If I sunk a further 10 grand into my longarm (yes, that is what the computer to stitch for you costs) I would be absolutely justified in charging for that and the time and money to learn the programs. That computer is not standard on any machine that I know of, it's a very pricy optional add on.
I understand that. And for someone who wants something more precise on their quilt, no "organic" quirks, that would be great. I believe her thoughts were that this longarm guy didn't put actual work into the quilt other than loading it, the machine did it all (and I realize she was hiring out the machine and his expertise at operating it, etc). I get what she was saying, but I also understand how much those cost. I think kathyinmo had one of those computerized ones, if I'm not mistaken, but I could be wrong. I remember her telling me the brand she had and looking it up and seeing it was an $8000 machine. I traded out some rare hatching eggs for her machine quilting one of my bed quilts years ago. I got the better end of the deal, for sure! We bartered stuff more than once. I love barter.
I've watched Angela Walters quilt on the longarms and that takes a lot of skill. She amazes me-that Tula Pink Epic quilt she did was something else! I think I've changed the way I look at quilting designs by watching her and Leah Day. They rarely do all-over designs. They've really expanded my horizons!
I'm not sure I can get my head around quilting with rulers. I can barely follow a drawn line myself. Terrie, have you used rulers for quilting on your longarm machine?
Adding that for folks who think they'll get a handmade quilt, machine or hand quilted, for
Walmart prices, they would definitely balk at paying $300-500 to have a top machine quilted. They don't want to pay that for a finished quilt in the first place.
I am just ballparking that price, realize it can vary wildly depending on the complexity of the design and the size of the quilt.
