Molly Washburn
Quilt Symposium of AL

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For many years I sewed my own clothes and made costumes for my children. I would also make the occasional patchwork quilt. I then branched out to making formals, bridals, and window treatments for profit. I was doing very well with these endeavors when I started having problems with my eyes.
For an entire year no one could figure out why my eyes hurt so much! Then my joints began to swell and ache. My sewing came to a complete stop as I battled psoriatic arthritis. In addition to being sick and in pain, I became depressed since I could no longer sew.
Eventually, medications got my arthritis under control. However, I couldn’t make clothing anymore as bending to hem, etc. was now beyond my capabilities. Draperies and window treatments were also no longer possible because of reaching to measure and mount; climbing on ladders was out of the question.
I treated myself to a new sewing machine, not really knowing exactly what I would sew with it! I tried making a small quilt but had a painful time pushing the quilt under the harp while free motion quilting. Then I started the “new machine” class that the sewing machine dealer gives to all new owners. In that class, I met Martha.
Martha works at a local quilting store and owns a HQ Sixteen with HQ Pro Stitcher. Martha told me all about her system and got me curious. I quietly began researching home quilting systems.
At that time, most of the set ups meant for home quilting looked kind of homemade - sort of put together with a child’s erector set! Call me shallow, but if I’m going to spend money on a quilting system, I’d like to be proud of how it looks!
Then I began researching warranties, customer service reputations and training options. I found that having a local dealer who could train me was a very important consideration.
Finally, I began test driving systems, often traveling many miles away, to get a feel for the different systems I was researching. The feat


ures for the price on the HQ Sixteen couldn’t be beat, and the local dealer repeatedly answered all my questions with patience. Furthermore, the machine had a very nice "fit and finish". I finally chose the HQ Sixteen.
As I waited for my machine to arrive, I became very nervous. Would I be able to quilt on it, even with my arthritis? When I was test driving the HQ Sixteen at my dealer’s, my quilting was not spectacular. Would I be able to learn to quilt nicely on the HQ Sixteen? Had I made a big mistake?
After my system arrived and my dealer trained me, I practiced every day. My arthritis was absolutely not a problem! The lighting under the handlebars really helped me overcome the problems with my eyes, and I could push the machine around WITH MY FINGERTIPS. After lots of practice, I am becoming a pretty good quilter. In fact, I have won some ribbons at local shows! I love quilting on my HQ Sixteen so much, my dealer asked me to be her “HQ Educator”!
I absolutely love my HQ Sixteen and know I will have many years of pleasure with it.

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