How Christine Duvall Built Her Longarm Quilting Business in Year One

0:00 Let me introduce our guest today.

0:25 We have Christine Duval.

0:28 Christine, thank you so much for joining us. We're glad to have you here.

0:32 My pleasure.

0:33 I know that you have a very unique story to share with us.

0:39 Just to let you know, Christine, that a lot of the people that are watching,

0:44 a lot of our target audience is either people who are thinking of or are in the earlier stages

0:55 in any of the stages of having a quilting business themselves.

1:02 A lot of the benefit of this podcast is just for people to get snippets of different people's

1:09 real people's stories and their journey that they have followed and see what they can

1:16 gain from your story.

1:18 So, Christine, let's start out.

1:22 Where are you located?

1:22 Where do you live?

1:24 I'm in Elmira, New York, which is on the southern border of New York.

1:27 It's right on the border of Pennsylvania in the center of New York.

1:31 Okay.

1:32 Right here at Cornell University is about 35 minutes from me.

1:37 Okay. And are you from that part of the country?

1:41 12th generation.

1:43 12th generation. Wow. Wow.

1:46 So, how long have you been long arming?

1:52 That's a funny question.

1:54 Um, when I bought this building, I had to go, it's in a very residential area.

1:58 So, I had to go before the zoning board and the planning board.

2:01 And you have to send out letters to all the neighbors saying, seeing if they object to,

2:06 you know, opening a long arm.

2:07 It was a hair salon.

2:09 And I went to my first meeting and a quilter showed up.

2:11 I didn't know if any of the neighbors would show up.

2:13 And she lives across the street from the shop.

2:15 And she turned to me and she said, oh, I'm so excited that you're going to open a long

2:18 arming business.

2:19 How long have you been long arming?

2:20 And I said, I haven't.

2:22 I had never long armed before.

2:25 Cold turkey.

2:26 Cold turkey.

2:28 I jumped in with both feet.

2:30 I had rented a long arm once, maybe 10 years ago.

2:34 And I was a free, I did free motion quilting, which, you know,

2:38 you move the quilt and the needle stationary.

2:40 So, when I, when I rented the long arm, the quilt stationary and the needle.

2:44 So, it looked like scribble, um, you know.

2:47 So, all right.

2:48 So, cold turkey, uh, opening up a, a quilting, a long arming shop.

2:53 Uh, tell us, tell us the story.

2:54 How in the world did this take place?

2:58 Well, I started quilting in 2013 and immediately it was, um, you know, when they say quilting

3:05 is my therapy, it really is.

3:07 It's just a very Zen activity for me.

3:09 And, um, it was my escape and I, you know, it was a hobby.

3:13 I, I, I have other businesses.

3:15 I own a laundromat and rental properties.

3:17 And prior to that, I owned an Irish pub and a restaurant.

3:21 And so, I've been in business for myself since 1988.

3:25 Um, but I, uh.

3:27 How many businesses have you, have you had?

3:30 Oh, dear Lord.

3:31 Um, well, the major ones, I had a restaurant in the Hamptons back in, in the late eighties

3:36 and mid nineties, I opened an Irish pub in Manhattan and I had that for quite a while.

3:42 Yeah.

3:42 And then I started a family.

3:44 So, and had three kids in three years and, uh, decided to move back to my hometown to

3:50 raise them with their cousins and.

3:52 Okay.

3:53 You had kids in three years.

3:54 I started twins and another one.

3:58 There'll be, there'll be 26 tomorrow's their birthday actually.

4:01 So.

4:01 Oh, happy birthday.

4:03 If they get to see this, that's, that's wonderful.

4:06 So.

4:07 Wow.

4:08 Um, okay.

4:09 And yeah, as we're going, I want you to just feel free to share, you know, just, just your

4:14 whole story, whatever you feel comfortable in sharing.

4:16 And, um, so you started, did you say you started out like, uh, quilting on a, uh, like a domestic

4:24 machine?

4:25 On my little Bernina Activa 220 with a little five inch throat.

4:29 And, um, and I got pretty good at free motioning if I do say so myself.

4:34 And, um, you know, I, and I obsessively, I do everything great guns and I studied Leah

4:40 day and Natalia Bonner and I, I watched all the videos and, and, uh, but all self-taught

4:47 and, but it just got frustrating trying to get to the center of a, of a full size or

4:52 a queen size quilt.

4:53 Unless you're doing straight line quilting.

4:55 It's hard with a five inch throat.

4:56 Yeah.

4:57 I can see a lot of bulk under that little machine.

5:00 So, um, I've always wanted a long arm and I had, there's only one other long armor in

5:06 this area that has a storefront that has a brick and mortar, um, business.

5:11 Most, there are several long armors here, but they do it out of their houses.

5:15 And so I was dropping my quilts off to her and, um, she had expressed an interest in

5:20 moving with her husband.

5:22 She, he had retired and she was talking about retiring.

5:24 They're going to move down to Myrtle beach.

5:26 So I said, well, if you're ever really consider selling the shop, I'd love to buy it.

5:30 And, um, and she, you know, we, we just talked about it for a couple of years, but then she

5:35 said, yeah, we're ready.

5:36 We, we, I retired and I'm going to move.

5:39 But initially she said, I'm going to take both machines with me.

5:42 And I said, well, I don't want to buy an empty garage.

5:44 I can buy an empty garage anywhere.

5:46 And then she said, well, I'll sell it with one machine.

5:49 I said, well, now we're talking.

5:50 And, uh, so, and then she had tragedy strike her family and she could not move.

5:56 So she decided to stay here.

5:58 So I made an offer on this place was a hair salon.

6:01 That's about two blocks from my house.

6:03 And, uh, I just walked in.

6:05 Yeah.

6:06 I walked in that day and I walked out on the sidewalk and made the offer.

6:11 The first time I saw it and, uh, and just jumped in.

6:17 Yeah.

6:17 I don't sense a lot of hesitation in, in.

6:20 I knew it was the right decision now.

6:23 Well, no, no, I'm very, I play the devil's advocate.

6:26 I wait all my, you know, but you know, no guts, no glory.

6:30 I just, um, you know, you do your due diligence and I'm a numbers person, you know?

6:37 So, and, uh, you know, I had the option of buying used machines or, you know, I mean,

6:42 they're out there and then gamble has the pre-owned too, but I decided to get a brand

6:47 new machine.

6:48 So all the problems, I don't inherit any, anybody's problems.

6:51 I, I went with a brand new ascend.

6:54 Oh, so you just from the get go, you went right with an ascend, right?

6:58 And I just ordered my second one yesterday.

7:01 I was looking at your records there.

7:04 I said, she just now just ordered this thing.

7:07 Yeah.

7:08 So, uh, okay.

7:10 There's a lot, a lot to unwrap here.

7:13 So, um, so what year was it when you, uh, got your ascend?

7:21 I just got it last, well, it was delivered here last June, but the shop was still under

7:26 construction.

7:27 So it was under a tarp until October.

7:32 Okay.

7:33 Okay.

7:34 So I opened, I opened in October.

7:36 I quilted my first quilt in October.

7:39 Really?

7:40 Yeah.

7:40 Seven months ago.

7:42 Okay.

7:44 Wow.

7:45 Okay.

7:45 That, that's amazing.

7:47 So, um, all right.

7:50 I don't know why I was thinking that you, you had had your, uh, uh, gamels for, uh,

7:56 many years prior to this.

7:57 Wow.

7:58 Yeah.

7:59 So, um, so what has your experience been, um, since, all right, let me, let me get this

8:07 straight.

8:08 You've been, so you just opened this shop in October, this past October.

8:14 Yep.

8:15 And, uh, and get started out with, uh, with a new ascend and, um, did not, you didn't

8:23 have any quilting shop or anything prior to that?

8:27 No.

8:29 Wow.

8:31 You just, bam, boom, right in there.

8:34 Okay.

8:35 Okay.

8:36 I'm just, I'm just getting my head.

8:38 You're not the typical, uh, interviewee that we.

8:40 Oh, I told you that in the beginning it's, I don't have the typical story.

8:45 Yeah.

8:45 Well, I was thinking, yeah, sure, sure.

8:47 But yeah, I think you're right.

8:49 I think you're right.

8:50 So, okay.

8:52 Um, so just started, um, so what's, what's been your experience with your, uh, shop that

9:00 you started out your ascend and your shop, tell us a little bit about the experience

9:04 since October.

9:06 Well, you know, coming in, in October, I was just, I got some of the Christmas quilts.

9:13 I didn't want to get hit with a hundred quilts my first day.

9:16 I had never long-armed before.

9:18 You know, I practiced on some of my own before I actually opened my doors, but I, so I could

9:23 do the edge to edge, but there's still, I learned with every quilt I've done over a

9:28 hundred customer quilts now, and probably 70 quilts of valor, um, which I do pro bono.

9:34 Um, and I learned with every single quilt still every single one, but from the get go,

9:40 I watched all the gamble videos.

9:42 Amazing.

9:43 I mean, with the creative studios and it's funny because my son, um, he just graduated

9:48 two weeks ago, but he, uh, he was an initially an engineering student and just graduated

9:54 with his computer science degree.

9:56 And so when I had my gamble delivered, I said, I want you there for my training because he

10:01 knows CAD and I don't know CAD.

10:04 So he was, and he was mesmerized.

10:05 He said, mom, you could quilt for 20 years and you won't, you don't know one 10th of

10:09 1% of what this machine can do.

10:12 And, um, he, now he wants to design long arm patterns.

10:16 Really?

10:17 Yeah.

10:18 So, um, yeah, so he, he was here for my training and, you know, I never really had to, every

10:25 question has been answered through gamble or the other quilters.

10:29 Quilters are such a supportive community.

10:32 I mean, the online, the gamble owners, Facebook page, um, the Facebook group is amazing.

10:38 I mean, there's, I think there's 5,700 quilters in there and any question, my very first trouble

10:44 that I ran into with a quilt, I put it up on there and within three minutes, I had 10

10:49 people answer my question.

10:50 I mean, they're just, they're very loving, not competitive, just a great group of people,

10:56 very supportive.

10:58 Um, have you, uh, have you availed yourself of the, the educator, uh, consults that.

11:07 Not yet, but I, you know, I was going to talk to Holly about that because I'm at the point,

11:11 I wanted to wait until I had enough questions that I couldn't resolve on my own.

11:15 And so now I have quite a few because I just started doing some custom quilts this past

11:21 month.

11:22 So it was nerve wracking and I'm very slow because, you know, I tell my customers sometimes

11:28 it's good to have a long armor with a little touch of OCD because, um, but I did three

11:35 custom quilts, but that's when I said, I, I definitely need a second machine because

11:39 with this, with the custom quilts, they were on the frame for so long.

11:42 I was getting back up with the, you know, the regular edge that were coming in.

11:48 So I was like, you know, I need a second machine.

11:49 Cause even when I'm doing a class, when I'm doing one of the classes and I've loaded my

11:53 own to practice on, sometimes it's on the machine for two days, you know, and I get

11:58 backed up.

11:58 So now the second machine, I can put the custom quilts on there, do my classes on there while

12:02 I'm running the other one edge to edge and paying the rent or paying the mortgage.

12:08 Um, well, uh, when you started out, uh, getting the Ascend, um, uh, why did you decide to

12:17 go with Gamble in the first place?

12:20 Um, how did you arrive at that?

12:22 I'm a research junkie.

12:23 I mean, it is, you know, all the good, the good long arms around here have gambles, but

12:29 I'm very much into warranties.

12:31 The commercial warranty with the gamble was head and shoulders above the rest.

12:36 So, I mean, and that I knew, you know, I was going to run it as a business.

12:41 And so I wanted to make sure that the warranty, if you run it commercially was going to hold

12:45 up and gambles was a wonderful warranty on, you know, on commercial use.

12:51 Okay.

12:52 Okay.

12:53 And now I didn't know, because I didn't know anything about customer support back then

12:57 because I didn't avail myself of it.

12:59 But now that I have, it's got great customer support.

13:02 Um, you know, I've called, I've called customer support a couple of times.

13:06 I did buy a gamble laptop too, so that they can take control of my computer.

13:11 If I really don't know what I'm doing, which they've had to do, um, you know, so I recommend

13:18 that, um, you know, having a gamma laptop too.

13:22 So when you're doing the standalone mode, they can walk you through stuff.

13:26 Yeah.

13:27 A lot of people have a laptop and you can, you can download a creative studio onto a

13:34 laptop, but if it's not a gamma laptop, we in tech support are not able to remote onto

13:40 that.

13:40 Right.

13:41 That's why I chose the gamma laptop was so tech support could remote in.

13:46 Yes.

13:47 Um, uh, one other thing I, and I did want to say that I would recommend, uh, that, that

13:53 free, the free educator consults that you get with your machine, I would recommend doing it

13:59 sooner rather than later, because I understand what you're saying about, um, building up, uh,

14:04 questions, you know, a list of questions before you talk to them, but I promise you when you

14:09 talk to them, they will, uh, uh, they will stimulate your, your thoughts to where you'll

14:16 come up with questions and answers that you didn't know that you wanted the answer to.

14:20 Yeah, that's true.

14:21 Yeah.

14:22 Anyway, and I'm saying that not just for your benefit for the, but for the people who are

14:27 watching too, I would, uh, because those, uh, girls in education, they, uh, they will

14:34 set you at ease and make you very comfortable.

14:37 And, uh, they're just, they're just great teachers, great teachers.

14:40 So.

14:41 Oh, even, even Kyle who, who came and installed the machine for me.

14:45 He was wonderful.

14:46 And he had just started quilting himself before he, so, you know, he, he really knew his way

14:52 around.

14:53 I mean, when he left, I felt very, he said to me when he's leaving, he said, you're ready

14:57 for your first customer.

14:59 Um, I emotionally, I wasn't, maybe I was ready technically, but, um, but, uh, but he was

15:06 wonderful.

15:08 So, um, so how, how's, tell me how, what's the feel of your business right now?

15:14 You feel like things are going well?

15:15 Oh, things are.

15:17 Yeah.

15:17 I chose to let it grow organically instead of getting out there and promoting it and,

15:22 and advertising or anything like that.

15:24 And, um, I belong to the local quilt guild.

15:27 It's a very tight knit community, but people are also very loyal to their long armors too.

15:32 And I knew that.

15:33 Um, so I'd say in October, you know, I had, I did maybe, I don't know, eight quilts or

15:40 10 quilts, and it's been pretty much doubling every month.

15:43 And like I said, I missed that Christmas rush, which wasn't financially.

15:47 I wish I had hit the Christmas rush, but I wasn't ready yet.

15:51 I mean, I was just still, I was still learning.

15:53 And then, um, but by, by the first of the year, I felt much more confident.

15:57 And then our quilt show was coming up in, in April for our, our guild.

16:02 And I probably had, uh, there were probably 20, 15 or 20 that I had done in the show,

16:09 you know, cause they have to put the long armors name on them.

16:11 And, um, and so I've got a lot, um, it's just been word of mouth and people are finding

16:18 out about me and it's, um, so every day I'd say pretty much every day that I'm open.

16:26 Cause I'm open four days a week, but the other three, I'm here.

16:29 That's why I had to put a close sign on the door.

16:31 Cause people see I'm in here.

16:32 They come in even when I'm closed.

16:35 Cause they know I live around the corner.

16:36 I'm here all the time.

16:37 But, um, but I'd say now I'm getting three to five new faces.

16:43 I mean, I have a lot of people bringing their eighth and 10th quilt to me, but I have a

16:47 lot of new quilters coming in, which is great.

16:50 It's very exciting.

16:51 So you still, you feel the impetus, uh, you got some, uh, traction and it feels like it's

16:57 in the process of growing.

16:59 Yeah.

16:59 Well, I wouldn't believe me.

17:00 I wouldn't be ordering a second machine if I, if I wasn't confident that this is going

17:05 to continue to grow.

17:06 I mean, my son's doing my website right now.

17:08 I was like, mom, you could take online orders.

17:10 I said, hold up.

17:11 You know, I, I'm at a two week turnaround time right now.

17:15 I said, I don't, that's a big deal around here is the turnaround time.

17:19 And, um, you know, the one other woman who's, um, here in town, it's a year.

17:26 So, and women don't want to wait a year for their quilts.

17:29 So I didn't want to build up a really long turnaround time.

17:32 And that's why the second machine for me is important.

17:36 So from the time that somebody comes in and talks to you about how they want their quilt

17:42 set up, you'll have that quilt done and back to them in two, in two weeks?

17:47 Within two weeks.

17:48 Yeah.

17:50 Yeah.

17:50 But I mean, I was getting more custom orders, like I said, and they tie up the frame longer.

17:55 So that's why I wanted the second machine so I can continue doing the edge on the one

18:00 machine and then do the custom orders on, and my classes on the other machine, because

18:05 I'm still in the middle of the classes.

18:08 Okay.

18:08 I don't think I'll ever stop taking classes.

18:12 You know, and so many of the people that I talked to on here say some, some version of

18:17 what you just said.

18:18 They want to just continue to learn.

18:20 Yeah.

18:21 And like, and like you mentioned before, like your son had mentioned, there is, you can

18:26 pretty much go a lifetime and not exhaust all there is to learn.

18:30 Oh, absolutely.

18:32 The Statler and Ascend system.

18:37 So are, are you, you are, are you the, the quilter, the only quilter?

18:45 Do you have anybody working for you at this point or?

18:47 Not yet.

18:49 No, I've had a lot of offers.

18:52 A lot of these retired women are like, you ever need help?

18:55 So it'll get to that point.

18:56 I think it will get to that point.

18:59 I kind of have a feeling when it comes to this next upcoming Christmas season that you're

19:03 going to kill it.

19:05 I'm hoping.

19:06 Yeah, that's, that's kind of what it sounds like.

19:09 And at this point, are you, are you doing anything else?

19:13 Do you have another job at this point or is this?

19:15 Well, I own, I own a laundromat and rental property, so I'm a landlord and so I'm putting,

19:20 I'm usually putting out fires somewhere.

19:24 You're kind of an overachiever.

19:26 I'm getting the, this sense.

19:29 My mother might agree with you.

19:35 I, Christine, Joan, Joan is asking what classes are you taking?

19:42 That's a good opportunity to put in a person.

19:44 Well, the, the ones that come with the owner training, the owner, the GAML owner training

19:48 are wonderful.

19:49 You have a new owner training.

19:50 The new owner training is wonderful.

19:52 And I went through all those.

19:54 And with the, and with the new owner training, I know it's.

20:00 It's just basically step-by-step video clips of how to do all the basic things on there.

20:07 And the GAML instructors are always building on that and increasing the...

20:15 And I'm a visual learner anyway.

20:17 I mean, rather than reading it, if I go up into the info on Creative Studios, I can read

20:25 how to do things, but I like to see it.

20:27 I like to see a YouTube video of somebody actually doing it.

20:32 And so many of our people that we deal with are exactly what you're talking about.

20:38 There's one thing about reading it, but seeing somebody show you how to do something is so

20:43 much better.

20:45 So, Christine, how many hours a week would you say that you put into your quilting business?

20:55 Well, I'd say 50.

21:00 Well, 50 actually here at the shop, but I'm always working on it.

21:07 I'm watching videos when I'm home or posting pictures on Facebook of the quilts that I've

21:12 done or researching.

21:14 I'm always...

21:16 I eat, sleep, and breathe it right now.

21:18 I'm a firm believer, and this comes from years of being in other businesses too.

21:23 The first year of business, I told my nephew, he just opened a business, I said, your first

21:26 year, you pour all your profits back into the business and you just work seven days

21:31 a week.

21:32 Everything in that first year is about the business.

21:35 Don't buy yourself a fast car just because you made a lot of money, because he did open

21:38 a business that was very successful.

21:40 I said, don't take that and reward yourself with a sports car.

21:43 He's young.

21:44 And I said, put that all back into the business.

21:47 And that's what I've done here.

21:50 For instance, I wanted to build my pattern library.

21:54 So as a grand opening introductory thing for the first nine months, if you want to pick

22:01 out a pattern that I don't have, I will buy it.

22:04 So I've been...

22:05 So there's $15 right off the top, 12 to $15 of profit, but I'm putting it back in the

22:13 business because I get to keep those patterns.

22:15 So I have built my pattern library over the last seven months.

22:19 I've probably added 200 patterns to my library.

22:25 And you get to keep them forever, and I'll use them on my second machine.

22:30 So once I get the new machine, because my rate per square inch is below market, but

22:39 I said, either when I get my next machine or I hit my one year anniversary, I'm going

22:43 to go up to market.

22:45 And now if somebody wants a pattern, we'll split the cost.

22:48 I'll pay half and they pay half, unless it's a monogram that I'll never use again, then

22:52 I'll pay more.

22:53 Got you.

22:54 Well, Christine, you're in your first year here of this particular business.

23:04 Is it something that you see yourself doing for a long time?

23:08 Do you enjoy it?

23:09 Forever.

23:10 Tell us a little bit about that.

23:12 That's the big fear.

23:14 When you monetize something you love, all of a sudden it becomes a job.

23:18 And I was afraid that I might not love it anymore, because now it's a job.

23:23 The opposite has happened.

23:25 Because I'm in a fairly small town.

23:28 It's maybe 30,000 people.

23:32 But I am so inspired by the work that is coming through my shop, between collage quilters

23:38 and art quilters and just traditional quilts.

23:43 I'm so inspired that every time something comes in, I'm like, oh, I want to make that.

23:47 That's the only drawback of this first year, is working seven days a week.

23:50 I'm not doing any piecing for myself.

23:55 I'm quilting a lot of other people's quilts, but I haven't done any piecing, but it's coming.

23:59 I don't want to burn out.

24:01 I was talking to my sister and I said, I'm going to take a day and it's just going to

24:05 be for me.

24:06 I'm going to come in here and do some piecing, because it makes me happy.

24:11 That's like therapy for you.

24:12 Well, I just turned 60 and I told my kids, I said, I'm not doing anything that doesn't

24:17 bring me joy anymore.

24:18 It's all about joy.

24:20 Awesome.

24:21 Awesome.

24:22 I've got a question from Lois is asking, how long did you earn the equivalent of your investment?

24:33 She says she just ordered her free love machine and is very nervous and hoping that she can

24:38 actually earn.

24:41 What would you say, Lois?

24:43 Well, to pay off the machine, I don't know how long it'll be.

24:50 I was earning enough to make the payment right out of the gate, the payment on the machine.

24:57 I got all the bells and whistles.

24:59 It was not inexpensive, so it'll probably be, well, now with the second machine, I don't

25:08 know, because it'll grow exponentially.

25:13 I think probably three years, I can have both of them paid off.

25:18 Okay, awesome.

25:19 Yeah.

25:20 But I was making the payment on my first machine by Christmas time and I opened, I think, October

25:27 9th.

25:28 So like I said, it was a little slow out of the gate because people hadn't heard about

25:31 me.

25:32 Yeah.

25:33 Yeah.

25:34 But now the word is out.

25:36 So.

25:37 Well, it sounds like you hit the ground running.

25:41 Pat is asking a rather generalized question.

25:44 What are the challenges that you have experienced thus far in this business?

25:50 Well, not all quilters are created equal.

25:55 So, you know, I know some long armors that reject some quilts.

26:00 I have not had the heart to do that and I don't want to do that because I'm somebody

26:04 who, not only do I want to encourage people who are already quilting, I'd like to get

26:09 people who've never quilted quilting again.

26:11 I'd like to get younger.

26:12 I was talking to my daughter tonight.

26:15 My girls are going to be 26, so they're Generation Z, they're Gen Zers.

26:18 And I'd love to see, I belong to a group on Facebook called Young and Millennial Quilters.

26:23 Those are a little older than my kids, but my kids are Gen Z.

26:25 And I said, what would you guys, what do you want?

26:28 What do you, what are you looking for in that?

26:31 Because I'd love to get them into it.

26:32 So I think the challenge is I have, I have a quilt here that I've had here for a month

26:36 because just getting it square took me a week.

26:39 It was, you know, there's some that are very, very wavy.

26:44 And so what I do, I keep the customer in the loop.

26:47 I send pictures and say, look, this is, this is how wavy it is on the sides.

26:51 I will do my absolute darndest not to pleat it.

26:55 You know, there's soup can method and there's all kinds of ways to try and work out the,

27:00 all that fullness.

27:02 But sometimes you just, I mean, you know, when there's that much fullness, there's no

27:05 way around pleating, getting a pleat in it.

27:08 But if you keep, always keep your customer in the loop.

27:12 You know, don't make any, for me, I don't make any executive decisions.

27:16 I mean, I had a woman who dropped off backing that was smaller than her top.

27:20 And so I called her and I said, the backing's actually, and she said, I just cut the top.

27:24 And I said, I'm not cutting into somebody else's piecing, you know?

27:30 I mean, it was so small that I couldn't sew muslin around it to just to get it clamped.

27:34 It was eight inches smaller than the top.

27:38 And she said, I just cut.

27:40 What did you end up doing, adding some more backing to it?

27:43 No, her border on the top was like an eight inch border.

27:46 So I took her board.

27:47 She said, just take the borders.

27:48 I took the borders off and I was able to make it work.

27:51 I put some muslin.

27:52 I sewed some muslin strips on the backing and I was able to make it work.

27:56 But you run into those, you know, not every quilt's going to come in square and flat.

28:01 Yeah.

28:02 And now the customers that you've had and that you're dealing with, how do you feel

28:07 about, and how do you keep a good relationship?

28:13 Tell us a little bit about the dynamics that you have with your customers.

28:18 Well, I think what my customers like, I kind of set this, I turn around and show you, but

28:25 I set the shop up as kind of a tea room.

28:28 So there's a real tea room feel.

28:30 So when they come in, I quilted about 50 or 75 little mini quilts so they could feel different

28:36 battings and feel different densities.

28:40 And so they sit down and we talk about patterns.

28:43 We look at some online.

28:45 But what I say is, you know what, I get a feel for who it's for, their personality.

28:50 I say, you know what, let me text you or email you like five different designs that I think

28:55 might be good for this quilt.

28:56 And I keep them, it's a real collaborative process.

29:00 And then I'll text it to them and sometimes they'll go online and find things.

29:04 But usually out of the five, I get a feel, do they go gravitate more toward geometric

29:10 patterns or do they like the floral with feathers or, and it depends on who it's for too.

29:17 You know, so I try and take people's personality and people have really gotten pretty jazzed

29:22 about being part of the process.

29:25 Yeah, well, and I'll tell you, and for the people watching, I'll tell them the dynamics

29:32 that you're talking about in dealing with your customer, everybody kind of develops

29:36 their own, you know, you've got your own personality.

29:40 And you can take bits and pieces like what the dynamics that you're talking about and

29:47 some of the other people that we've talked about on this program, you know, they approach

29:52 it from a different way.

29:54 So I would encourage anybody that's listening to, you know, at least watch several different

29:58 ones of the podcasts and you'll start getting, you know, you pick out, oh, that'll fit the

30:04 way I want to do things, that'll fit the way I'm doing things.

30:06 Yeah, you've got to find your own niche, you know.

30:10 I mean, I find customers, I had a customer come in today to pick up one of her quilts,

30:14 but she now brings in some of her fabrics and will ask me what color border do I'm going

30:18 to do lattice, which color do you think I should?

30:20 So they're asking my opinion because they see my style, the way I've quilted my quilts

30:25 and the way I, what I kind of gravitate toward.

30:28 And so it's nice that they ask my opinion on design choices too.

30:33 So we, you know, they're friendships, you build friendships in here, you know, so.

30:40 I wanted to ask, oh, Pat has a question for you that actually feeds into a question that

30:45 I was going to ask you also about if you charge by the hour, by the square inch, et cetera.

30:54 Specifically says, tell us about the methods applied to how you charge and as a side related

31:05 to that, who handles your household chores since you're so devoted to your businesses?

31:12 Not my kids.

31:14 I do actually, but well, right now I'm just doing for edge to edge is one and three quarters

31:22 cents a square inch, but I'm going up to two cents a square inch.

31:26 I have not worked out the custom I'm going to do probably.

31:31 Well, it depends if they're just doing borders, you know, semi custom.

31:36 I just did my first custom quilts this past month.

31:39 I did two sunbonnet old, a hundred year old sunbonnet sous.

31:44 I just did cross hatching, but these are people who have brought me, they have brought me maybe

31:48 10 quilts already.

31:51 And I was so honored that they trust me with, they were heirlooms.

31:54 And so I just charge her normal edge to edge.

31:58 And then another woman dropped off.

31:59 She said, I heard you want to practice custom.

32:02 I have a wall hanging.

32:03 So I didn't even charge her because she let me just go wild with it.

32:06 She said, choose whatever you want.

32:07 And I did like, I'd say 30 different designs on it.

32:11 It was, it came out really cool, but so now I'm getting comfortable enough that I'm going

32:16 to start doing custom.

32:18 So I have, I haven't worked out yet.

32:21 You know, it depends on the level of custom too.

32:23 I mean, that wall hanging I did was super dense and super, super custom.

32:27 So I know around here, most people charge about $45 an hour for custom, but some do

32:34 it by the square inch, anywhere from three to 13 cents a square inch, depending on the

32:38 level of custom, you know?

32:41 Right.

32:42 Yeah.

32:42 And there's a lot, there's a large variance in there, you know, because it ties up your

32:48 machine for, you know, if you're doing a super custom, it does tie up your machine for quite

32:52 a while.

32:53 Yes.

32:55 Pat is asking, will anybody ever be able to tell us how to balance out time between long

33:03 arming and the desire that we have also to create these pieced projects?

33:09 What do you think about that?

33:10 Well, I think it depends.

33:11 I mean, I'm now an empty nester and my kids are, my son's home for now.

33:16 He just graduated.

33:17 So he's home for the summer because he goes into grad school in the fall.

33:19 But my other daughter lives in New York City and the one who's here for the summer, she's

33:24 moving to Boston in August.

33:26 So I did, you know, just for my own mental health, you know, after talking to family

33:33 and they see me here every day.

33:34 I just bought another fat quarter bundle.

33:36 I'm like, I don't know when I'm going to be able to cut into that.

33:38 So they said, you need to take one of your days off like Sunday and actually piece for

33:43 yourself.

33:44 So that's what I need to do is just come into the shop and resist the urge to look at the

33:49 quilts that are waiting and just do something for myself, you know, because it does.

33:55 And even if it's four or five hours once a week, that's fine with me.

33:59 I can get a lot done in four and five hours piecing.

34:02 So if I, you know, if I can piece, because I, of course, everybody who walks through

34:06 the door is like, will you make me a t-shirt quilt?

34:08 I mean, I must have had, I probably had 40 requests for t-shirt quilts and the woman

34:14 across the street from me loves to piece t-shirt quilts.

34:17 I said, well, Pat, maybe we'll do it together.

34:19 You piece them, I'll quilt them and we'll do, we'll do t-shirt quilts.

34:23 Have you done several t-shirt quilts?

34:27 I've done them for myself.

34:28 But I mean, they're time consuming with it, you know, ironing onto interfacing and, you

34:34 know, they're time consuming.

34:36 So I, I, I'm not taking them as cut from customers, not, not at this time.

34:41 No, I'm too busy long arming.

34:43 I hear you, at your shop, do you, do you provide or sell supplies like batting wide back fabrics?

34:54 I have pretty much every batting there is.

34:58 I have bamboo, the green batting, I have 80 to 20, I have wool, I have cotton, you know,

35:07 I have all, any batting you want, the puff poly.

35:12 So I have like five on spools up here, but I have some down that I, that I have in storage

35:17 that I can pull out.

35:18 And so, and I do have one on spools, but I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't

35:23 have wide backings here.

35:25 I've never had, since I opened though, somebody buy wide backing.

35:28 They usually have their backings when they come in, but I have it if they want it.

35:32 Yeah.

35:33 But now with Joanne's closing, you know, that's, we're in the middle of nowhere.

35:37 We only have one quilt shop nearby here.

35:41 And so we, it's not like being in a metropolitan area where you can go to, you know, 10 different

35:47 quilt shops.

35:49 So either they order online or they go to the quilt shop that's here.

35:54 Speaking of online, so do you do advertising outside?

35:59 Not yet.

36:00 I'm not yet.

36:01 My son's working on my website, but I haven't needed to.

36:05 I mean, the business has been so steady and it's slowly building that I'm just, I'm not,

36:13 I'm not that desperate.

36:14 What do you, what do you attribute that to?

36:16 Why, why, why have you had a steady growth of business?

36:19 Well, I think because I'm advertising, I think I'm doing a good job.

36:23 I think people are happy with the, with the work and my turnaround time is excellent.

36:29 And I want to keep my turnaround time.

36:31 Excellent.

36:32 You know, and if that means a third machine at some point, it'll be a third machine at

36:36 some point, but you know, if it's financially feasible, if it works out that way, I mean,

36:41 like I said, I'm selling my last rental property, it went on the market last week.

36:46 So I figured within six months, that'll be gone.

36:48 And then I'm going to get rid of my laundromat and this'll be it.

36:53 Yeah.

36:54 And at first, I mean, I have a couple of women who've offered to work for me.

36:57 And I, I think in the beginning, I'd probably have somebody just pressing and trimming,

37:01 trimming the quilts, maybe, you know, doing bindings because bindings can become time

37:07 consuming too.

37:10 So, you know, if it gets to the point where I need an extra help, that's what I'll have

37:14 them doing, you know, maybe assembling backings.

37:18 Some people just drop yardage off to me and ask me to make the backings for them.

37:21 And I charge $5 a seam to do that, to assemble the backings.

37:27 And some people drop off pre-made binding strips and some want you to make the binding.

37:31 So I have different prices for that too.

37:35 Okay.

37:36 Well, yeah, it sounds like, sounds like it's been successful and growing.

37:42 Is there any, has there been any hard part about the process of growing your business or?

37:52 Well, time management.

37:53 I just, I have to get, you know, I have to manage my time a little better.

37:59 You know, I'm, then that's why I'm selling the other businesses just because I'm, you

38:03 know, in the middle of, middle of quilting and a tenant calls me and tells me, you know,

38:08 that the hot water tank blew up in the basement, which I had to go in two weeks.

38:12 So I have to leave because there's a flood in the basement, you know?

38:17 So, yeah.

38:18 So I just decided I don't want to do that anymore.

38:20 I've been a landlord for 20 years.

38:22 So it's, it's time to move on to the next phase, which I want my, I would love to get

38:28 into pattern designing and into fabric designing.

38:31 I mean, I love this business.

38:33 I love everything about quilting.

38:36 So.

38:38 At this phase in your life, do you have anybody who is a support system or a cheerleader in

38:46 your life?

38:48 Well, everybody, I'm from a very large, big Irish Catholic family.

38:52 I'm the eldest of six kids.

38:53 So I have 21 nieces and nephews and, and so there's about 50 of us here and they're all

38:58 supportive.

38:59 But my best friend, who is also a fellow landlord and he, this place would not have

39:05 happened without him.

39:06 He helped me with the construction.

39:09 He's the one, you know, when I first thought about buying this building, he said, and you

39:13 know, you always second guess yourself.

39:15 And he said, you can do this.

39:17 You can, you know, he was the one who just really said, you've got this, you've got this.

39:22 So, yeah, he's been my biggest support.

39:25 My best friend.

39:27 Wow.

39:28 So this, and this business that you are still in the first year of, and you're, so it sounds

39:37 like you're getting rid of everything except this business.

39:40 Is that right?

39:41 Yeah.

39:41 Yep.

39:45 What, what kind of impact is that already making right now?

39:49 And what do you see your life looking like as, as time goes on with doing this exclusively?

39:57 Well, like I said.

40:00 I think maybe it just comes with age that you just want joy in your life and when I come in here

40:06 I mean there are nights that I I shut the machine down at 7 o'clock. My hours are 11 to 7 and

40:12 At 7 o'clock. Sometimes I'll brew myself a cup of coffee and just sit here for another hour because this is my Zen space

40:17 this is my happy place and

40:21 you know, I just sit and it's quiet and I just

40:24 You know, my creative juices are always going and I just I love being here and you know, I told my kids

40:31 You know, and I it's time for me to listen to my own advice is if you do what you love

40:36 You will never work a day in your life

40:39 Yes

40:41 So, I mean I see this is something I loved already and and now

40:47 Getting to share that joy because listen you talked to the Flatlanders like my family about quilting all the time

40:53 It becomes like Charlie Brown's teacher talking to you. They don't want want want they don't want to hear it anymore

40:57 You know, but now I have other people who are as passionate about quilting as I am coming in

41:03 I mean I had one of my one of my favorite customers who brought me all those vintage quilts and

41:08 She's about my mom's age and she said to me, you know

41:12 She's telling me about Sterns and Foster. I did not know. I thought they made mattresses. She said no they originally made quilt batting and

41:19 Quilt patterns and she brought me in a catalog from that

41:23 She did a quilt in the 40s and it had to be done had to be pieced by hand and hand quilted

41:29 And because they had a big contest and she brought me in the you know, they're bringing in pieces of history

41:34 I mean our the passion for quilting is

41:37 You know, I think once you're bitten by it

41:40 You know, there's no going back

41:44 Well

41:46 For any of those newbies that are watching

41:51 Can you think of anything that you?

41:55 Maybe wish you had known when before you first started this or you know anything that you could tell them? Um

42:05 Maybe they could avoid any no

42:08 I would say if you don't if you don't belong to your local quilt guild definitely get involved

42:14 And I'll tell you being being I reached out to Quilts of Valor

42:18 Immediately like my first week that I opened because I I really am passionate about helping the veterans, but it was great

42:25 it was

42:26 Not only did I meet a lot of other quilters, but it it was great

42:31 It was my learning curve was cut down a lot by doing those Quilts of Valor in the beginning

42:36 So, you know and it's just feels good, you know

42:39 You know, it's just it's all karma and just doing those quilts

42:42 they just dropped off another eight yesterday and I love and I've gone to some of the presentations and in fact

42:49 one of the quilts that I did for the quilt show in April was a big peace sign and

42:53 The quilter across the street made it and she donated it to a very famous church here

42:58 Mark Twain actually married his wife Olivia Langdon in this church. She donated to the church and

43:04 they had a presentation on Sunday and invited us both to the

43:08 presentation of the quilt and we were in the paper and on the news and everything and so it's just it's

43:15 It's good to do those charity, you know do the charity. Yeah, I've heard a lot of I hear when

43:21 When I talk to people on here so much about the Quilts of Valor

43:26 so it sounds like there's

43:29 not only just the I

43:32 Don't know the the

43:34 gift of being able to serve and give to somebody else, but there's there's also exposure and there's

43:42 experience

43:46 The only organization either I mean like my guild my guild there's probably about a hundred and fifty women in my guild and

43:53 And that's only a small percentage of the quilters in this area

43:57 But

43:59 They do about 30 charity quilts a month and they do for the battered women's shelter for the NIC unit at the hospital for the babies

44:08 There are so many opportunities to we did quilts and sent them to the Ukraine

44:14 So, I mean there's a lot of opportunities to practice your skills and

44:19 Help someone in need

44:22 You know, yeah

44:25 Well

44:28 Christine where we're getting close to the end here, but I'm just I'm really blown away

44:34 you live in a town maybe 30,000 you said mm-hmm and

44:39 And it looks like you've at this short juncture have had

44:46 Pretty good success already and it looks like I'm blessed. It's on that trajectory. Um

44:52 It just from your point of view

44:54 somebody who is

44:56 Just starting out and wants to follow your path. Do you do you think that it's a

45:02 Possible for someone to be successful in this

45:06 Absolutely, I think

45:08 well, if you look at just if you're like me and a very fact-based, you know, I just looked at I

45:16 Don't know maybe a month ago at the growth in the quilting industry

45:19 And they're expecting it by 2027 to hit five billion dollars a year

45:24 That's huge

45:26 Yes

45:27 I mean the amount of there's nine to eleven million quilters in the United States and it's growing

45:35 So, I mean some people consider it still a niche

45:39 Industry, it's not it's becoming much more mainstream. A lot of really young quilters are getting into it now

45:45 And it's you know, because it's not your grandmother's quilt anymore. It's I mean, I love those quilts

45:51 I love traditional quilts a grandmother's flower gardener, but I love to see these collage quilters

45:56 I just saw I went to an art quilt exhibit and they're making sculptures out of quilts now and

46:03 They were gorgeous

46:04 So, I mean quilting is going off into so many different directions now. It can do nothing but grow

46:10 But you know if you love it just from you know, a purely

46:14 Fiscal standpoint. It's it's a good move. I

46:18 Think right, but you have to be dedicated to it

46:21 You know, I mean if you're gonna if you you know, a lot of people start out

46:26 Like I said, my story is not traditional a lot of people start out. They have a nine-to-five job

46:31 They're they quilt and then they have a nine-to-five job and then they have a nine-to-five job

46:35 Traditional a lot of people start out they have a nine-to-five job

46:39 They're quilting as their hobby. So they buy a long arm. So they'll do some for their friends after work or on weekends

46:46 And that's how it grows and then maybe when they retire or they're able or they're bringing in enough money

46:50 Then they can leave their nine-to-five job, you know, so I mean I wanted it as a business from the get-go

46:57 Well, I couldn't justify spending the money I did and just having it in my house. I

47:01 Just couldn't spend that kind of money on myself. So

47:05 So I had just I had to justify the purchase by making money with it

47:09 But I mean about it. My personal growth is much more important than the money to me

47:14 I I'm I'm you know when you're 60 years old and you've had three kids and been a soccer mom for a long time

47:21 It's hard to make friends at a certain age

47:23 You know and now this has opened up a whole new social circle for me

47:28 We go to place together and we you know, we socialize together and it's wonderful

47:34 Wow

47:36 That's awesome

47:39 Christine if any of the people listening to this or watching this is there how could somebody get in touch with you or

47:48 What do you have a Facebook page I have I'm happy to share my phone number

47:54 Well, what is your face what are they just look at the shop after my two great-grandmothers

48:00 It's Mabel M A B E L Mabel and Mammy's M A M M Y apostrophe s

48:07 Those are my two great-grandmother Mabel and Mammy's long arm quilting

48:12 Okay, and that's that's on Facebook. They can find it is yeah and Christine Roberts Duvall on Facebook to that

48:19 I you know, if anybody wants to friend me, I'd be happy to reach out on messenger

48:26 Okay, Christine Roberts Duvall

48:30 Duvall

48:32 Do you V a LL? Yep

48:35 Okay

48:37 All right

48:39 Christine well true true to what you told me before we even started you you have a truly unique story and

48:48 Thank you so much for sharing

48:51 And I I know that there's a ton of people

48:57 Watching and listening to this that will

49:00 Be inspired by by your story and just thank you very much for that Christine. Thank you very much

49:07 And that will put this next episode of quilting business success in the books

49:13 Christine Duvall. Thank you very much and

49:16 We will see you guys next time

49:30 You