I had been quilting for there years when I first learned about LA,s. I purchased a super quilted, used it with my brother. I was not happy with the frame. The track was not long enough. I switched to a grace frame. Loved it. But I wanted to quilt for customers. So i got a Gammill. Yeah.... Best decision I ever made, I paid the machine off in the first two years. I was renting space in a quilt shop, when it closed I had a building built on my property. I am a sales rep. For Gammill. The most important thing when researching is support and training.... Don't get a machine that is just shipped to you... You will not be happy. You need someone to help you and with Gammill you get training and someone at the end of the phone when you are need help.

I pretty much decided the first time I went to the AQS Paducah Show which was about 7 years ago. I bought my Milleneum Oct 2008 and haven't regretted it one minute. Some people buy boats or new cars. I call my Milli my boat in the basement. I really enjoy my LA.

I bought a long arm when husband said he had found the
one he liked best for the price at the Paducah Quilt show.
And my 2 daughters said they thought I should get one.
Just quilt for myself & few charity quilts.

I bought mine when I stumbled upon one on Craigslist. I need to home with our farm, but hoped to be able to earn enough to pay for this and have the option to machine quilt large quilts for myself and family who quilt. I'm a hand quilter at heart, but am amazed at the beautiful, skillful machine quilting that can be done. I'm paying off my quilter next month! It's an old one, but if I master this one, I can upgrade later.

You can turn your machine into a somewhat long arm. My father built mine from plans I found on ebay. Bought a janome 1600 with a 10 inch throat and used it for years. you are limited by the smaller throat space. I am now selling that one because I just got a Tin Lizzie 18.

I LOVE you way of thinking!

I've never paid anyone to do my quilting. I started by hand quilting, but when I quit work and started getting serious about quilts I bought my first MidArm Quilting machine. I've bought a LAM since that. I've been using the quilting machine for about 10 years. I don't know how to quilt on regular machine.

I blame you people! :wink:

I've been quilting for 20 years, off and on. More when I was home with my kids, less when I went back to work in the last '90s. Then I stumbled on this board and it got me back to quilting with a vengeance. I had been taking my infrequent finished tops into a LAQ but decided if I was going to make lots more tops, I might as well buy a LA with the money instead of paying someone else.

Once I decided, I started watching for a good deal and found one in about 6 weeks. It's just for me; no plans to make money with it.

What does lqs stand for? I figured it must be a store but had no luck searching that. Pauline

Local Quilt Store

The first time I saw a LA at a quilt show I knew that I had to have one. Less than a year later, I do. I'd like to use it to supplement my income.

Thank you for adding your input. It's loaded with 'good reasons' :)

I first bought a stand alone frame (B-Line) for my DM, only did one baby quilt on that, then it sat for a year. I have never paid to have a qullt quilted. I was asked to do show, hang 12 quilts for a month. Was at a quilt show, saw the HQ16 and the seperate bobbin winders, (that was the selling point LOL). New there was no other way I was going to have any quilts ready to hang so went with it. Transered balance from one 0 % card to another for 2 years until it was paid for. I have recouped that and more since (3 years). I put the HQ on the B-LINE frame and this year hope to upgrade to a new frame and new wheels.

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