karensue

I have gone thru the old posts about purchasing long arms for weeks - "Thanks" to all the wonderful ladies who post their thoughts and advice.

I can piece pretty well, and I machine embroider great (of course been doing it for 15 years), so I am thinking that getting a long arm shouldn't be something that I can't do. (had a mid arm and was okay with pantographs). I have bought many quilting books and magazines, watched videos, and read lots of articles, but now that hubby is ready to rearrange basement for it, and buy me one, I am getting scared that what if I just can't do it very well.

We did go to a show and he fell in love with the way the Gammill is made (especially the frame)- he thinks that if I don't like this endeavor, that at least he can recoup more of his money if we re-sell it - meaning that Gammill seems to have a better resale value than other machines (and yep he already looked that part up).

I don't want to do big quilts, I am happy with smaller quilts, wall quilts and making quilted table cloths, so I was happy with a 22 inch machine (translating to 16 inches quilting space), and an 8 foot frame.
But last night he said to phone the store (which is not close) and ask about the Gammill 26 inch on a 10 foot frame.
We've already agreed that I would want to upgrade in future to the statler retrofit so the machine can do the quilting for me - kinda reminds me of watching my embroidery machine, which I love to do, and I figure that if I am not good at free motion the computerized part can "cheat" for me.

Now that he wants to spend more $$ and is willing to take away his personal space in the basement to put this frame in, I don't want to disappoint him, and me. He spent a year just building and furnishing me a sewing room on the other side of the basement, and he is the type that likes to get me top of the line machines (sewing/embroidery/sergers), so he is definitely a keeper, even though he never acknowledges my projects??

So would I be wrong to buy such a pricey machine, thinking that I can be at least average at it?

thanks for any advice once again
karensue