I'm in the same boat with you Rosie (I don't want to print the "knitwit part
) I have 4 machines all are old with small throats, they all work and I have managed to do a couple lap quits and a few baby quilts, they were fights to do but I just done SID on all them. I have done a lot of research on what I want in a machine and have decided on a Janome 6600, so I'm saving up for one, I'm sure it's going to take me at least a year. $10 here, $50 there, but I refuse to use that money for anything and haven't even counted it for fear of being depressed at seeing how far I still have to go. But it will be MINE and saved up for by ME and I figure by then I'll be even better at piecing and SID and binding ect. So I sit & drool when someone says they have the Janome 6600 and I'm happy for them and someday just someday I wont have to drool anymore. Good luck on finding your machine, research them all, print out what the have on them & compare your printouts & mark off what you don't want or need & highlight what you like about all the machines, to get it narrowed down. I'm a newbie too so I'm wishing you all the luck in the world with your choosing and saving
Jeri