To Longarm or Not to Longarm (Friday Foto Fun #86)

To longarm or not to longarm, that is the question I typically ask myself after I finish a lap size quilt or larger.  And by longarm I usually mean quilt by credit card and ship it to a longarm friend/quilter.  Lately, the question has been should I buy a longarm?

Last weekend Angela Walters of Quilting is My Therapy was putting on quilting classes both on a longarm or domestic machine.  I signed up for a Borders and Backgrounds class that I really enjoyed learning about.  However, I was most excited on playing with the longarms that were there for her class.  Angela is a Handiquilter dealer and she had set up Handiquilter Amara's for the class.

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After the class, I'm sold on wanting a longarm.  I am very torn on what longarm I should actually purchase!  Because I live so close to Angela's shop and therefore a Handiquilter dealer, I'm almost thinking I want to buy an Amara longarm!  But here's where I'd like some advice if you would be willing to share.  Thanks for your advice in advance!

1. Do you own a longarm?  If so, what do you own?
2. What are some MUST HAVE features?
3. If there was anything you could change on your longarm, what would it be?
4. How important is it to have a dealer nearby?

The Kansas City Regional Quilt Show is in 2 weeks, so I'm planning on attending to try out more brands of longarms.

Because of all of this, I've also realized that I have more fabric than I can possibly sew and I am going to be destashing fabric on Instagram!

Destashing is a little bit of hard work on my part...not in the actual work in getting things listed and shipped, but in actually being willing to part ways with fabric I still find pretty.  If there is anything you are looking for in particular, let me know!  Otherwise, I'll be posting on the www.instagram.com/poweredbyquilting.destash account this weekend into next week!  I need to trade my fabric for money to help fund my longarm!