I took my first quilting lesson 7 years ago. The class project was a twin but I chose to do a queen. It took me 6 months to completely piece it and quilt it from beginning to end. I learned how to put the batting on (3 times) and pin it and unpin it 2x and then I rolled it up and did stitch in the ditch. It turned out beautiful and I did it all on my domestic older Singer. Now I use a Bernina most of the time and will never buy a long arm. I am determined to learn how to free motion quilt this year. I have taken several quilts to be longarmed by a lady I know who only does panto. I don't think you have to buy a long arm. Your choice.

Piece on Janome MC4000 and quilt (at the dining table) with my White heavy duty school machine (no FMQ).

I can't seem to make anything smaller than a queen-king size. I do all on DM but mostly sweat ghat line and meandering stitches.

A few years ago I made the choice to get a Brother 1500. I absolutely love it, sews a wonderful stitch cuts the thread has a pin feed and of course you can lower the feed dogs. It has in fact 4 presser foot settings fro no feed to regular. It is very powerful and I quilt all my quilts on it. I do a combo of quilt as you go and quilt in larger sections then add borders. Ihave made quilts up to 110 x110 with no problems. The investment was small compared to a long arm. It also has a very nice size add on table surround. You might want to check it out. A lot of value for the money. It comes with a nice set of attachments. a great walking foot and a very accurate 1/4 inch piecing foot. The height under the arm is a little higher and there is a little more room from the needle to the upright arm, which makes it easier to maneuver a heavy quilt.

I piece on my machines (FW, 301A, & 66-).
I hand quilt on a Hendiburg (spelling) frame.

I have quilted over a hundred on jy DSM and 6 of them have been king size. I am getting ready to do 4 more king size. I usually do very intense quilting on my quilts. I have used the same machine for all of them. It is a Juiki and I not only intend to sew many many more on this machine, but dearly love my machine.

suzyquilter
 

I have used a regular machine to do my free motion quilting since I learned to quilt, some years ago. Thanks to my quilting instructer, she made me learn every aspect of quilting. May I suggest that since you are going to buy a new machine look for one with as large a throat as possible. That will make your quilting much easier. Let us know when you get your machine and will give you some tips to make the process easier.

Jainie: What is that all about. I very rarely make a quilt smaller than 96 X 96. Maybe there's a 12 step program?

Pat: I so agree with you on the 1500. The power in the machine, plus the larger harp, plus the dependable quality of the stitch. Well I could go on, but basically, I have never been so pleased with a machine. By the way, I am not affiliated with the Brother company just really a convert.

I made and quilted about 100 large quilts (king/queen) on my regular home machine before my arthritis got too bad for this. A large percentage of those won blue ribbons. Almost all of the work was FMQ. It is certainly possible, but time consuming. When I switched to a Janome with a slightly longer arm, it became easier. My guild owns a lovely LA, but I am not physically able to use it. One does what one can.