GEORGE art quilting machine by APQS
 

This machine is geared towards Art Quilters from little info I've found so far.

Anyone own one and if so can you share some info about it?

C'mon over to the APQS Message board (you don't have to own one to post!) - there are owners who will give you tons of advice. I don't own a George, but I do own an APQS machine and can certainly vouch for the quality of the machine - they're *wonderful* and the service is to die for.

Thanks I will.

I've been considering the HQ Sweet Sixteen but tonight saw an Art Quilter that has that machine online which of course caught my eye since Art is what I'm interested in and certainly a sit down machine since I have MS and limited to what I can do standing up.

We were rv'ing on the Oregon coast last year and I actually got to play with one for about 30 minutes at an adorable quilt shop, wish I could remember the name. The throat space is huge! and it quilted beautifully. My only reservation would be that we don't have a local dealer. I'm actually considering the HandiQuilter Sweet 16, but want to test drive first.

I will follow this thread as well, I am considering adding a sit down mid or long arm to my small herd of machines. I'm not interested in a frame mounted machine mostly because of space but also because when I tried long arms the difference between moving the machine as opposed to moving the fabric - it just felt "wrong".

It all depends on what you are comfortable doing. Moving the fabric under the needle or moving the needle over the fabric.
I much prefer needle over fabric with no shoving the fabric around and around.
Sit down is still like shoving fabric around even if you have a large throat to work with you still have to move the quilt different ways to work around a block.

I have to agree with you there, wish I had the room for one (in my dreams). I did take a long arm class and enjoyed it immensley, but it does change the design strategy a little, at least for me. We have a shop (Quiltique) where you can rent them after completing the class, so that's an option too.