i also offer a class on my big machine, a person comes in, learns the machine,cleans it, changes needle, winds bobbins, threads machine, loads a practice quilt...practices on it using the laser with panto's we try a stencil, do some free hand, anything and everything. then after that 4 hour class, time can be rented on the machine for $20 an hour to quilt their own quilts. out of the people who have taken the certification class most come back (75%) and do another quilt of their own...then about 1/2 continue to quilt their own, the other 1/2 have decided although it was fun, they would rather i quilt their quilts for them.
when my machine was first bought it was a 'family' decision...and the men in my world assured me i would probably never have to use it..the guys were doing this part (hubby, son, nephew) so we got the machine up & running everyone tried it out...hubby even did i think 3 quilts before deciding he had no motivation, or interest. son & nephew both moved to florida...so i found my self with a big machine sitting idle...with a hubby on his way out of my life anyway (surprise, surprise)
i was unsure of my ability to do alot of quilting, i tore my shoulder up bad a few years ago. some days i can quilt for 4-6 hours in a day (i take breaks every 45 minutes) some days 1 hour and i done...
you have to be able to stand for hours, use your arms for hours; it is physical labor. totally different from sitting in front of your sewing machine.
anyone thinking about jumping into long-arm machine quilting should find classes, try out as many machines as possible and make sure you are physically able along with just liking the process. i have a couple customers who make absolutely fabulous quilts , who did not like this part of the process at all and leave it to me.
we all look at pictures and think...if i had that big machine i could do that too...it is not that simple, it takes hundreds of hours of practice, it takes hours to quilt a quilt, it is labor. and the quilters who get backlogged....hmmmmmm. when i have 2 or 3 quilts waiting for their turn on the machine i tell people when they call...i'm a bit behind right now, looks like it could be a month before i can take in a quilt..if you need it quilted now here's a couple numbers to try. if you still need it done in a couple weeks, or just really want me to do it, call me back in a couple weeks to see where i am...i do not let them stack up, i don't want to be responsible for a stack of quilts if something should happen.