brother makes a workhorse of a home machine that they call a quilter - fast, strong stitches and a few other bells and whistles. i have a janmome that fits your bill and i love it. everyone will tell you a different machine. you have to try them all out. very time consuming, but the best investment for all that money.
see where this takes you:
http://www.taunton.com/threads/pdf/S...chineChart.pdf
i found it by typing ' home sewing machine comparisons'.