The average life span of one of my sewing machines is probably about 5 years (granted I haven't spent big money on any of them). And the harp space unless you do spend big money is tiny. For less then 1/10th of the cost of a new machine with a nice open space for fmq I bought a Singer that has been sewing for 70 years and still works wonderfully! With a few drops of oil here and there it will probably still sew right along another hundred years. One day my daughter may use the machine I'm teaching her to sew on to teach her daughter to sew - and there aren't many modern anythings that you can say that about.