I have figured out that I cannot machine quilt a twin size quilt on my little janome. The throat area is simply not big enough.
Ideally, I'm looking for a machine that can do very basic embroidery as well as piecing/quilting. I also can't spend more that 400.00 and even that is going to kill me cause I'll have to save forever for it.
This is the one I was looking at:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Brother-Se...hine/14237607#
Another option that I was thinking about it just removing the Embroidery from the scenario. I have no interest in embroidering every dish cloth in existence or all the other cool junk you can do with a fancy embroidery machine. My sole purpose into looking into one is to make embroidered quilt labels cause I think they are gorgeous.
It's hard to visualize some of these throat areas on other machines. I have to have a machine that will accept a 1/4" foot, open toed foot for FMQ and walking foot. That's a deal breaker, I have to have that. What size of a throat will accommodate larger quilts?
I haven't had to consider a new machine for 8 years. I got a tiny little starter machine that I couldn't get any quilting accessories for it. I have a little Janome 415 that I love that will piece all my quilts and will be my main machine. I'm looking for a machine that can do the things the Janome can do if it has to, like when the Janome is in the shop...but it's main purpose would be a larger throat area.
What do you guys think because I'm getting lost in google and amazon and ebay. I just cannot navigate the internet well and it just all seems so overwhelming!