What is the average amount of time a long arm quilter has your quilt?

Most long-arm quilters will give you a turnaround time. It can be very short, or it can be a long time for quilters that are in great demand.

Two or three weeks usually. I always ask for an estimate . . .and of course it depends on how busy they are . . .some times, during the busiest times of year, the amount of time can be more. I always figure, if I need it for a specific date, I need to plan accordingly :)

This is true, but I know some long-armers that do custom quilting and it can be as much 6 months. It just depends. If you choose a long armer that does simple panto work, E2E, and all over quilting with computers like the LQS here you can get them back really quickly.

how much do they ususally charge. I have a quilt to go to a long arm quilter but have no idea what is the going rate to charge

It can vary by the area where you live and the type of quilting you want. I would call several quiters in your area. Ask what their turnaround time is, what their cost is, and whether you supply your own batting, etc... It can be fairly inexpesive for E2E, allover panto, etc... It can be quite expensive if you want custom quilting.

One time when I took my quilt to a LA to get it quilted, I was told it would take 5 weeks to get it back. I was very patient, and at the end of the 5 weeks, I went in to ask how much longer it would be. I was really upset when she took her stack of orders to see where my quilt was in the line-up--and my quilt order was on the very bottom of the stack! She told me it would be another 2 to 3 weeks longer. Needless to say, I didn't go back to that person again. In her defense, the quilting was beautiful and exactly what I wanted, but moving my order to the bottom of the list was not right... :evil:
My sister sends the quilts we do together to a LA in another state, and the LA will ask if it is for a special occasion. She will do everything she can to get the quilt back to us in time to do the binding. It usually takes her a couple of weeks to get the quilt back to us, but if we tell her there is no time crunch, then she will get it back to us in about a month or so.

thank you everyone for all your information..

Back log ( the amount of time it will take to do the projects scheduled ahead of your) time is differerent for each LongArm person.
I always ask before I send or drop off what the back log is. I ask when they want the quilt top . Once they get it typically no more than 3 weeks.
They should not be accepting your top if there is a long back log. Yes put you on the project list .. but no need to have the top "in house" till they are close to working on it. Most will call or e- mail that is time for you to get the top to them.
IF it is a highly custom piece I will send a photo so they can start to get ideas of how to best quilt the top.
I have had a "space" reserved for October with one Long Arm pro , since March.

Depends on how busy your LA'r is. My average turn around is now 4-6wks.