Tamaratjo: in regards to **Hooping the quilt sandwich and getting the alignment correct is probably the biggest challenge.***.
Look into a — Master Hooper —. It is designed to hold your hoops so you can get everything aligned. It’s a little spendy but would be an incredible time saver.

Quilting is my favorite part. I have some standard swirls and echoing as well as my favorite, wood grain. Lately I've been trying to use rulers. That still needs a lot of practice because I'm not loving it yet.

I usually start with some sitd, then add some either meandering or some simple patterns in the blocks. I just have a domestic machine, nothing fancy, but I have done several queen & kings by combining different techniques. Next plan is to buy the rulers. I could do so many other designs with them.

Anything larger than crib or lap size goes to the LAer. By that time I'm ready to move on. Since large projects don't get finished quickly, I can budget for the LA service. I figure it saves me visits for chiropractor or massage. Just me, not everyone's cuppa.

I do a lot of stitch in the ditch and FMQ using stencils. I'm not good at FMQ patterns that I can't actually "see" on the quilt as I'm quilting. Even meandering/stippling is hard for me. I've purchased a ruler for ruler work but haven't used it enough to get comfortable with it yet. I will master it someday. I've never sent a quilt out to be quilted by someone else.

I do SITD to secure the quilt sandwich, then do FMQ of loops, feathers, and wavy lines. I also like to use a programed serpentine stitch on the borders and the parts of the quilt if possible. Lots to learn and improve, but my quilts go to family so no judgement from them. They always seem thrilled.

Oh my goodness Rhonda where can you get a 'large' quilt, LA quilted for $50-70$$$$. That is a GREAT deal, here in Texas they run 1.5 -2 cents per inch. This is for E2E. Custom quilting is 5cents an inch. This is pretty standard around here.

I mostly do modern baby quilts, and do a straight stitch on the diagonal for some, or a tradition x patern on my patchwork/6” bock quilts. I have a large ombré stripe quilt kit waiting on my shelf and that will definitely be sent to the LA (which is definitely not the $50 steal of a deal mentioned above! Jealous)

I want to second what Patrice said about Embroidery Library. I've been very happy with their quilt designs, and there's quite a variety in several sizes. Also, unlike some sites, this one tells you whether or not it is single run and the number of stitches before you buy. I'm always surprised to find on other sites designs that would be beautiful, but who wants to change bobbins in nearly every 8-inch square? Have the digitizers ever quilted anything bigger than a mug rug? I will say that those bean stitch designs are great for something like a bag, where you'll only use one or a few and the extra stiffness is a plus rather than a minus.

Another good source of quilting designs is Kreative Kiwi. I recently bought a set of interesting abstract designs that come in several sizes and both single and bean stitch. I have her Quilt Swirls 2 and have used a number of those designs, which are double run and include several sizes. That site generally sells only sets rather than individual designs, but they're very reasonably priced.

A magnetic frame is going on my Christmas list this year! The only thing that puzzles me about them is the use of such strong magnets near circuit boards. I assume they've been around long enough than if they were problematic we'd know by now.

My first quilt (in April) was a medium sized in dog print fabric. No one told me FMQ was supposed to be hard so it is quilted with paw prints and I also SITD to secure first. Just picked up a long arm yesterday because I love FMQ but it is a lot harder on large quilts in a standard sewing machine.