It's nice to know that some quilters do actually realize how much work a long arm quilter actually does spend on each quilt--the time spent before we actually even get to start quilting it! But, like the others said, we do it because it is our passion, and the end result of each quilt makes it worth it. I am a free hand long armer and my goal during the next few months is to get some pantographs and practive, practice, practice, to learn to follow the pattern smoothly with the laser light. I have been freehand quilting for a year and a half and have done about 125 quilts so far, and have not done any with pantograghs because I don't take the time to practice using the laser light. So that is my next goal to achieve. When I first started longarming, I wanted to know how to do feathers and I watched several You-Tubes and then practiced and practiced and I became proficient at them. If I can do feathers, I'm sure I can follow a pantograph pattern with a laser light. With that being said, we don't just quilt the customers' quilts on the longarm, we also have to learn techniques to be able to produce professional looking quilting on their quilts so that they are happy.