I quilted about 150 quilts on my Bernina short arm before it died (3 years old!!!) I have access to a LA, but my body says no. You can FMQ even a king sized quilt on a regular machine, just to a small area at a time. I now have a Janome and could do almost anything, but my arthritic shoulder objects. If you can't afford the $ or space for a LA, just do what you can. Remember, you can quilt even a king sized quilt as 4 smaller pieces.