Circle Lord or Quiltazoid?

[lisalnewman]

I am having a heck of a time deciding between the Circle Lord or the Quiltazoid. I know there are several of you that are in love with either the Circle Lord or the Quiltazoid. Can you let me know which you chose and why. Every time I think I have my mind made up I discover something else and then I am back at square one.

Confused in BC!!!

Lisa

[lyonden]

Hi I originally started out with another system than Circle Lord. I was not happy, so after MUCH debate with myself I went with the CL. I talked to Michael and was impressed with the fact that he didn't TRY to sell me anything. He suggested that if someone near me had one, I could try it out or go to one of the shows and try it. Long story short, I ordered the basic unit and let it set there for about 6 months because I was intimidated by the codes etc. So, one day I bit the bullet and was amazed that it only took me a matter of minuites to set it for my machine. (you never have to do that again.) I looked at the book and didn't use the codes but just placed the template so it looked like the one in the book and took off. Sooooooo, easy. The books are wonderful tools that tell you what the finished size is and how to do them but I just look at the pictures and use the books for ideas. I have never looked back. I have been so happy with the ease of use and how sturdy the templates are and how well the giant templates fit together without movement that I have never considered anything else. Yes, I have adopted both Michael and Kay. The service and patience they give their customers is beyond any I have ever had. Sorry, but I can't comment on the Quiltazoid as I have never used any of their products. I have noticed that the large templates look quite a bit like the CL so who knows. Nope, you can take my other tools but not my CL. A side note: I had a customer that wanted a specific pattern she saw in the Aztec book. Unfortunately, the template pattern was too large for her squares. Within 24 hours, Michael made the mini Aztec and had it in the mail to me and my customer was impressed also. You just can't beat that. Yes, I could go on but I'll let you off the hook now.

[Quilting Heidi]

Lisa,

I have the Quiltazoid and I'm so glad I do. I was one of the testers for this unit and was able to give a lot of feedback on the depvelopment of the final product. Adam did not disappoint. It is easy to use and set-up and it works from the front. It also works from the back but I have no desire to work from the back. Most important to me is it is very accurate! There is no learning it or riding on one side of the board or another to get it to match up. You go around in a circle and walla it connects perfectly at the other end. There are a ton of designs that come with the unit. If you get the spirograph option then you will have more than 600 designs and not have to spend more dollars on templates, unless of course you just have to have the :P:P:P. You can also use other boards on the Quiltazoid which makes it very versatile. If somebody else has a design you love you can add a few holes to attach it and start stitching. It is very easy to center the design and repeat the design. You can also create secondary designs by stitching a 2nd time in a different location. You can create celtic like designs and also ribbon designs using the same gears you get with your original package. I have never been disappointed that I bought the Quiltazoid and find myself using it a lot. The spirographs are stitched very quickly and easily. You set it up to stitch and then just turn the handle and watch the design appear. You can also use the templates to create designs. There are all kinds of design boards available. Each board has a lot of designs on it and not just one. They also come in lots of different sizes all on the same board. I use the cross hatching template a lot! Makes life so much easier. If you email Adam he will send you a dvd so that you can see the system working. It is very detailed. I don't think you would regret your decision.

[Georgene]

I love Circle Lord's easy payment plan. Buy a lot if you want and get discounts for buying more, then make monthly payments with NO INTEREST.

My first order was a very big one, but I got 15% or 20% discount for buying a lot at once. Then I made monthly payments for a year with no interest. As soon as it was paid off, I bought more the same way, because I liked it so much.

My kind of buying.

[Georgene]

Lisa,

Whichever system you go with, keep in mind the type of quilting you do most.

Most of my customers want an allover design. That's why I have so many giant templates. So much easier than Pantos -- plus, I don't like doing pantos.

So if you're mostly doing allover designs, just invest in the templates for the back of the table first. They will make you money over and over. And your customers can rely on precision -- and seeing what they will get ahead of time. No guessing.

The other gizmos are nice to have for custom quilts, but you don't need them to do allovers.

[Mary Beth]

You have just asked a quesiton that is going to cause you more confussion ;)

Of course those of us that have the CL love it, love it, love it!!

And you are going to find that those who have the QZ will tell you the same.

By posing this question, as others have done, you will be bombarded by both sides and both sides have excellent arguments for their favorite tool. And that is the key word, these items are tools.

Like Carol, I had a different system that I hated. I went with the CL and am so happy I did. I was impressed with the number of patterns each template made with the CL templates. And I love the way the long board templates looked on a quilt, such as Swirls, Square Dance, 7 Treasures, etc. The speed at which you can quilt a quilt is amazing and if you are in business....K'Ching!!!

If I were you I would look at the designs from each company, not just on the web sites, but on quilts. After all, that is where you will be stitching the designs. We can all sit here and tell you to buy the tool "we" like the best, but you are the one spending the $$ and need to get the most bang for you buck.

You can go to google, click on images in the upper left of the screen and then type in Circle Lord Quilts (and check out the challeng) and anyone who has posted their quilts online, you will find there. Then do the same with Quiltazoid. Look at all the quilts and see what "you" think.

One last thing...did I say I love my Circle Lord? It is just so easy to use and makes me look really good!!

[lyonden]

Thank you Georgene and Mary Beth for pointing out that the larger templates are so fast and easy to use, they are the real money makers. The smaller templates have countless combinations on each one and work well in combination also. Don't forget the regular templates can also be used from the front or the back of the machine.

[RoseCity Quilter]

I just ordered a Circle Lord!!! I can hardly wait. I too had another circle tool that I found hard to use. I E-mailed my order in and Micheal phoned me within 5 min.! He talked to me for a long time and I was very very impressed with what he said and how he said it.

[Corey]

Love my Circle Lord, easy to use and beautiful results, you are going to love it.

Corey

[meg]

hi - if you look in the gadgets forum - you'll see many posts about just this subject. i brought a recent one from mercedes up for you - but there are others. be careful, you will be thoroughly confused. i will tell you that many folks love the QZ and just as many love the CL. it is a personal preference thing. try them out - see if there is one mearby you. i did this and am very happy i did. it is nice to get a hands on experience before you buy. took the jitters out of it for me.

marybeth is the CL guru.

heidi (hmerrill) and terri (terrivb) are the QZ gurus.

send them u2u's. all are very kind in answering questions and helping you decide. if there is a quilting heaven, these 3 are in!

good luck - meg

ps - i decdied on a QZ and love it! too bad i can't get the hang of my tension as easily!

[Mary Beth]

Meg,

Tension is a whole new "Party" :D You are still a newbie...you will get the tension, you just need to get to know your machine, just like you did your best friend.

"Quilting Heaven" Ha...I pieced all day yesterday...today I hurt from my ear lobes to my bellybutton...if this is heaven...I am having second thoughts :D

Ardelle, there is no doubt in my mind, you are going to produce some extrordinary quilts, you and your Circle Lord. I'm glad you were able to make a decision. I know it is a tough choice.

Lisa, like Meg said, I will be more than happy to help, just send a u2u or email.

Also, Carol Lyon has been at this a lot longer than all of us combined...not that she is anciently old (love ya Carol;)). But she and her DH quilt for a living....day in day out 24/7. She is also a wealth of information. Or, like Ardele said, Michael is so very helpful and not pushy at all. He will answer all of your questions and tell you about his product. No pressure to buy.

[witha'K'quilting]

Lisa...To be perfectly honest...you have to decide what kind of quilting you are hoping to do. The QZ and CL both have their place.

I will say this...If you like overall designs, QZ offers long template boards as well. If you prefer the CL boards, or at least some of them...you can use them from the rear with any stylus...including the QZ stylus.

If you like custom quilting and like the look of the spirographs...then in my opinion the QZ cannot be beat! With well over 600 designs...and the ability for more if you nest spiros or do them as celtic designs...the possibilities are literally endless. And, it really is easy to use. Aside from being simple to use...I am most impressed with the fact that the designs start and end 'spot on'. There is no variation in the stitching as long as everything is set properly.

If you like custom quilting and the spirograph is not something that you think you would use...you can look into the Econozoid. This is also put out by Adam Anderson of the QZ fame...and will allow you to use the tracing templates from the front, do concentric and eccentric circles...all at a fraction of the cost. And it is upgradable to the Quiltazoid at any time. The Quiltazoid has the spiro attachment....the Econzoid does not.

I purchased the QZ because I like the option of spiros in my quilting. Especially for wholecloths. I am very pleased with its performance and ease of use. Your quilting designs look very precise due to the nature of the QZ's system design.

Freehand quilting is my preferred method of quilting...but I love options. Overall patterns are just not my thing. I own very few boards or pantos.

So evaluate your style and preference of quilting...and then continue the reserach. There is alot to consider...for yourself. No one can decide for you!

I too, like Heidi, was a tester for Adam and Linda. We worked very hard at trying to solve some of the concerns and issues we saw with other systems. Designs not matching up was a big issue. This is simply not the case with the QZ or EZ. Adam listened and put together something that is truly fantastic. He has added templates when we have asked...he has also designed new gears for more spiros.

[Nadia Wilson]

Hi Lisa,

I have a Quiltazoid...got it about 2 weeks ago but have had a sick toddler (and now me) and haven't had the time to use it yet. Feel free to call or email me and we can talk "QZ" if you would like. I ordered my QZ for my Lenni...however, Adam sent it with universal parts so it fits my Millie too if I ever want to use it on Millie. I must admit, the customer service has been great so far.

[quiltlover03]

I purchased the QZ recently and have used it on a few Quilts. the ease and accuracy cannot be beat by anything. I owned the CL as well and prefer to work with the QZ hands down. Love love love the Spirograph.....fantastic.

[Mary Beth]

Monika, I love pictures of quilts, and would love to see what you have done. Of course we have the CL Challenge going on, so we can see those quilts. But please post pictures of what you are doing. I'm sure I am not alone in wanting pictures

[meg]

yes - marybeth, i agree. i was just getting on to suggest to lisa to check out the CL challenge post to see what the CL lovers are making. it would be great if there was a similar post using QZ for comparison.

heidi has a great sampler she did - not sure where i saw that, but it was a wholecloth. i think there was one by terri as well. both were great. maybe it was on the QZ website.

oh well, anyway, to get back on point - lisa - check out the CL post. even if it doesnt help you decide - its fun to look at all the things that are possible.

[lyonden]

OK, I'm getting brain overload here. I just posted to the other thread right below this one. Page 2 isn't showing up for some reason so I'll post here:

Nora on this list is selling 2 large templates at a very good price. You just can't beat those prices I think they are the King templates. Also one of the Circle Lord customers has run into some kind of personal problems and is trying to sell her templates and basic unit. Michael stepped up and is trying to help her sell them. THAT is customer service at it's highest. You could save some money there also. If you're on the fence, this may be what you need. Good luck with all this.

[Mary Beth]

Meg, yes, those whole cloths were great! But like the CL folks, I threw that challenge out because they were talking about what they were doing and showing a practice piece from time to time. But I need to see the designs on real customer/or your own quilts. That is where I get real inspiration, not from a practice piece. The posts where we see one design, then move over a bit and stitch another motif...no, no, no....I want see real quilts, like what I would be quilting.

Just because we all have different tools that we love and and are excited about doesn't mean we can't appreciate what we all do. After all we are all machine quilters. Inspiration is what we thrive on....that how we roll

[lisalnewman]

If I haven't said it yet, here it goes:

I LOVE this forum!!!!

Everyone is always so willing to offer help and advice.

I truely appreciate you all!!!!!!

I have looked at the pictures of the Circle Lord challenge and have seen a few of the pictures on the Quiltazoid website. I realize the Quiltazoid is new so I did not expect to find as many examples of quilts as Circle Lord quilts but man there is a lot of prolific Circle Lord quilters.

I do not know anyone personally that lives nearby that has either system that is why I am trying to get as many personal opinions of actual users to help me decide which way to go.

It really is a tough decision, each time I think I have decided on one over the other I discover something new that makes me rethink my decision.

I am quite new to the quilting world and just recently set up my new Mille, before that I owned a Lenni for one year.

My ultimate goal is to only do custom work. So far I quilt for myself but I am considering taking in one or two customer quilts to help pay for my ever expanding quilt toy collection!!

If I decide to quilt for hire I would definitely buy the Circle Lord template boards as they seem to be superior to any other I have seen you seem to get more bang for your buck.

I do have a question for the Circle Lord users though, hopefully someone can answer this for me:

I was told by a fellow APQS user that she had to install longer screws on her longarm in order to raise the height of the longarm. Is this necessary on all APQS machines? (I have a 2009 Mille with a new table.)

Do you have to do this if you are using the system from the front or just when using the Circle Lord from the back?

Once again, thanks so much I really appreciate your feedback!!

Lisa:D

[Mary Beth]

Lisa,

You should go to Michael for any technical questions. I do know that because of the long pattern boards, you do need to raise the carrige by inserting a different bolt and washers. Not difficult to do at all, but it will need to be done so your carriage clears the boards. I don't think you would need to do this if you were just working from the front on the machine.

Speaking of working from the front...I used my CL from the front set up today for the first time. It was really nice being up front and seeing exactly where I am. I had developed my own system of feeling where the applique started by the "feel". Anyway, I was able to see it a little better from the front and all went very, very well. Since I like working from the back, it was a little "different" for me, but I could get use to it pretty easily.

[yankiequilter]

To use the Circle Lord long templates the carriage has to be raised a little and Michael supplies the necessary longer bolts and nuts, as well as small pieces of board to support the carriage when performing the task, and instructions to get it done. It is simple, easy, not a problem and doesn't take long to do this. I LOVE my Circle Lord and the templates that I have. I wish I had all of them and intend to purchase more as soon as it is possible. Michael and Kay are just a phone call away and always eager and willing to help with any questions or problems that anyone has with their CL products. Although I would have to say I've never had any problems with any of my CL products!

[Quilting Heidi]

Originally posted by lisalnewman

I have looked at the pictures of the Circle Lord challenge and have seen a few of the pictures on the Quiltazoid website. I realize the Quiltazoid is new so I did not expect to find as many examples of quilts as Circle Lord quilts but man there is a lot of prolific Circle Lord quilters.

Lisa:D

Lisa,

I hope to get a section on this forum specific for the Quiltazoid and have requested APQS to do this. It would certainly help others in seeing that we do do real quilts with our Quiltazoid! I'm working on one now that will be published in Irena Bluhm's next book, To Piece or not to Piece. I so wish I could post some pictures for you to see what/how I used the quiltazoid but I have to say that I'm loving it! I have also used the cross hatching board on my Quiltazoid on more quilts than I could count! It is so easy to use and so exact. Here is another quilt that I did that I used the board on. http://www.apqs.com/quiltboard/viewthread.php?tid=18155&page=1#pid210848

So you can see that there are real quilts done with the Quiltazoid. It is true it is newer on the market so not as many users but I've seen some wonderful things! Kristina did a awesome wholecloth in just a day I think using her Quiltazoid. I did a sampler that is actually a real quilt that I use to give customers ideas of what I can do for them on their quilts. It really helps them decide what they like and don't like. I like to use my designs for a base and then freehand around them. I do panto's but get board really easy and much prefer custom.

The decision is always a hard one and you have to make the right one for you.

[Mary Beth]

Originally posted by Mary Beth But like the CL folks, I threw that challenge out because they were talking about what they were doing and showing a practice piece from time to time. But I need to see the designs on real customer/or your own quilts. That is where I get real inspiration, not from a practice piece.

Heidi, I didn't mean anything offensive, and it seems as if you took it that way. I mentioned that I started the CL Challenge because I was not seeing as much CL design on real quilts as we were on practice pieces. I certainly didn't mean any offense.

[witha'K'quilting]

Originally posted by Mary Beth

Meg, yes, those whole cloths were great! But like the CL folks, I threw that challenge out because they were talking about what they were doing and showing a practice piece from time to time. But I need to see the designs on real customer/or your own quilts. That is where I get real inspiration, not from a practice piece. The posts where we see one design, then move over a bit and stitch another motif...no, no, no....I want see real quilts, like what I would be quilting.

I am a bit offended by the use of the terminology 'real quilts'...not 'practice pieces'. My whole cloth is a real miniature quilt. If you would like to see some 'real quilts' using the QZ...please visit the gallery page of the Quiltazoid site. There are many quilts shown. http://www.quiltazoid.com/customer-quilts

Thanks for letting me vent just a bit.

[lisalnewman]

Heidi,

OMG!!!!! That quilt is truely stunning.

Do you want another daughter?

I did see the quilts that you mentioned on the Quiltazoid website your sampler is a great quilt and what a fabulous sales tool to show your customers what you can do for them.

Thanks for the link to the pictures you really outdid yourself on that quilt. I can see why you love custom so much you are a very talented lady.

Hopefully one day I will be able to quilt half as good as you. Until then I will enjoy the learning process.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Lisa:D