So, being someone that loves to make quilts it seems a bit odd that I do not look forward to the actual quilting part. It scares me. I think that after all the planning and piecing, now is my greatest opportunity to screw it all up. I actually took a quilt to be professionally quilted once. It cost me about $200 and was nothing spectacular. It was disappointing. So, I vowed to do them myself. Easier said than done, unless you are fortunate to have a long arm and fancy frame. Even then, I would still panic.
I have come a long way these days. I recently moved up from just meandering to putting some hearts in a quilt. Currently I am using the Flynn Quilt Frame
http://www.flynnquilt.com/ (Photo above)
It is not perfect, but it beats trying to do it without anything at all. It is fairly inexpensive and you use your own sewing machine. It is a great way to get started on the actual quilting process. It is a good way to determine if it is worthwhile to purchase something more expensive. I have to admit, I am totally envious of the quilting demoed on the site. I can do nothing like it and panic just thinking about it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I can’t draw. Not sure.
I plan on one day getting an actual frame and long arm. I am sure I will obsessively research it when I am ready. Always looking for opinions and advice here. If you have some, please share.
QuiltingNeeds.com 
I had a midarm (Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen) and really like it; it’s not the cost of a long arm but has a 16″ throat space which really helps. I’ve quilted up to a 120″x120″ on it with no problem. Maybe some day I’ll get a long arm, but then again they do take up a lot of space.
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Sounds like something to consider, THanks!
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Aloha! Thanks for checking out my blog! I am just now on the long-arm quilting journey but have been quilting for almost 20 years…meaning I made tops and had them quilted by others. I knew I wanted to quilt my own, but with working full time and being a mom of 2, that wasn’t going to happen for a long time. Fast forward to 2016 and I purchased the Statler Stitcher by Gammill. It seems very different than the one I learned on in 2006-ish but I am going full steam ahead! Good luck in your journey and have fun! Do what you can with what you have to the best of your ability. Practice, practice, practice…oh, and have fun!
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Keep going and you will get better and better! I started out last year on my sewing machine (10″ throat) and then treated myself to the mid-arm Pfaff powerquilter 16 (like the HQ sweet 16), and after using it for so many quilts, I currently have no desire for a full on long arm. I’m so used to the technique of moving the quilt around that when I tried out a long arm just for fun, I discovered that the learning curve and time it would take me to get as good on it as I am on my mid arm wasn’t something I’m willing to invest as it would take far too much time away from my actual quilting, which is what I love to do. I wouldn’t be interested in the automation part because for me, the quilting is the best and most fun part of all, so the only advantage I saw was no more need to bend and stretch and get down on the floor to sandwich quilts. But I won’t be investing in a much more expensive machine that takes up way more room, just for that, at least not any time that I can see in the future 🙂 In some of the videos I’ve watched, there appear to be machines with much wider throats even before you get to a mid arm, so the options are out there, depending on budget and space.
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Thanks so much for your response. It gives me some hope that I might get a bit better…..
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