Another option (and Rhonda I think did an article on it) is the midarm selection. If you don't have the room for a frame and you don't want the learning curve of the long arm, a mid arm is a great option. I have a Babylock Quilter's Pro with a 9" throat that has some of the features that you don't get with a tradtional machine - they are a lot faster, they have the thread cutter which is unbelieveably useful, needle down, but the biggest thing is that the free motion ability is far superior to a short arm. I never need a walking foot on my machine - I drop the feed dogs and off I go - no puckering or bunching. A stitch regulator might be nice but I do just fine with the foot pedal. They run between $1000-$2000 depending on model and extra stitches. I have quilted queen size quilts with no trouble at all.