I have only started one queen size quilt for exactly that reason. Generally I make throw size quilts to give as gifts, or baby quilts, or wallhangings. I like the self-sufficiency of doing my own quilts from start to finish, and usually I don't have enough money to pay someone to quilt mine on a longarm anyway.
My queen size quilt will be done using quilt-as-you go techniques, and so will any future large quilts I have planned. There are a variety of QAYG techniques. There's a book by Sharon Pederson, "Reversible Quilts" that I've used, and a book by Marti Mitchell called "Quilting in Sections" that details several different techniques. I consider any money spent on these types of quilting books an investment since it means I won't have to pay much much more to have someone else quilt my quilts.
I made wall-hangings and baby quilts to test out some of the different QAYG techniques and figure out which one would be best for my intended project. Each one has its limitations.
There are also several websites that have QAYG instructions for free.
Edited to add: I don't hand-quilt, I quilt on my home machine. I do admire some of the work that Longarm quilters do, and maybe someday I'd have a really special quilt done that way.