I am in the same boat-I love hand-quilting and for years that is all I did, but it takes so long to finish one quilt! I love piecing tops and got ahead of myself this past year and made 3 queen tops (2 are with applique) and I have just finished basting one to hand-quilt, but the other two I don't want to do now-and I cannot affort to send it out so I guess they will continue to sleep in their zip-lock bags until I can! I am just attempting small stuff with fmq-but I am in no way going to attempt on a large quilt with my machine!