My friend has a Janome and she can do everything with hers including Quilting and Embroidery both. She loves her and I love her Janome. I wish I had one and she has all the feet to go with hers too. Hers even has a button that you push to make the needle stay in your material so you don't lose your place when you stop. :)

I would go with your favorite shop .. and good service. I have two Janome 6600's .. one on the west coast and one on the east coast (I spend about 4-5 months back east). I love the 6600 .. best machine I have ever had. Does everything I would need. A work horse.

One thing to consider is that Bernina have special feet. If you want to purchase an open toe foot (for example), at your fabric shop, it won't fit on the Bernina unless you have a special attachment to attach to the foot itself. I sew on a Bernina at my job and know this to be true. The other day I was having trouble with fabric sliding and making a bubble at the end of a long seam. I don't have a walking foot at work, but do at home. I had to bring the curtain home to sew that seam in, on my home machine. Bernina is a good solid machine though.

Where would you be going for service on the Janome? Is that location local for you or a long drive? That would be a cosideration to think about too, as you'll probably bring your machine in at least once a year for routine maintenance.

Who will offer classes, what is the warranty like for each, who will you want to deal with later down the road should you want something?

I have a Janome 6600 P and love it. It came with all kinds of feet of which I have used all, buttonholer which is the easiest one I have ever used, I do alphabet embroidery, has a walking foot, an extension talble which I love, and many other features. I got mine on sale a year ago for around $1200.

I have a Bernina 730 with embroidery unit and the Janome 6600P - I can tell you from a quilting standpoint only, the Janome is my preference. It sews like a workhouse and is made just as good as the Bernina.

As I've said before, I LOVE my Bernina. That said, though, I think that one of the most important things to consider when buying is the dealer. If you have had a bad experience in the Bernina shop, general unease, whatever, then it's not the place for you. Remember, you won't be just buying the machine there. You want to be comfortable asking any and all questions you have, going to classes for machine features, and general tune-ups every now and again even if no repairs are needed.

The Bernina Aurora 430 and 440QE are regular sewing machines, unless you purchase the embroidery module. The 430 does not come with the BSR for FMQ (although you can purchase it later), the 440 QE does. I have had a 440QE since July and love it! It does whatever I ask of it. I personally have see the same model sew fur pelts together! I got mine used from a dealer at about 1/2 the price of a new machine (got the remaining 20 years on the warranty). It came with about 5 different feet. I never thought i would want to embroider, but I also went back 3 weeks later and got it and I am having a blast! Most dealers offer free classes for you to learn all that the machine can do. As far as classes, I take them at the Bernina dealer, but also am welcome at LQS's that deal with Viking, Janome and Brother.

I would say that you should buy the one that has the most features that you like. I would also consider the warranty and the trade-in value. I could go into the Bernina dealers today and pretty much get what I paid for it on trade-in. Good luck in whatever you decide.

I know how difficult it is to make a decision on a major purchase. I have two Berninas and love them. My first one was a QE153 quilting machine. There was an instant love for the walking foot. A few years later I decided I wanted a machine with a few more decorative stitches. I went back to my sewing machine shop and played around with the Bernina 440 (I think). It had lots of stitches that I wanted but then I saw the 640E that had decorative stitches in 9MM wide also and it had the embroidery module. I decided that if I was going to spend a bunch anyway, I should go ahead and get it all. I love the embroidery part also. So the message is, check out all the features that you like and then decide on the brand. I'm sure you won't go wrong with either machine. Have fun

great advice.

Thank you, so much, for all of your thoughts and input....I'm coming closer to a decision :) I hope to make the big purchase next weekend....