OK! I wrote my story out on paper and it seems way too long so let me summarize it here.
My wife and I were introduced to quilting 4-5 yrs ago by her mother. I have to say that it has been the most amazing experience of my life.
To begin, I immediately fell in love with piecing. I loved putting quilt tops together and seeing the fabric come to life right before my eyes.
This love for piecing was contrasted by the fact that I disliked quilting the finished top. Everything about quilting on the domestic machine drove me nuts. From rolling and folding the bulk of the quilt on my lap as I stitched, turning and readjusting the quilt for the next line of quilting only to repeat the entire process with every turn. I hated it. It was sucking the life out of me along with all the joy I felt for piecing.
My wife kept telling me to 'suck it up'. She told me my only other option was to spend $20,000 on a Long Arm. 'A WHAT?' I said. I still remember that day so clearly. She sat me down in front of the computer and showed me pictures of a Long Arm Quilting Machine.
I was amazed. The quilt was rolled on bars and the machine moved across the table on wheels the entire width of the quilt. AAAAWWWWWW!!!!!! The angels were singing. I M U S T H A V E O N E! So the research began...
It didn't take me long to realize that the initial investment in this machine could easily be earned back by doing other peoples quilts. Which would compliment our lifestyle perfectly as we we’re both already working from home which allows us lots of time with our 8 kids.
Now I needed to find the machine that was right for us. With a few clicks of the mouse and a number of hours of research I was convinced I had found the right machine. The cherry on the sundae was that HQ's Western Canadian Rep was 5 minutes from our house and the machine was only half the price I was expecting to pay. What are the chances. We drove over and took the HQ16 for a test drive. I was impressed to say the least.
Long story short, we bought our HQ16 in April, 2008. Practiced freehand quilting for four-six months on charity quilts supplied by our guild, bought every book we could find on the subject for design ideas and broadened our arsenal of skills with hours on end of practice. I slowly took over the quilting while my wife got back to piecing which now makes us the perfect match.
I was very fortunate to have attended two sets of classes from HQ educators at Central Sewing where we bought the machine and became a very confident quilter as a result. My HQ16 has given me such a thirst for knowledge that I flew down to New Hampshire in April 2009 for 5 days of classes with Pam Clarke, Debbi Trevino, Dawn Cavanaugh, Elaine Huffman, and my favorite of all Karen McTavish. I am now certified to teach ‘McTavishing’ and will teach my first classes at Central Sewing next month. I will also be teaching a three part class as An Introduction to the HQ16 and a class on running a long arm quilting business. Once again, all possible because of the HQ16.
I was determined right from the start to take my business global and have been very aggressive promoting myself online at http://manquilter.com. I have been very proud to display my work online for all to see and as a result have been given countless opportunities to test my skills. Before long I had a very long list of customers both local and long distance. I quilted Moda’s ‘Green Piece’ BOM introduced to stores at Spring Market. Another quilt I worked on for Lissa from UnitedNotions will appear in McCall’s Quilting Magazine this fall. My articles on Long Arm Quilting will appear in SewManyPlace’s Quiltposium.com online Magazine debuting September 1st. Another one of my articles will appear in Quilter’s Connection Magazine if I can ever find the time to write it. This is just a handfull of the amazing things that have happened to me as a result of owning an HQ16.
Thank you for allowing me to share my story! I would love to be invited to a special HQ My
Story Retreat in Salt Lake City

I own the following HQ machines: