Peckish - that does sound like the perfect machine! I have been searching online but no luck......I live in the boonies so making the rounds to dealers is a challenge but probably my best course of action.
Quilt E - I will check out Triangle the next time I am in Guelph.....usually head down to KW for Christmas shopping at some point. Good point about accessories. Also bouncing back and forth between very different machines.
KrisB- the thread cutter on the Brother Cs6000i is not an auto cutter....I should have been more specific but thanks for your input!
Shill93, Onebyone, Grammasharon......I had not considered the Eversewn. Thanks for the reviews. I would have to go with the 30 as I really want the auto thread cutter but they do not have much of a presence in Canada. MSCQ price works out to about $525Cdn but they don’t ship machines to Canada.
Meyert- my first thought was to go with a pre-owned Janome to keep it in the same family. I have expanded my geographical search range on Kijiji and have a few feelers out.....I think it might have to head to The Big Smoke where I can hit a bunch of dealers in a day to see what I can come up with.
thanks everyone for your input, it has been very helpful, as usual!