I solved that by buying a HQ Sweet 16. Now I just need more time.

Harriet Hargrave said in her lecture at our guild last month that for many people the actual quilting is like an afterthought. "Now that I made this top/pattern....how in the world am I going to quilt it?" She suggests to think about the quilting as you are deciding on the pattern/fabric. I tried that with my next project and it does make a difference. I am not dreading the quilting. BTE, she does all of her quilts on a regular DSM.

ckcowl, I'm in Franklin, TN, and as far as I know, there are no shops with long arms to rent. I would love to do that!

Longarms have a learning curve as well. I thought I could get one and go right to quilting. No so. Practice, practice, practice! I've done several quilts and still not getting the results I wanted.

that is exactly how I felt so I managed to take out a low rate loan for a long arm...I would not have been able to do it without the long arm or pantovision....they say if you can draw, you can fmq...well, I can't draw a stick figure!...but I can trace and that's how I get to do my quilting and love it...I hope you find a solution that works for you...there are quilt shops that will train you and rent time if you want to see how you feel about it...

I always hand quilt, but then I only make "country" quilts. It takes a lot of practice to get the stitches small and even. My stitches aren't perfectly even but I think it just adds charm.

I don't always like the look of long arm quilting. I also quilt my quilts on my sewing machine, it does have a 11 inch throat which helps. I try to do some different things, I don't quilt in the ditch. One can do curved lines also. I also have tried FMQ, doesn't look to bad on a busy fabric, plain or marbled fabric forget it. I used to hand quilt but not able to do anymore. Wasn't very good at that. I try to do what ever I am best at doing.

dgreen, don't be discouraged and let yourself develop at your pace. Practice does help, but as my very quilt teacher said, "Just do it!" and you will get better as time goes by. There are different ways to learn, and you will find which learning method works for you. I took a couple of FMQ classes and they were worth it...after one class, I finally overcame my fear of doing feathers. Here is my quilting philosophy...every quilt is a rehearsal for the next quilt! :)

I have so many quilts waiting to be made that I am doing only the part that I love. I pile up my tops and if someone wants to quilt them, I use them as payment. Pick one that you want and quilt one for me. Whatever works for you!

Beautiful and "fancy" quilting can be done on a domestic machine. Check out Diane Gaudinsky's books and Harriet Hargrave's, "Heirloom Machine Quilting." Harriet says she does hand quilting by machine -- and she does. I took a class from her and saw her quilts -- ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS -- and she does them on an older model Bernina which does not have a large throat. I just haven't practiced what I learned in her class, and because I, too, am a perfectionist didn't want to "ruin" my tops with imperfect quilting. So, I continue to hand quilt because I am comfortable with it and admittedly prefer the look of it to machine quilting. My reason for taking the class was to finish all those tops hanging in my sewing room -- five years later they are still hanging there. So, I need to get off the computer and get busy finishing those tops either by hand or machine.

I quilt all my own quilts, even up to king size, on my domestic machine. It is definitely a learning process, and I'm glad that LA's and online quilting sites were not so prevalent when I first started FMQ, because looking at pics of what LA's can do would have been very discouraging. I don't have the space or the money for one. I did buy an E-Z quilter frame for my DMS several years ago, and ended up not using it because the quilting space is so small, especially for large quilts, and I had to keep moving and adjusting the quilt in the frame. I just kept at it. I can turn out a very nicely quilted quilt that I am happy with, and isn't that the point? I also recommend Leah Day- watching her helped me immensely, and I use a lot of her patterns.
I also think its important to enjoy the process, which I do, very much. FMQ is my favorite part of making a quilt. I can't wait to finish piecing so I can quilt.
Having said all that, I believe that there are people who are better at piecing than quilting, and vice versa. I think those people should get together and trade talents, and there's no shame in that.