Ice, I am sorry we are not meeting next week. Here's hoping everything goes ahead in August.

Are there no shops around Seattle offering rental time on a LA? I know of a few around me and in Vancouver that do that. Cost is $15 an hour or thereabouts, not very expensive.

Another option would be to ask at guild meetings when they start up again. I know that two women shared a LA at one of the guilds I belong to. I do not know how they worked out the money side of things.

Around here it is about $100 for usually a 4 hour session, sometimes that's a day rate -- it would be worth it for me for a day rate, not so much for 4 hours. I don't mind the $100 training session also usually required. And it's still 30 minutes or so drive.

I was going to get reconnect with my fellow quilters more this year and look at specifically meeting some long armers. Then came Covid...

I'm working on various solutions, I did get the Bernina in to the shop which just opened again May 5. They estimate about a month before they get to it. A lot of the quilts I know I'm doing for donation I find I can use a grid/square/rectangle overall pattern and it comes out nicely with serpentine stitch, and I can do that once I get the Bernina back.

One of my Tuesday group lady wanted some quilting projects so I gave her the small ones.

And I did find a semi-local starting long armer who got my thrift store top projects! Here's hoping to a beautiful friendship, but in my selfish case I have donated several projects and are now off my karmic burden. But you know -- space abhors a vacuum and I will probably fill the empty spaces with more completed tops soon enough.

MSQC has very reasonable rates...

I'm with you. I used to feel that if I didn't do my own quilting it wasn't mine. Result many many unfinished tops - now I use a wonderful reasonably priced longarmer for anything larger than a lap quilt.

Same here! I like to piece the tops but do not realty like to quilt them. Check around. Price of quilting has a lot to do with the detail of the actual quilting. Meaning something like meandering only cost much less then fancy stitching feathering. I personally like a simple meandering and SID to show my quilt pattern/fabric/piecing rather than a more detailed overall quilting. Check around for cheaper prices. There is a shop in NE Ohio that only charged about $80 for meandering on a large quilt. Good luck. Stay well!

I feel your pain. I mostly make comfort quilts for cancer patients. 15 years ago we tied all the quilts. Then I learned the flip and sew method. You might search on this forum for that technique as I posted pictures of how I did it. Next I became friends with a woman who owns a long arm, and I do lots of bindings for her. And trade quilting my big quilts for putting on bindings. Keep in mind, you have to be really good at something to trade it or the trade doesn't work for both parties. Or perhaps you could trade piecing for quilting. My mother was a hand quilter, but couldn't sew a stitch. For every quilt she hand quilted, she received a top of the same size for herself.

I've heard that.

Can you hand quilt? I love to hand quilt. It is so relaxing for me. Except for baby quilts, I hand quilt.

yes, may be for people learning to long arm. Or those that don’t like to piece but love to long arm.

I had the same problem. Lots of tops completed but not very good at machine quilting and hand quilting became too difficult for me physically. I started putting the designs on paper and quilting through the paper. The first couple were not so nice but I kept at it. Now I do the same with a sit down quilting machine. Have only one top waiting to be quilted. At first I used Golden thread paper but now I use less expensive paper I purchase on Amazon. Just remember: