Now she’s tickled at the niche she’s found doing artistic finish-quilting work from her large farm shed with a high-tech, long-arm quilting machine. Simkins, 59, purchased the $8,000 Handi Quilter machine in February from Joyce Watson of Big Sky Quilts in Great Falls, who has trained more than 35 U. Simkins said she likes setting her own hours so she can run farm errands and spend time with her husband, Mark, who works irregular hours with UPS. Most home quilters finish 150 to 200 quilts a year on their machine, working about 20 hours a week. Big Sky Quilts owner Joyce Watson, right, sold René Simkins a long arm quilting machine and tutored her to do finish quilting in her Fort Shaw home.

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