Pantos and LA thread.
 

They will be delivering my LA machine tomorrow and I've been thinking about thread and pantogram sources. Do any of you fine LArs have a great online source for these items that you could recommend? Are there any resources that sell wholesale to individuals?

I dont do pantos but LOVE the thread from Connecting Threads---called Essential Pro or something like that. It is a huge bargain and works great in my old HQ16. I am mainly a charity quilter so cannot afford those fancy LA threads.

Do a search for longarm and you will find some wholesales who sell to individuals........I have used most of them at one time or another and have had no complaints about any

Congratulations on your new machine!

Many wholesalers require a resale certificate (tax exempt number) to sell. This is mainly for batting manufacturers like Hobbs and Quilter's Dream.

Threads, can't say I'm a big fan of the Essential pro. Bought one cone and was ecstatic when it was gone. My favorite LA quilting thread is Glide by filtec. http://www.bobbincentral.com/ I also LOVE their prewound magnaglide bobbins. Spendier than winding your own but IMHO totally worth it.

another great source of thread is Metro embroidery thread. Very inexpensive, beautiful thread and a great product, but made in China. I prefer to support US made products when possible (Glide is made in the US)
http://www.metroemb.com/store/

You may wish to get the feel for your machine before investing in a bunch of pantos. I had my machine for several months before I ordered my first ones. I only have a handful of them and while they are great to use, I much prefer working from the front of the machine. I like pantos that are nested and have a portion of the design printed on top and bottom. Makes for much easier lining up when advancing. My favorite source for pantos is Willow Leaf studios.

http://www.willowleafstudio.com/

another thing you will want to consider are rulers and templates. When my dealer delivered my machine I bought a straight edge ruler right off the bat from him. I wouldn't be without my rulers and templates. I love them. I use circles and straight more than anything. Unfortunately willow leaf quit making their straight edge and circle templates. But Handiquilter has some very nice ones. I got some from Erica's. Be forewarned, LA templates are expensive. You will go into sticker shock the first time you look at them. So choose your tools wisely or spread the purchases out over time.
http://www.ericas.com/quilting/tools...mequilting.htm

Here's a great source for pantos

http://www.urbanelementz.com/

I use Heartbeat quilting and Quilts Complete for thread and pantos. Many other places are available but I get great customer service and prices from these two places.

I love Quilts Complete (www.quiltscomplete.com) for Pantos.

I second the mention of needing rulers, straight and circles. You might want to look at DeLoa's Circle Buster rulers:
http://www.deloasquiltshop.com/deloa...clebuster.html

Rather than a complete circle, they have an innie and outie half circle of the same diameter on one ruler. You normally hold the ruler in one hand and guide the machine with the other. If you're not ambidextrous, then you need to be a contortionist! Not with these rulers, however.

I suggest you check out www.mqresource.com it is a machine quilter's forum and they have a lot of good info. also occasionally people selling their pantos as they upgrade to a computerized system

I've bought most of my pantos from QuiltsComplete, too. And I like R & S Designs for pattern boards.

I have an APQS and love the Connecting Threads also--both the polyestor and the cotton.

You should check out the Glide and metro thread then. Connecting threads essential pro is 5.99 for 3,315 yard cone. Works out to be .0018 per yard.

Glide is 6.20 for white for a 5000 meter cone (roughly 4,572 yards). this works out to be .0013 per yard so it is cheaper per yard
Colors are $7.20 (.0015 per yard) so still cheaper per yard by a fraction of a cent

Metro embroidery thread is only 2.75 for a 5000 meter cone. So if you are looking for the least expensive way to quilt charity quilts the metro is the way to go. My LA has absolutely no issues with it. You can try out a small cone of 1000 meters for .89 cents.
It really is a nice thread.

I get my pantographs from Quiltrecipes.com
They give you a free program. You buy the designs you want and the program will print them out to any size you need. You just tape the pages together. You enter the height and width you want to do and it figures out how many repeats you need and the best size.
The designs run from $4 up. Sometimes you like a pattern but need it smaller, or bigger, so you don't have to buy another panto, just reprint it at the size you need. Check it out. Ann

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful suggestions and websites!