anniehug

Hello Kelly, I've only just joined this group but in answer to your question have you thought about a quilt as you go? I started one about 2 weeks ago and it's coming along very well.

darleneerickson

You can look around - there are some quilt shops that have long arms and have you take a class and then you can go to the shop and pay per hour to use the long arm yourself.

there is always the quilt as you go method, also.

Theresa

Ohhh, I so agree. Have one more king size promised to our GD and then I'm done with these! The amount of fabric (we so love) is overwhelming!

GailG

I've done several queen-size quilts on my domestic machine. I just put my pride in my pocket and stich in the ditch. On the attic windows I had to give up and hand quilt it. It took "forever" to finish.

sylvia77

I would save my money 'til I had enough to have it quilted. I quilt all sizes on my machine but it's definitely harder to do on the queen/king sizes.

Nolee

Kelly, have you looked into going to a nearby quilt shop and renting their long arm machine by the hour? That is what I do and it is $15 per hour. It usually takes about 2 hours for a large one and trust me, I am NOT an expert at it by any means. It is a lot less expensive than paying $125 to a long arm quilter in my area (although I would love to be able to do that on a regular basis).

quiltermomo

The only way that I will tackle a big quilt is to use the Cotton Theory or quilt as you go methods. My arthritis makes handling the weight and bulk of a large quilt, nearly impossible.:)

Debi S

I am a fairly new long arm owner and have been toying with the idea of trading my long arm services with someone who is a talented and precise quilter. I have several tops that I need pieced. Some are already cut and ready to go and some need to be done from the beginning. Maybe we can work something out with a couple of quilters.
Debi
Polo, IL
fire-raven @ comcast .net (without the spaces)

fireworkslover

I genrally make Art Quilts and the largest of those is 63" X 75". That one I made in 4 sections, thinking it would be too large to fmq in one piece. I ended up sewing the sections together and fmq the whole thing anyway. I am part way thru making a 2 sided (different patterns on each side),king size duvet cover with separate pillow cover, for our comforter. I've thought all along that I will fmq each side to a piece of muslin, to protect the seams from rubbing on the comforter and help prevent fraying in the future. That will probably be stitch -in -the -ditch or a large meander. After the machine quilting is finished, then I'll sew it together to make the duvet. I think the key to fmq w/ a reg. sewing machine, is lots and lots of practice first, before attempting your quilt top. I also found that scrunching the quilt is easier than rolling it into a roll. You aren't fighting that unmanagable roll. A lot might depend on the design you are doing though.

quiltermomo

I love the idea of doing duvet covers and skipping the quilting.Thanks.:)