Just wondering how much do you pay for sending your quilts away? I know it is by the inch and pattern. Just curious to see if it is worth trying to learn to do it my self on my home machine.

if you do a search at the top there is a list of long-arm quilters across the country...prices vary greatly from locale to locale. anywhere from $30-$45 for small quilts (flat rates...) or 1.5-2.5 cents a square inch...that would be...a quilt that is 60"x72" (throw)at 1.5 would be about $65; at 2.5 would be $108...then you add postage/shipping and insurance.
i think it is always best to learn to do things yourself, but if you find you HATE the process then start (shopping around) for quilters who do the kind of quilting you like in your price range.
it takes practice and you should start small to learn to quilt on your machine. like start with potholders, or placemats..once you have a good (flow) to your quilting and are happy, make something larger...and ease your way up to a large quilt

I paid 35.00 a piece for my full size quilts - she told me the price upfront...instead of by inch. I had her do two...they came out wonderful...but now that I have a 7700 machine I will do my own.

We have several quilt shops in my area that rent their longarms by the hour ($20) or the day ($50). You provide your top, batting and backing. I have done a queen in just under 2 hours and a king size in 3. The store has a Gammill Statler that has a programmable design and does up to an 18 inch pattern. I can handle up to queen-size on my own machines but the king-size quilts are usually gifts for someone special so I want it done right. Might be worth checking in your area to see if there is a shop that rents out their longarms.

I like this idea because you did it...instead of having someone else do it. I am hoping my machine can handle king but I mostly make full size quilts so should be fine.

Looking for a longarm , would like a Statler . If anyone knows of anyone near In or Ill please pm me..Thanks Candy

I have a large number of quilters to choose from but my favorite does amazing work and charges around 1.5-2.5 cents per inch plus $5 for thread. I am called about each 6 months and he will take one or more and do mine till done. He is very careful to not overschedule his time.

He has a Statler Stitcher and does incredible work with it. On my Nellie's Wedding Quilt he wants to outline each and every triangle and there are over 32 per 9 inch block. Then he will quilt the alternating squares with a circle design. One woman had done a Grandmother's Flower Garden and wanted each hexagon to be outline stitched in the hexagon. He worked on it over 10 days. I would never ask him to do that.

He now has 8 of my quilts.

There is a big difference in our area between edge to edge quilting, which averages $.015 / square inch and custom which starts at $.02 and goes up from there. I like pricing by the square inch. It's accurate and fair to all.