I wanted to add another site that offers embroidery machine downloads for quilting. I have used several from this site: embroideryonline.com. They have sets as well as individual designs, and they have information about the number of stitches before you buy. At around $2 for most of the design, it's easy for me to get caught up in the thought that many people spend more than that for a cup of coffee every day, and before you know it I've bought a lot of "in lieu of Starbucks" quilt designs. (I use the same logic on Bookbub!) I do brew our coffee, at least.

Audsgirl, love your quilt and quilting!

Absolutely beautiful. I’m still doing only hearts and loops and larger meandering. I hope to progress from there this coming year.

My first embroidery machine was a Brother PE-770 (under $600 on Amazon). All I wanted it for was to make a few quilt labels, I thought. It's a very nice machine in its price range. I never realized you can quilt on them, and once that came to light, I was frustrated by the 5" hoop width. You can (and I did) buy a longer hoop, but not wider. This was simply too restrictive for quilting anything except very small quilts. After only a couple of months I started shopping and found a good used Ellisimo with the Gold upgrade at the local Baby Lock dealer. Even at about half the price of a new one, it was enough to make my DH blanch! For me, this kind of investment is a commitment. If there was any chance that I'd lose interest and not make proper use of this machine, I would not have bought it. I put over 6 million stitches on it the first year. It has a camera, which is a tremendous help in placing the design. It's also a sewing machine and has a lot of features in addition to the embroidery function.

Other than lucking into a really good used machine a I did, I don't know of any bargains in embroidery machines that can handle a large enough hoop.

The Ellisimo series is no longer being made. Baby Lock's very similar machine in the current line up is the Destiny II, which accommodates even bigger hoops and has even more bells and whistles. I would say that even if you buy a used embroidery machine, do get it from a well-established dealer near you who can offer support and repair service. I have had no problems so far, and I have a lot of confidence in our local Baby Lock dealer that I bought it from.They included some warranty coverage with my purchase. These machines are big and heavy, and you don't want to even think about shipping it anywhere for service.

I do mostly FMQ, SITD and ruler work. I just bought a Tiara mid arm so I have a lot more space to move, now.

Why, oh why did you gals have to post links to embroidery sites? I was so happy never having known it was a possibility to quilt like that. :D I don't have space in my sewing room for another machine.

Watson

I do all my own quilting on my domestic machine. I do all qayg, but I make up my own ways to do it so I don't have to make obvious "qayg" quilts (blocks w/ narrow sashing) I am most comfortable w/ walking foot straight"ish" lines. Have recently tried non hopping foot fmq and ruler work which has become my second "favorite" I am horrible at and won't again do hopping foot fmq. Quilting though is not my favorite part, it is more of a have to then an enjoyment.