My dh purchased my millenium for me several months ago...I am to afraid to use it..hehehhe...I have done a couple practice things on it but just not confident...I am going to MQX in April and hope to learn enough to feel like I can put a quilt on and do it...my stepson's wedding quilt is waiting to be quilted and I need it by May...after spending 20K don't want to turn around and take a quilt to the laq...heheheh..blessings

Too expensive here - it won't happen.

I had been quilting for about ten years, was retired, had the space to hold a long-arm and we decided that, given that I was spending so much time and energy on my hobby, that it would be worthwhile to get the Gammill I had been drooling over. I don't quilt professionally, although I do the occasional quilt as a favor for a friend or for a charitable cause. I've never been sorry I bought it although the learning curve was lots longer than I thought it would be.

I decided to buy one about 20 years ago I just have never had the money to do it yet. :lol:

I decided the 1st time I went to a quilt show and got my hands on one! I started with a B-line frame (mine was a table top model) with a Juki and an add on stitch regulator. Pretty quickly I upgraded to an HQ16, but I JUMPED at the chance to purchase a gently used Gammill Classic Plus (the plus is the stitch regulator). I think I'm done! (upgrading..NOT QUILTING! what a silly thought!)

I loved piecing tops and hated hand quilting. It just took too long and the one top I'd started hand quilitng and HAD to get finished I finally sent to someone else for completion. It cost me a almost $400 just for that.
After reading about long arm quilting and watching countless online videos for over a year, I decided to check out the machines at various quilt shows. It definitely pays to actually "drive" one just to see if it feels right for you.
I also checked out the financing packages each company offered. I got mine at no interest and payments spread out over several years.
That said, I also had first purchased a mid arm and after a couple of quilts quickly decided I wanted more throat space. I felt very frustrated at the lack of "play" area with the mid arm. My Tin Lizzie 18LS has 18" throat space and that's just right for me. I don't quilt for money but I do help out some friends and do few charity quilts but mostly I do my own stuff. Haven't regretted it once. Just love owning my own long arm and practice, practice, practice so I get better all the time.
Good luck in your search.

I have been piecing quilts for over 30 yrs.many yrs of tying and hand quilting.that resulted in 2 carpal tunnel surgeries.my boyfriend and I bought an old farmhouse with 5 bedrooms about 4 yrs ago.my daughter and I split a long arm then-no regrets.we both love quilting-this was the 1st house big enough to have a long arm.I have fibro,ruptured discs in my neck so a longarm is great.when I hurt I don't quilt.when I feel better I can quilt easily.I do not miss sitting on the floor and pinning binding,etc that was too hard on my neck and I have a hard time getting up from the floor.

Started looking and researching 6 months after I learned to piece.
I ordered my LA 9 months after I learned to piece a quilt and had it a month later.

Had a quilt ruined by a LA quilter and decided I wanted more control (she had tension issues and rather than stop, she forged on).

Had my first customer quilt on the frame 1 week after I got my LA. I love to quilt and can't make quilts fast enough to keep my LA busy...plus the $ from LA quilting for others gives me $ to buy more thread and material! I would rather do the quilting then any other part of the process!

When I discovered that it cost as much to have them quilted as it did to buy the supplies to make one I knew I'd be purchasing a LA....LOL! My mother was an avid quilter (in her day it was the old fashioned way with scissors and cardboard templates and hand tieing or hand quillting) and when she passed I used some of my inheritance to buy my HQ 16 because I wanted something that I would have forever and I knew that she would be smiling from above whenever I used it.

I learned to quilt on a longarm that was in my local quilt shop. A year later, I needed to rent time on the machine and was informed that I had to go through the classes again, no way was that happening. I bought a used Grace frame with a Janome 1600P. That turned out to be too small a quilting area for me so I bought a Tin Lizzie 18LS. Now I can quilt whatever I want in my own home. My DH gave up his study so I could keep 'Liz' set up at 10 ' length. Bless him. I couldn't afford to buy the Gammill, but the Tin Lizzie is very reliable and well built. This is all I will ever need. Of course my Bernina 440QE, 830, and several Featherweights keep Liz company so she doesn't get lonely when I am at work.