I'm sorry to hear of this, chalk it up.
Another question to ask your LA'r
What is the length you can comfortably quilt on your machine? I have a 10' table, but my sister has a 12' table.
I had also wondered about the center and the sides being completed, I start on the top and work down, unless I'm stablizing the quilt blocks to square up the quilt. Longarmers don't start in the middle.
This can be taken care of thankfully.
Enjoy!