I have all 3--sewing/piecing, embroidery & a mid-arm. I bought the Singer Quantum Futura (CE-200) to do embroidery & piece with (-$900 new) because my original old Euro-Pro mechanical machine was having tension problems & isn't worth fixing. I played with the Singer's embroidery module but never did get much into it but have designs for future quilts that will need that function of it.
Within a year I discovered that there was no way to quilt with such a small neck machine unless it was block by block, quilt as you go and even trying to fit a quilt under the needle to sew the rows together was a pain so I researched & found the Janome MC6500p. It was a semi-industrial machine with fancy stitches and a 9" throat. It could take the abuse of frame quilting and sew all day. New price was between $1000 & $1500 depending on the dealer and none of the ones near me had a clue what I was talking about until I bumbled into the Elna version of my baby--7200 Quilters Dream Pro. The dealer was actually using it to piece a quilt with in the store from start to finish. I was sold--cost $1,300 new. I could easily stuff baby quilts through it but it hurt my shoulders & neck to sit for long spells doing it that way so I bought a B-Line Studio Quilt frame--$900 new. I taught myself how to free motion quilt with that. I was ecstatic for about 2 years. Then I saw the PC Quilter with Max Throat setup at Paducah one year. Computer guided quilting with a gizmo that turned my 9" machine into a 16" machine! (Around $3,000 new back then) I got that for Christmas because Santa had just changed jobs & gotten a bigger salary. I was perfectly happy with this setup for the next 3 years. I had to fuss with some things that a real longarmer doesn't but I was still well under the price tag a true longarm with robotics costs so a little fussing was well worth it to me. I would have my battles with the PC Quilter & Max but I always won & honestly my frame wiggling it's way out of level and/or sinking into the carpet was more annoying than anything and was usually a contributing factor to all other issues. Hubby was dreaming up ways to fix the wiggling/sinking problem when I stumbled across a Voyager 17 with stitch length regulator (SLR) on a Pro-Flex frame on ebay. The seller didn't give many details but had a good rating so I placed my absolute maximum but ridiculously low bid on it & went to Paducah to drool over the real longarms. I did pay special attention to the Voyager while I was there just in case and played on a demo machine the Hinterberg folks had setup. I won the bid while we were at the show & the seller actually let it go at the ridiculously low price. It came with absolutely everything a brand new setup comes with. UPS didn't--although they tried--damaging the Voyager. It took us longer to find the conduit that the Pro-Flex frame(& a few others) uses for rails & poles than it did to get the old setup packed and the new one all setup and the Voyager re-timed. Re-timing sounds a lot scarier than it is and it came with very clear instructions (& lots of pictures for hubby to follow--LOL.) I think the timing issue was probably why the seller let it go so cheap when it was in like new condition. Hubby is a programmer & I'm a computer tech so we're used to following directions out of very boring manuals and weren't afraid to tinker. I've since joined the Hinterberg Yahoo group & discovered that many people have actually had Hinterberg walk them through timing their machine over the phone.
I wouldn't trade any of my learning curve at this point. I needed those upgrades to teach me and if I ever out-grow or another too good to believe deal comes along on a true longarm--I'll be ready. I still use the Elna for piecing, the Singer for embroidery and the Voyager now for quilting. I haven't setup the Voyager for the PC Quilter yet--I still like to free motion and I actually hurt my knee while using the PC Quilter the last time--my fault, not my little metal buddy's--so I've got to re-think how I control my PCQ before I put it on the Voyager.
So, the abridged version of my advice is: 1. You can make do with a lot less money than you think. 2. You can upgrade along the way. 3. Watch for bargains.