Thanks for the replies. I am so excited to go to Des Moines ANd learn more about this machine. I am hoping they run a good show special so I get a better deal than at the local quilt shops. I am from MN and it is 5 hrs for me to go to Des Moines but I figured it would be a good trip for my sister and I and I am hoping the trip will be well worth it with getting a better price on this machine. Only two of the 8 local shops ( I consider a local shop within in 2 hours of driving) that are HQ Dealers even carry the sit down version and some of the shops kind of shunned me when I called and inquired about it. They obviously only want to sell the higher priced machines--which are not in my price range at this time. I have only been quilting about two years (but have been an avid sewer for 30 years) and can't afford the higher end machine yet. I haven't learned much about this Sit Down version yet (only saw it once and could not afford it at that time so didn't check it out too much then). I was happy to hear that I could upgrade it to a quilt frame eventually. That more or less means I am buying this in steps--where I can upgrade to a frame someday when I can afford that and feel I need that.