You really only need your sewing machine. It depends on how fancy you want your stitches and what you want to accomplish as you get more into it. I would suspect most quilters just use their sewing machine. I have an embroidery machine but has very little to so with quilting. Also have a back up old machine for emergency. I do not have long arm, to expensive and not sure where I would set it up. Do all my quilting on my regular machine. A long arm would be fun though, maybe I will get to try one someday.