Does not take that long for me I use leadergrips they save a lot of time.

It's just that I find basting on my three pole frame is much more enjoyable then putting the quilt on the LA. How to by pass that part and get to the quilting? LOL. Someone figure that out for me.

it doesn't take me two hours to pin on even a king size quilt...and I pin everything....no tricks or zippered leaders...I think it is just a matter of practice. Probably does take me about an hour...if there are problems...then could take longer..but I try to recognize the problems before actually pinning.

I just have a Grace Mini Pinn frame, set up quilt size, & yes, it does take time to load, but worth it! I do it in sections, as in taking my time. I load the quilt, then come back when I feel I am ready to quilt the quilt, & I may not do the whole quilt at one time. So, if you break it down, & do it all in sections, it's not so bad, & so much easier than just fighting it on your regular sewing machine otherwise... Remember, you can always walk away from it & leave it all set for awhile, then come back to it later, when you feel like it....

I have a Bailey 13" mid arm home quilter with a Grace frame. My goodness, it does not take me that long to load up my frame. I can do it all in about 45 minutes....if I stay there and do it in one session. I have found that I don't need pins so close they are touching, and I lay the batting on in a fairly straight line, and pin the quilt top in place after rolling it on a pole. Nope, these are quick and easy. No fussy stuff here for me!

June in Cincinnati

Takes me 45 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the quilt. I have the zipper leaders that I can either sew the backing onto or pin. I prefer to pin it on for some reason.
Then I float the batting and the top stitch the sides as I advance, until I get to the very end. Then pin the end down too.

Not sure why it took 2 hours, although if taking the time to teach how to do it vs just doing it....it could take longer.

I think is would be a matter of practice! Like everything else we do, practice, practice, practice.

As someone who used a longarm for the first time two days ago, I can tell, you I don't care if loading the thing on took me four hours!! Quilting on the LA is fun, fun and more fun! Much more enjoyable than my home machine. :mrgreen:

We used the zippered leaders, and just used flat-headed pins to secure on the zipper, didn't seem bad at all...and definitely easier than sandwiching, IMHO. Can't wait to go use it again (have all day next week booked to play :mrgreen:).

Is that your dog in the Westminster Show in your avatar?!

I am brand new to Long arming (just three months) and I have an HQ Avante, even with a huge oversized queen on Saturday I only took an hour and a half! All pinning, no zippers, I actually find it quite relaxing to get it all onto the frame and rolled so that it is nice and neat and I know that there will be no creases or tucks on the backing when I am finished! It took sooooooooooo much longer and was so much more stressful to prepare and baste even a small lap size on the floor! lol