I’ve finally finished quilting Rainbow Pinwheels, Boy, was it a pain! As I mentioned when I finished Butterfly Blossoms, quilting on my Singer Confidence Quilter is becoming more and more of an issue. I just cannot get it to hold the back tension correctly. I’ve tried cleaning the machine, changing needles, re-threading the machine (hundreds of times) and it will get better for a little bit, then fall apart again. It is really taking the joy out of quilting for me. I’ve taken it into a repair shop to see if they can nail down the problem for me.

In the meantime, I’m looking into buying a more high-end machine. I’ve been quilting for six years now and plan to do more, so I think it will be a good investment for me. I need to be able to free motion quilt on it as well as piece; my sewing room doesn’t have enough room to have two machines set up. I’m not so concerned on the price since I know I will get a ton of use out of whichever machine I go with, but I don’t really want to spend more than $1500.

I have always heard great things about Jukis, so the JUKI TL-2000Qi is definitely on my list. I know a lot of quilters love Jukis. I love that it is heavy duty and looks like it has a big throat. I think the limited number of stitches might bother me though, I do use zig-zag stitches on occasion. I guess I can always bust out one of my Singers when I need a zig-zag, but it would be nice not to have to.

I’m also looking into this Brother PQ1500SL High Speed Quilting and Sewing Machine. It’s got great reviews on Amazon, especially with regards to FMQ. I know a lot of quilters love their Brother machines, too. There are a lot of little features that look fun, like the knee lift and automatic needle threader.

What machine do you have? Which machines have you had good and bad experiences with? I’d love to hear your thoughts.