Quiltingboard Forums - HQ Sixteen-New to Me!

I recently purchased this HQ Sixteen from a Craigslist ad, got it set up a week ago and just finish FMQing my first quilt on it. It's not one of the new HQ Sweet Sixteens; it's an HQ Sixteen that I believe is 2 or 3 years old. I got it for about 1/3 the price of the new ones, and it stitches like a dream. I was pretty comfortable buying this one used because the lady I got it from had gotten it used a year earlier at our LQS, where they are HQ dealers/servicers. They had sold it to the original owner also, who had upgraded to something larger and traded it in.

I like the hopping foot for FMQing; it's a little different to FMQ than with my Juki TL 98 Q with a 9" harp that I was using, but I had almost zero learning curve to make the transition. I as soon as I got this machine set up, I did a small test feather and then started right in on the purple quilt (posted here: http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...d-t164909.html ). It didn't come with sit-down table; instead I set it up on a 4' x 5' built in table that I used to have the Juki on. I used rigid pink insulation foam board cut to fit around the machine and covered in fabric then heavyweight clear plastic so I'd have a nice smooth quilting surface. It gives me a huge flush surface area for large quilts; better I think than the HQ table that is available, and certainly much less expensive.

I think the thing I like best about this machine so far is that there is so much better visibility, and I don't have to crane my neck so much to get a clear view of the stitching area. Of course the extra harp space is WONDERFUL too! The harp isn't just wider, it's higher too and seems way more "open".

So, I think you probably get the idea that I LIKE this machine a lot and am very happy to have it!

EDIT: So the pics didn't show up in the order I added them, but you'll get the idea. I haven't figured out how to post descriptions for each picture yet...

The first picture shows the HQ Sixteen ready to go. That's a non-stick teflon oven liner I'm using in place of a much more expensive and smaller Supreme Slider mat. I just tape it down on 2 sides with some packing tape and it stays in place quite nicely.

The second picture shows access to the bobbin area.

The third is a quilt in-progress.

And the last pic is when I first got it and set it beside my Juki TL 98 Q that seemed pretty good sized until compared to this one! That Juki is still my very favorite machine and has be promoted almost exclusively to piecing and other similar projects.