I have a Brother 1500s and love it both for piecing and quilting (similar to the Juki 2010). It's a lovely entry level machine (around $600.00 I think) and the harp is large enough to do a fairly large sized quilt. I also have a Janome 8900 and it does everything but wash the dishes. But at $2500.00 it was quite an investment. If you are looking for a simple machine that your wife can use to actually quilt a top as well as piecing, you really can't go wrong with either the Juki or Brother mentioned above.