I have enjoyed reading all of this. I am with JulieR...not having good tools could be so frustrating it could totally change how someone views quilting, or anything for that matter.
When we first got married, for my birthday, my hubby went and got what he thought was a good sewing machine. A Kenmore. If I had never sewn before, I sure wouldn't after I got it. It would sew fine, then not sew. Jamming, thread bunching in back...you name, it would do it. I would take everything apart...look for stray threads, rethread.....change needle....and sometimes do it repeatedly and finally it would sew again for a while. It is still a mystery to me what was wrong with it. I never thought about taking it to a repair man...and still wouldn't. I gave it to Good Will...and suffered guilt for that.
If I had not sewn at home, I would have thought that sewing was not worth the trouble. So, getting the best you can for what you are going to do is good advice, but that doesn't mean it has to have all the bells and whistles. To me 'best' means something that does what you want it to do consistently. I have an older Viking with lots of decorative stitches, lots of needle positions, but the majority of my sewing is done on my straight-stitch only Juki 98 Q.