thank you all! Looks like my super nice Elna Quilt Pro Queen will go to class this Saturday--along with the Singer H74--the Singer to have a friend that works at JoAnne's with the machines to take a look at and give me an opinion. I definitely will not be spending a dime on the cheaper Singer that was my Mom's (the Singer Inspiration)--it will be donated to the local thrift shop. At Christmas I gave my cheapie, WalMart $90 Brother to my DIL to learn on--I really liked it when I first got it, but after about 4 years it was not meeting my needs of dealing with more complex blocks. Think I will wait and see what the friend that knows Singer's has to say about the H74--it was a nice machine in the $300 range and if she says it's not worth messing with, I'll take it to my local shop that sells lots of different brands and see what they have I might trade up to. I do like the features of the H74, including the table that comes with it. Will keep you posted! Thanks again (and despite both machines be a problem yesterday, I did manage to get my Twisted T's block of 185 pieces for a 12 1/2" block finished last night--on the Elna!)