What Makes a Quilter a Quilter?

What Makes a Quilter a Quilter?

   We have all heard the argument one way or another. "Oh ... you don't quilt your own quilts? So you're a piecer/ topper? " "Oh you buy kits? That's like cheating" "You know Jane across the street buys vintage tops online and then she just quilts them... she's not a real quilter"  Ladies and gents I beg of you .... KNOCK IT OFF!!!!
   Be you piecer, topper, binder, pattern writer, hand quilter, longarm quilter, scissors, rotary, or AccuQuilt cutter, You are a quilter. Wear the badge proudly! Slap that licence plate holder on the back of your Fiat and tell the world. 
   We are a sisterhood of people who like to cut big pieces of fabric into small pieces of fabric and then put them back together again. We all have the same struggles! Hiding at least a portion of our stashes from our spouses, messy dining room tables, underfed husbands who allow us to sew instead of cook dinner ( He wanted to order pizza anyway), the need for more then one sewing machine.... just in case. We all look at the map of our local and not so local shop hops one page at a time. We know the very real struggle of running out of bobbin 5 inches from the end of a project. 
   We are all survivors of the same disease (Notenoughfabricatitis) We all secretly wish that every car came with Stow n' Go seating ( The better to hide your fabric my dear).
   There is no expiration date. If your 96 and you haven't made a quilt in 10 years for what ever reason guess what !:: DING DING DING::You guessed it! You are a quilter! 
   There is no one who gets to take away that badge of honor. There is no prize or trophy for making every single quilt from fabric selection to binding. ( although if it did exist it would be given out by our favorite self appointed people the quilt police and it would be called "The Golden Snoot" Lucky for us no one actually cares what those people think anyway :)  

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Why Do People Send Quilts to Longarm Quilters?

Question: Why do people send quilts out to be quilted.
Answer: Most of my customers 
1.work full time 
2. have health issues 
3.do not have the artistic streak for quilting and are either not capable of the design they want or can't see the design it needs.
4. Enjoy the topping process and want to do another.
5. Are daunted by the idea of quilting or don't care for it.
6.don't have the throat space on their machine for large quilts and don't have time or know how to hand quilt.
7. Listened to the first lady of quilting Ms Eleanor Burns when she said "The best way to finish a quilt is by writing a check" 
Please note laziness isn't on my list. 
It doesn't make you any less of a quilter if you only piece, only quilt, only bind, maybe you only write patterns. There is no award given to people who do all of the above. We are all quilters.
(The self designated quilt police can shove off)
You can find our pricing by clicking the link below! You also probably have many fine quilters near you ! Ask at your Local Quilt Shop!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/HandcartQuiltsYarns?section_id=17024886&ref=shopsection_leftnav_3

Quit Hatin' on Your Local Shops

After reading rude comments about quilt stores and those that own them and the quality they sell. 
My name is Ayn I am a 32 yr old who started a quilt and yarn store from the ground up with my husband Casey. We opened Handcart Quilts and Yarns after moving 90 miles just so that we could afford to properly build a store. It was my passion and my husband who is very mechanically inclined decided that he would fix sewing machines. We work 80-90 hour weeks to make sure that we are offering the best we can to our customers. Our fabric ranges from 5.99-13.99 all of it is quilt shop quality.
( there is a HUGE difference in dye, thread count , weave, etc between my fabric and big box store fabric) our average price is 10.99 and we normally have a sale running for 20% off. I pay my staff better then a big box store and we offer services that they do not. We offer Long arm (Handi-Quilter) quilting, rental and sales. We offer Machine sales (Janome) as well as vintage machines mainly featherweights but you never know what you are going to find. I order each and every bolt with my customer in mind I know that most of my shoppers like 1930's, civil war and batiks so we are heavy on those with a dusting of everything else. We only sell notions that I can give an opinion on because I want to be able to answer questions which means that we have only about 175 notions. We offer classes and host a child's guild. we are raising and building quilters from ages 6-96. We sell yarns that your yarn snob and your thrifty knitter will both love. I am 32 I do not and will not think that I am better then anyone. But I do know that my product is something that I can be proud of. We know that the first quilt our 4 H kids and FFA kids make with us will be in great shape after many washes. I know that the skills they use here will stay with them forever. I will not sit here and listen to people pretend like we are all witches who are in it for the money. If my fabric is marked at $13.00 it's because I paid 6.50 wholesale for it. It's not because I'm looking to get rich. When you buy from me you are paying for my house, my business and the improvements that I will make to both and to my community. Not for some overpaid executive's vacation home. Rant Over