This month in the Longarm League, we sat down with one of our favorite returning guests, League member Meredith Adolf, to talk business taxes. Meredith is a dual-business owner, longarming for others at WhatsNextMa Quilting, and running a tax business, Azure Sky Tax, where she focuses on helping small business owners - especially longarm quilters.

As an Enrolled Agent, Meredith has spent years studying and honing her skills, and we're thrilled each time she joins us to shed light on this complex topic. She's recorded multiple calls with our students and members over the last few years to talk through a whole host of topics on small business taxes.

This month she joined us to answer League members' top tax questions, and wow, we really covered a lot of ground! Some of our topics included how the IRS defines a business versus a hobby, when to start filing taxes when you open your business, paying yourself via owner's draw or payroll,...

As so often happens, this design evolved as I was working on it. I didn't imagine it as a holiday-adjacent design at first, but I thought it so closely resembled a poinsettia that I leaned into that theme when naming it. Of course, it doesn't have to be used for Christmas, holiday, or winter-themed quilts, but I think it would work well for them.



The circles positioned between the star shapes made me think of a tufted cushion on a couch or a headboard—so much so that I was THISCLOSE to naming the design Hangin' Tuft. This would have been funny, but it made little sense—as if this had stopped me before.



I also started with just the inside star shape between the circles, but I couldn't leave all that space between the motifs, so I employed some echoing to help fill in the gaps and enhance the curves.





I'm much more happy with the evenly balanced result. Echoing almost always "works" whether you are hand-guiding and need to travel to a different part of the...

Bespoke is an extended-width design with hand-drawn, unique feathers meant to look like free-motion quilting.



If you are new to extended-width pantograph designs, I'd encourage you to visit this blog post, which provides more information about this unique format. These designs are different than traditional edge-to-edge designs and may require different configurations or settings with your software. 

When looking for inspiration for a new digital design, I looked back at my photos from before I had a computerized longarm. I used a meandering feather design like this way back in the day as both an "allover" design and in custom areas (examples below), and thought that by using an extended-width digital format, I could recreate an edge-to-edge version.

I decided to call it "Bespoke" because it can look like custom quilting. I intentionally did not duplicate any part of the design to give it a one-of-a-kind...

This month I hosted a roundtable discussion with a few Longarm League members to discuss the process of moving with your longarm. Our guests had a wealth of advice, both on physically moving your machine, as well as guidance on working through shutting down your business in one location and reopening in a new location.

While the full recording is available to our members, we asked our roundtable guests to share a little more about themselves and some moving advice with our blog readers.

Without further ado, let's meet our guests!

Chris Batten, Looped Quilting Studio

Located: West Richland, WA
Machine and software: Innova

Where to find Chris
Website: https://www.loopedquilting.com/
Instagram: loopedquilting

Chris is currently moving and getting settled in West Richland, WA, where she'll continue offering digital E2E quilting services.

Stef Kingery, Jack & Theo's Quilting Co.

Located: Montana
Machine and software: HandiQuilter Amara...

Refract is a simple, geometric design that was designed with modern quilts in mind. And boy oh boy, is this a modern quilt!



The combination of smooth curves and lines gives a unique look. I also love the diamond shapes that form between rows.



This abstract design could look like gems, paving stones, ribbons, or waves that cascade across a quilt top. But primarily, I like how simple, repeated geometric shapes provide texture as a backdrop to the patchwork.

The Quilt

If you've been reading this blog or (knowing me as a person) for any length of time, you might recognize that this style is out of my norm, but it was a fun departure!

I made this quilt top during a workshop I took with friend and brilliant quiltmaker Riane Menardi Morrison back in 2016. In the workshop, we made large traditional blocks and deconstructed them. As you might guess, my starting point was a log cabin block with that lovely gold on one half of the block, white...

This month in the Longarm League, I sat down with life coach Vanessa Christenson. You may recognize her as the longtime fabric and pattern designer of V and Co. After hearing from League member Kaitlyn Howell (Knot and Thread Design) about her experience working with Vanessa, and chatting with Vanessa in person at a recent show, I thought it would be great to have a deeper discussion with her and share more about her life coaching offerings with our members.

While League members have full access to the recording of the call, we asked Vanessa to share a little more about herself and her business with our blog readers.

Without further ado, let's meet Vanessa...

Vanessa Christenson, V and Co

Located: Hiawatha, Iowa
In business: 15 years designer, 4 years lifecoaching

Where to find Vanessa
Website: https://www.vanessachristenson.com
Instagram: @vchristenson or @vchristensoncoach
What's the best way for someone to contact you if...

This month in the Longarm League, we published a business spotlight call featuring Melissa Kelley of Sew Shabby Quilting. I sat down with her to talk about building a successful business by staying true to herself - leaning into her creative strengths and charting a course based on prioritizing time with her family.

While League members have full access to the recording of the call, we asked Melissa to share a little more about herself and her business with our blog readers.

Without further ado, let's meet Melissa...

Melissa Kelley, Sew Shabby Quilting

Located: American Fork, UT
In business: 13 years
Machine and software: Gammill Statler Stitcher and APQS with IQ 
In the Longarm League: Almost 2 years!

Where to find Melissa
Website: https://www.sewshabbyquilting.com
Instagram: @sewshabbyquilting
Facebook: @sewshabbyquilting
TikTok: @sewshabbyquilting
Best way for someone to request quilting? Check out the Quilting Services page on my...

What good is the Internet if you can't use it to jump on a trend? The first time I saw something relating to "very demure" was an Instagram Reel of a real estate agent in Des Moines, describing the city as "very demure". I thought that was an odd way to describe it, but I continued with my day. In a short amount of time, I saw "very demure, very mindful" pop up in so many other places that I had to google it. Apparently, it originated with TikTok influencer Jools Lebron as a way to describe her look and way of being. It has caught fire from there! Now "very demure, very mindful" is a phrase that is popping up everywhere, and just when I needed a name for my new design. It fits, doesn't it? 



Demure's design starts with the outer petals and ends with the medaillion-like framing around a center circle. The repeating shape is elongated. 



Every other row is staggered at 50% with this design. When arranged, the...

Written by: Cheryl Koranda

Quilt retreats can be an amazing way to build or grow your own quilty community! Next month we'll be hosting our first Longarm League retreat with our members, and as Jess and I reflected on the impact quilt retreats have had on our own personal and professional lives, we thought this would be a great time to share some insights and tips for hosting or attending a retreat.

So this month we sat down with our good friend Kristen Olson of Heartfully Handmade to talk all things quilt retreat. Kristen has been coordinating twice-a-year quilt retreats for the past 8 years - in fact that's where Jess and I met! Kristen always does such an amazing job for our group, and we had a great time talking to her about the ins and outs of planning and hosting retreats.

While our full discussion is available to League members, we wanted to share a few tips here on the blog as well.

Before we dive into talking about retreats, I wanted to make sure to mention that...

Just so you know, the only thing I was thinking about when I was designing this new edge-to-edge pantograph was hot dog buns! I was going for that rounded shape. In the end, I thought the name Plus sounded more mature than Hot Dog, which was the temporary file name until that final save.



I think this quilt top paired so well with the design! Usually, I have a small stack of quilt tops waiting for a new design to test out, but in this case, I was reminded of the Peanut Butter pattern as I was looking through Instagram posts I'd saved, and I made the quilt top just to use for this Hot Dog—I mean Plus!—design.



The design has just a bit more complexity than I'd like, but I couldn't find a way around it. When the stitch path is almost completed, it pivots direction to backtrack across the top horizontal line of the plus shape on its way to start another repeat. I tried bisecting the design with a straight line through the middle, but I just didn't...