Lady Diana

I found my Janome 6600 is the workhorse of machines. I have had it for 7 years. It is a great machine for sewing and quilting, It has taken everything I have thrown at it....jean quilts, lots of bags and totes. There is a janome yahoo group and they all say it is The Workhorse of all of the Janome machines. I have the 11ooo, 15000, 8900 SE, and Skyline 7 and two 6600 (one for home, other-cabin)....now that I see my list, I may need to purge. Love them all.
Good luck in your quest. Test drive the 6600...I think you will like it.

Feathers-N-Fur

Juki has the F-600 for around $1000. I love mine. Juki does use a slightly larger motor than many other machines, but it is not as strong as my straight stitch only machine. That said, the only things mine has refused to do were multiple layers of leather, or many, many layers of fleece for a dog toy. I have put mine through a lot and she has been a work horse.

LadyAg

I had this machine for about 2 months, until I finally returned it. I loved the normal stitch quality, but even with technical help, I could not get the machine to work with polyester thread on top, cotton on bottom. The bobbin thread always came through, and not just a little dot here and there. If you don't need different thread weights, it would probably be a great machine.

mjpEncinitas

janome 6600 is a workhorse.

moonrise

Thanks, everyone. Sorry I didn't make it back until now. Literally within minutes of my original post, my husband's finger had a "close encounter" with his table saw. We've spent all week in the E/R, doctor's offices, surgery, etc. They were able to save his finger, thankfully, but it's a mess.

And on top of that, our fridge/freezer decided to go out, and with all the chaos in getting Hubby's finger tended to, we didn't notice that the food had gone bad until it was too late. Sigh.

Needless to say, a new (or new-to-me) sewing machine isn't in the budget right now, but I'll save everyone's comments and PMs until I can shop for one at a later date.

Thanks again - I really appreciate it. <3

jmoore

OMGosh...what an awful experience for your DH. I hope his finger mends quickly and w/o any issues. I’m sorry to hear of your unfortunate circumstances this past week.