Linda Hamilton
This is right after 9 1/2 inches of my hair got cut off for Pantene's Beautiful Lengths

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I've been making quilts since the early 1980's and have been quilting by machine since the late 1980's. I drooled over the long arm machines for many years while I was still using my home machine to quilt with. I wore out my college graduation present sewing machine using it for free motion quilting! My husband finally got tired of me talking about a quilting machine and I bought my first one, the HQ16, in late 2005. By March of 2006 I had played enough on my own quilts & had a business up & running. I loved the HQ16 & how it handled, but once I saw the new Fusion, that's when I realized what I didn't like - the smaller throat area.

I just got my Fusion in June 2009 and after playing with it, the first quilt done on the new machine was not done by me, but by my 13 1/2 year old son!! He wanted to do a quilting project for 4-H & thought it would be an easy project. He found out just how much math mom has to do when making a quilt and how time consuming making the top can be. He practiced doing a pantograph before we removed the practice fabric and his skills were not up to the level needed. I had him test out a groovy board & that worked well for him. He wanted to do custom work but was too short to reach the handles from that side of the machine. He did not like the groovy boards I already had at home so we had to special order what he wanted & pay for expedited shipping so it would arrive in time for him to finish the quilt before judging. He finished & got a blue ribbon, an outstanding of the day & went to the state fair where he got a participation ribbon. The judges at the state fair marked him down on his display poster, but did write down that they really liked his quilt.

I've since done several other quilts on the Fusion and I like the new machine even more than I liked the HQ16. If someone had told me last year that I would be selling my HQ16 this year I would have thought they were crazy. The larger Fusion, though, has been great for my business as I can do the quilts with fewer passes. I like being able to quilt a 12 inch block on point all at once. I really like the stitch regulator on the Fusion and how I have more control than I ever had before. My feathers look better now!

I really appreciate the studio frame for the Fusion as well. Yes, it takes up more space, but it has been so worth it in terms of stability and ease of use that I can put up with a tight fit until I get some more space cleared out.

I own the following HQ machines: