No, I would never quilt for customers. I'm a wreck just quilting for family and friends! I also use the thread recommended by my dealer. Thanks for the well wishes!

I have a Janome 6600. I have quilted many different sizes. I have done a queen but did not like it. I was fine with kid ones and large lap (55 x 72 or so). My desire to get more prolific lead me to an older HQ16--no stitch regulator and certainly no computer stuff.

I would think a machine like the Janome would work well for you. I did lots of walking foot quilting with it. I love how easy it is to put on binding totally by machine. I really love the machine. Not sure how big the harp is but I think it works very well and is one of the larger ones I believe.

I would think if you did the smaller sizes on your sewing machine and then sent out any of the bigger ones might work well. The main thing is to get back to loving the process.

I'm actually very happy with my current sewing machine. I have a Pfaff Creative Vision. I believe it has a 10" throat. I do not want to replace it, as I love it for piecing, embroidery and any other kind of sewing I need or want the do.

I wanted to find out if there is a machine on the market that has a harp size like a mid arm but with feed dogs like a regular machine, something I can easily fit large quilts under it, but still have the control of a regular sewing machine.

I agree completely about getting back to loving the process. I'm happy for others that they love their long arms. I do not love mine and it does not make me happy. I tried to connect with it for three years. That's enough time. Life is too precious to waste anymore time trying to make myself love a hobby I don't love.

I have an Activa 230 (Bernina) and the only thing I dislike about it is the small harp. I no longer try to quilt a large quilt under this harp. I have become very good at converting my patterns to QAYG. It is so much easier and gives me time to think out each panel. I keep my block sizes to about 15 to 20 inches square and add sashing around it. I am not very good at FMQ and do a lot of straight line quilting with my walking foot so this works very well for me. I love the modern quilting i.e. Angela Walters and Jackie Gering I like the look of the small sashing around big blocks and you can adapt almost any quilt design to it. I mostly make up my own designs so for me it does not matter. You can also divide your quilt into several long sections and QAYG that way.

This is an option I've been thinking about too. I did one QAYG a few years ago. The blocks were just lovely, unfortunately my sashings were rather butchered looking! Still, I think this is something I could master with some practice. Like you said, I could still probably divide a large quilt into just a few pieces so I inky have a few sashes.

I love my Viking Sapphire 870Q. It has a 10 inch harp and I've quilted king size quilts with it. Yes, I have to do some cramming, but it's doable. I've had it for several years and never had a problem with it. And I didn't pay anywhere close to 15K for it.

I quilt by check. I have zero desire to "quilt". Very happy!
Sandy

That's great that you don't mind quilting king sized quilts with a 10" harp! Unfortunately, I don't enjoy doing the same, which is why I was asking about a machine with a larger harp. I agree that it's doable, just not so fun (to me anyway).

This made me laugh! For whatever reason, while there are plenty of things I don't mind paying for (cleaning my house for example), I just feel like it's not fully my quilt if I don't do all the work from start to finish. Not everyone feels that way of course, but to each her own...

Go to the Brothers dealer in your area. They have several options. Machine with 11.5 harp but also a small sit down quilting machine. Also new Dream fabric frame that uses the newer Brothers machines but works like a long arm. But if it were me I would also try the Innovis long arm. It is really the cats meow!