Best machine for quilting... around $1000
Hi, everyone. This is my first post and I hope this forum is much more friendly than the legal forums I usually peruse. My wife is a stay-at-home mom and she loves sewing and just got into quilting. She is just finishing her first quilt and the machine I bought her (some $300 Singer) is great for small things, but for the large, thick quilt she is working on, it just cannot do the job. My wife has made some comments that she believes the sewing machine isn't able to handle the thickness of the quilt she has made (she took all of her old jeans, cut them up, and made this really cool quilt with them). I want to surprise her with a machine that can handle thick fabric so that she can continue to make her quilts without frustration; she has resorted to hand quilting the aforementioned quilt. We have a rule that whenever we buy each other a gift just because, we try to keep it around $1000, so any recommendations you have will be incredibly helpful.
TLDR (Too Long, Didn't Read) version: I need advice on the best machine to buy my wife, around $1000, that will be able to handle quilting and sewing on really thick materials.