I have a Bernina Aurora 440 Quilters Edition which I love. It has the Bernina Stitch regulator which makes free motion quiliting effortlessly and precise. I can easily machine quilt king size (120" x 120") quilts. It also has hundreds of fancy stitches too. I also bought the optional embroidery module, and full function embroidery capabilities with my personal laptop.

:? It seems this is my answer but I still believe one of the main Manufacturers would see the need and the chance to make more money from Real Quilters!!!

i have the Pfaff Hobby 1200. Seems to me it costs about $1300. it is supposed to have the fastest needle on the home sewing market. i can vouch that it goes pretty fast. it's great for piecing cuz it has this edge that you can set at 1/4 in. on up and the fabric really stays on that edge for an even seam. i said all this before but i just love it. with all the mid priced machines tho you have a very small space to manuver in even when the quilt is on a quilt frame. That limits your pattern. it's great for meandering and stippling and smaller designs. does anybody know anything about the stitch controler by Pfaff???? it's supposed to control the stitches by matching your speed. i wonder if you like it and think it's worth it??

I've vowed to try it soon though for now the hand quilting really does me. The beautiful work I've seen some do with machine is awesome, and I’d eventually like to try my hand at all forms.

I have noticed the Older Machines have longer arms. I have a Singer 10" Treadle/ Motor option. I collect them. The New ones some are like 5" .

I quilt with a Bernia 640 on my Little Gracie. Works great. I piece with a Janome 10001.

;-) Any Machine with a good straight stitch can be quilted on ,Cover your feed dogs with a card or plastic template cut a hole for the needle or drop your feed dogs, put on your darning or quilting foot some quilt without a foot, I like the spring darning foot on my regular machines,and on my Longarm it has a big Industrial Foot like the one that goes on the regular sewing machines. Relax ,Enjoy!!!

Me, me, me. I don't have room for a long arm so I use my Bernina and juki.

I started off with a Simplicity sewing machine back in '92 (around $200). I sewed clothing home decor, etc. Got into quilting, bought the walking foot and big foot. The throat was only like 5". I, indeed, quilted with it. To do this though I ended up using low loft poly or warm and natural. Something that when I rolled up the sides ended up being more managable. Didn't to real fancy, but was able to do more than SITD. Just takes longer. Just go slow.

Now I have a Janome 6600 and love it.