To me I would save longer for a sit down quilter a 9 inch throat is really not going to give you that much more space. I have an 11 inch throat and having fmq a baby quilt on it would not quilt bigger on it. Would move to my long arm. I would get the mart Mitchell book machine quilting in sections and save longer. No matter what you decide you need to learn tension, you have to adjust this quite a bit with fmq no matter what machine you have for various thread thicknesses sandwich thicknesses its something you need to work on being comfortable with. Yes the sitdowns are way more pricey but seriously way less headache and pain readjusting the quilt 24/7