Welcome from Texas. I hope you are enjoying your new found hobby & will make lots of beautiful quilts in the future. I agree with mic-pa that you need to really try out machines before you settle on one. Test drive them and as many as you can. I've been a "singer" gal most of my life until about 10 years ago when my hubby decided he wanted to buy me a new machine. We were in a quilt shop that sold Janome machines & he bought me the Janome Magnolia 7330. I love the machine but now wish I had shopped around before buying it. I love the needle down feature but the throat on the machine is only about 6 1/2" so it makes it very hard to maneuver a large quilt around with that small of a throat. I've heard a lot of good things about Ever Sewn machines but have never tried out out. Good luck in your search but don't be in a hurry. You can still make beautiful quilts on your basic Singer machine.
http://www.eversewn.com/