$300 is a lot of money esp. for quilting that doesn't meet your expectations. I would definitely talk to the LA quilter.
As I'm retired and make quite a few quilts, I cannot afford to pay a LA quilter to do each quilt. So I do my own quilting on my Bernina -- works well but is a challenge on large quilts. I have two king size quilts ready for quilting that will be nearly impossible to do on the Bernina. So in June I'm taking LA certification classes at two of the LQS. Then I can rent time on their LA machines to do the larger quilts. I'm hoping that will work out well.