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Meanwhile in Harleysville, PA, Bob & Marla Moyer met and married 28 years ago. Since 1984 they have lived in East Greenville where Bob worked as an electrician and she worked as a tile maker. When she established a cleaning service for private homes, Bob began working with her in their new company. He is still running the cleaning service to this day. After retiring at 62, Marla wanted something to keep her occupied. In 1993 she was inspired by Kaye Wood on a quilting TV program and ordered the book from her TV show that day.

“I was really amazed that you assemble one block at a time,” said Marla who was a quilting novice then. She pieced up a storm and soon was taking her quilt tops out for machine quilting. The Moyers were delighted to purchase their first machine from author and pattern designer, Debra Moffette Hall in Hatfield, PA. It was an old Nolting longarm machine which they immediately put to work. From that day, Marla finished all her own quilt tops, and Bob started helping with the machine quilting right away. Then the work started to roll in. They upgraded the Nolting in 1999 and in 2006 purchased a used A1 longarm machine with all the bells and whistles. They love their A1, but it turns out that the Nolting is their workhorse. Marla does freehand and pantographs while Bob does custom work with stencils and patterns.

The Moyers have the unique advantage of being one of the few machine quilters in their area to offer custom work. It’s one of the factors that has helped their business grow. Something else that’s been helpful is that their work was featured in Debra Mofitt-Hall’s book When Traditional Blocks Meet Appliqué. Plus, they’ve quilted several of Mark Lipinski designs that were pictured in The Quilter and McCall’s Quick Quilts.

“Bob is just great,” enthused Marla. “I only wish I could do the custom work that he does. I could not do this without him.”

Bob values his wife’s talents which harmonize with his abilities. He said, “Marla is a lot better at picking out patterns and threads than I am.” Bob likes to tease that they don’t really love working together.

Marla said, “It’s easy because we are at home together to discuss ideas and then Bob executes the designs. We just work well together.”

Sometimes a conflict will arise over the color of thread or quilt pattern to use on a specific top, but they talk it over and compromise. The secret is that they both enjoy what they do. It is a hobby as well as a business and they find creating together is a very rewarding experience.

Reprinted from Quilting Now, May 2007