I had seen the Sweet Sixteen at a quilt show and loved it. Unable to afford it and after research I got a Juki 2000qi and I LOVE it. In future I hope to purchase a frame. Have been looking into the Gracie Quilting Frames.

Quilting Possibilities in Forked River has one.

I rented time on their HQ Avante (18") last week...for me a better option than purchasing a LA machine. They were extremely helpful!

I have the Tin Lizzie sit down machine and love it. It is pretty much the same as the HQ 16 sit down. I got this one because I had a Tin Lizzie long arm (had to give it up because we moved to a smaller place) and I like the feel of the Tin Lizzie better than the HQ. If you can test drive both of them before you decide.

i tried the sweet sixteen but sitting that long is not for me and i really would want a stitching regulator. was trying to figure if it would still be stable if i put lifts under the legs

I'd keep an eye out for used machines; I got my Tin Lizzie for a really affordable price that included the frame.

I love the looks of that one. With my bad knee, once I start doing machine quilting, I will have to sit down to do it. Thanks for the link

Just a little reminder. The Tin Lizzie is a streatch maicheine. Thus the neck heigth of a regular machine. If your choose to go Handi Quilter, if at some later date you want to turn it into a stand up model, you can. and you will still have the heighth and length of a long arm. Good luck!

I like the handi quilters and you can get one for alot less than 15,000, especially if you don't go for the computerized machines. There seem to be alot of good used machines available. It is always cheaper if you can find someone that bought new and decides to upgrade to a bigger machine. I can't imagine trying to move a queen size quilt around under the needle... I would have a heck of a mess in no time.

My Tin Lizzie has the same height and throat as a HQ. And you can also upgrade it to a standard stand up model. I love my Tin Lizzie. It was way more affordable than the HQ and I love that I can do any maintanence on it. All of the components are plug and play. If there is a problem you simply call tin lizzie and they can usually diagnose it and send you the replacement part.Very little down time. I got mine at the Lancaster AQS show. I got the floor model so it was very reasonable.

The Empress which I was told was made by Tin Lizzy comes in either the sit down or frame/stand up model. The throat area is 6"X18". The thing that I liked was that it has double capacity M bobbins, which are larger than the standard home machine uses. Also comes with a built in bobbin winder. The frame model comes with stitch regulator. I have never seen a sit down model from any of the manufacturers that has a stitch regulator. I guess that is the difference between moving the quilt under the needle in the sit down opposed to
moving the head of the machine over the quilt on the frame.
Ann in TN