What's your budget? If under $1000, check out the Janome 4120 QDC. A friend of mine has it and has made over 50 quilts of various size (from baby to queen) . It has needle up/down, auto thread cutter (which often can't be found on machines in this price range, alphabet, a ton of fancy stitches and it's easy to use. I'm a fan of Janome . I have the 8200 because it has the 11" harp, but I was using an entry level Janome ($300) before that, so that I could see if quilting was something I really enjoyed enough to justify a better machine.
Obviously it was! I can be obsessive about a hobby and then fizzle out after a while, but I'm addicted to quilting. So I'd advise you get a low-end machine and give yourself a year to figure out for yourself what you enjoy and don't about quilting. That can help you decide later on when it's time to drop bigger bucks. You can always take the lower end machine to classes or on the road with you.