I have a Brother XR 9000 and it has a small throat space, too. Is your quilting foot a walking foot or free motion foot, and does your machine have the drop feed? You can definitely quilt on these machines, but here are some suggestions from me...1) read some books & watch some you tube videos on machine quilting 2) get a pair of quilting gloves 3) make some 12" squares & sandwich them to practice on before you actually try on your quilt 4)use basting spray along with your pins 5) put an ironing board or a small table to hold up the sides of the quilt while you're quilting. Some say to roll your quilts, but I found this to be a pain and I just sort of wad the quilt up against the machine. Also, start in the middle & work your way out. My first try at FMQ was a queen sized quilt (what was I thinking?) & I went from edge to edge. Big mistake!! There were lots of puckers. Spend several evenings ripping out the stitches to start over. Oh yeah, start with a meandering stipple and not a pattern. Good luck!