Comments for International Association of Professional Quilters Blog

Comment on Is Clutter Hampering your Creativity? by Laura Estes

Laura Estes — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:00:07 +0000

Clutter is part of the creative process. Just as apple peelings are part of a luscious Apple Pie. But, just as you must clean up the peelings and dispose of them, you must clean up, organize and put away or discard the leavings of textile projects.
The trick is to learn techniques for making less clutter while still getting the job done. If you peel into a pan, it is easier to dispose of the peelings. Same goes in quilting. Pick it up and put it where it belongs, on the shelf, in the trash, or out the door.
Every year, our guild holds a scrap bag exchange, ugly fabric exchange and backing exchange. Each bag must hold a pound or more of fabric. We have games for determining the exchange. (Fabric bowling is especially fun) You go through your “new” fabric, and a box is available for donating anything you don’t think you will use to the church this event is held in for their World Relief quilt group. It is easier to part with someone elses fabric you haven’t grown attached to yet. I always come home with less fabric.
Magazines, our guild exchanges and cycles them into a box that gets donated annually to the local library for their book sale where they are snatched up in the first hour of the sale.
All this stuff has value, just not to me anymore, now it can be someone elses treasure.

Comment on Etsy: Marketing Your Handmade Work by Gayle Pritchard

Gayle Pritchard — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:30:18 +0000

I love etsy, after initially being somewhat overwhelmed trying to figure it out. I started my online shop there a year ago, and have been pleased. One important thing to know for newbies: when you sign up for an etsy account, that IS your name on etsy, so think carefully.
I am now considering starting a second shop, so that my artwork will be separate from my Magic Baby line of children’s clothing.
Come and join. The more, the merrier : )

Comment on Do You Provide Extraordinary Service? by Diane McGregor

Diane McGregor — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:37:07 +0000

I had a customer who ordered about 50 patterns. I sent the order and email her that it had been shipped. Two months later she called me to say that she had not received the order. I check the postal tracking and it said that the parcel had been delivered. When I told her that she said that parcel were delivered to an office in a mall instead of directly to the store. So the parcel went missing between the office and the store. I couldn’t claim insurance since the the parcel was delivered as far as the postal service was concerned. I reshipped the patterns for free and she paid the shipping. She still continues to place orders.

Comment on Do You Provide Extraordinary Service? by Diane McGregor

Diane McGregor — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:51:16 +0000

This is great article. I gets lots of emails asking for donations for quilt retreats and shop hops. I recently got an email asking for a donation and I donated 12 patterns. I then received a hand written personal note from the person thanking me for the patterns. She said that she had also looked at my website and was excited to buy some of my patterns. Whether she buy any patterns or not she certainly made me feel great. I usually get thank you letters from people that ask and receive donations but most of them are a standard form letters that are sent to everyone. It was so great to get a personal letter.

Comment on Is Your Stack of Quilt/Art Magazines Winning? 7 Steps to Get it Under Control by becky

becky — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:00:40 +0000

I have a few favorites that don’t get torn. I note tab the pages and then put it in a different ‘pile’. After a bit i go back and make sure that I still want it. Sometimes yes…sometimes no.

Comment on Do You Provide Extraordinary Service? by becky

becky — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:57:02 +0000

In the past I have ordered post cards with a Thank You printed on it + a discount on their next purchase. This worked out great and was easy to do and a bit cheaper than a card to send.

http://patchworkposse.com

Comment on Do You Provide Extraordinary Service? by Jessica Schick

Jessica Schick — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:46:08 +0000

We think that extraordinary service is the backbone of our company. We often get emails complimenting our customer service. We provide digital & paper patterns. We custom print patterns in any size that a customer wants because we feel that there is a wide variety of quilting needs & desires & who’s to say that just because one person likes the way that a pattern looks at one size that it’s the size that everyone wants or needs.
On the digital side of things we try to catch any orders that might have an issue or a mistake made by a customer before they even know that there was a problem. We also provide customers that find a mistake made on our end with a free pattern from my design collection to compensate them for their time & thank them for their patience while the issue is fixed.
Another part of our extraordinary service is to provide sales on most new patterns when they are released, which allows customers to purchase the latest, greatest patterns at a substantial discount if they watch out new items category on a regular basis. We have staff “on call” for emails about 16 hours each day for customer service, as we know that what we would consider normal work hours are not the only hours that our customers might need assistance. We answer questions on all makes & models of longarm machines & computerized systems to the best of our ability, in addition to answering general design questions, looked through our thousands of patterns to help customers find that pattern that is just right for the quilt that they are doing, and when that design is not currently available we work with many of our customers to design a pattern that will work for them, then post it to our website.
On the digitizing side of things we strive to be the best digitzing service in the quilting industry. We are super compulsive about quality of our digitizing & also strive to be super fair with the designers that we work with, which is about 40 to date. We have the best royalty split in the industry and try to provide an environment where we are all flexible enough to bend to some of their schedules in order to get designs done for them if they have an event or project where a particular grouping is needed.
These are just the top of the list of ways that we try to provide outstanding service to our customers, as well as the designers that work with us.

I know that there are times when we have to be tough also, but we strive to treat everyone with the respect that we’d like to be treated and assure customers that we care about their needs.

Thank you,
Jessica Schick
Digi-Tech Designs
http://www.digitechpatterns.com – downloadable & printed quilting patterns
http://www.digitechembroidery.com – downloadable designs for machine embroidery
http://www.digitechvectorart.com – downloadable stock artwork

Comment on Do You Know Where Your Time Goes? by Donna Laing

Donna Laing — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:55:45 +0000

It also helps to have a project plan that shows what is coming up in queue. I keep a detailed project plan that shows all quilts in queue, their due dates and anything that I might need special, like a different thread or batting. I keep it posted in the workroom. I csn see the next week’s work in a glance. Keeps me on track.

Comment on Do You Know Where Your Time Goes? by SusanM

SusanM — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:29:02 +0000

Great ideas. I especially like the one about limiting time on the computer. I am not necessarily on facebook but I sometimes get “lost” on the computer browsing from one (mostly quilting) site to another.

Comment on Market Your Business With a Photo Frame by Morna

Morna — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:54:50 +0000

Laura, I’ll check in your booth this fall.