Marilyn and Stan Freeman
Stan and I by the HQ18 Avante

Share with your friends


Time for me to start quilting seriously finally arrived two years ago. I was through making clothes, wedding gowns, etc. Now I wanted and needed to use up closets FULL of fabric, mine and my mothers. One night after finishing quilting my third king size quilt on my regular sewing machine, I sat down and picked up the newest quilt magazine that had just arrived. The long arm quilting machines caught my eye. WOW! That is what I needed. I commented such to my husband, Stan. He immediately replied "Go buy one." Next question was "Where would we put it?" We ruled out the basement as it would be a tight fit. Stan then said, "at our garage in Nickerson (a very small town 10 miles a way). He later said he was kidding but the cat was now out of the bag and the plan evolved into a business venture. Both of us being retired this would be a perfect fit for both our interests and talents. This garage was built in 1921 by his great grandfather. It has been a home to various endeavors over the years...a Farmal tractgor dealership, an actual working mechanical garage for large trucks, etc. For the past 30 years it had been used mostly for storage. It had a large office with south windows all along the front for excellent lighting. We immediately went to our local quilt shop, Country Traditions. Being a mechanical engineer, Stan fell in love with the Pro Stitcher and the Avante. He knew AutoCad and knew he could master Quilt Cad. I loved it because it used any type of thread which I had in abundance. We didn't look any farther as it had everything we wanted or needed. Another plus was that the store owners would bring it out, set it up and give us lessons on how to use it. After many months of cleaning and painting the garage, the HQ18 Avante came! The QUILTING GARAGE became a reality. Stan focuses on designing new patterns on Quilt Cad and stitching them. My focus is freehand quilting. We are hoping this new venture will bring new life to a very small town and a great old building besides being a great adventure for us (we're in this together).

I own the following HQ machine: HQ18 Avante

HQ Stories

Featured Stories