I went and tried out the Bernina Q20 since that's what my baby lock dealer had in stock (he also sells Berninas). Now I think I understand. As purple fiend said, there are no feed dogs, which makes a huge difference. My stitch in the ditch is really nice on my regular sewing machine, but not with the sit down machine since there are no feed dogs to guide the fabric, and rulers are annoying to me. My stipple and free motion are really nice on the long arm since you move the handles, but not nice at all on the sit down since you move the fabric. Well shoot, there goes that plan....... Does anyone have any other ideas for me? Is there a regular sewing machine out there with a gigantic harp/throat space? This is not looking good for me....l