Personally I'm sold on Janome sewing machines. They are very user friendly. The reason I know this is because when I started quilting 8 years ago I didn't own a sewing machine and had NEVER SEWED and am now making beautiful quilts. I bought a low end machine and traded up to a Memory Craft 4800 which is a good quilting machine and I've never had any problems. Janome gives lessons along with their machines. You could perhaps buy a used machine that has more features that someone had traded in and save yourself some money. Two of my friends have Janomes that are 19 and 24 years old without any repairs. Belonging to a quilting group usually is an excellent idea as I've found quilters are very generous with their knowledge. Good luck on finding a machine.