petthefabric

I love my Brother 1500 straight stitch. It's a work horse and very good stitch. Does great FMQ with the long harp.
Because it's a straight stitch, I also have another machine for zigzag. It's heavy, so recently bought an 11# small brother for taking to classes. Love my new/used Bernina 830, can do everything but travel easily-too heavy.

No one machine can do everything. I like having several machines so that I can get the best I need at the time.

Lovequilting22

I just purchased a Babylock Esante which I absolutely love! I had a brother SE-400 and there is no comparison in quality. This, too, was a huge investment for me, but so far, I have sold two embroidery projects on towels and have 4 orders waiting. Great embroidery so far and the sewing/quilting is wonderful too. I love this machine. It's not too complicated and it does SO much!

Mdaniels

I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. I ended up with the Babylock Espire and I am still learning on her. Now I have to decide whether or not to keep my Bernina Aurora 430 or try to sell her!

sewplease

If you don't need the money from the sale of your Bernina, keep her! It's always nice to have a backup machine. I think many of us have sold machines in the past only to regret it later.

Mdaniels

That's what my husband said, but I feel funny having her just sit around....although, as impressed as I am with the new Babylock, I have to say I am having some issues when piecing. When I am piecing two pieces of unsewn material together, not an issue--but when I am joining two pieces together and I have to go over a seam at the beginning, she just doesn't seem to have the gumption and gets stuck in one place. It's very odd. I'm a bit disappointed.