Sunday, May 20, 2012

I FOUND A NEW LONG ARM QUILTING MACHINE

Okay, it's not totally new, but it is new to me!  I contacted Park City Quilting in Janesville, Wisconsin, and they had a used Tin Lizzie Ansley 26 with a Shirley Stitcher and a Phoenix frame.  After visiting up north with Bill and trying out the machine, I decided to buy it.  It is being delivered and set up sometime in the beginning of June.

You might remember that the other used machine I was going to buy had a frame that was not stable enough for extended professional use.  I also had the (less expensive) option to get the wooden Falcon frame, but it is only 10 feet wide, and I wanted the 12 foot wide metal Phoenix so that I could do king size quilts.  The Phoenix frame has a lot of nice features that the wooden Falcon does not have.  I'm very excited to be getting it!


Another good thing about the new system I am getting is that the Shirley Stitcher is the one with the larger display screen.  It measures 7" diagonally, and the other one I was looking at only measured 5.5" diagonally.  With the smaller screen, there is less room to set up custom designs.  Here is a video that explains how the Shirley Stitcher works:



I still can't believe that I will be able to start taking in quilt tops again so soon!  And here is a fun little side note:  It turns out that the owners of Park City Quilting - John and Sabrina - used to be the owners of the Gammill dealership Quilt Central in Janesville, and they are the ones who sold me my used Gammill Classic long arm quilting machine back in 2001!  Small world!  They are now dealers for Tin Lizzie and have nothing but confidence in the machines they now sell.  They convinced me that I am making the right decision to invest in a Tin Lizzie.