Neesie

My latest (several years old) machine is a Janome 7700, which I love. Problem is, I keep finding myself wanting to embroider names onto quilts . . . and the Janome's font is relatively tiny (and not especially pretty). Needless to say, some pretty pictures would also be nice to do! To get to the point, I'm wondering if there's a decent embroidery machine which doesn't cost an arm and a leg. So many of the machines get 'mostly' good reviews but then there always seems to be that handful of horror stories.

Any advice, from my fellow QB members? Is there such a thing as a decent embroidery machine, for less than $500? I really don't need a top-of-the-line machine but don't want to waste my money, either.

Thanks!