Moonglow

You are not alone. I know I'll never have a long arm quilter unless I win the lottery or something. However I am now starting to favour 'quilt as you go' projects and quite enjoy that process. Much easier.

justlooking

Sounds like we are not the only ones without a LAM. Would love to have one but funds are low.

k9dancer

Don't have a longarm, and would rather have a new car. Besides, a car takes less room.

I do all my free motion quilting on my tiny vintage Featherweight. I baste very well, and only use a nice thin batting, like warm & natural.
The quilting is done in the lower right quarter.
My quilting surface is raised to the level of the sewing bed by way of a couple of sheets of foam insulation atop a dining table, giving me a large areas of support.
I start by rolling my quilt. As I get into the project, it becomes more of a fan fold. I posted pics here: http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-62061-1.htm

deedum

No desire to have a long arm! At all! At least at this point anyway! My neighbor & friends say "you need a longarm". I am happy with my old singer 15, got tables set up beside it and behind it to support my quilt. Works great at least for what I do for now!

foxxigrani

Mee too mee too, I don't have a LA, and will probably never get one. I can't warrant the money it costs for the quilts I make so will never have one. If I would ever get good enough then maybe I would dream, I am older so I don't seeing it happen and if it did, I would want a horse, my first dream first. I have done a king size on my Bernina not saying it was that good but I was proud of it. Also nothing fancy SID.

Mkotch

There are several great books on machine quilting with your home machine. Heirloom Machine Quilting by Harriet Hargrave is one, and another is Machine Quilting in Sections (can't remember the author).

I took a class in machine quilting with my home machine, and the instructor told us that she sends anything bed-sized or larger out to a long arm quilter. She only does wallhangings. So she gave us "permission" to do the same.

I have machine quilted a few bed-sized quilts myself, but I have done them in sections and then put the sections together. Works for me, but it still takes lots of practice and patience. Do what makes you happy.

bigsister63

I would really like a LA but I can buy a lot of fabric for the price of one. There may be LQS in you area that rent a LA so you can do you own quilting especially on a larger quilt. I do my own FMQ on a Singer Confidence Quilter machine. No it is not always easy, your arms and hands get tired, the quilt is not always as smooth as if done on LA but I can not aford to send out to LAQ so it is good enough. I know someone who has quilted for 20+ years and only does SID on her quilts. The basic object of quilting is to hold batting to top and back so quilting can be simple or complicated. I personally like simple quilting like large meanandering or SID that lets the quilt pattern and fabric be main attraction not the quilting.

vivoaks

Very carefully!!! Not only do I not have the money, and never will have the money for a long-arm machine, I wouldn't have a place to put one, either! I've done a large bed quilt on my machine, and it was a royal pain in the butt, but I got it done. It just takes lots of patience, and lots and lots of checking and double-checking before sewing, to make sure there aren't any extra pieces of fabric under the needle that don't belong there. Not an easy thing to do...

ShirlinAZ

I don't have a long arm either. Can't afford and don't have room for one. I have quilted several king and queen size quilts on a machine with 7" throat. I stayed with stitch in the ditch and started in the middle. I rolled (very tightly) the side that was going in the machine, and used metal bands just made for it to hold the roll tight. I now have a machine with a 10" throat and I'm learning to free motion with the quilt puddled around the machine. Where there's a will there's a way. If you are happy with hand quilting, go for it. I love to handquilt, but I'm also loving machine quilting.

debcavan

I fluff up my quilt and stuff it through. The fluffing allows the ease so that I can glide my quilt under my needle without feeling the weight of the quilt. Take a class and then practice practice practice on small projects