craftgrrl | Sewing Machine Recommendations?

Hello! I'm in the market for a sewing machine. I'd be using it to make clothes, but not in a mass production kind of way. Just a piece or two a month for myself, and I'd be interested in getting into quilting at some point.

I don't need anything overly complicated, although one feature that I've seen on the machines that I've been looking at is the automatic button hole maker, which sounds useful. Any thoughts?

I took a class and we learned on the Jenome Sewist 625e, which I really like but can't afford. I think that I'm looking in the $250 range right now. I'm not sure if that's a reasonable amount of money to expect to pay for a decent machine. Is it?