Originally Posted by Iceblossom

Wouldn't it be nice to win the lottery? And grats to all those that have big spaces and big budgets. Undecided, I understand your situation, I had access to a friend's long arm that I no longer have and my backlog is piling up. Trying not to think about it but over 20 by now and I used to be the "finish every quilt" type.

Set a budget that you can afford. Figure out what you need to put down and what you want to pay per month and start saving for it now as you make your decisions -- you might give yourself a bigger or smaller budget with the reality of it in the budget. For new machines there will be sales, prices will go down, and some people will trade back. Sometimes though you just come across a super offer and you know when you have to take it -- and you will be ready.

Yes, it is/can be expensive but I can say that I spend more time at my sewing machine than I do in my car. A lot of people trade up several times and actually lose more money in the long run. You already know most of what you want, make a list and put down some "it would be nice to have". One of the things I found about the machine my friend gave me is that it has a proprietary bobbin and I can't buy pre-wound bobbins. Might not bother other people, but especially with embroidery I would want a big pile of available bobbins.

Now, look at your available space? Does that put any constraints on you? For me I would so love and so need a frame but I have a small house and that would mean giving up on any sort of living room. Which, on the one hand, we don't really use. But on the other hand, I already have the small bedroom as my sewing room. My friend was rather unprepared for the shear amount of space it took to store her embroidery machine and all it's gear even with a dedicated sewing room and Koala cabinet. The thread, the hoops, the this and that. One of the sit-down set-ups is still too large for anywhere in my house except to take out the couch -- but can fit in some houses better than the stand up and can be a great option.

And third, look at the time factor. With my backlog and I piece quickly enough that I could easily make a quilt a month, it would be used often enough to not collect dust. I can say from the time I had available on my friend's set up that I needed to use that long-arm regularly or else it really showed in my results and what I could do, if it had been more than 3 months since I last quilted I had to run some practice pieces first. If you are only going to use a long arm a couple times a year, does it still justify the amount of space it takes?

Sometimes it is entirely justifiable to give yourself an ample budget to have someone else quilt your quilts. While I can and do my own work, I'd be happy with a bigger budget and having someone with a set of skills I don't have improve my projects.

For me I had hoped to find someone's home long arm to rent a couple days a month, don't see that happening in the Seattle area now this year and am just going to ignore the to be quilted pile until it falls down on top of me.

Whatever you do, good luck and enjoy your purchases. We deserve nice things. I rather enjoy my vintage machines too, but yeah... there are things I can't do well on them and that includes machine quilting. Other people can machine quilt a queen sized project on a featherweight but that's not my skill set!