My husband and I didnt have a lot of money for ourselves for Christmas so he said I can get a gift of my choice with tax money, so now of course I am looking at sewing machines. What is the best (in your opinion of course ;)) machine for sewing and machine quilting. The machine I have now is a brother 99 dollar cheapy from Walmart. I am looking to upgrade now! Any ideas or suggestions would be wonderful. I would like the cheapest but best option. (definitely not over 1500) The more money I have left the more fabric I can buy ;)!!

Pfaff has their Expression 2.0 on sale for $999.00 right now. That is $600 off. You could buy some extra feet and be set! It has the wider throat for quilting too.

Wonderful! I will go check that out right now! Thanks for the option! I have only ever used cheap or broken down machines LOL and it was as much a headache as ever. I still love quilting though so I figure it is time to invest! :D

I love my little $89 cheapie Brother from Walmart! It does everything I ask, and never complains.

Now if I could only get my husband to do that...

HAHAHA :D

cathyvv, I'm with you on both counts!!

For bang for buck I love my Brother NX450Q. It has lots of features like thread cutter, stop/start button, needle up/down. It also has a bigger throat than a lot of the machines (7.5 in). Not sure how much you're wanting to spend but mine was $799 a year ago and I've heard they are going for cheaper now. For a little more money lots of people like the Janome 6500/6600 as well. Good luck and have fun shopping!

I have a Brother XL2600 cheapie from Walmart and my only complaint is throat space. For that reason I'm looking at a Brother PQ1500. It has the largest throat space (9 inches)I've found in the price range.

I think the decision comes down to what is important to you in a machine. Some people like throat space. Some people need super fancy stitches. Some need embroidery. Picking your MUST HAVE feature is the hardest thing!!

I have two Vikings and wouldn't trade either. Try them out and see what you like. We are all different.

Also check out Sears Kenmore machines, which are made by Janome.