I am glad you asked this question. I have three quilt tops made that I want to have done by an expert. I hand tied them but I don't think they feel or look finished. I am going to go to get an quotes to get mine done.

I would guess (from personal observation only) that about half of all quilters regularly send out some of their tops to be quilted, and the price your wife paid sounds reasonable. Additional charge for binding is also to be expected. If your wife would like to quilt her own, another option is to get Marti Michell's book "Machine Quilting in Sections" and learn various ways of quilting the quilt in smaller sections. This is much easier than pushing the whole quilt through a domestic sewing machine's throat.

She is going to keep this account, but she loves you now. Hahaha!

I have some of my quilts quilted by a LA,who is also a member on here (Hi Ann )The price depends on what type of quilting is done.Is it an allover design or a computer generated design or a completely done as a freehand design.Also the area you are in sometimes makes a difference and also how long the LA has been quilting.I have a couple of quilts that were custom designed and that was more expensive.Also the size also determines price,did the LA provide the batting?Was the backing ready for the quilt etc.I quilt baby quilts,table runners,small things myself,but I can`t wrestle a big quilt under my machine.I hand quilt a few things.I do my own bindings,sewing the first part with machine and then hand sewing the final part.

I don't think that was a to bad of a price. :)

it is very possible for your wife to learn to quilt with her domestic sewing machine- many very (big-name/famous) quilters quilt on their sewing machines- the easiest way to learn is to take a class at a local quilt shop-or watch videos /tutorials and practice- there are many tutorials- and books --it does take some practice-
many other quilters===beginners and pros send their quilts out -- she should learn to do her own bindings--that part is easy enough for any beginner- again she just needs to watch the tutorials- but a simple explanation of bindings is---you sew 2 1/2" strips of binding fabric together to reach all the way around the quilt + 10" or so===fold it in half (wrong sides together) and press- then line up the raw edges with the raw edges of the quilt top- stitch it to the quilt by machine (check tutorials for mitered corners) then you fold it to the back of the quilt and hand stitch it down (which is what the long-armer charged you $30 for)
the guys in my family (son's and nephew) are all quilters- and are very good at machine quilting on domestic machines- they started with small projects (about 18" square) put together top, batting, backing- marked how they wanted to quilt-and sat down and practiced- when they were happy with how it was going- how the stitches looked they made something larger- it didn't take long before they could handle king sized quilts ...best to start small-and practice---but totally do-able. my first quilt i sent out to a long armer---it was a shocking $385 for me to pick back up (and he did not do the binding for me!) at that point i figured i could never make another quilt- unless i learned to do that myself! i could never afford that! i was not expecting that price at all---i had been told the charge was 2 1/2 cents a square inch---didn't sound like that much...and the quilt was for my daughter's wedding present---so ...anyway---
it is not surprising how much it cost- but it does not have to be that expensive for you if you want to learn---i know guys who seem to be much better quilters than most of the women i know- maybe you could make it a (couples activity) she could piece- you could quilt!

I paid about $250 for a custom quilted king size a few years ago. She chwool batting, which I wanted. At the time, I thought it was pretty expensive, but after reading these posts, I think I got a reasonably good deal. Since then, I found a lady in my area who does pantogram (or is it called pantograph?) quilting & charges me only about $75 for a queen size. She furnishes polyester batting and the thread. I also know of an older man who has a Gammil long arm machine who charges even less. People send him their quilts from all over the country. I only use him for utility quilts, though. The lady I mentioned above does a much nicer job.

I do LA at my friends shop to help her out, your wife actually got a deal considering she had the binding done too....most LA shops charge by the square inch and design, plain or varigated thread also ....

Believe me, if this was to be your wife's first attempt at machine quilting, especially a queen size, the number of quarters she would have put into the cuss jar would have been plenty to pay someone else to quilt her top, not to mention the stress she would have taken out on you, and that all the do-overs might have ruined parts of the top she did such a nice job on. She might never make another one.

When we pay someone else to quilt a top, we must remember that, like any independent business person we are not paying only for the hours for that service, but for their overhead -- they had to buy the machine, supply the space to set it up, pay for lights, heat, taxes, insurance (health and homeowners), maybe Social Security, etc. At this point, $170 looks like a bargain to me.