A mid arm has no feed dogs, so you have to push the fabric through. They are basically a free motion quilting machine, although you can attach binding with them. You use them for free motion and rulers and the like, not for regular sewing.

As Tothill mentioned, some people buy one then realize they would rather have a long arm. You have to decide whether you are a "push the fabric" or "push the machine" kind of quilter. Myself, I will always be happy with my sit down because I have tried both and I know that I am a "push the fabric" type of quilter.

Watson

Thanks for the information everyone. I know I do not have the $$ or the space for a long arm. I was hoping I could get something with a larger throat than my little Brother. Anyway. I guess I am stuck with either sending them out or doing it by hand.

Boston 1954 . There is a great book by Marti Matchell on various ways of quilting large quilts on a domestic machine. I recently quilted one that measured about 104" x 98" and it really was quite easy and worked out well. There are ways of doing it - don't get discouraged.

Sailorwoman is correct, there are ways. One I know of is to cut the batting into thirds and only add it as you are done quilting the previous section that has batting. In other words, place batting in the center third only, quilt that, leaving unquilted space where it needs to be joined to the next third of batting, join the batting and quilt the second third of the quilt, and on with the last third of batting. You can also get a sit down machine with a wide throat. There are many available. Janome has some, like the 8900. You can also get a Babylock Sashiko and machine quilt with stitches that look like hand quilting. Lots of options out there, look around, get suggestions here from people who have machines you may like.

Boston 1954, Brother has a 1500s machine (some more initials to the model number, can't remember) but it has a 9 inch throat and can do regular sewing and FMQ, straight stith only. It is a fantastic machine, very strong, some describe it as semi industrial. Sells for between $500-$700 or so. I bought one when they first came out, approx 2001, it is still going strong, I FMQ many quilts on it. I think Juki has a similar machine.

Boston 1954 this is it on Amazon: Brother Quilting and Sewing Machine, PQ1500SL, High-Speed Quilting and Sewing, 1500 Stitches Per Minute, Automatic Needle Threader, Retractable Drop Feed Dog Control

As a former teacher, there is no such question as a dumb question! Don't be embarrassed to ask it. Someone else might want to know also. An example of not wanting to ask a question is my dilemma of how football jerseys are numbered. A student of mine told me how that worked or I might never have figured out the answer to that question.

There are definitely sewing machines out there with a larger harp space. I bought an Elna eXcellence 740 used (it was a trade in). It has an 11 inch harp space. It is fairly easy to quilt a king sized quilt, smaller quilts even more so.

I actually quilted an almost king sized quilt with a Singer 15-91. It probably has a harp size similar to the Brother 1500. I divided my batting into thirds for this one. I didn't really enjoy adding the batting back in, but it worked for that size quilt. Most quilts I make are smaller than queen size. I actually loved quilting on this machine (straight stitch, vintage machine). Paid less than $200 for it. I think I need a new bobbin case, after a move, I never could get my tension back right.

With research and patience, I think you can find a very nice machine for less than $1000. I believe I paid about $800 for my Elna. With the quilts I have quilted myself (and thus saved $$ by not paying for someone else to quilt) - my machine has easily paid for itself and will do so many times again over its lifetime.

Glad you asked, I learned from the responses. I just have a small bernina and I do manage to fmq about a full size quilt. Good music helps.