Hi Ladies,
I keep seeing pictures of these beautiful quilts that you all are bringing home from the long arm quilters that have spectacular quilting on them. My question is...where do you get them done and how much (if you don't mind saying) does it usually run you? I have a longarm quilter here that I send my quilts to, but I can only afford a simple all over pattern. For a full size quilt, a simple all over will run me almost $200! I did a quilt for my Grandma and asked her to do custom quilting (I.e. Something other than an all over) and it cost me almost $300!! I can't afford to do all my quilts I have finished at this rate!! I would be willing to mail post my quilts if it meant the quality quilting you guys get for a decent price! Any help you can give would be SUPER appreciated! I have a large mariners compass quilt planned for my Dad that I have to have done by August that I will need some special quilting on.
Thanks in advance Ladies! You guys are awesome!

For many of us, especially those who produce a lot of charity quilts, we come to the point where paying someone else to finish our quilts just gets to be too expensive. That is the point where we begin to consider a home quilting system. The Mid-arm machines are much less expensive and can fit into smaller spaces. We learn to quilt our own quilts and can do them in a few hours, depending on how much quilting we do on them.

On the other hand, if you are making heirloom quilts that you know your family will cherish and hand down to other generations, it might pay to have the beautiful quilting done by a Professional.

But for me, and I suspect for others as well, we want to quilt them so we can have a quicker turnover and put them into service at various charities. This is a fun thing to do. Ask the others here who own the home quilting systems.

I don't expect any of my quilts to be heirlooms. I tell them to use them and if they get worn out I'll make more. I quilt my own and love that part of the process.

I just sent you a PM!

My LQS has 2 computerized long arms. She told me my 60 x 70 quilt would be about $50 to use the long arm for. I can have the computer do a design or I can use the sheets she has, or I can do my own design. But I think this is a cost effective way to use a long arm without buying my own or breaking the bank. You may want to see if a store near you offers something similar.

Cheers!
Rachel