Ditto to what everyone has said. I've done FMQ on vintage machines and on a dinky Mechanical Brother from Costco. it is doable. I have a Brother PQ1500 now which is really nice, but, it doesn't make my quilting any better. That takes a lot of practice. For me, I have a "sweet spot" when all is in sync. Now, if I could make that happen even 95% of the time, that would be great! I have played around with needles and for me, a top stitch or microtex gives me the best results. My machine will take any thread. I recently did a quilt with Superior Monopoly using the needle they recommended - 70/10 top stitch, and change the tension to 2. Isacord in the bobbin. Worked perfectly. I was happily surprised. A lot of playing around with thread/needle combos and practice, practice, practice