Blue Ribbon Quilt Company is owned and operated by Linda and Greg Lawson of Monroe, Ohio. We have been in business since 2001.
We started out as a longarm quilting business in 2001, quilting custom quilts for customers in our immediate area. When we developed our T-Shirt Quilt site (www.t-shirt-quilts.com) in 2004, (after acquiring our first computerized quilting system) we decided to focus on these types of quilts alone. We now have customers from all over the world sending us their t-shirts to put into production for a t-shirt quilt. As a result of our increasing repeat and referrals, we are now handling hundreds of these quilts yearly.
In 2002 Linda Lawson developed the first longarm quilting community on the Internet called LongarmChat.com. This site started as just a small community with a few picture links and a chat room. Today we currently hosts over 4,000 members with a database of 16,000+ posts. With active forums, galleries, member's desktop areas and now the implementation of videos, it has become the premier longarm site on the Internet.
Also in 2002 Blue Ribbon Quilt Co. became authorized dealers for A-1 Quilting Machines for the east central US and Canada. For six years they acquired a vast customer base which many today have become their highly valued, IntelliQuilter customers. They ended their relationship with A-1 in 2007 when they decided to focus more of their attentions on the IntelliQuilter System. With their past machine experience, they have become a team well versed in the mechanical and practical aspects of most quilting systems.
Along with selling, training and installing A-1 machines, they were also training specialists and dealers for S&D Stitches' CompuQuilter quilting system. Because of this experience and relationship with the CQ system, Linda branched out and began designing and digitizing patterns specifically formatted for computerized systems. Her early pattern designs were some of the first developed for CompuQuilter's quilting system and are still popular among all computerized quilters today. During this timeframe she also began teaching digitizing using Autosketch at national shows and at private classes she hosted in her studio. Today, her preferred software for digitizing has become Corel Draw and hosts a video blog on digitizing available to anyone who is interested. Click here to view this blog.
In the summer of 2006, while at the AQS show in Nashville, both Linda and Greg were first introduced to Kasa's Engineering's IntelliQuilter system. Immediately they recognized multiple advantages of this system over the one they were then representing. With a little more research and an eye on the constantly evolving technology of the IntelliQuilter, the decision was made to resign from S&D Stitches to pursue implementing the IQ into their business. Soon afterwards they became representatives for Kasa Engineering by selling, installing and training for the Intelliquilter Quilting System.
Blue Ribbon Quilt Company has now been consistently ranked #1 for IQ sales both in 2007 and 2008. With over 50 systems now installed through them., they look forward to continued success in the coming years ahead representing the best computerized system for quilting machines on the market today..
In the summer of 2006, while at the AQS show in Nashville, both Linda and Greg were first introduced to Kasa's Engineering's IntelliQuilter system. Immediately they recognized multiple advantages of this system over the one they were then representing. With a little more research and an eye on the constantly evolving technology of the IntelliQuilter, the decision was made to resign from S&D Stitches to pursue implementing the IQ into their business. Soon afterwards they became representatives for Kasa Engineering by selling, installing and training for the Intelliquilter Quilting System.
Blue Ribbon Quilt Company has now been consistently ranked #1 for IQ sales both in 2007 and 2008. With over 50 systems now installed through them., they look forward to continued success in the coming years ahead representing the best computerized system for quilting machines on the market today..
If you would like a document of the differences they see between the two systems based on their experiences, please e-mail us.
ABOUT US
The Lawson Family
Linda (Bates) Lawson grew up in Liverpool, New York, She spent her teen years developing her love of textiles. She started sewing garments in the early 70's and continued honing her craft on into the 80's with the opening of a home-based bridal and formalwear business. Constructing gowns for approximately 10 weddings a year and numerous formal events, kept her quite busy in those early years of marriage and motherhood.
In the early 90's Greg and Linda bought a Decorating Den Franchise. Soon afterwards Linda found herself winning the Franny Award by being named DD's 1993 Decorator of the Year. That same year she was published in many national publications for a kitchen make-over. Magazines included, Country Home, Woman's Day, Builder's Square spring publication, Brides Magazine, Woman's World and the March 1993 edition of Better Homes and Gardens. During her years as an interior designer, Linda continued to work on her sewing skills by designing and constructing many of the home decor poducts she sold.
With the need to slow down and raise their two growing sons, the Lawson's sold their Decorating Den franchise and spent the next few years immersed in homeschooling and juggling their sons' travel hockey schedules. When their sons were grown, and the youngest getting ready for college, Linda felt the need to return to work and began her new career in quilting...
Greg Lawson is a field supervisor for Duke Energy where he has worked for the past 30 years. He has been known around the Greater Cincinnati area for his talents with the electric keyboard and bass guitar. When he's not on-call for Duke Energy, or on IQ installations, he enjoys taking part with the music team at North Cincinnati Community Church where both he and Linda are members.
John Lawson is the eldest son of Linda and Greg. He currently is an IT Specialist at the University of Cincinnati. His responsibilities there include handling all aspects of the Collage of Pharmacy's IT department. In 2004 he took control of LongarmChat.com as the site's administrator, handling all of the sites databases, programming implementations and customer relations. John is married with 2 young daughters.
Jeff Lawson is Greg and Linda's youngest son. He is a graduate of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI and just recently left for South Korea. He went there to teach english at a school in Deagu and is currently adjusting the the Korean culture. You can follow his adventures on his blog over at http://daegudispatch.blogspot.com/ .
Specializing in Intelliquilter Quilting Systems for your longarm machine.
Copyright © 2009 Blue Ribbon Quilt Co.
