Elaine and I now call West Grove/New London Township Pennsylvania home. The quilting journey all started when my best friend and lovely wife, one in the same, ask me to go to the quilt show...she was in the market for a longarm machine (I had no idea). As it turned out the longarm machine was a power tool attached to a computer tablet with PantoVision (a pantograph software system)...the rest is history. Whether wood working, building decks and patios, framing houses, in my younger years, or a DIY project around the house, I have never shied away from a power tool. She does get to use it...I golf and ride a motorcycle...so I'm not always at the longarm. Elaine and i are both on Facebook (Les Page / Elaine Navarro-Page) and our blog has additional information.
The Mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation is to cover active service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.
Our Registered Group, Not Forgotten QOV is dedicated to aid in that mission with the commitment and sincerity of those we recognize with this Award. We will forever be grateful for their service and sacrifices to this country and the freedoms they stood and stand watch over.
We operate a hand guided Innova Longarm for our quilting needs. We have been longarming quilts since 2012. We spent a year researching and testing a plethora of longarms. The selection of Innova came after much consideration due to the financial investment that was being made. Two main reasons Innova was the choice. A computer tablet delivered a "pantograph" system, which moved the operator to the front of the machine and very limited maintenance. Many of the other machines required daily oiling and maintenance...above the quilt. It just seemed, oil daily, the chance of damaging a quilt was greater. The computer tablet pattern system provided a much more ergonomically correct positioning for the operator.
With RARE EXCEPTION we are able to have your quilt back to you in
SEVEN BUSINESS DAYS or less. AVOID THE LONG DELAYS.
Contact Les for questions or scheduling from the Contact Section below or via email... i.longarm@yahoo.com
After leaving Virginia Beach and spending six months house hunting, trapped in a small apartment for five of those six and under the umbrella of COVID 19, that has affected everything from civil liberties to the housing market, on 14 January we finally closed on our Pennsylvania home.
Six weeks since closing and five months since leaving VaBch we are up and running. The boxes are unpacked, the storage area in the basement has been filled, and Got Junk hauled off a ton of boxes and old lighting fixtures replaced and some “junk.” Still a lot to do, kitchen remodel, landscaping, searching out new quilt guilds, getting Not Forgotten QOV back on track in the new area and getting the longarm back to being productive after five months in a storage garage.
I will load the first quilt today. I’ve received three quilts from a Virginia Beach quilter to complete and have QOV’s that have been pending for way too long.
Let me just say they turned out better than expected. I’ve never had the Man Cave, the Longarm Room or my drums all in the same area…never. Basements are a fabulous addition to a home. Plus I have an office on the main floor so QOV’ers and quilter’s don’t have to trek up an down stairs. Elaine’s Sewing Room occupies one of the upstairs bedrooms and to her liking, larger than the VaBch dining room. She has really done her work in organizing a lot of craft and sewing equipment and supplies.
Looking forward to a productive 2021 and beyond and getting back to doing what keeps me leaning towards sanity. We are home, healthy, very happy to be 3.5 miles from our son and his family. They just “dropped by” the other day…it was a something special…and worth all of the trials and tribulations that went along with the move. We miss you all. Our phones and emails are the same, so PLEASE, if you ever get this way stop by. Our home will always have an open door for “y’all” that made VaBch our home for 16 years. Made Not Forgotten QOV a very productive Group and allowed me to be a part of your quilting craft. We both, thank each one of you with our whole hearts.
Stay safe, warm and healthy. None of which requires a mask in reality.
Longarm Area from foot of basement staircase. Hard to tell you how excited this is.
Looking back to Longarm from ironing table.
Couch to be added. 65" with PlayStation in route. Drums ready and LOUD.
The room would not be complete without coffee/microwave/refrigerator. Plus a lot of room to walk around the ironing table.
Storage space...plenty
QOV's ready for Awarding and yet to be completed.
With TV and views outside of front yard and side yard. Elaine and Dr. Phil are very happy.
Crafting and Ironing tables. Supplies for crafting and embroidery needs.
You just never know when you may need to embroider something or need a ruler.
A colorful display of some stash. More storage area in the former closet and another window. There are three in this room and sun all day...when it's not snowing.
This was after one days work of unpacking.
It took a lot to get all of this to the basement. The moving crew earned their money. The longarm was still in pieces. The tech came up from Virginia to get it assembled.
Happily...nearer to our son and grandchildren.
Monday, September 28, 2020 the moving crew will arrive to load and secure the last of our possessions. Then the search for a house to make our new home will begin. Even though, as a result of COVID, who knew, there isn't a huge market to choose from. What we must avoid, like COVID, is the bidding wars that are happening on the those houses being listed. Easier said than done. We have a super-agent out of Newark, DE that has been instrumental in the process and keeps us current as to favorable areas in both South Eastern PA and North Western DE where our efforts are being concentrated and the appropriate values of the homes we choose to make offers on. Like just about everything in life, it is a process. It is a weird market right now to say the least.
Sadly...
We again leave friendships and relationships behind. Our hearts will be filled with fond memories, the sharing of like ideas and a love for longarm quilting, motorcycles, golf, for me and quilting, knitting, crocheting and shopping, for Elaine. We will miss the many that we shared time with at meetings and events with the Tidewater Quilters Guild, Not Forgotten QOV, Different Touch Quilt Shop, Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, our neighbors here on Achilles and in Fairfield and throughout the seven cities of Hampton Roads. Never say never. Because I never thought I would have to leave behind good friends and a house we made into a home like we did in California when we had to venture east to be close to our granddaughter. Oh yeah, and her mom and dad. East to west and now south to north. I can feel the chill of the winter coming and the warmth of family. The latter heavily outweighing the former.
To each and every one of you who we have shared a moment, to our friends, those who allowed me to be a part of their quilts, and all of those who, maybe without knowing, enriched our lives with a smile and some joy...we thank you.
We hope you will keep following us here on the website and Facebook. Our phone numbers will not change nor will our emails...please keep in touch. Thank you all for being part of our lives.
We use a Brother Entrepreneur Pro 1050X for our embroidery needs. Whether quilt labels or a special request for a shirt, bag, hat or other need, The Brother handles them all.
QOVF® originated from a vision of a mother with a son serving in Harm's Way in Iraq. From her vision of a post deployed warrior being wrapped in a quilt to comfort him the Quilts of Valor Foundation formed in November 2003. For information go to www.qovf.org.
Annually We Quilt/Not Forgotten QOV participates in events by setting up Visitor Booths. We award QOV's, collect donations, sell Raffle Tickets. Once reestablished we will update the calendar and post it again on the website.
QOV Sew Day. Currently suspended until move completed. Any question contact Elaine at elaine.navarro-page@hotmail.com.
"My Way" Longarm Video Series. Introduction
Loading a quilt back.
Loading the batting.
My Way Tools and Techniques
Loading (Floating) a quilt top.
I'm sure if you had the time you could count the number of manufacturer's of longarm quilting machines. We think we tested them all at one quilt show or another. But when the decision was made that our investment would be in the Innova System someone smiled upon us. ABM International, the Innova manufacturing company, got it right as far as we are concerned. Now after 8 years, with very minor and very few maintenance needs, one software upgrade for our Pantograph system and an upgrade to a stitch regulator that has no competition we are on the verge 1600 completed projects. During the current move to the north having in storage is like loosing a friend.