Well, I attended the Quilting and Embroidery Expo in Raleigh last week, with the intent to try to find a charm pack for a specific project - and nothing else. However
I came home with a Janome 500E Embroidery machine. It was a very good deal, I think. I absolutely love the way the hoops attach -- very easy, very secure, no "give". But the reason I bought it was the 11" space from machine body to the needle that will really help with embroidering on quilts - it feels soooooo roomy. It came with 4 hoops, but so far, I have only used the 5 X 5, as I am doing some small applique squares for a baby quilt. I will be going for a class on using it for the Edge to Edge Quilt Embroidery in a few weeks. My Brother 700 PE was a very good machine, but the small black and white screen made picking out my design difficult - and I have a lot of 6 X 10 designs from a previous situation.
Anyone else purchased a new machine lately?