EphrataQuilter

Hi! I'm Kim. I have a lot of UFOs stacked up. I piece lots of tops, then never quilt them! My biggest frustration is trying to quilt large quilts on my little Bernina! I have an old 1990s Bernina 1630 that I purchased for $400 about 7 years ago. It does lovely applique and straight stitching, and I've been slowly learning to FMQ on small 12 x 12 sandwich scraps. Im considering taking the leap to a mid arm, long arm, or something with a large throat, but dont' want to spend over $1500.

Tartan

Welcome from Ontario, Canada. Start small with quilting a table runner or placemats. Remember if your quilt sandwich is well secured, you only have to worry about the 8 inches surrounding the needle for stitching.

cashs_mom

Welcome to QB! I had a 1630 and still have my Artista 180. I do love Berninas. I quilted a king sized quilt on my 180 using Marti Mitchell's quilting in sections book. It worked very well.

About 5 years ago, I bought a Juki 2200 QVP Mini which is the equivalent of the Juki TL 2010. I bought it for quilting quilts because of its larger throat space. I have quilted a 60 x 90 inch quilt on it with no problem. There is something of a learning curve since it's a mechanical straight stitch only machine, but I'm used to using vintage machines so it wasn't too bad. As I remember I paid about $1,000 for it then. I have no idea what they sell for now

I've also just completed RaNae Merrill's online FMQ class "30 Days to Free Motion Mastery". It was an excellent course and I really learned a lot. You might want to look into that.

sewbizgirl

Welcome EQ! Have you tried a method called "Quilt As You Go"? You quilt one block or one section at a time, then join with strips.

EphrataQuilter

That will help with new projects.

SallyS

Welcome from sunny Southern CA! My mother wouldn't let me start a new project unless I finished the old one. In a way it's a good habit because the prospect of something new makes me want to finish the old. Then I get to clean my "studio." Then start making a mess all over again, but this process does help me struggle with difficulties I may be having in an art quilt instead of putting it aside for something more doable.

It's amazing how exciting what we do is! And you'll find plenty of help and inspiration here on there QB. Glad to have you.

osewme

Welcome from Texas. I hope you find joy & encouragement here.
You didn't say how many UFO tops you have but if you didn't want to quilt them yourself have you considered sending them out to be quilted? I've never sent a quilt out & will just speculate here. If you have $1500 to spend on a machine & sending a quilt out to be quilted costs $150 (have now idea on this cost), you could have 15 quilts quilted for that $1500 you would spend on a machine. The down side to that is you are still left with your little Bernina that you don't feel comfortable quilting on.
Here's another thought! This past year I made a Calif. King top that I made for our bed. For a couple of years I fought with how I was going to quilt it since it was so large & would be heavy & hard to quilt on my little Janome Magnolia (6 1/2" throat). I decided to make it into a "summer quilt" with no batting & I absolutely LOVE it. As a matter of fact, it's my very favorite quilt that I've ever made. Perhaps you could make some of your tops into summer quilts (no batting inside) & your Bernina could handle that.

bearisgray

Hello and welcome!

tallchick

Welcome from Ohio! You will find everyone very helpful and full of encouragement.

sewingsuz

Welcome fro Arizona. I know how you feel, it is difficult to quilt on a domestic machine. I said I would only do baby quilts but here I am making fairly big ones again. I hop you can find something to do your quilting on. I don't know to much about long arms so I cannot give you advise on them. Good luck and this board can give you support and help all the time.