I found this board quite a while ago and periodically take a peek at the postings. Thought I should become a member and introduce myself. I have a full-time job, so not much time to do a lot of chatting. I enjoy many types of needlework - whatever strikes my curiosity. For the past 5 years, or so, I have been enjoying machine embroidery and have taken up quilting.

I am getting quite frustrated at trying to maneuver my larger quilts through the small machine to do the quilting. And, I am not satisfied with the quality. I am also not interested in hand quilting, takes too long.

I found this website: http://www.sewvacdirect.com/grace_combos.html

The Grace frames seem to be an economical choice. Does anyone in the forum use one of the frames? Any opinions? Also, is the Juke a good machine? Any opinions or thoughts about another model? If I purchase a frame and long arm quilter, I will be sharing with other quilting enthusiasts.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Plan on going to the PIQF quilt show in Santa Clara this coming weekend. Hope they have a vendor and demonstrations.

Thank you for your help.

I have a Grace frame and a Juki, and am happy with both. The drawback of the Juki is the limited throat space, but it has more space than my Kenmore, and cost much less than mid-arm or long-arm machines. I found that the DVD with the Grace frame, as far as how to load the quilt, was pretty worthless, but if you'll check out LongArmUniversity.com, they have a 10-page article on how to load a quilt, and it's a great help. I keep the article next to my frame and refer to it frequently. Good luck!

Hi there gram and a big welcome from North Carolina. So glad you found us. I am a hand quilter myself so can't help you with that but I'm sure one of the gals here will help you with that. Hope you stay with us.

Welcome from Southern California. I don't have a frame for my machine but have a longarm wish for the future......
This is a great place to learn about all kinds of quilting related stuff!!!

Thank you all for the warm welcome and comments on the Grace frame and Juki. Still pondering. I will be sure to check out the website.

Regards,
Jan

I just wanted to say Welcome--I am sorry I have no knowledge or wisdom to share with you about a long arm.

Hi and welcome fom Mass. Glad you joined us. Please post some pics. Love to see your work.