Originally Posted by vicki75
Does anyone out there own a Juki TL 98Q? Is this is good machine? How does it compare to the Brother 1500 or Babylock QCP? Looking at alternatives to long arms that are cheaper. There are quilting frames (New Joy & Pinnacle) out there that work with these machines but, I'm just concerned that the 9 inch throat will make it almost impossible to quilt anything larger than lap size quilts. Ugh....why can't we all be millionaires?
You can quilt anything you want, any size with those machines, if you don't mind doing it at five inches at a time ... I have the Pinnacle Frame with the Babylock "QCP" ... trust me ... not worth the time, money, or frustration of only doing quilting in bits and pieces. It is barely bigger than free motion at my stitching station, with less option to do an overall pattern. For another $3500 I could have bought a mid-arm "18 inch" quilting machine and frame. If you try to separate the machine from the frame, you will find that you only save about a thousand dollars, so my idea of using the pinnacle with an INNOVA 18 inch was a sorry solution ... and I didn't do it. It only took quilting two quilts for my husband to see that I would never be able to do the work with my set up that I could have if I had just waited and bought the mid arm or long arm.
While you are waiting ... test drive EVERY long/mid arm machine and frame you can get your hands on ... it only takes about fifteen minutes of working with one to understand what I am telling you about the smaller machines ... have I said it enough??? DON"T DO IT! <g> <wave> :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: