I upgraded quickly through my 5 years of quilting from
the old secondhand in '91 Toyota that I made my waistcoats with back in the day,
to a Janome 525Sewist,
to a SMD 4000 (which is a branded for Sewing Machine Direct Janome 4100)
to The Splurge, an Atelier 5, which I adored and had for around 3 years
and only upgraded to The Splurgess, An Atelier 7, because I was made an offer too good to refuse!
The Toyota I gave to a neighbour, the 525S I sold, as I did the 4000 and The Splurge was given awaysold to Fran for a very good price for her.
I had initial reservations about The Splurgess as it sounded very industrial with the auto foot lift but soon got used to it and it is excellent, but my absolute favourite has to be The Splurge, as we made so many excellent things together.