Great advice! Just what I needed. Thank you so much for being specific. I'm taking my time to explore, but hope to be using my new machine within the next 6 to 8 months. My husband encouraged me to sell a piece of exercise equipment (for which we don't have room, but won in a drawing for turning in a health form at work) and use the money to get a better sewing machine. With that in mind, I'm going for the best to do the kind of sewing I've always wanted to do: quilting and embroidery. I figure his toy (a 1936 Hudson) is a good leverage point for my getting a good sewing machine. He also knows that a quilt for the back seat of his Hudson is the next quilt in line that I plan to do.