2:23 quick and I don't know what's going on. What's going on? You said, yeah, I don't know if we can fix it at

2:29 this point. I don't know. It's weird because it was just working and then you faded out to nothing

2:35 but I know you didn't change your speech so we'll see if it gets better as we go

2:42 along here. So, you got your first machine three and a half years ago. Well, I got it in 2019.

2:49 Oh, in 2019. Okay. Yeah and then I didn't start.

2:56 Oh, 2021 is when you started quilting for customers. Okay, got it. So, what machine

3:06 is the machine you have now? The first original machine or have you done any

3:11 upgrades or changes to it? So, the first one I bought was one of the Quilting with Confidence

3:18 machines and I got it when I was at Houston at the International Quilt Show and it's a Statler

3:26 and I'm using that one here at home and then we went to Houston this year and another one

3:34 followed me home. I have Send that is now in my shop in town and so I have two that I try to keep.

3:46 So, Denise, what was the journey? How did you discover long arm quilting

3:56 in the first place at least three and a half years ago?

4:00 Well, I started quilting when I was in 2024 or 20, yeah, 2004 and I quilted by checkbook. I

4:10 had a very awesome long arm quilter that quilted for me and I did a lot of quilts every year and

4:18 when I would sit down at tax time and figure out how much I spent on quilting, it was kind of

4:25 shocking how much and so I was talking to my husband one day before we went to Houston and

4:32 I said, if I can get a machine, I'm going to try to do it and just see if I like it and I'll at

4:41 least get the 30, 40 that I have sitting at home to not have to maybe pay as much for it and then

4:49 I found out that I like it. A year and a half after I got my machine, I decided, okay, let's

4:55 open this up to friends and see what happens and here we are. Interesting. Were you, when you first

5:06 got your machine and you were doing just your 30 or 40 quilts that you had sitting in the house at

5:12 the moment, were you, did you have a regular full-time job you're doing at that time and then

5:19 did you make a transition out of that or? No, I still am working full-time, position assistant

5:27 and I've been in practice for 31 years and right now I'm doing long-term care and so it's a nice

5:36 flexible job where I do rounding in the morning and I have my afternoons free and so I was able to

5:45 have the shop in town where I can go into and work there and make it easier for me

5:53 and then I'm using my one in town or at my home for my custom quilting because

6:00 that always seems to take longer and I'm not tying up the machine and I'm getting more

6:06 work done for customers without them having to. So, you have your two machines in two different

6:13 locations, is that correct? Yes, I do. Yep. One is at your home and one is at your business?

6:22 Right, right. My husband has a flooring business in Mandan and he cleaned out a room for

6:30 us and we put the long arm in there. Now we can go to work together and come home together and

6:38 yeah, it works nice. Let me ask you, Denise, how did you decide upon getting a GAML machine

6:47 specifically? I had looked at a few different ones and then when I was in Houston I went around

6:54 to the different booths and I just like some of the features of GAML. I knew I wanted computer

7:02 free motion person. I strictly use the computer and watching I had a couple of good people that

7:13 sat down with me and showed me what it could do and just felt right so I went with the GAML.

7:19 Mm-hmm. So, how did you find customers to grow your business?

7:26 First, I mean, I belong to a very supportive guild, the Badland Quilters, and they've kind of

7:36 taken me on as their quilter and it's nothing for some of them to drop off two, three quilts at a

7:43 time or we can have a meeting and I'm bringing four or five quilts back with me and so they've

7:52 kind of helped with this and then word of mouth other people will see what I've done and they're

7:58 able to get ahold of me. So, right now I have about 65 regular customers that I quilt for and it's

8:08 from all over the state and even some, I have one gal that sends me quilts from Colorado Springs.

8:18 Her and one of my friends meet up twice a year and so they do the

8:24 travel and pick up and one's the donkey and brings them to me.

8:30 Yeah, well, I actually, I've done quite a bit of service out in your area

8:36 in the far-flung reaches and I know that there's quite a quilter grapevine,

8:45 underground railroad of quilts and, you know, somebody will be doing an all-day drive from

8:53 one town to another and they'll schlep a couple quilts for somebody to get them to or from the

8:59 long-arm quilter. Yep, yep, yep, and I find that when I go to retreats, I'm bringing to or from,

9:09 so it works out well. Yeah, don't forget to write off all those miles. No, I gotta keep track of

9:15 those. Hey, Denise, I wanted to, I may have missed it in the conversation. Now, you have the two

9:23 machines. You started out with the one and how long had you had that machine until you

9:32 got the second one? Five years. Okay, so it's been fairly recently you got the second one.

9:42 Right, I got it set up in December. And was the reason that you got the second one, was that

9:50 due to relative success with the first one? Yeah, I just, I decided I needed something

9:58 that I could do quicker turnaround for the edge to edge. I always felt like

10:04 if I had a custom on, I had two or three people that were waiting for something and

10:09 since I put the machine in town, I'm doing four to five quilts.

10:17 Basically, I'm working from maybe 1.32 in the afternoon till five and I'm able to get those

10:25 done. And then on the weekends, I can custom ones here at home. And you said four to five quilts

10:33 per how often? For about every four days, five days. I'm using one a day. Wow. Yeah, it's been

10:44 good. It's been nice to be able to every week have three or four coming off the machine and

10:49 ready to go out. I was kind of all close.

10:56 Makes me feel better. You're cutting out a little. You said you were behind how much?

11:01 About 40 quilts. Oh, yeah. Did that make you feel a little anxious? A little bit, yes. Yeah.

11:09 Because my customers are very good. They understand that I have a full-time job and

11:17 this is something I do on the side. And so, they work with me. And if I need to get one done sooner,

11:26 I will take off. I've got the zippered leader and enders. So, I'm able to switch out if I need to

11:33 and get a quick one on and get it done. But now, it's made it so much easier having the machine in

11:40 town because that's strictly edge to edge. And I usually take three to four quilts in with me

11:46 every week on Monday and hope by bringing them home or having them picked up by Friday.

11:52 So, when you, especially when you got your second machine, what was the real indication to you

12:02 that there would be enough quilts for you to do to make it worth it? Because a machine like the

12:09 Statler or the Statler Ascend, it declines in value by around $1,100 a year. And so, this asset

12:18 that you have, you know, in 10 years from now, it'll be worth $12,000 less than what you paid

12:24 for. So, you need to make sure that you have enough quilts coming through, you know, to make

12:30 it worth having that and the space that it takes. So, what was the kind of indicator to you that

12:40 there was plenty of quilts to do? Just as how many I had backed up and

12:46 knowing my quilting friends and how prolific they are at quilting and, you know, even just my own.

12:54 I mean, I have stack to be finished and I retire in about two and a half my day job. And so,

13:06 nothing else. I'll have two to get all the ones done that my kids are waiting for. So,

13:13 and they, you know, you say they depreciate a little bit, but I've never had problems as far

13:21 as, you know, service or anything. And so, I'm like, if someone's going to be,

13:27 it's going to be starting out and they'll be ready to

13:30 look for a used machine and I'll have a one or two for them to sell, you know.

13:37 Well, and they, oh, sorry, Bobby. Well, I was just going to wrap one little thing up there because

13:46 they, we do tell people to expect them to depreciate by about, oh, between $1,000 and $1,200

13:55 a year. Because of course, everybody would rather have a new one, but they'll take one that's five

14:01 or 10 years old or whatever if the price is lower. And I was looking at the price list earlier today

14:11 of the pre-love machines that we have for sale. And it occurred to me that one of the ones I was

14:16 looking at on the list that was priced at $34,999. And of course, somebody's going to

14:24 snatch it up. When that machine was new, the list price on it was $29,999. So, we're actually selling

14:32 it for $5,000 more 12 years later, but there's been a wee bit of inflation since then.

14:39 Yes. And both of my machines are pre-loved. I mean, one was from Quilting with Confidence

14:46 and this was a pre-loved one. I bought it in Houston and I've never had problems. I

14:55 think that's the way to go sometimes. So, Bobby, you had a question.

15:01 Well, as Denise was talking, the audio cut out for just a moment when she was mentioning

15:08 something about retirement plans. And I know for a lot of the people that are watching this podcast,

15:15 they may be interested in that particular aspect. Were you talking about retiring from

15:22 your traditional job at some point in the future? Yes. I plan to retire in about two and a half

15:30 years. And at that time, since we've got the business in town, I would be going in and helping

15:39 answer phones and things like that. And so, I just planned

15:43 quilting in town until he decides to retire. So, which knowing his family could be another

15:51 years, who knows? Gotcha.

15:56 So, Denise, how do you have your quilting rates structured? And as somebody who does what sounds

16:03 like a lot of custom, I'm interested not just in your edge-to-edge rate, but how you do your custom

16:10 quilting as well. Okay. My edge-to-edge is normally two and a half cents a square inch.

16:18 And depending on sometimes I might bump it to three cents. My custom, I start out at five cents.

16:28 And then, that just depends on if it's, since I'm strictly computerized, having to place

16:38 a design into each little part of a block, that's going to be a little bit more than

16:44 if I can put a design in a whole block instead of each section of a block. And so,

16:51 my customs usually run about 250 to maybe 350, 400 for a queen size, depending on what all I have

17:02 to do for them. And I know I'm probably a little cheaper than some of the ones that do free motion

17:09 and things, but I always want to do a job that I would appreciate getting. And if I don't like it,

17:19 you're not getting it. And Denise, how many, do you know about how many quilts you've been

17:30 averaging per year? I would say close to 50 before I got the second machine. So.

17:45 But now she's doing more or less one a day. One a day when I'm at the shop, yeah.

17:52 You know, now these last two days. And working full-time also.

17:55 What's that? And working full-time at the same time with your other job.

18:03 So, not a lot of sleep goes on on the weekends.

18:06 So, do you have things like batting for sale or wide back fabrics or anything else?

18:13 Or do people have to bring that all? I do have batting. I usually carry the 80-20

18:22 white and natural. And then I also have wool available for larger quilts. And I'm thinking

18:30 about getting a poly blend for some of these minky quilts that I've been doing and seeing how

18:37 that works out. And Denise, as you look back on these last five years and, I mean, you're still

18:48 in a state of motion, you know, with your business. But can you think of what might,

18:56 what would be the hardest part that you have faced thus far of growing your business?

19:06 Growing the business, it doesn't seem like it's been hard. Like I said, I have friends

19:11 that are very supportive. And they talk me up when they're at other places. And that's how

19:18 I've gotten a lot of customers. For me, it's just the time. You know,

19:24 some days when we're real busy at work and I can't get to the shop and get a quilt going or,

19:33 you know, that kind of tears into things. And, you know, then you have those family obligations,

19:41 this and that. And so, you know, it's just the time factor I think has been the hardest for me to

19:47 just carve that out. And this, having the two machines has made it a lot easier.

19:54 I don't feel as stressed because I'm getting things caught up.

20:00 I'm not feeling like I'm falling off the train.

20:05 Have you yet had any difficulties dealing with a customer or a difficult job or any

20:16 bad experience with anything like that?

20:20 Not really.

20:23 We all get those quilts every once in a while, or maybe have a little waving.

20:29 I try to talk with the customers if I do run into that problem and kind of give them some

20:36 pointers on what they can do to maybe not have that big of a problem.

20:42 I am really lucky.

20:43 The gals that I quilt for, they are fantastic.

20:48 I mean, everything's straight it seems like.

20:52 I haven't really had any that I've been real upset about.

20:58 The most upset I've ever gotten is when I loaded the backing wrong and ended up short.

21:04 And so I add to the backing while it's on the Statler and it works.

21:11 That's a hard lesson to learn.

21:13 Yep, and now I measure quite a bit.

21:17 I think everybody makes that mistake at least once.

21:20 Yeah.

21:22 So I was wondering, I'm wondering a few different things, actually.

21:33 So you mentioned that your husband is there working as well,

21:38 and you feel like he's never going to retire.

21:41 He's just going to keep working and keep working.

21:44 What has his opinion been of you and your quilting and your quilting business?

21:50 He is one of my biggest supporters.

21:53 When I started talking about getting a quilt, it was never, oh, do you think maybe I should get one?

22:01 It was like, if you want one, go get it.

22:03 And when we were talking about taking over the business from his folks this year,

22:09 and I said, you know, it'd be nice to move one into town.

22:13 I'm going to Houston, why don't you look and see what they have?

22:19 And it just followed me home and he just, you know, he's okay with it.

22:26 In fact, he brought me a cold Coke before because he knew I was going to be nervous while we were doing this.

22:32 So yeah, he's just supportive.

22:36 He's a smart man.

22:37 He knows that if you're happy, his chances of being happy are much better.

22:42 They are.

22:43 They are.

22:43 And, you know, he built me a couple of quilt hammocks to put under me so that they don't lay on the floor.

22:53 And I mean, he's just been real supportive.

22:57 Talked me into getting a bigger TV, you know, little things.

23:04 And when I got my sewing studio up here, I was planning to be in the basement.

23:10 And my husband asked me if I would want my studio above the garage he was building.

23:18 And I was like, well, how big would that be?

23:22 He's like, oh, about 1100 square feet.

23:26 And I'm like, well, do you think that's big enough?

23:30 Obviously, I can tell you, and he built me this awesome studio.

23:38 And most weekends, he has to come.

23:45 Could you repeat that last piece that you were saying?

23:48 I didn't hear the last couple of sentences.

23:50 You said most weekends, he what?

23:52 He has to come visit me up here as I'm sitting up in the studio working and sewing and quilting.

24:00 Awesome.

24:01 And Andrew, your electronic setup may be a bit more conducive to mine to check the Q&A questions.

24:09 I think there's a few that are on there.

24:12 Oh, you know what?

24:12 There are, and I was not looking.

24:15 And I'm going to go to that right now.

24:18 And meanwhile, if there's anybody that had a question that they wanted to say, you can certainly do that in the Q&A.

24:26 I'm sure we'll have at least one here that is just related to the audio cutting out.

24:31 And I, unfortunately, there's not a good way to deal with that that I know of.

24:38 So Lorraine asked about the number of quilts that you're doing.

24:44 She had heard you say that you were doing four to five quilts in four days.

24:50 And Lorraine's question was if that was only on basically on one of your machines.

24:57 So yes, in town, the last week I did four quilts.

25:03 And usually what I do is I have one set up and ready to go when I get there.

25:09 And usually I can get about half to two-thirds of it done before we leave for the evening.

25:16 And then when I come in, there's that one.

25:23 Hang on, hang on, you cut out a little bit.

25:25 So you get half to two-thirds of it done before you go home.

25:29 And then what was the last part?

25:32 Oh, shoot, it cut out again.

25:35 It seems like this darn thing is getting worse.

25:37 I don't know what it is.

25:38 I know.

25:38 I'm looking to see here.

25:39 Let me see.

25:40 Is there anything that I could change?

25:48 Yeah, I don't know.

25:50 I've seen just about every Zoom bug or error that there is.

25:56 But this is kind of a new one on me.

25:58 I've not had it fade out like that before and come back.

26:02 It may be something that's just unique to the device.

26:06 Yeah.

26:06 I don't think we're going to fix it during this meeting.

26:09 No.

26:09 Yeah.

26:11 On average, it's about three to four that I get done in the week in town.

26:16 And then, hopefully, one custom will come up about every week.

26:24 Yeah, OK.

26:26 Custom comes off every week or so?

26:28 A week, sometimes a little longer depending on how big they are.

26:32 The one I just loaded tonight is 97 by 150.

26:39 That's going to take me a little bit.

26:41 Yeah, yeah.

26:43 So between the custom and the edge-to-edge, well,

26:52 we had a question from Sylvia.

26:54 And just to clarify on what machine you have, one of your machines

26:58 is a Gammill Statler, and the other one is a Statler Ascend?

27:01 Right.

27:02 And my one at home is a 26-inch.

27:05 The one in town is a 30-inch.

27:07 One in town is a 30-inch.

27:09 OK.

27:10 All right.

27:12 Interesting.

27:13 One of the ladies, she's excited to hear your story.

27:17 She says she's also working full-time and looking forward to retire.

27:22 And once she's retired, she's going to do long-arm quilting with her husband.

27:25 So she's dialed into your story.

27:30 I can't wait to the two years.

27:33 Two years till you can quit going to the clinic or wherever you work.

27:37 Yeah.

27:40 So just curious, can you think of a change in technology or anything

27:49 that makes things easier today than when you first started?

27:53 And the one that came to mind for me might have been if your first machine

28:00 didn't come with our training program, and then your second one

28:06 did come with training program.

28:08 But I don't know.

28:09 Maybe that's one thing I thought of.

28:11 But maybe there's what's been significant for you that's made it easier.

28:16 So with my first one, I learned a lot on my own.

28:20 I watched videos.

28:22 I think I watched every video Gammill had before my machine got there.

28:26 And then I belonged to some quilting and the academy.

28:32 And whenever I have a question, I'm always reaching out to others

28:37 and asking, how do I do this?

28:40 And so when I got the Ascend, it really helped me.

28:46 Oh, you cut out again.

28:47 So when you got the Ascend, what?

28:49 It was just an easy transition.

28:54 I just have to get used to it sewing faster than my other one does.

28:58 It kind of freaks me out once in a while when it's going so fast.

29:01 And I feel like, oh, I have to slow this down.

29:05 But I don't.

29:06 It sews amazing.

29:09 Have you been pretty happy with the difference in speed

29:13 that the Ascend gives you?

29:15 Yes, yes, especially doing the edge to edges.

29:19 And Denise, through this journey that you've been on,

29:23 who would you say who or what group of people or person

29:28 has been your biggest cheerleader or support system?

29:33 I would say my husband and then my close group of friends

29:39 that I have in the guild that push me to try new things.

29:46 I have a couple of them that give me their quotes and say, go to town.

29:51 Do whatever you want.

29:53 Let me play and learn how to tear out because I didn't like it.

30:01 I had to do a little bit of ripping to get it out.

30:04 But I started all over and did it again.

30:06 So I think that's my biggest thing is don't be scared to do it.

30:13 And you say don't be scared to what?

30:16 Don't be scared to jump in and learn the machines.

30:22 Like I said, I don't think it hasn't been a problem for me so far.

30:31 So can you tell about what kind of impact?

30:38 You haven't been quilting for a business that long.

30:41 But do you have anything to say to people

30:43 about the impact of the quilting money?

30:46 I mean, obviously, you get checks when you finish quilts.

30:49 Yep.

30:51 It has been nice.

30:53 I haven't had to cut into our personal accounts

30:57 anymore for retreats or travel.

31:01 I'm able to use that monies and expand different things.

31:09 When I started buying my own batting,

31:12 I didn't have to take that out of personal account.

31:16 And it's been nice.

31:19 I mean, I haven't made what I'm sure some longarm this year

31:27 was last year was like $12,000.

31:30 $12,000 I didn't have before.

31:34 And it made it easy to go different places.

31:43 Yeah, so that point is well taken,

31:46 that with your best year being $12,000,

31:49 it may not seem like a lot to other people,

31:52 but it's $12,000 you didn't have before.

31:54 Yeah.

31:55 Exactly.

31:56 Wow.

31:56 Unless he's working a separate full-time job.

32:00 Right.

32:01 Yeah.

32:01 Right.

32:05 The other thing that I wanted to ask you

32:07 is, is there something that you wish somebody would have told

32:11 you back when you first started?

32:14 And I don't know if you want to take that as when you got

32:17 your first machine, like when you were picking out

32:19 that first machine at the show there in Houston,

32:23 or maybe some other idea, something you wish somebody

32:27 would have told you.

32:29 I doubted myself that I would be able to do it.

32:33 And that cut out again?

32:36 Yeah.

32:37 Yeah.

32:38 I doubted myself.

32:39 I didn't think I was going to be a longarm quilter.

32:43 I figured I was buying this machine,

32:45 and I was just going to do it for myself.

32:48 And when I found out how easy it was to work with GAML

32:55 and work with the staff, it made it a no-brainer.

33:00 I told friends if they wanted to bring some quilters,

33:04 let me practice on them.

33:05 I would do that for them.

33:06 And nothing has really scared me ever since then.

33:11 But someone would have told me 10 years ago

33:15 that I was going to longarm, I would

33:17 have laughed at them, because I didn't know I could do it

33:21 by the computer.

33:23 Kind of a computer nerd kind of like.

33:27 I like to figure out how to do things different each time

33:31 and quicker.

33:33 Mm-hmm.

33:34 That's probably part of the self-confidence

33:37 throughout this journey.

33:39 What's that?

33:40 So you've developed some self-confidence

33:43 throughout this journey.

33:44 I have.

33:45 And I look at quilt shows different now.

33:48 I'm not looking at the quilt anymore.

33:50 I'm looking at the quilting, which

33:53 going from Houston in 2019 to Houston in 2020,

33:58 more of my pictures are close-ups

34:00 of what people did on different quilts

34:03 than the actual quilt itself.

34:06 That's what my interest is.

34:09 Mm-hmm.

34:10 I have a question from the audience,

34:13 again, asking about when you were doing practice quilts

34:17 for your friends, just kind of making that leap over

34:20 into doing paid work.

34:23 Did you charge your friends for those quilts?

34:25 And if so, how much?

34:28 I did.

34:29 They wanted me to charge them, and I

34:33 square inch, because that's where I had read something

34:37 somewhere.

34:38 And then as I did more research and stuff,

34:41 I adjusted my rates, and I've not had anyone yet look at me

34:47 and say, ooh, that wasn't what I was expecting.

34:52 But I also will tell people ahead of time,

34:56 your quilt is this big.

34:57 If I do edge-to-edge, this is what it's going to cost.

35:01 If you want me to do borders and border-to-border,

35:06 this is the rate.

35:07 And this is what it will cost.

35:13 And I like to keep them informed so that they

35:16 know what they're getting and what to expect when they come

35:25 to pick it up.

35:26 It doesn't matter what you're talking about.

35:29 Nobody likes a surprise with the price,

35:31 unless it's a lower price than you were expecting.

35:34 That's the only kind of surprise that people like.

35:37 I had a couple quilts when I was paying my checkbook

35:41 that when I went to pick them up, I was like,

35:44 oh, take that deep breath.

35:49 Hope the person that's getting it realizes what you put into it.

35:54 And I think that's also a place where communication

36:01 before, during, and after is probably an important thing.

36:07 I do send all my customers my ideas

36:11 on how I want to quilt something.

36:14 I'll do it in standalone.

36:16 And I will mock up part of a custom,

36:21 or I will mock up an edge-to-edge

36:23 and send them two or three different ideas and options.

36:28 They can have a party.

36:31 Seems to work well.

36:33 And yeah.

36:38 Well, Denise, so you started with your long-arming.

36:45 What was it, five years ago?

36:47 Yeah, 2019.

36:49 What advice?

36:53 There's a lot of people that are watching this now

36:56 and will be watching that are debating on which direction

37:02 they're going to take with regard to this.

37:04 And so my question to you is, what advice would you

37:08 give somebody who wants to follow the path that you've

37:15 taken or wants to do some of the things

37:17 that you've talked about doing today?

37:19 Do you think that in this day and age

37:22 that it is still possible to be successful in quilting?

37:27 What I would first say is, if they have a friend that

37:33 does long-arm quilting or they're

37:35 able to go watch and learn some of the aspects of it,

37:45 I've had a couple of friends that have come out and watched

37:47 how I loaded and how I get things started.

37:51 I had one friend that came out to see how we can,

37:58 just to see if she wanted to upgrade

38:00 to a computerized machine because she

38:02 did everything free motion.

38:05 And so just do your homework.

38:09 Go and look at each of the machines.

38:12 One of my friends that comes here and sews once a month

38:16 with me, she bought a smaller machine

38:18 with a different company because she

38:20 didn't need a big machine because she does basically

38:25 wall hangings and does it all freehand.

38:28 And so she had watched me do enough

38:31 that she kind of knew what she wanted.

38:33 And I think that's it.

38:40 The last sentence there we just lost, Denise.

38:43 I said, just don't be scared.

38:46 That's your dream.

38:47 Do it.

38:48 Mm-hmm.

38:51 Yeah, I think your story is a really good example of how

39:01 somebody can be very successful even in a very rural area.

39:08 Like where you are is you've got not a lot of population.

39:16 Right.

39:18 And I mean, I do live in the capital.

39:22 And there is other long-arm quilters in the area.

39:26 And I'm good friends with some of the long-arm quilters.

39:29 And we all seem to be busy.

39:33 Whatever niche you get into and, you know.

39:40 You all seem to be what?

39:42 Busy.

39:43 Have our own niche.

39:44 And we're able to keep busy.

39:51 Excellent.

39:52 Let me check the questions again.

39:54 I think we might have any more here.

39:56 Let's see.

39:57 So, oh.

40:00 So on the quilts that you did for your friends,

40:03 you didn't know how much to charge at that time

40:06 and you adjusted your rates later,

40:08 but what was your rate for those very first ones,

40:12 which was probably-

40:12 The very first ones was two cents a square inch.

40:16 Two cents, all right.

40:17 Well, that wasn't too cheap.

40:18 I thought you were gonna,

40:19 I thought you might've done them for a penny an inch.

40:22 Nope, nope.

40:24 And my friends are kind, they like to challenge me.

40:27 I've had every kind of backing you could imagine.

40:31 I've done chenille, I've done minky, I've done tapestry,

40:35 I've done denim, and they always,

40:42 let's see, and if I can't,

40:44 we'll figure it out some other way.

40:45 And so I just do it and it's worked.

40:52 Have you done t-shirts?

40:54 I have done t-shirts, I've done quite a few.

40:56 I've made t-shirt quilts for all my nieces and nephews

40:59 and I've quilted four of them and I don't have a problem.

41:06 Have you had people ask you to do binding?

41:11 They've asked me, but that is one thing

41:13 that I don't get done on my own.

41:15 If I could find someone that would do my bindings,

41:18 I would be a happy person.

41:20 Awesome.

41:22 I'm not gonna do your bindings,

41:23 I want you to do my bindings.

41:26 All right.

41:27 Stack that should get done, one of these.

41:30 Yeah, yeah.

41:32 I have a quilt in the closet that I put the binding on,

41:36 but I did it by machine and I really wished for it to be

41:40 hand turned or needle turned or whatever.

41:44 And so I've got to find somebody to do it

41:47 and I'll have to pull it off.

41:49 Yeah, that's me.

41:51 I liked it, the look of the hand binding,

41:54 but I have arthritis in my hands

41:59 and it just takes a long time for me to do a binding.

42:05 So one of these days it'll get done.

42:09 Yeah.

42:10 Well, I tell you what Denise,

42:12 thank you so much for joining us today

42:16 and answering those questions.

42:19 I believe that the reason that we do this

42:23 is that, well, actually, I mean,

42:28 just going back to the beginning of this show,

42:31 I had been driving long, long miles.

42:34 I don't know what state I was in, I think it was Montana.

42:37 And I was reflecting over the thousands of people

42:40 that I've talked to over the years

42:43 who told me their story.

42:44 And many times they transform their life,

42:49 by becoming a business owner,

42:51 by occupying this kind of special place in their community

42:56 of being one of those people that finishes the quilts.

42:59 And I thought to myself,

43:03 these stories of people's life journey

43:07 really should be told and recorded.

43:10 And that was when we started doing this.

43:12 And I appreciate you taking the time to come on here

43:18 and share your experiences

43:20 so that hopefully others will find that courage

43:23 to take the step and step into something pretty good.

43:30 It is. Pretty good.

43:32 You know, and I've got granddaughters

43:34 that are coming up the way.

43:37 My oldest granddaughter, not the oldest, the second oldest,

43:42 she's made three quilts now for 4-H.

43:44 And the last one she quilted on her own using my statler.

43:50 We did an edge-to-edge and computerized,

43:52 but she loaded and did all the work.

43:54 And, you know, I'm just hoping that'll just get passed on.

43:59 Yeah, next generation.

44:01 Oh, there's no better feeling.

44:04 Before we go, Denise, I do wanna,

44:07 is there any way that the people that are watching

44:10 or listening to this might be able to contact you

44:15 or find you or?

44:16 Well, do you have a website or are you on Facebook?

44:20 I don't have a website.

44:22 I do have my Facebook page, which is my personal one,

44:26 but all you ever see on there

44:27 is basically grandkids or quilts.

44:30 But they can find me at Denise Chase Freed on Facebook.

44:34 And I'd be happy to talk to any questions

44:41 or pick your brain.

44:45 Can you spell that web page out?

44:48 Well, it's Denise and then Chase, did you say?

44:52 Chase, C-H-A-S-E, Freed, F-R-I-E-D.

44:56 And it's my Facebook.

44:59 And if you, you know, ask to be friends with me

45:03 and if there's some place where you can tell me

45:05 that you're a quilter, then I usually.

45:10 Yeah, yep, awesome.

45:13 Well, hey, thank you so much, Denise,

45:15 for joining us and sharing your story.

45:21 I believe we'll be back in two weeks with another episode.

45:25 So thank you, everybody, and good night.

45:28 Thank you.

45:29 Thank you.

45:30 Good night.

45:31 Good night.

45:32 Good night.