NOW Self-Guided Program
Follow a clear MKQU learning path for your longarm machine and Pro-Stitcher—at your own pace. You’ll have focused coursework, practical homework, and community support to help you build skills one step at a time.
About This Program
The NOW Self-Guided Program is designed to help new owners become comfortable using their longarm machine and Pro-Stitcher through a structured series of courses. Your session schedule will be determined by you and completed over an eight-week period.
What You Will Learn
The NOW Self-Guided Program gives you a clear path for becoming comfortable with your longarm machine and Pro-Stitcher. Work through the coursework and practice at your own pace, returning to any lesson whenever you need it.
Who Is This For?
The new owner comfortable in self-learning how to use their longarm machine and Pro-Stitcher. Whether you purchased from a dealer who did not offer training included or purchased a used machine from an individual, this is for you.
- Submit Questions to the Instructors
- Study on your own terms with 24/7 access
- Engage with other owners in the private community
- Access from anywhere across multiple devices
Included with this Amazing Program:
Submit Questions to the Instructors
Study on your own terms with 24/7 access
Engage with other owners in the private community
Access from anywhere across multiple devices
This Bundle Includes the Following Courses:
2026 NOW Self-Guided Program
The NOW Self-Guided Program is designed to help new owners become comfortable using their longarm machine and Pro-Stitcher through a structured series of courses. Your session schedule will be determined by you and completed over an eight-week period
New Owner Training
New Owner Training Course. This is for the new machine (or machine with Pro-Stitcher) owner. We run through the basics and some best practices.
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Using the Handi Quilter Bobbin Winder
Leery of loading? Boggled by bobbins? Learn how to quickly and easily load your own bobbins using the Handi Quilter bobbin winder.
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Ellen's Best Practices for Starts and Stops
Learn three ways to start and stop your longarm quilting when doing free motion or ruler work.
Load Quilts the MK Way
Learn how MK loads her quilts in this in-depth course. MK will show you all the tools, tips, tricks and techniques that she uses to make loading accurate, precise and fast.
Loading Quilts in Clearview/Low Position
Advancements in quilting offer new methods for loading quilts on longarm frames. While we've traditionally used the Standard position, we can now load quilts in the Clearview position. This course supplements "Load Quilts the MK Way."
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Free Motion Quilting 101 - Meandering
Gain confidence with your Free Motion skills in Ellen's Free Motion Quilting 101 Series. In this course master your meandering for a classic fill that you will be able to use as allovers or in custom work.
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Free Motion Quilting 101 - Swirls
Gain confidence with your Free Motion skills in Ellen's Free Motion Quilting 101 Series. All quilters love swirls! Learn the basics of the curves needed for quilting swirls.
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Free Motion Quilting 101 - Paisley
Gain confidence with your Free Motion skills in Ellen's Free Motion Quilting 101 Series. Paisleys are great tear drop shapes to have in your free motion library of designs.
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GSTMKW#1: Pro-Stitcher for Beginners the MK Way
In this course MK strives to bring Pro-Stitcher down to the very basics. You'll start simple and build from there.
GSWPSL#1: The Basics & E2E Quilting
Welcome to Getting Started with Pro-Stitcher Lite (GSWPSL) #1: The Basics & E2E Quilting, the first course in our fun series! Join Paco as she guides you through turning on the machine and teaches you how to complete edge-to-edge quilting.
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GSTMKW#2: Digital Edge-to-Edge for Newbies
The best foundational training video available for Newbies to longarming and Pro-Stitcher.
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GSTMKW#3: Digital Edge-to-Edge for Intermediates
The next step in your digital E2E journey with Pro-Stitcher. In this course we build on the Newbies course but we're going to be shaving off some steps thereby making the process go faster at the machine.
How to Select a Laptop for your Quilting Needs
Learn how to select a laptop that will meet your quilting needs and more.
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GSTMKW#5: Intro to Simulation with MK - A Virtual Webinar
This course is a brief introduction to Layout & Rendering, the term MK coined for how she uses PSP (running in simulation mode) as a layout and design tool. Spend an hour with MK learning the basics and getting introduced to the program and process.
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GSTMKW#6: Simulation 101 - Working with PSP Running in Simulation Mode
This is a basics course for Pro-Stitcher. Anyone attending one of MK's live training sessions should view this training so that they are ready to keep pace with the course.
Introduction to Troubleshooting
This course covers resolving longarm machine issues, stitch issues, Pro-Stitcher issues and cable management best practices.
Installing Pro-Stitcher and Changing Versions
Learn how to install and update Pro-Stitcher Premium. We recommend a way to store the installation files so you can easily access them from the PS Update button. There is also basic file management help.
Working with MKDI (formerly known as QPI)
MK Design Indexer (formerly known as QPI) is a product of MK Quilts. Developed to assist in organizing (indexing) and keywording your digital quilting designs. This is a primer course. 4 short lessons on how to easily set up and use the program.
Taught by World Class Instructors:
Paco Rich
Contributor and Mentor
Paco is a Southwest New Mexico native, born and raised. She started her self-taught quilting journey in 2014. In July 2016, she dove in and accomplished her first free-motion quilting on an HQ Avante and continued learning computerized quilting on an HQ Fusion with Pro-Stitcher. Paco specializes in quilt piecing and computerized quilting with Pro-Stitcher and Pro-Stitcher Designer. She continues to mentor and support those wanting to learn more about piecing quilts and computerized longarming.
Melissa Kruschwitz
CEO and The MK
Founder and primary trainer at MK Quilts. MK started out as a quilter over a dozen years ago and is now a freelance computerized longarming expert specializing in the Handi Quilter Pro-Stitcher. Her real-world training comes from growing her basic longarming passion into a profitable business that involves many that share her passion.
Ellen Ault
Free Motion Expert and MK Quilts Chief Creative Officer
Ellen joined MK Quilts in 2019 as the Studio Manager using her broad skills to stitch our customer quilts with both free motion and computerized longarming. She has a unique affinity with rulers and free motion that complements MK's skills. Ellen contributes to MK Quilts content and offers her own special courses.
Paul Kruschwitz
CTO and Founder - King Nerd
After 30+ years in Enterprise I.T., Paul found that his and MK's combined skill sets uniquely made them the perfect team to run MK Quilts. Every beauty needs a beast. The move of the longarming craft into computerized tools and social media left a demand that most retailers could not fill. While others struggle to survive, MK Quilts continues to grow in difficult times.
Frequently Asked Questions:
The schedule will be decided upon you and your Mentor and will cover roughly 4 sessions plus Introduction (max of 5 hours of the Mentor’s time) over 7 weeks.
In addition to having your longarm with Pro-Stitcher set up and ready for quilting, you must have fabric and batting on which to practice the techniques, thread, needles, etc.
All communication and courses will be led through Zoom, email, the MK Quilts University and the MKQU Premium Community.
Work outside of the dedicated mentoring session time to practice learned techniques will be necessary for proficiency (Handi Quilter suggests 15 minutes every day!). You must assume responsibility for continuing education both during and after the mentoring program.
If the pace of the program needs to be significantly altered, there may be an additional charge to extend the program in order to complete the planned program sessions.
If you are ready to get started, click on the BUY IT NOW button at the top right. If you have further questions, feel free to email [email protected]
