This month in the Longarm League, I sat down with Barbie Mills of The Quilting Mill to talk about the growth and changes in her business since moving from longarming into digital pantograph design.

Barbie's been a member of the Longarm League for several years, and I was delighted to see her exhibiting at H&H Chicago earlier this year. I loved getting to talk with her about how her business has grown and expanded over the last few years. This year Barbie vended at both H&H and the Fiber + Fabric Craft Festival. We talked about that experience, and the challenge of selling digital products when you're at an in-person market like the shows in Chicago.

We also talked about her husband Kyle joining her in designing, her new Shopify site (amazing), her practice of designing pantos geared to smaller machines to support a wide range of quilters, working with a full‑time VA, and more.

While League members have full access to the recording of the call, we asked Barbie to share a little more ...

I can finally put this design to bed! :) Like last month's Boho Bulbs release, this design has been in the works for several years. It started with a date night at a local sushi restaurant. I was inspired by their back wall:

Isn't it cool?!

I loved how the lighting in the restaurant brought so much dimension and interest to the monochromatic wall. I immediately thought of quilting texture and took a picture with my phone. I started a sketch in my design software, but never fully fleshed out the design until now.



The challenge was conveying the strong horizontal orientation of the lines while coming up with a repeat that didn't have any backtracking and was easy to align/realign. 



While I like the way the lines of the dimensional panels of the restaurant converge and nest together, I thought rounded ends and gaps between the long back and forth lines would be easier to stitch while still getting the horizontal flow and texture of the inspiration piece.



I named this design Wake...

(Photo above shows Echoed Swirls. There is only a tiny bit of backtracking found in this design.)

For the last several weeks, we've been answering questions submitted anonymously in our weekly email newsletter. Here is one question we received:

 

"I just stepped into the computerized long arm world. Waiting for the table extension pieces to show up. However, I hear long armers say, I didn't want backtracking on this quilt. So--why are the long arm patterns created with backtracking--and why would/wouldn't you want backtracking."

If you've ever browsed our design shop and noticed the words “no backtracking” on a listing, you might have wondered the same thing! Backtracking? Is that a bad thing? Should I be worried about it?

Backtracking itself isn't so bad. It's a tool used to accomplish designs that otherwise wouldn't be possible in a continuous format, without multiple starts and stops.


I've recorded a video at the top of this blog post that walks through five different designs, s...

I started playing around with a version of this design in 2022. I named it Willow in my original digital sketch because it resembled more of a willow tree to me. The sides descended further, and there was greater separation between the "leaves" and the "trunk". But I knew it was never quite right, so I kept making adjustments. I played around with making some nodes sharp and pointy, and then round, and then a combination. 



This design started working for me when I shortened up and tapered the sides, and smoothed out the top. Only, then it didn't look like a willow tree anymore, so it needed a new name.



Boho Bulbs draws on a simple, symmetrical, motif both oriented vertically and then inverted to create an interlocking pair that does not need an offset. It's clean and consistent, with just enough personality to keep it from feeling rigid.



This digital edge-to-edge design is great on floral quilt tops like the one shown in here in the blog post. Its simple, geometric nature also...

This is the fourth—and possibly last? (I said that last time) —design of my "Echoed" series. Originally, I created Echoed Swirls, then Echoed Curves. More recently, there was Echoed Circles, and now Echoed Stars!



This design takes after the original Echoed Swirls in its free-motion quilting look. Because of how the design is offset and nested, the rows are not easy to spot, which is why it could look like someone painstakingly fmq'ed it. 😉



I tried to make the stars vary slightly in size, without any of them being too big or too small. I also tried adjusting the tilt of the stars to give it a more organic look.



This design could be used for kids' quilts, modern quilts like this one, or even patriotic quilts. With the simple patchwork and a number of solid fabrics, I thought this quilt top could support quilting that's denser and more complex than with other quilt patterns.

The Quilt

Quilt Pattern

This is the Jelly Stripes quilt by Quilty Love. I finished it in October of 20...

Falling Star is a clamshell variant featuring a stylized star.

That's it! Thanks for visiting my blog! 👋 *waves goodbye*



This design has been hanging out in my sketchbook longer than its cousin Held Hearts (which was an emergency design made specifically for the quilt in the blog post linked above).



What makes this design distinctive is the split at the crown of the clamshell shape. And that split descends into a simplified star shape. Could we call it a twinkle? Yes, let's! The beautiful thing about the split is that it eliminates the need for any backtracking and is its own design element.

What I like about this little twinkle of a shape is that it echoes the same curves as the joining of the clamshells in the row below, nestling in just so.



It's a dainty little design that's meant to sparkle in the background, which is great for a busy, scrappy quilt like this one.

The Quilt

Quilt Pattern

I believe I stumbled upon this quilt pattern and purchased it through Etsy, but I'...

Earlier this year, Jess interviewed Stacey Lee of popular YouTube channel Stacey Lee Creative, about her partnership with Comfort Cases, a 501(c)(3) charity providing new comfort items—including quilts—to children entering foster care in all 50 states. In the call, Stacey invites Longarm League members to get involved with her community by donating quilting services and/or quilts made start-to-finish to Comfort Cases through her annual Quilt Donation Drive.

We wanted to extend this invitation to our public audience as well, as this is a wonderful opportunity to make a very meaningful donation to a child in need. Stacey collects the quilts and makes her annual donation on May 31, and promotes "Making in April, Sending in May" so this is a great time to make a quilt and donate.

Baby quilts should be approximately 30" x 40", and 'big kid' quilts should be roughly 50" x 50" to ensure they fit with other items in a backpack. For full details and requirements on how to participate in thi...

First, there was Peak Blooms. 

Then, I took the center motif and incorporated it into an organic-looking edge-to-edge design with spirals called Bloomlet.

Now, the same center motif is in its simplest form yet: in a gently undulating, rhythmic string of petals. 



At a glance, I love how overall this design reads like juicy, rounded shapes. The texture is spectacular, even on a quilt top with busy prints like the one shown in this blog post.



It's fast to stitch thanks to its simple design and smooth stitch path.

There's enough space between the four-petaled motifs for some breathing room, and yet the staggered rows (the offset amount is 25% with this one) create an interesting, off-kilter dynamic that isn't perfectly symmetrical. I believe that helps give this design a charming, somewhat loose, home-spun quality.



I think this design would be great for quilts with busy prints, floral-themed tops, or when a client requests quilting with a loose or minimal density.

 

The Quilt

Quil...

This month in the Longarm League, Cheryl interviewed League member Billie Jo Howard of SewBoji. Billie Jo has incorporated goal-setting in her private and professional life for years. We loved learning about her strategy and process. She shared lots of great info on the call—walking us through her background and evolution with goal setting, the many positive ways it's impacted her life, her current process, mindset advice, resources, and more. It was an amazing call with tons of practical information for our members to use and incorporate into their own businesses.

While League members have full access to the call recording, we asked Billie Jo to share a little more about herself, her business, and a few thoughts on goal setting with our blog readers.

Without further ado, let's meet Billie Jo...

Billie Jo Howard, SewBoji

Located: Spirit Lake, Iowa
Machine and software: APQS Millie with Quilt Path
In the Longarm League: Coming up on 2 years

Where to find Billie Jo
Website: www.sewbo...

Taffy is an organic, flowing edge-to-edge design built around soft, rounded capsule shapes — like ribbon candy, but looser and more relaxed.

The idea actually came to me on a walk. I was picturing a stair-step of vertical bars connected by a horizontal arch, something with a repeating, interlocking rhythm. When I got into my design software and started playing with the concept, the straight-angled rectangles looked too geometric and severe. That's when I deleted some shapes and rounded the corners. The curvier shapes not only looked better, but are also easier to quilt, so that was a change worth making.



The result reminds me of ribbon candy. But since there are plenty of ribbon candy-adjacent designs floating around in the quilting world, I landed on Taffy instead. It feels more organic to me — a little less structured, a little more free.



That tension between organic and intentional is really what I was after with this design. I wanted the capsule shapes that make up the ...