I bought a semi-expensive machine, about $5000. I bought it because it has an 11 inch throat space. I did not get adequate instruction when I bought it, and after trying to quilt one queen sized quilt, I am ready to throw it out the window. Suffice it to say that I have spent the last 5 days unstitching the quilting I put in, and I would never again invest in this machine.

umm....5.5 mm machies are way easier then the newer 9 mm feed dog machines to get a nice stitch for piecing I my opinion....my old bernina 630 (5.5) gave me nice straight pieceing 1/4 inch seams without much effort...now on my new Berina 570 with it's 9 mm seams.....well if you look at the feed dogs, if you leave your needle in the center position for a 1/4 inch seam....half of the right feed dog is off your fabric..this I think causes the kickout at the end of the seam as the left feed dog is fulling on the fabric. So for now....I think I am getting a decent 1/4 seam using a straight stitch plate, the peicing foot, and using the drop down dual feed foot....grrrr....I really do like the new machine...but it sure was frustrating.....I would recommend getting a straight stitch plate anyway as it makes feeding triangles so much easier usually keeping those points from being sucked into the machine...

I always use my 1/4 inch foot w/metal guide. But recently since I upgraded my machine it has an interchangeable walking foot and I bought the 1/4 guide foot and now use WF all the time.

I don't for small piecing of blocks. For that I use either the 1/4" foot or one of the open toe feet.