Thank you Feline Fanatic and Marcia for responding.
If I go this route, I'm leaning toward the Intelliquilter. Seems to do more than the Elevate and I'm scared to death to spend money on a lesser known system.
Feline, oh you hit the nail on the head! There is a great deal of pride to FMQ and I too get that thrill when someone asks "what pattern did you use?" and I say, "This one" while moving my arms as if at my machine. Though I must admit when someone raves about the perfection of CD..I just don't get it. I don't see the artistic attraction in perfect unchanging designs, produced by a non-human entity.
Marcia, health, pain and energy levels are part of the reason I'm willing to make the change. I've had some health hiccups and I find I'm not able to work at my machine for long without totally wasting myself. At this point I fail to see the value in hand guided pantographs.
I remember we had the Hand vs Machine clash in our guild years ago (many of our hand quilters have since passed
). It is quite a revelation when you realize Hand quilting, Freehand Machine and Computer Driven are all just different techniques. As a free-hander I can no more do some computerized designs than I could mimic hand quilting. The problem though, as I see is that as a business owner is how your customers view it. And THAT is one thing that frustrates me to no end. I get asked why my prices are higher (and they really arent for FMQ in my area)..Because I have to stand at my machine! "Why can you not do 'this' design?" they say as they point to worded block filler and then of course my favorite is they want intricate dense designs that CDs have no problem producing but for a FMQ its highlevel work. The industry has changed so much.