Wondering...........................
 

Is there people for hire that do free motion quilting on a domestic machine? Does it cost any less then a long arm quilter does. My mom has tons of quilts and wallhangings that need to be quilted, but she doesn't do free motion. If any of you know of people that do free motion quilting at an affordable price for people with a fixed income please let me know. Thanks in advance.

I am sure there are but I always found that LAQ are less expensive. I use to do it but it takes much more time to pin baste and actually quilt on a DSM. Why do these quilts need to be FMQ?? There is always SITD and crosshatching.

just guessing, I'd think it costs about 10 times long arming does :)
Diane Gaudenski's have always been done by domestic machines, take a look
https://www.google.com/search?q=dian...w=1366&bih=643

so it would probably depend on what you wanted done. Even straight lines take more time on domestic vs. long arm, simply because you have to stop to shift the quilt sandwich all the time.

My various long arm quilters have charged me 160 to 200 dollars for quilting queen sized quilts. I make the cost count by quilting two tops at the same time, one front and one back.

As others have said, quilting can be done much more quickly on a longarm than on a DSM, so it would be unlikely that someone quilting on a DSM would or could charge less than someone quilting on a longarm. I've heard that some people have been able to trade unfinished tops for quilting services, but finding someone willing to do that could be difficult. Some people just enjoy making tops and don't really care about turning them into quilts. If that's your mother's passion, then she might be able to sell the tops on eBay or etsy and not feel bad that they are sitting around unquilted. Or she could donate them to a guild to be quilted and donated as comfort quilts.

What an inspiration on that link to Diane Gaudenski. I'd like to see her FIRST one. That's where I am now.

An all-over LA design would be way faster (and cheaper) to do than custom FMQ work on a domestic machine.

Her best bet is to quilt them herself unless there's just a couple that maybe the family could take to a LA-er as a Christmas present. We all have that first FMQ project that has all sorts of irregularities in the stitching, but the only way to get better is to just do it!

Another possible option for her if it's just a question of not having a lot of space to work in is some quilt shops will rent their LA machines by the hour once you've gone to a few training sessions. I can't stand for 20 minutes straight, much less an hour, but I know people who do that & they get beautiful results. Some of the machines are even computerized so you just load your quilt, program in the design you want & away it goes. That would probably be the most affordable option if it's available in your area.

I just looked at your link. OMG. Most beautiful FMQ I have ever seen

She could use size 12wt thread and do the big stitch hand quilting. It's fast and looks great.

Ohhh! Good point! Or she could tie the quilts (or better yet, enlist some grandchildren to tie it for her!).

You might try Happy Crafters. They do LA quilting at a very reasonable price. I haven't used them but others on the board have and seem happy with their work. They only do edge to edge quilting. Here's the link. http://www.happycrafters.net/quilting-services.aspx

Adding on to Bree123's comment about renting time on long arm machines - my local shop also rents out time on large sit-down quilting machines. It's a new program and I haven't done it myself yet, but for the sit-down machines they aren't requiring the class beforehand and it's a lower hourly fee than using the stand-up long arm so the overall cost is a lot less than renting time on the stand-up machine. Drawback is that you'd still have to build your quilt sandwich and baste it yourself, but that shop also has some large tables you can use for free as long as there isn't a class already using them.

I know a lady in St. Louis county that does long arm work for $40 a queen. It is panto work but beautifully done. You supply the backing and batting, but she does have batting also. If you want her name and phone number, PM me.

OK--I do long arming professionally--but do understand that you are looking for way to finish some quilts for your Mom and not break the bank? I visited the LQS in Stover MO and they have a unique set up and only do edge2edge--but the prices were very reasonable so you might check there. Also, I'm hearing of more churches with quilting groups that raise $$ for charity by hand quilting for others--check with the LQS in Denver to see if any know of these groups.