I told my husband that my little Brother sewing machine was not going to last much longer. It was a cheapie from Amazon. It has been making some strange noises, and I had it serviced earlier in the year. I have been looking around and told him when it was my birthday I would wait and see what this little machine did, but keep my eye out for a new machine. Well, it is still running! I have a Baby Lock Quest that I purchased 2 years ago I have been using for my quilting. I always check out Craig's List in our area, and saw a Brother PQ1500s that a lady had for sale. She had it on there for several weeks, and I had read on this board that they were good for quilting. It is a straight stitch mechanical machine. She lowered the price to $400. I checked online and I could get a new one from $600 to $800. After reading the reviews, I decided to purchase the machine. So now, I will use my Baby Lock for piecing, and the new Brother for quilting. I am hoping I can fit my Baby Lock into my old Singer cabinet. I love that cabinet!
The lady had it all set up so I could sew on it. Oh my, it has a beautiful straight stitch. She does garment sewing, so was not using the machine very much (it has a 5" x 9" harp). She preferred her Bernina. She used this machine to sew her daughter's teams Flags when her daughter was doing that in school. She said she loved it for that sewing. It is a very fast machine. You always wonder, after the fact, if you made the right decision. I just ordered a SITD foot for it, as I use that a lot when I am quilting.