I have a good old regular Singer sewing machine from the early 90s, and it does everything I need it to do. I've quilted full sized quilts on it before, and will be doing a queen here shortly.
I have another Singer from the 80s that someone just gave me last week, and I have a machine from the 40s that I haven't set up yet, but neither of those is essential to me. I'm going to wait and see what the older one is like before assigning either of them duties.
If you are ready or want to invest in a higher-end machine, there are several great ones out there. But don't think you have to have something special to turn out special work. :)