I would really like a LA but I can buy a lot of fabric for the price of one. There may be LQS in you area that rent a LA so you can do you own quilting especially on a larger quilt. I do my own FMQ on a Singer Confidence Quilter machine. No it is not always easy, your arms and hands get tired, the quilt is not always as smooth as if done on LA but I can not aford to send out to LAQ so it is good enough. I know someone who has quilted for 20+ years and only does SID on her quilts. The basic object of quilting is to hold batting to top and back so quilting can be simple or complicated. I personally like simple quilting like large meanandering or SID that lets the quilt pattern and fabric be main attraction not the quilting.