Marcia

Needle up or down position determines where your needle is when you stop sewing. On my Bernina, if I put it in the needle down position, then when I take my foot off the foot pedal it stops sewing with the needle still in the fabric. That way you can turn the fabric, remove pins, etc and can begin sewing again in the exact same spot. If you want the needle up, because you are finished sewing your row, then you tape gently with your heel on the back of the foot pedal and it raises the needle for you. It is a great feature. I always sew with my needle in the needle down position.

tlrnhi

I have an old Singer Touch N Sew. I keep saying I'm going to take it out of the cabinet and clean it to see if it will still work. Love that old machine! I now have my Kenmore Ergo 3/embroidery. If anything happens to it, I literally cry. Can't be without it for more than 24 hours. I do have my backup tho. It's a Kenmore, don't know the model, but it sits patiently in the closet in it's cute bag waiting for me. I should take it out so it knows I still love it.
On my Ergo, I have about 100 stitches, haven't used them all. Embroidery function...love that.
Needle up/down. Makes it where the needle will stay up when sewing/stopping or down when sewing/stopping. It has a speed control, but I always keep it on fast. I like going fast! :)
Automatic threader...but it doesn't want to work all the time now. Thanks to a certain little furry girl.
I can either use the foot pedal OR use the button to make machine go. I have about 50 feet that came with it. Haven't used but maybe 3? Somewhere in the holder I have for them is a Stitch in the Ditch foot. Need to find that one.
I would love it if it had a deeper throat on it. Would make life a bit simpler, but I make it thru.

Karla...why not just go machine hopping to try out what is out there? I'm sure you'll find the one you want. Between inspirations here and looking/trying the machines, I know you will find your perfect one. Then the one you have now will be your backup.

Rose Marie

I have a Viking with a 10 in throat and it makes shoving the quilt thru so much easier. I love it.
Needle down is a must feature. Stay stitch is nice also.
I use the letters on my machine to sign my quilts.
I would like to have a stitch regulator but Bernina is just to expensive for me.
Joanns sells Viking so it is easy to ask questions and get repairs if needed.
Havnt needed any repairs, it sews like a dream.
You really need a sewing cabinet that the machine sits level with the cabinet, makes machine quilting so much easier. With the larger machines you need a larger cabinet, most do not fit the larger machines.

mamatobugboo

i have 2 machines (well, four actually, but that's another story) - I have sewn on a kenmore for about 4 years and have really enjoyed it. It is a solid machine, but not a big throat, although it has about 200 stitches, which includes the alphabet. I enjoy the various stitches because it is fun to use decorative stiches when quilting in the ditch, and I do use the blanket stitch when I am doing machine applique. Other than that, I've only used the "fancy" stitches about 4 times. There are limitiations in size for quilting because of the small throat size but the machine is really good for piecing and doing smaller projects.

To do those larger projects, I purchased recently a Janome 1600P, which is their mid-arm machine, single stitch, has a 9 in. throat. I haven't honestly used it yet, but it is out of hte box!! I have used a Janome before and it is smooth smooth smooth and can go very very fast! The price retail is about $1200 (which you should NEVER pay!) and you can get it online through an authorized dealer (on ebay) for about $800. There are package deals you can get which is how I got mine through a local shop - the machine was packaged with a quilting frame.

Have fun in your search!!

mamatobugboo

http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/9398.page

here is one thread in the last month (started by my search for a mid-arm machine) that has a bunch of machines listed and raved over!

Roben

Now that my D1 has been fixed, I don't regret the decision to purchase her at all. She has enough features and stitches, plus the embroidery capability - I can't imagine a project I couldn't do with her. I want to learn Heirloom sewing; got the stitches already. Piecing is much easier, and I can quilt in the ditch without a walking foot because of the Sensor System.
Not having a presser foot lever is just one less thing I have to do.

It seems all of the major brands are coming out with new top of the line machines this year - which is a great gift in its own way. Lots of people are trading in older, previous TOL models - which means you may be able to get a pretty fantastic machine for way under what you'd expect. The TOL machines are built very well, and will last a very long time with a little care. Warranty won't be an issue; none of the major companies warranty any machine for commercial use anyway.

Do some checking around in your area, and see who's name pops up over and over as a referral for machine repair - and start looking there. A good dealer is worth way more than the price of the machine; you can get classes in how to use it to the fullest extent, fun project classes and a great place to go for inspiration.