I learned to piece quilts 9 months before I ordered my Innova 18" and I have never regretted it for one second! I love the quilting process with my longarm. It took me quilting 4 placemats on my old Elna to convince me that I would never do it again! If you are considering a longarm, do check out Renae Haddadin's website -
http://quiltsonthecorner.com/ - and look in the lower right hand corner for her free article "Shopping for a Longarm Quilting Machine". It contains many things you need to consider before you put out the money for a machine. Even though Renae has an Innova, when she wrote the article she owned a different longarm and the article is not brand-specific, just gives you information and questions to ask and think about. My only advice would be to get the largest throat you can afford, have room for and can handle easily. Do try out every machine you can get your hands on, join the yahoo groups of all the machines and find out the truth behind the advertising, find quilters around you who will let you come to their studios and try out their machines. Do your homework so you won't have a very expensive fabric hanger!!!