About Quilted Expressions
We are Steve and Jan Rondeau. We are located in central Colorado, our adopted home. We were both raised in Minnesota, but moved to Colorado in 2001 for a job transfer. We both come from a long line of seamstresses, crafters and quilters. The quilting tradition is now being passed on down to our daughters and granddaughters.
We purchased our first longarm machine in the early 1990’s. Unfortunately, it seemed that we were ahead of our time for most of the quilters we knew; machine quilting was not totally accepted as a method for finishing quilts yet. We sold that machine about four years later; however, during that time we were able to develop our skills at layout, design, and pattern development. We took classes in longarm quilting whenever they were available. The one that was most memorable was probably Marcia Stevens of Brainerd, MN.
Early in 2006 Steve decided to follow his artistic side and resume longarm quilting. In July, after careful consideration, we purchased a Gammill Optimum with the Statler Stitcher. In September 2007 we purchased a second Gammill Optimum with the Statler Stitcher so we could keep up with the ever-growing volume of business we were getting. In November 2008, Jan retired and we moved the business from ourhome to a retail location in downtown Johnstown, Colorado. We have expanded to include fabrics, notions and classes.We love meeting fellow quilt enthusiasts, no matter what level of experience they are at.
A fascinating tidbit: One of the features on the Gammill Optimum with the Statler Stitcher is a stitch counter. The counters start over when they reach 10 million stitches and both machines have reset the counter more than once. However, the counter also counts the stitches for each quilt. Some quilts have 400,000 to 500,000 stitches in them, depending on the quilt size and the pattern used. Who would have guessed that?
We have over 2500 patterns available from a variety of vendors. Steve has also done some original designs when we couldn’t find that ideal pattern for a particular quilt. If you have something particular in mind, we will do everything possible to accommodate your choices.
One of our goals is to keep the time your quilt is in our possession to a minimum. We strive to maintain a two – three week turnaround for quilts with pantograph quilting patterns. We are not always able to accomplish this, however that is our goal. Custom and heirloom quilts are kept in a stream of their own, and often take a month or longer to complete.
