My Q20

 Each November Jody, the owner of Raintree Quilting in Juneau Alaska, and her Bernina technician Amy come to Petersburg to service machines and teach classes.  Petersburg has a large group of quilters and each has at least one machine that needs an annual checkup. They rent a space and welcome the all quilters to come in and work on projects.  It is a fun time for fellowship and learning.   They also bring the latest Bernina machines so locals have a chance to upgrade or at least drool over the lovely machines.

This year while Amy and Jody were in town, I made a spontaneous purchase.  Don't even ask me what I was thinking but I always say, go with your gut.  While sewing away and visiting with one of my fellow quilters I learned about the Q20 for the first time.  What?  A quilting machine that you don't need a rack for!  It is a remarkable machine that you can thread from the front and it has a bobbin winder right on the machine.  It can be a sit down machine or a long arm machine.  I went home and talked to my always encouraging husband and he said get it.  I bought a Q20.

I have been thinking about quilting machines for awhile.  I looked at a Gammil long arm machine a local woman was selling, but decided it was too scary for me.  The 12 foot rack and large machine take up a lot of room and I would have to rent a space for it.  I also felt I would have to eventually quilt for other people to justify the cost of the machine and I really don't want to do that.  In addition, we don't have a Gammil technician in our region and the expense of bringing someone to town would be prohibitive.  I have been quilting on my Bernina 430 for years, and I feel comfortable with the sit-down quilting process.  If I decide to purchase a long-arm frame from Bernina, I can do that at a later date.  The price of this new machine is less than half of the used, older Gammil and it takes less space.  I am sure I made the right decision in my purchase.

Note to self...the machine doesn't make you a better quilter, practice does.

Linking to:  Monday Making, Moving it Forward Monday, Linky Tuesday