Pat said she came to machine quilting a little late in life and was in her 50s when she first decided to buy a long arm. After researching machines, she purchased a Gammill hand-guided machine. Her purchase, she said, was “the best thing I ever did. I built a big quilting business right away.”
As her business grew, she was spending all day, every day working on her machine and it began to take a toll on her physically.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” she said. “I wasn’t going to quit quilting.”
A trip to her local quilt shop changed everything when she spotted a beautiful quilt hanging on the wall.
“It was a single little flower she had put in all the blocks but it was perfect. I said ‘that’s how I’m going to quilt. Whatever she did, that’s what I’m doing.’”
The shop owner told Pat the quilt had been done on a computerized machine. Soon after, Pat became a Statler by Gammill owner.
“It changed my life. I had a successful business then, before the Statler; but once I mastered the Statler I didn’t have the physical problems anymore.”
Pat was able to grow and expand her business, even adding a second Statler.
Had it not been for the Statler, Pat said she doesn’t know what would have happened to her quilting because of physical limitations. But with the Statler “I never get tired of quilting,” she said. “It’s not just the physical part, it’s the perfection in quilting that I wanted but could never achieve.”
Pat said she enjoys finishing quilts that people love and that become a part of their families.
“People love you for the good work you do. I couldn’t do it without the Statler.”