I'm not sure what you mean about moving the needle "sideways". I quilt on an old Singer Genie. All I needed was to get the right size needle to match my machine quilting thread, a feed dog cover (since my machine doesn't let me lower the feed dogs), a walking foot (for straight line quilting) & a darning foot (for all other quilting -- "Free Motion Quilting").
As far as I know, the needles just move up & down unless maybe it's an embroidery machine. You are moving the fabric right or left to get the needle to hit in the proper place. I also would recommend buying a pair of Machinger's gloves if you are going to be Free Motion Quilting (FMQ'ing) because they really, truly do make it so much easier to move the fabric where you want it. After that, it's just a matter of practice. All those items shouldn't cost you more than about $25-30 & that way you can be sure you really love quilting before investing in a new machine.
Good luck & happy quilting!