Love my HandiQuilter! I bought an Avante 18" in July, and I am thrilled with it. Every time I load a quilt, I think about how much time I did NOT have to spend crawling around on the floor pinning it. I definitely have enough space. I had been looking for a 20" machine - 26" is way too big for me. I was a bit concerned that 18" would be too small, but I haven't had any problems. I just quilted a quilt with 9" blocks on point - custom quilted. That just barely fit, but it did, and I was able to do what I needed to. 12" blocks straight set are the largest you can do in one pass - but you can get creative and find a good place to split your design if necessary to quilt larger blocks custom. I have a 12' table - very glad I did that, as I just finished a 102" quilt. My one complaint is that the roller bars bend slightly under their own weight, and I'm still trying to find a solution that will give me a consistent level off the table for the guide roller.
I love having a local dealer (30 minutes away). I just spent time with her today, going over some issues (skipped stitches) in my latest quilt. She gave me lots of suggestions, and is always happy to let me try out her tools and such (like the extended base for ruler work).