Another thing to find out is how many longarmers are in your area. I have a ton around me kind of a glut so its really spread out. And yes you can get some really interesting quilts that the owners believe you should do a miracle with them and want to fault you for the problems that came to you with the quilt. I had one that had very apparent stitches around the applique. She wanted echo quilting to emphasize applique. When she got it back she was very upset because the apparent applique stitches had not disappeared. I had not quilted on the applique staying about 1/4 away as she requested. sigh