Local woman opens quilting business

Val Sjoblom has a challenge for the quilters of Koochiching County: Come meet Elvis.

“Elvis” is Sjoblom’s new Statler, which is a computer-assisted Gammill long-arm quilting machine.

Elvis looks intimidating at first, Sjoblom said, but “if you can run a mouse and a keyboard, you can do it.”

The Gammill binds the quilt top, batting and backing together by creating a pattern on the quilt. The Statler computer system allows quilters to input the dimensions of the stitching and the number of stitches and inches and has 2,000 patterns to choose from.

The machine’s moniker, “Elvis,” was coined by quilter Shirley Nelson, of Big Falls, when Sjoblom held a naming contest.

Before the machines were invented, the process was completed during sewing bees, where women would gather to bind the different layers with yarn.

“This is a whole new way of finishing a quilt,” Sjoblom said.

Before the Statler was created, quilters guided the Gammill by hand to follow the lines in the patterns.

Sjoblom has one of the few Statler machines in the state at her business, “On A Wing and A Prayer Quilting,” and area quilters can take advantage of it by becoming certified on the machine, she said.

Sjoblom said she will work one-on-one with quilters who would like to become certified so they may use Elvis at her home. The certification includes hearing about information on the system and time to learn how to use the machine by finishing a quilt. After becoming certified, quilters may rent time to use the machine.

Sjoblom first heard about the Statler at a quilt show in June 2006. And from there everything just fell into place.

She was looking for a used Gammill machine and stopped at a gas station combined with quilt shop. A woman there gave Sjoblom a card about her connection to the Gammill and Statler machine, and that got Sjoblom thinking about buying a Statler. Sjoblom said she believes things happen for a reason and there was a reason that woman was in that quilt shop at that particular moment.

Sjoblom said she “jumped head first” into purchasing the $35,000 Statler, and that’s how she came up with the name of her business: “On a Wing and A Prayer Quilting,” she said.

A porch as Sjoblom’s home was the exact size needed for the machine, she said.

Sjoblom said she feels blessed that her husband supported her in the venture and that it all worked out.

In addition to helping area quilters finish their quilts, Sjoblom advertises in national quilting magazines and has finished quilts for other people across the county.

Sjoblom also donates her time and Elvis to finishing quilts for Quilts of Valor, Quilts for Cancer and baby quilts for Falls Memorial Hospital. It is her way of giving back because she feels so blessed to have Elvis, she said.

Quilting with Elvis is where she was meant to be, she said. Her passion for sewing and crafts stemmed from home economics classes with Norma Maki at Falls High School. Sjoblom said she’s disappointed that FHS students no longer gain that experience as a part of their high school curriculum.

“How do they know if they have a sewing talent?” Sjoblom said. “Without home economics class, I would have never done this.”

www.onawingquilting.com