Originally Posted by
feline fanatic
Buy from a dealer. You happen to have a very nice one opening soon in Claremont NH for Innovas. A dealer either deliver or will have your machine drop shipped to your home and then come to your home to set up your machine and usually offer free lessons. A good dealer is worth their weight in gold. Additionally Innova offers awesome over the phone tech support 24-7-365. Can't go wrong!
As far as learning, it does take practice but some of us kind of hit the ground running. Others start out walking and work their way up but we all get there depending on if you want to put the time in or not.
I bought my Innova at the MQX show in manchester this past april and I have to tell you I havent been happier. I actually met the new dealer from claremont at the Mancuso show this past month. I got mine from the guys in VA. But the dealer in NH said he would be taking all the NE people if we wanted. He is a great guy, spent some time chatting with me about my machine.
I am so very happy to have my machine. She is my baby
I am still learning but that is ok, nothing worth having is easy (or so my mom tells me)
I would recommend getting a dry erase board and markers, then start going through the you tube videos. Handi-Quilter has some great teaching videos.
One thing I did do though, I looked around for a rental place and learned to use a LA before I got my own machine. My thoughts about this was that I wanted to make absolutely sure that this was something I wanted to do before I sunk that kind of money into the machine. There is a place in Amesbury, MA that has a Prodigy for rent, place in Pelham, NH with a Handi-Quilter, and a place near Woburn, MA that has a Gammill. Feel free to PM me if you want the names of any of those places. I also believe the Claremont, NH store rents the Innova too (not entirely 100% positive on this though)
Good Luck!