went to the quilt store, and they sell long arm quilters, also. they sold me the HDL needles, and silk coated cotton thread. we will see if it works.
let you know. i have 3 queen tops, that are done, and i would like to do on it. took 3 others to a quilter before i bought this grand. thx

relistened to my instructional tapes, and picked up a couple more things.

thx, this is a wonderful site.

i'll have to look for those needles. quilt store, or machine dealer?

Color me confused. I thought you got the needles?

yes, i guess the needles are the same, hdl AND XL-5. BUT IT STILL WON'T SEW. with the quilting foot on. i guess it is bad after all. or, i am just plain 'thick'.

I have the Pfaff Hobby GQ and it is great for piecing as well as quilting. I haven't got the room to set up the frame, but I received my MIL's when she downsized and I might get the courage to set it up in the den or something at some point. There is a great yahoo group that has tons of help for you. They can tell you about threads, needles, presser feet and so forth. The link is

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PfaffHobbyGrandQuilter/

I hope you try it and I know they will welcome you. They are a great group of friendly and helpful quilters. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress! :D

I have a Grand Quilter and it does take special needles from Pfaff. Another thing is if your roller bar is higher then a finger width from the bed then it will break thread too. Hard luck on my friends part.

I have a grand quilter 1200 also. When threading the needle the thread is inserted towards the machine. Otherwise the thread will break. I just finished quilting a quilt and my thread never broke. If you pm me I could copy my book if and send it to you if you want. Also is your thread catching on the spool?

I seem to remember that you can download a copy of the machine's owners manaul from Pfaff's website. I 'lost' my manual about 2 month's ago (a month after I bought the machine) so I went to the trusty internet for help threading. Found the manual two days later, that's what I get for cleaning the sewing room. Off to buy a desk at Ikea so it can have it's own permanent home.

Marilyn

I think i looked on the internet. will look again. i thought they had changed the grand quilters so they aren't 1200 anymore. right?

anyway put my jenome 1600 on my frame. and used the off/on button on the machine. and practice free motion, and following panatgraphs like that. today. i think it's a 1600 anyway. about 5 yrs old, and has lots, and lots of quilts made and quilted put thru it. mostly queen, but a few full and twins, a couple baby blankets. most utility quilts. i quilt to keep the kids and grandkids warm. almost could take them to the fair.