HI tom, I have sewn on a Singer, Bernina, Brother, Kenmore and Janome for the last umpty years. I found all very good machines for piecing. However when it came to quilting, the machine with the largest throat ( the distance from the needle to the machine body ) was a deciding factor. I now quilt on my Janome which has a 9" throat. More space for the quilt. I really like the automatic thread cutter.