Charlotte, it sounds like you have found some good solutions here. When I first started quilting a few years ago I quickly discovered that I needed to have a table where I could recess the machine and work on a flat surface. The weight of a quilt was just too heavy to do even straight line quilting without having the machine recessed. You have some good ideas on how to accomplish that. I ended up buying a sewing table called Big Bertha that has a lift built into it to easily adjust the height of my machine. Good luck!