One of my favorite local Democrats is my friend Chuck. We bump into each other at fundraisers and other events, and we patronize each other's small businesses. Of the two, Bailey's Sewing Center has been around a lot longer, and outgrew its original digs. It is now housed in a rambling two story building at a major rural intersection, across from a fabulous sweet corn farm stand!
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I have been meaning to share a visit to Bailey's with the quilters and visitors to the DK Quilt Guild; I promised this diary long ago to Melanie. Even though I am not really a quilter, my business partner helps to produce one of the parts for Bailey's Home Quilter in the small machine shop at our business.
The Bailey's Home Quilter in the large 17" size.
Chuck and his family manufacture this long arm quilter in three sizes. He says the bigger the long arm, the larger the rolled quilt it can handle. That made sense to me.
This is a picture of Chuck in the workshop above the store. He is standing next to the beginning of a small, 13" Bailey's Home Quilter, next in line to be assembled for a customer.
The workshop at Bailey's Sewing Center.
He says that purchasers usually get the table at the same time, and this is where my business comes in; the part we make insures the quilter that starts with a small machine won't have to buy a new table if they want to get a larger one down the line.
The "stand or sit" long arm table that allows quilters to change machines without changing the table.
Bailey's is also a Janome dealer, he and the family just went to Las Vegas to celebrate Janome's newest wonder, the "Horizon 15,000", an embroidery machine which will let you get digitized patterns from your Ipad to do custom work. He tells me that almost any image can be digitized using a software program.
The Janome Horizon 15000 Embroidery machine.
Chuck and his family build machines by hand, every day. Here he is with some that will be shipped in the morning.
Bailey's manufactures and ships products every day.
The best part of knowing my friend Chuck is the wonderful way he stands with me (and all of us) in supporting local Democrats in two counties. When my partner gets to talking "the stupid" at work, I hope Chuck will stop by to help stamp out the the "burn". I really look forward to seeing the van pull in!
Chuck's van has a lot of bumper stickers, he is proud to show his true blue colors when he makes a delivery.
I had to keep telling Chuck that I am not a quilter, but that I have some friends who are. He kept explaining the technical stuff that had limited meaning to me, so I eventually asked him to give me the url for the
store.
There is a lot more information there, especially if you are quilter who has some experience with the longarm sewing machines. I can go to Bailey's when I need to get a belt or a bobbin for my Montgomery Ward zig-zag! I never have to worry about getting my vintage machine fixed, because Bailey's is just a hop-skip and jump from home. I appreciate that he allowed me to take some pictures so I could write this diary for the quilters of DailyKos.
Can you share your experiences with longarm quilting? What projects are you working on this week? This is an open-thread quilting diary. Thanks for visiting!