I too get very discouraged when I see all the beautiful quilting that I can never achieve. Unfortunatly I don't think I will ever be able to afford to have all the tops sent out to be quilted either. I lothe wrestling with quilting them , and have ruined a few trying. I usually just end up doing nothing with them, thus the stack of tops I have accumulated lol,or if they are scrappy quilts to be used daily I just tie them.
On a positive note though ,many do master quilting them on regular machines. :D :D
I love to watch Leah day quilt with a regular machine.