I'm interested in buying a Janome, or a facsimile machine, to do free motion quilting. What machine would you suggest, anyone?

Welcome to the board from Southern California!!!

There are so many threads on sewing machine recommendations, It would all depend on what you want it to do, what you are willing to spend and sometimes, who is close by enough in case you need to get it repaired.
Test drive all kinds to get a feel for what you like.
If you hit Search and type in sewing machines you will see lots in information on them!

Welcome from Ireland

I agree with Gayle...try a lot and see what fits your budget. If you don't need fancy stitches or embroidery, you should be able to get something at a reason able price...and get the largest throat size you can to accommodate a larger quilt.

I have a Janome 6500 and happy with it. I second looking for a machine with a large throat space. The 6500 has a lot of extra that I do not use.

Be sure to check out the Juki TL98Q. Has a 9" throat. Is great for piecing and free motion quilting. Only has straight stitch.

Welcome from Louisiana!

Hi and welcome from the sunny state of Florida!!

Hi Sue, welcome from northern Minnesota!

I have a Janome Sewist 521 and I love it. I haven't really gotten into FMQ yet. Just starting out. If you are a more experienced quilter and have done FMQ, I would get a really good Janome based on what your budget allows. I would also suggest getting one with lots of feet and attachments. or just buy them at the same time. That is one thing that I am lacking is attachments. I hope that this helps.
I would get one that is "better" than mine.

Make sure you get the needle down feature as long as well as a way to drop the feed dogs. Another feature you want to be sure to get is the speed control, it helps having the button to keep the speed at a certain pace no matter what your foot is doing and it allows you to slow the speed way, way down which you can't do with machines that are just foot controlled.

Go to the Virtual Section for Sewing/Quilting machines...you'll find lots of good info there! :)

I have a Mega Quilter and the Brother that have larger throat spaces and only straight stitch. I love them both. I don't quilt with them anymore because I bought a longarm to quilt on. I like the button to cut the threads and they both have the needle up/down. I piece with them both because they work horses. I only use my other machines when I need to do fancy stitches.

Janome 6500

Forgot to add-
It has a larger opening.
Thread cutter
Knee lifter
came with a "quilting"table
it came with all the goodies you'd need for home quilting

I am not sure if I could live without the larger opening, knee lifter or thread cutter anymore. The tread cutter is awesome with quilting. I have used the machine extensively for both free motion quilting, walking foot quilting and binding and piecing. I sew a lot and it pretty much is all quilting!

I think the 6500, 6600 and 6700 are all similar but everytime they were upgraded a little. I think the 6600 is the first one with a build in type of walking foot. If you are looking at this machine I would probably look at the 6600 or 6700 because of the newer features but I have seen nice deals for the 6500 online.

I use the Juki TL 98QE and love it, I FMQ my quilts using this machine, throat is 9" and I can FMQ queen size quilts.

I love mine too. I used it for years on my sewing table and quilted king size quilts on it. Last year I got a Grace frame and it works great there too. I love my Juki. My kids call it Moms Baby.