Are you sure about that? I think you're confusing Janome & Babylock. Babylock and Brother are built in the same factory and have a lot of very similar machines. As far as I know, Janome isn't associated with either.

Sewing machine prices.... Yikes!

I haven't paid attention for a while but in Joann's one day I peeked at the sewing machines and some of them cost more than my car did!

If I ever have to get a new one it will have to be a Brother from wallyworld

Several people mentioned vintage machines and they are wonderful. I have a 201 and I'm sure it can FM but more work to get the feed dogs down. I think the 301 is much easier and the vintage are so much cheaper than the newer machines and will last forever if taken care of. They are a good all around machine and investment.

Julie, you don't need quilting stitches but if you do applique, the buttonhole stitch is very good to have and i like the feather stitch and have begun to use it a lot. many are using the serpentine stitch to quilt whole quilts with..that one is very nice especially if length is adjustable. On any machine with hundreds of stitches, there's usually at most 6-8 that are nice to have (and that I do use) but definitely none of them necessary for quilting.

I have the Brother 1500 Nouvelle. I use it for machine quilting. Was $1500 when first sold and now about $500 or so. It was marketed as a machine to use on a frame . It is an excellent piecing and machine quilting machine. It comes with all the feet needed for quilting.

I upgraded about 6 months ago from my £75 Brother LS14 to a £750 Singer 9800 Quantum and had massive panic attacks about spending that much money! But then I discovered that I loved quilting much more than tailoring and Im so glad I spend the extra money on it as I will never have to upgrade again, as it does everything and more. I would marry that machine if I could! And Im seriously considering selling my creations on Etsy in my spare time, if only to fund my addiction... I mean hobby...

Another vote for vintage. I use one of my vintage Singer machines for most FMQ, the 301a and 500a both do a great job and produce a beautiful stitch. Anything short of a King sized quilt has been done successfully on both. I've used my Brother Quattro for 2 120" square quilts with fairly dense quilting. the Juki 2010 or Brother 1500 are also great choices.

I have tried that also and it did look odd to me too. That's what made me look for a different sewing machine.

Yes I've have considered getting one with a payment plan so that I can get one. I'm all about hand quilting but when I'm desperately trying to get projects done faster. I want to be able to free motion quilt them.

My Brother PQ1500S is a dream for FMQ, and super fast and reliable for piecing, too. I was lucky enough to get mine for $300 from a Craigslist seller who decided after one seam it wasn't the right machine for him. There wasn't even any lint and his test bobbin was full.

It only has a straight stitch but except for piecing batting scraps I don't need any other stitch. I just pull out my trusty 1990's Singer when I need the zigzag.

Good luck!