Would the dealer possibly rent or loan you a machine?

Nope. That was my first idea. They told me the machine are too expensive to set up a rental system.

What about mailing it in to be quilted? You pay them, you loose the income, but the customer is happy! Missouri Star does that service, and I know the knowledgeable ladies on this board know others. Maybe even some of the ladies here that do long arm quilting for the public could offer their services?

If you are actually in or near Montreal, there must be a couple of guilds around and a few quilt stores. Perhaps contacting them could put you in touch with someone willing to rent you time on their machine. I think at this point, I would be getting out the yellow pages or searching online for any guild or LQS within reasonable distance and start networking. It might mean a very long day away from home, but at least you would have made every attempt to fulfill your obligations.

Okay did a quick search. There is a Beaconsfield quilters guild http://www.beaconsfieldquiltersguild.org/
and Effiloche quilt store open today 514 276 2547. Hope someone will know someone who can help you out.

Unfortunately, it's not possible. One is required for a local customer for the end of this week. It's a small size, something I could finish in one hour on my longarm. The other one is a very specific quilting design; I make a background and put some applique on it.

The main problem with the HQ is the upper part of the carriage is built into the machine, so there is nothing to put another machine on.

I've never seen a carriage that will fit the HQ frame. . .

In a real pinch, I'd put the quilt on the frame to hand baste/pin baste and then take it off and FMQ it with an easy pattern on my Juki.

This got me thinking, and my DH said "didn't you get a second carriage when you got the robotics?" so we got into the closet and found the box with the non-robotics carriage. DH is going to fix me an upper slider and then I'll have a carriage I can put a different machine on if I ever need to.

Yes, I just thought about the pin/basting solution this afternoon. Thanks for confirming it's not a crazy idea. At least I would save myself the laborious taping on the floor and crawling around. That's something :-) Otherwise, I have a Bernina 730 with a stitch regulator that havent' used since I got the longarm (I'm keeping this machine for the embroidery feature), so I may be able to do something.

Thanks for the information about the HQ carriage. It's true it doesn't look like the other ones. So it seems there is no way to get a decent backup...

I think I might try to find a town not far away that rents time on a L A. Go and spend the night if you have to.

Check e-Bay out. I have seen (and almost ordered one) a hand made wooden frame or separate carriage parts made by a man who teaches quilting. Price depends on what is ordered. But less than $200 for the whole thing. I checked under "quilt frames". He may still have an ad on E-Bay...he also has a video.

maybe the repair shop would have a loaner try them