I started quilting on a machine that my Husband bought me for my birthday years ago...it was an old seventies Europro he had bought used from our local sewing center. It had about 6 or 7 stitches on it, reverse, and one speed - FAST! I learned to free motion on that baby! Lol*
I have several sewing machines now, but I'm a stay at home Mommy living on one income, so I cannot justify at this time in my life buying a high end machine. It's not essential to have a machine like that to make great quilts, but a lot of those bells and whistle features make things a lot easier. (Like stitch regulation! Lol*) I currently do most of my piecing on my featherweight and free motion on my Simplicity Quilters Classic...also a very economically priced machine. It does what I need it to do for now, but eventually I would love to upgrade. :)