I think feline fanatic covered the possibilities. I don't know of any shops or longarmers in my area that rent time on their longarms. Shops and shows will let you practice for a short time, but not on your own quilts and probably not for long enough to really discover whether you would enjoy owning one. I wouldn't ask a friend to let me use her machine, because I wouldn't want to put her in the position of having to say no. (However, if a friend offered, that's another story. I did offer to let one of my friends use my machine for a quilt, and that worked out well, but I don't anticipate that it will happen frequently.) There have been numerous threads here where people were thinking about renting out time on their longarms, and the general consensus seems to be that it's not a good idea because of the liability of someone being hurt and the possibility of the longarm being damaged, as well as the inconvenience of having a stranger in the home.