The Quilted Cottage

Hi! So I went to see the Innova. The person selling it has a longarm business and the machine was located at her business. She said she has used it for free motion quilting and rents it out occasionally on Saturdays. She also has a Huge Gammil with computer, which is what she uses for the bulk of her business. The machine was clean and looked to be in very good condition, with just a few scuff marks on the frame. I test drove it for a bit and it felt and sounded like the other Innovas I have used. It did seem to have a very slight vibration but I think that might have been because she had a fairly small quilt sample on the machine for me to test on. I mentioned the vibration and she put the side clamps on, which seemed to help.

She had already arranged for someone else to quilt on it today, so I got to see that person use it, too. The owner showed us how to load the quilt (red snappers, floated top) and she set it up for a large meander pantograph. The customer's quilt was a small lap size quilt and it came out really nice. The stitching on the back was just as nice as the front - lovely, even Innova stitches.

She is including in the sale lots of extra bobbins, some Innova thread, extra feet (4), extra needles, lots of red snappers and lots of pantographs, plus a few other tools and the manual. I'm not really interested in pantograph but perhaps they would be nice to have to practice on donated quilts. Oh, it also has a thread break guide. I knew Innova had one but I had never seen one on a machine.

I did make an offer of $12,000. I thought that was fair considering the age and condition. She needed to contact her husband and discuss with him so she'll be getting back to me later. All in all, it was a very good experience and even if it doesn't work out I learned a lot. She was very generous with her time and knowledge.

Thanks again to all of you who have responded. Your generous sharing means a lot to me. This is a big purchase for me so I am a trying to make the best informed decision I can. Any other thoughts, please let me know.

Di