I have been quilting for just over 15 years. My first machine was the husqvarna Sapphire - loved it. I wanted to have a quilting sewing machine that would do everything I wanted to do, and not get held back on a project because I didn't have the tools.
Two years ago I bought the brother dreamweaver - yes, it's a very pricey machine, but I have made a point of using almost every single feature on that machine. The ones I don't use - buttonholes, etc. are mainly because I don't sew clothes.
I recently posted about my frustration that I was having with my machine (for the last 6 months) - the bobbin sensor quit working. Now, some of you will laugh at me, but hey, when you learn to quilt on a machine with all the bells and whistles, you get very used to them!
I was getting very frustrated because the dealer kept blaming me. To make a long story short, I contacted brother online, told them about the whole situation. They were fabulous! They sent me a box with bubble wrap, paper, tape, and a new label. I packaged my machine up, sent them an email and said it's ready. UPS picked it up when I said they could. It arrived in Montreal at the headquarters. I got video updates, pictures, explanations, etc. like you wouldn't believe! Turns out my dealer wasn't doing their job properly - they were only cleaning "the sensor" not the whole inside ... so of course within a week, the sensor quit working again! The amount of lint / dust that was inside my machine was shocking, especially since I had it to the dealer at least 7 times in the last 6 months!
I got my machine back with lots of new accessories as a "sorry you were without your machine for a week" The customer service was phenomenal.
I do have a little brother machine, I paid $200 for it at walmart. And it's a great little machine for piecing blocks together.
But when I go to quilt, I absolutely love having my big machine. The possibilities of how to finish my quilt are only limited by my creativity!