My HQ Story:
As a young girl a favorite pastime was watching my Mother sew together
tiny pieces of fabric and then transformed the pieces into a beautiful
quilt. She had the patience of Job and a matching God given talent. It
was fascinating to see my old dresses and yes, some blouses, being
worked into a quilt. This gave me a sense of ownership in knowing that
my old dresses were now keeping me warm in yet another way as I
snuggled beneath the warm blankets. Those were the days when nothing
was wasted.
I remember Mother saying you first have to cut a good piece of fabric
into small pieces and then sew the pieces back together using your
imagination to get the pieces to fit. Once the piecing was finished she
then would draw a design on the quilt top using only a soft pencil, a
piece of chalk and a few pieces of cardboard cut into geometric shapes.

As I got closer to retirement age, I remembered those childhood days
and became involved in the art of making quilts. I wanted a machine
that would replace the pencil, chalk and cardboard shapes and allow me
to stitch beautiful motifs. Because I am a little short on a God given
talent of designing motifs, I knew I would need help and plenty of it.
I spent tons of hours researching the best technology that I could use
with my PCQuilter which I inherited from my sister. I finally decided
on a sit down HQ16 model. It was as if I had always owned an HQ16
because of the ease of operation. As mentioned my artistic ability is
limited so I knew I would be happier with a hands free computer
operated system. After many hours of training myself to load a quilt
and digitizing designs, I just knew that a stitch regulator was in my
future...I then upgraded my HQ16 to include the stitch regulator which
advanced me to mastering free motion quilting. You guessed it; I then
purchased the micro handles so I could quilt around appliqué designs.
I have found the beauty of any HQ16 enhancement more than meets my
expectations. The learning curve never ends. Did I mention that I was
retired? What’s that?
I entered a quilt in the NQA show this June in Columbus, Ohio. The
quilt was designed around Crown Royal Whiskey bags. The piecing was
done by my sister and I did the quilting using my HQ16 setup. Since
then I have designed and pieced two more Crown Royal quilts. It seems
to be a popular insignia. I have pieced several quilts and entered them
in various shows. I did win a first place ribbon in 2006; however I did
not quilt this particular top. You see, I was busy researching the HQ16
setup back in 2006. I love my quilts and I show them off any time I get
a chance. I even want you to see them so I have attached a few for your
review.
I’m learning to love the free motion feature of the HQ16, however not
as much as the computerized system. It is right up there with the
sew-out of a digitized design. Both have their place in the quilting
world. I’ve learned that we don’t change the quilt, the quilt changes
us. Life is understood backwards; but is lived by moving forward. I
look forward to the day that I can own an HQ Fusion as I advance in my
love of quilting...ab

I own the following HQ machine: HQ Sixteen Sit-down