Just looked at the Baileys at QuiltnNan’s recommendation... they certainly are reasonable and it looks like they even have some refurbished models at further savings!
I have a Nolting Quilting Bee - package includes table, bobbin winder etc @ what i felt to be a reasonable price that i could live with at this stage of my life. I bought it last October and am very happy with it. It’s a basic, sitdown machine - no stitch regulator, computers, and is for freemotion work only. It has a very simple, basic manual and i needed no formal lessons to learn to use it. I have been doing fmq for a long time so i know the drill!
Like others here, i finished many, many quilts for many years on everything from a Janome Jem to a Janome 6600 - tablerunners, wall quilts, baby quilts and up to queen size quilts! Knowing how much i love fmq and not wanting to give up my creations to others to finish i finally decided that it was the right decision for me to let my 6600 go back to being the wonderful sewing machine it was intended to be and ordered my Nolting.
We are fortunate to have many reasonable options available to finish quilts these days. There is no right or wrong way - it just needs to make you happy! It seems the older we get sometimes, the stronger the inclination to want to leave nothing unfinished behind.
To my thinking it really is a personal choice (as well as a budgetary one) as to whether you take your quilt to a trusted longarmer to do her magic, finish your “baby” yourself on your domestic machine, rent time on a longarm, or investigate purchasing a dedicated machine. The goal is getting those quilt tops finished as you see them in your “mind’s eye”. A job well done no matter what road you take to get there!