I bought Pfaff's Creative Sensation in December in Tucson from my great Tucson dealer. I told the gals there that I was going to spend the next 4 months (before I left Tucson for CT) making as many mistakes as possible so they could show me the RIGHT way to use the machine. It worked! Plus we were able to work out a few kinks in the machine. A few times I was ready to throw in the towel - burn-out from spending so much time learning the machine - but it was worth it. Here in CT, the nearest dealer is about 45 minutes away, so if I have a problem, I'll be calling Tucson!
I LOVE this machine. It embroiders beautifully AND it has a HUGE throat for quilting. I've even started taking baby steps to FMQ. There are a lot of quilting designs built in AND it's very easy to re-size any design right in this machine. I can re-size a commercial embroidery design, too. Piece of cake. I bought the Grand Dream hoop, 340 x 350 (I think - hoop is upstairs) - which is a hoop on which you can split designs. Amazing. You start sewing on one side, take the hoop off the machine, turn it around and reattach, and sew the other side. Next, I'm going to buy the continuous hoop. I have that for my 2170 Pfaff, and it was the hoop I used the most - and not just for continuous designs. I found it to be the easiest one to line up designs - my least favorite part of embroidery.