some long armers will simply baste the quilt together for you which generally doesn't cost to much.... when I did not have my long arm....basting the quilt sandwich together was really the hardest part....when I quilted...I usually just did straight line across the quilt....not fancy...sometimes I used a combo of straight line quilting and tying....and some of that was with a simple bar tack or a decorative stitch.....I don't know if you typically make quilts with a lot of plain fabrics so you can show off quilting....I do not...because even though I have a long arm....I don't really enjoy fancy custom work...generally just do meander plus...which means meandering but throwing in some other motives like leaves or hearts or bubbles or loops...or something like that...and I purposely make them different sizes and shapes so I don't have to worry about being precise....and I use finer thread like superior's so Fine with colors that blend into my fabric...so the quilt ends up being quilted...but the piecing is the star of the quilt , not the quilting...